Chapter 10

David

David received a message telling him that Dare was downstairs.

David smiled as he thought about the scrawny, introverted nerd he’d become friends with his senior year of high school. Hanging out with David and his friends, specifically Brook and Cassidy, had brought the little dumbass out of his shell. By the time he graduated, Darius Rossetti—Dare to his friends—had an actual girlfriend who gave him hickeys.

He was much younger than the rest of their high school class because he’d skipped several grades. Dare had been fifteen when he went off to college. In terms of pure mind-power, Darius might be the most intelligent person that David knew.

Dare’s mother had been hesitant to let him go to college that young, but she’d spoken with David about it. He’d suggested a trial run with Dare attending State and living at home. It must have gone well because he was currently attending MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with other brainiacs.

In high school, Dare had fallen in love with drones. David had agreed to fund Dare’s expensive hobby if he made them work as part of David’s security. From Dare’s call, it sounded like he was onto something new. It hadn’t been lost on David that the little genius had spun the presentation of his latest project to appeal to him: virtual reality football.

David spotted Dare and his friend before they noticed him. David felt terrible because they’d dressed up for their meeting with him. Dare had begun to fill out and looked good as he grew into his lanky teen body. Brook had said that Dare’s friend was his roommate and therefore had to be college age. But he somehow was younger-looking even than Dare, with his gangly limbs covered by an ill-fitting suit, making it seem as if parts of his body had growth-spurted at different times. Maybe he’d skipped some grades as well.

Dare nudged his friend and pointed at David. His roommate glanced over and then at his shoes. David wondered where he’d seen someone do that before.

David winked at Dare, walked up to his roommate, and thrust out his hand.

“Hello, sir. I’m David A. Dawson.”

“My name is Corvus,” he greeted David without looking up.

David couldn’t help but laugh, which caused Dare’s friend to blush.

“Really? Corvus? Isn’t that Latin for crow? Very dramatic. With a name like that, you must dress all in black and listen to moody theatrical or classical music,” David teased.

Corvus glanced over at Dare, who rolled his eyes.

“God must love idiots; that’s why he made so many of them. David is a prime example,” Dare said.

“If I remember correctly, both Gina and I got a better grade in math than you did,” David shot back.

Corvus was so shocked that he forgot to stare at his shoes.

“Shut up,” was Dare’s witty comeback.

David reached his arms out, put his hands on each of their backs, and gently directed them to the door. Corvus looked like he was ready to bolt.

“Let’s go eat. I’m starved.”

David sat up front with his new security guy/driver while the two entrepreneurial nerds had a heated, whispered conversation in the back seat. David inserted his earbuds to listen to music and give them their privacy.

By the time they reached the condo, David had a greater appreciation for Daytona 500 drivers. Riding in cabs through New York City was bad enough, but this driver must have thought they were late or something. They’d woven in and out of traffic to the sound of car horns blaring and screamed insults.

At one point, David’s driver had realized that he was in the rightmost lane and had to make a left. So, he cranked the wheel and cut across five lanes of traffic without slowing down. That had even seasoned New York drivers slamming on their brakes with looks of horror. The G-force he achieved with that turn was incredible enough that David was sure his face had stretched like a cartoon character. Or maybe it only seemed that way since he’d been plastered against the door, hanging on for dear life.

When they came to a stop, David fumbled for his door and seatbelt. He all but fell out of the car to reach the safety of the sidewalk. Corvus and Dare both exited the vehicle with excited looks, like they’d just gotten off the Goliath roller coaster at Six Flags.

David was on the phone with Fritz as they walked into the building. This new security guy was worthless.

The doorman remembered David and sent him up without calling first. When they got to Adrienne’s floor, they found the door open. David spotted his mom and dad sitting at the dining room table.

They’d just cleared the doorway when a girl came huffing through the door. She must have run up the stairs from the condo where Tyler housed their resident models. She introduced herself as his biggest fan. Her tits were fans, too, apparently, since she kept pushing them against his side.

