Jack's phone rang. He picked it up and saw it was Henry calling.
"Hey Henry, what's up?" he asked.
"It's done," Henry said. "Check your accounts."
"Hold on," Jack said, then logged into his bank account.
"Oh wow. So many zero's," he muttered.
He heard Henry chuckle over the phone as he looked at the list of transactions in his main bank account. First was a deposit of six hundred and fifty-three million credits. Then there was a withdrawal of seventeen million six hundred and twenty-three thousand four hundred and ten credits. This was the payment to Summit Partners. Most of that was the premium for the insurance policy they used to mitigate the risk of losing his lottery ticket. Then there was a transfer of sixty million to his Plutus Financial bank account. Fifty of that was for Natalie to manage. The rest was to cover the costs of leasing offices, buying computers, and purchasing access to stock and commodity exchanges. Next was a transfer of twenty million credits to his North Star Properties account. After that, was a transfer of two million credits to Henry's new law practice. And finally, was a withdrawal of one million credits, which Jack knew was to create the trust fund for the cashier that had sold him the ticket.
"So, how long before you can hire a real-estate agent? Madison and I have already identified several homes near NSU that we think would make good purchases."
"It will take a few days for me to get set up before I can do that. Once I am, I'll send you my new e-mail address, then you can send me your list of addresses."
"Sound's good. Looking forward to working with you."
"Me too. Talk to you later."
"Well?" asked Madison, who had been quietly siting next to him on the couch.
"I am officially rich as fuck!" he declared, ginning so hard it hurt. He suddenly felt an almost overpowering urge to rush out and start spending money like a madman. To take out a big wad of cash and just start flinging cash at people in the middle of the mall. To throw a party and invite everyone from his former high school just so he could rub their noses in his newfound wealth.
That last desire was especially strong. He imagined himself, on a giant mattress floating in the middle of a pool with him, Madison, and a bunch of high-class "models", all naked and fucking, while his former classmates looked on in jealousy. The guys, jealous because they wished they too could afford to throw a wild party and fuck beautiful women, the girls, jealous because they wished they were Madison, benefiting from his wealth.
His day dreaming was interrupted by Madison trying to climb into his lap. He gently pushed her back and asked, "Have you finished confessing to the girls you lied to?"
She bowed her head and said, "No. I'm having trouble locating a Jessica and Analise."
"What about Robin, Ginger, and Zoe?"
"I was able to talk to them," she said, then sighed. He could tell she was unhappy with the outcome.
"And?"
"Zoe just said, 'Damn girl, you cold!' then hung up on me, and Ginger told me to tell you 'good luck'. But Robin...she..."
"What?" he could tell she was reluctant to speak.
"She...she didn't remember who you were."
"Huh." That stung. Just a little. He'd not had much interaction with Robin before or after he asked her out, so he had to admit, he didn't have any reason to expect her to remember him. Still, it stung. But, no matter. He had a chance with Katie and Sam, so Robin didn't matter. Neither did the others, really. He just wanted to make sure Madison had cleared his name with them.
He could feel through their connection that Madison was sad and somewhat discouraged that he had rebuffed her attempt to share in his excitement. He had stopped her from climbing into his lap because he didn't want her to get the idea that she was forgiven. Not yet. Not until she'd cleared his name. But he also didn't want her to get depressed, so he put his hand on her thigh and squeezed gently.
"Hang in there," he reassured. "You've contacted three out of the five. Just two more to go. I'm sure you'll manage."
She nodded. He could tell that she really appreciated him touching her. Maybe a bit too much, so he pulled his hand back and said, "Now that I'm rich. I think it's time to buy a new car. My Sentra is rapidly approaching rust bucket status and I really don't want it breaking on the highway."
"I need to get you a car as well. I have no interest in being your chauffeur."
"Really?!" she asked.
"Yes. I'm not going to give you the rust bucket, and I'm sure there will be times when we need to be in different places. We will be taking different classes after all."
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Jack and Madison walked into the Toyota dealership and headed towards the showroom. He had already made his purchase online, but they wanted to test drive a few models before making their purchase for Madison.
His online purchase was a Land cruiser, mostly because he liked to go hiking and some trailheads were only reachable by poorly maintained dirt roads, but also partly because it could seat five. He had visions of him, Madison, Sam, and Katie all going somewhere together.
Madison was thinking of getting either a GR Supra, or GR86, but hadn't decided yet. If she got the GR Supra, she would only have room for one passenger. Technically, both cars would be his and they could each drive either, so he left the decision up to her.
They wandered the show floor for a while and Jack was wondering where the salespeople were when an older man approached them while they were looking at the GR Supra.
"This might be a bit much for you. Why don't we go take a look at the Corolla? Or are your parents here as well?"
Jack was wearing jeans and a plain gray t-shirt over a white long-sleeved undershirt. Madison was wearing black leggings, a yellow t-shirt, and a normal sized, fashionable, dark green hoodie. Jack's jeans were slightly faded and his clothes were clearly not new, so it seemed this salesman had made an assumption about Jack's purchasing power based on his age and working man's fashion.
Jack sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose while shaking his head. This was going to get old real quick. But Fran had warned him there would be days like this, and the mature thing to do was to ignore the implied insult and act like an adult. So, that's what he would try to do, mostly.
"My parents are dead," Jack replied calmly. Then, before the salesman had time to reply, he continued, "I purchased a Land cruiser online and I'm here to pick it up. We also want to look at the GR Supra and the GR86. Maybe take both for a test drive before making a decision."
Jack watched as the salesman's face shifted from surprise to embarrassment, back to surprise, then settled on strained neutrality.
"I'm sorry to hear about your parents, young man," said the salesman. "I'm sure I can help you with your selection. If you'll follow me, we can see about arranging a test drive of the GR86 for you. Then I can look into your online purchase."
While the older salesman had been talking, Jack had noticed a younger man loitering in the background. Based on the way the younger man winced when Jack had mentioned his dead parents, he suspected the man was also a salesperson.
Jack shook his head. "I think we'd prefer to work with a different salesperson," he said, while waving the younger man over.
The older salesman frowned, then turned and glared at the approaching young man. "I've got this, Kenneth," he said unhappily.
The younger man replied, with a hint of schadenfreude in his tone, "Not from what I just heard."
Then the younger man reached out his right hand towards Jack. "Hi, I'm Kenneth, junior sales associate. But you can call me Ken."
"What are you doing?" the older man asked angrily.
"What's it look like I'm doing, Bob?" the young man asked calmly. "I'm talking to a valued customer."
"You know the rules, Kenny," the older man said acidly. "No poaching."
Ken turned to look Bob in the eyes. "You and I both know this is not poaching, Bob. They called me over of their own volition, without prompting from me. And it's obvious that they are not enamored of your presence."
Bob looked between Jack and Kenneth, said, "We'll see," then stomped off.