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He carried on, “He managed to get the funding needed, and they launched a few months ago. Things are going better than expected, much better, so they’ve decided to expand. Too quickly, in my opinion. But it isn’t my project. It has something to do with football, and they’re adding cricket and rugby. They needed to hire another coder, and that takes money, and still seeing to his regular employment, he was also trying to see to that. He was burning the candle at both ends, and I think we both know this is just me relating the story, with no judgment because you won’t be surprised at this, but Portia wasn’t having it that he didn’t have as much time for her as she’d like.”
Fabulous.
But he was right. I wasn’t surprised.
Ian kept going. “So she offered the money.”
“God damnit,” I mumbled.
Ian nodded. “She pledged to cover their shortfall and saw to that for the past two months, but now she’s cut off, she can’t continue because she needs what she has left to pay her own bills. They’ve already hired the coder, announced the launch of the additional arms of their app, dumped money into marketing them, people are expecting them to release in three months. It was already a tight timeline, and Daniel’s sunk everything he has in this thing, his mates are leveraged up to their necks, they have nothing left to give. They need that money.”
I said nothing.
“He showed me the app. It’s interesting. It’s good. Hundreds of thousands of people have downloaded it. They’ve tried to keep investment minimal so they don’t have to dole out the dividends they want to put in their own pockets to too many shareholders. Now, he needs to find the shortfall and he needs to find it yesterday.”
“So he’s with my sister for her money,” I remarked.
He sat forward, elbows to his knees, and replied, “No. I believe he genuinely loves her. He’s actually in deep for her. Deeper than I suspected. Deeper than even he suspected. Now he’s worried he’s fucked it up beyond redemption, especially after this morning. He didn’t ask her for the money, he swears it. He said she offered. He’s upset that it won’t be forthcoming. However, when she was angry about Brittany, and as such, he should never have broached the subject, at least not now, and like the imbecile he can be, he brought it up. And now she’s convinced he’s with her for the money.”
I had nothing to say to that either.
He pushed up from his knees and announced, “I told him I’d cover the shortfall.”
I was surprised at that. “It’s not my place to advise you how to deal with your brother, but is that wise?”
“It’s not your place?”
That was unexpected.
“Are we there yet?” I inquired.
“He’s seeing your sister, you’re sleeping with me. You’re smart. You have a thriving business of your own. You care about her. I hope you care about me. Isn’t that what relationships are? You have each other’s backs and advise when it’s needed?”
I went cautiously when I asked, “Are we in a relationship?”
“Aren’t we?”
We’d had one date, but had spent so much time together, it amounted to fifty (maybe an exaggeration, but it felt like that). And we’d slept together repeatedly, but we hadn’t yet had sex.
It was wild, but there was only one answer to his question.
We absolutely were.
“Okay, then, allow me to rephrase,” I requested. “Is that wise?”
He seemed appeased and shared, “The app is good. I negotiated a percentage. I’m giving them more than they need so they can hire a further coder and launch on time. He’s written a business plan. He shared the basics of it with me, and they have a solid, if risky and aggressive marketing strategy. A plan for future growth, even beyond these new arms they’re launching. This is a serious project. It isn’t a lark. He’s using words I’ve never heard him use and he’s using them correctly. And it sounds like he’s worked his ass off to make it happen. This has potential to be rather successful. I’d be proud of him if he wasn’t acting like such a bloody idiot.”
I returned my gaze to the fireplace, but I looked back to him when he stood.
“I’m not going to state his case. If he patches things up with Portia, he’ll have to put the work into convincing you he’ll treat her right. But he did promise that would never happen again and it wasn’t his intention to hurt her. Just get her to listen and stop her from shouting at him in the hall.”
“That’s stating his case, Ian.”
He gave me a rueful smile.
“What can I say?” he asked softly. “Danny’s my brother. The ride was long, we talked about a lot of things, but mostly Portia. I think he’s considering marrying her, and he’s an absolute mess, worried like fuck between this and Brittany, he’s blown it.”
I knew Ian loved his brother, but I hoped he’d blown it.