David’s dad pried his son away from her and pulled him into the kitchen where Tyler was. Darius could be heard telling the girl that he was David’s best friend as they were leaving the room. Both Dawsons chuckled at hearing Dare hit on a girl.

“Hey, stranger. You never come to see us,” Tyler said as she came over and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

“Every time I do, you put me to work,” David complained.

“Speaking of which, we have a new model...” Tyler started.

“Uh, no,” he said emphatically.

She smiled, which worried him.

“Hello, David,” Adrienne said, coming up behind him.

David turned around and took in one of the most gorgeous women to grace this earth.

“What if I asked and sweetened the deal?”

“My dad is standing right there,” David pointed out as he waggled his eyebrows.

His modeling mentor wasn’t fazed. He was sure she’d heard better pickup lines, probably a few last night. But she was in love with Tyler.

“I know I can’t pay you for your time. What if I donate the money to charity?” Adrienne asked.

The NCAA had strict rules about receiving compensation for his likeness. David had to have them sign waivers so he could promote his movies. Part of the agreement was that he couldn’t do any new work of that sort, only complete existing contracts, such as his movies.

“I already talked to Mr. Morris,” Rob said. “And he said that as long as you didn’t pick the charity, it would be okay.”

“So, now you have no excuse,” Adrienne pressed.

“Fine.”

“Dang it!” Tyler grumped.

From the satisfied look on Adrienne’s face, she’d just won a bet as to whether David would do a modeling gig or not.

During breakfast, David met all the models that Adrienne had staying in her two additional condos. He was also able to catch up with his friends Kara and Jill.

Kara’s career had skyrocketed, and she was up for next year’s Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. Jill wasn’t meeting with as much success. Though stunning, she was a bigger girl than ninety-five percent of models, as far as traditional gigs went. If she were eighteen, then other avenues, including men’s magazines, would be available. Adrienne hoped that with the new PC climate, Jill’s healthy look would become an asset.

After breakfast, David took Darius and Corvus into the downstairs bedroom for some privacy.

“You have five minutes,” David said.

“But...” Corvus said with a panicked look on his face.

“Remember when I told you David’s an idiot? He has a short attention span. So if we try to explain it to him properly, he’ll get lost in ‘the math,’” Darius said with a bit of a smirk.

David raised one eyebrow to communicate that Dare better get with it.

“Four minutes,” David said as he glanced at his phone to check the time.

“We can film your football practices and make it so that when you review it with virtual reality headgear, you can see the whole field. I mean, not just what you looked at while running the play in real time,” Dare said.

“I’ve never tried it before, but I’ve seen videos of games. Are you saying I can stop the play and turn my head and see what my other receivers are doing?” David asked.

“Yes, and more. We place cameras along the edges of the field, then combine the video feeds so you can see the play from each angle,” Dare offered.

“How about from overhead?” David asked.

“We hadn’t thought about that,” Dare admitted.

“No problem,” Corvus said eagerly.

“I assume you would want to strap a camera to my helmet so you could see everything from my point of view. The only problem is that I might not be taking every snap,” David said.

Dare and Corvus both smiled.

“Corvus thought of that. We would need one handheld camera. We could attach it to a pole, and they could hold it over your head and behind you,” Dare said.

“That wouldn’t work,” David said. “I have to drop back and move around; the pole would get in the way of the play.”

“Okay, then maybe we’ll use a drone or have a camera on wires like the networks do,” Dare replied, thinking on the fly.

Corvus tugged at Dare’s arm as he looked at the clock on his phone.

“Don’t worry. He didn’t get up and leave yet. David will take as long as it takes, now that he’s interested,” Dare explained and then turned to David. “You are interested, aren’t you?”

“If you have a business plan for Megan and schematics for USC, I am. But I need to clear this with USC’s athletic department. It would be best if what you have planned wouldn’t cause any permanent damage to anything or interfere with what the coaches and other players are doing,” David said.