“Stop!” This conversation has already gone on for too long. “Your father is the only reason I’m able to live my dream. I don’t give a fuck if people call me the wrong name or if I don’t date anyone or whatever. He gave me this life, and I won’t just sit around while you tear it to pieces. Not everyone can be you!”
“I don’t want you to be me!” The cords of Robert’s neck stand out when he yells. “And you don’t owe him anything.”
“Ha!”
“You don’t.” Robert’s stare is unwavering as he says, “Just let it go. You don’t owe him anything.”
Oh, of course. Silver-Spoon-Fed Robert doesn’t understand money makes the world turn. He doesn’t know that countless other poor kids out there have the same dream, the same hunger to race, without any means to back it.
“Only severalmilliondollars,” Matt bites back.
“It wasn’t that much.”
Semantics. “Whateverthe cost, it was more than my family ever had. Jesus, you still don’t get it, do you?! If your father didn’t invest in me, I’d be doing oil changes at my dad’s old garage for a living right now. Why can’t you understand that?”
“I—” Robert starts, but he snaps his mouth closedagain. He may be silent, but his clenched jaw is screaming that he’s wrong and he doesn’t have a retort.
“Ya wanna say somethin’?” Matt taunts.
Robert narrows his glare and pinches his mouth tighter.
“Yeah, that’s what I thought. You need to show your father some respect. Neither of us would be here if it weren’t for him.”
“Okay, no.” Robert steps forward, towering over Matt. “No, I showed restraint, but this is too fucking much. You wanna talk money? My dad paid for summer camp when I turned five. He also paid for you, because I liked you more than the kids who could’ve afforded it. Happy?”
‘You wouldn’t be here if I didn’t like you when I was four’is such an old take.
“I knew that already.”
“Yes.” Robert nods, just once. “But that is the only thing—theonlything—he paid for.”
“What?” Matt cracks a confused smile.
Did Robert honestly believe that Mama had cleaned his giant-ass house often enough to finance an entire karting career? Or did he think everything else was freely handed to him?
“I paid for everything.”
“What?” Matt’s smile evolves into confused laughter. “What do you mean you paid for everything? You werefive.”
“Yes. And then six, seven, eight. You know, all the way up until you were picked up by Primero.”
Matt scoffs. “So you just happened to have tens ofmillionsof dollars to spare in your childhood?”
“I told you.” Robert closes his eyes and exhales. “It wasn’t that much.”
“It was still more than a child’s allowance. Even for you.”
“Jesus, it wasn’t anallowance, it was aninheritance. My grandpa’s, remember? He died right around the time we met.”
“Wait.” Matt remembers that, but just barely. The grandfather who used to race—Bobby’s dad’s dad. “You’re serious?”
“Of course I’m serious! Why would I lie about something like this?”
“You paid for me?!” Matt’s face falls as he tries to remember if he ever saw Bobby with a credit card. “How could you possibly pay for me?”
“Remember that stupid brochure? For the weekend camp? Mom thought it was too dangerous and expensive for a kid, but Dad said I could do it if I paid with the money Grandpa left me. I didn’t give a shit about money yet, ‘cause I was literally five. I just wanted to play with you ‘cause you were older and cooler and you seemed super into racing.”
“You didn’t even?—?”
