by Omar Tyree
“Hey, Ivan, what’s going on, man? Am I still good?”
It was Julio and three of his friends, including his little brother, all standing out in the crowd, late. Julio was wearing Dallas Cowboys gear, all pumped and ready to watch the game.
Shit! Ivan cursed himself. How am I gonna work this line out?
Everyone outside wanted to get in, but the place was fast running out of room. And what if a few of the Padres or Chargers come late? Ivan worried.
He thought fast and told Julio, “One minute, man.” Then he grabbed the first security guard he could reach to walk inside with him.
Once they were inside the door, Ivan told him, “Hey, man, do me a favor and grab the guy with the Cowboys jersey and his friends in here. And if any other professional athletes walk up, you let them in as our special guests. But we need to tell everyone else to come earlier next week and enjoy the game somewhere else, because we’re filled to capacity already.”
Ivan didn’t want to max the place out to elbow-room. That would only make it more ripe for a disaster.
The security guard smiled and said, “I got you, man,” and walked back out to do his job.
Ida overheard him and smiled herself. She said, “You sure got your wish tonight, hunh? So I guess we can close the cash box now.”
Ivan chuckled and said, “I guess so.” He went back to working the crowd on his own that night. Lucina wanted no part of it. She didn’t even bother to witness her partner’s smashing triple. The only thing that stopped it from being a home-run hit was the small capacity of the lounge.
“Hey, what up, man? I’m Ivan David,” he introduced himself to the crowd, shaking hands. He wanted to make sure they all remained sociable.
“Yeah, we know who you are,” some of the crowd responded to him. “From IDPromotions.com, right?”
“Yeah,” Ivan answered, grinning. “Y’all need any more bottles of that good stuff ?”
“Is the next bottle free?” someone joked loudly.
Ivan answered, “Naw, this ain’t the place for that, nephew. This is high rollers only in here. So put your money where your mouth is, and we’ll send one of the pretty girls over to collect it.”
They laughed out loud over the football announcers on TV. And they respected Ivan as the chief of the party.
Perry Browning yelled out from the players’ section on the left, “Hey, Ivan, how come you didn’t bring ten of Lucina’s girls? I don’t see enough of ’em in here to go around for me.”
Ivan hollered back to him. “Oh, that’ll happen for you next week. We wanted to see what we were working with first.” Then Ivan addressed the crowd. “But now we know. So make sure y’all show up bright and early again next week. The only reservations we’re taking up in here is cash money.”
“I heard that!” Herman the Big Bad Hitta yelled out.
“THERE GO THE BUS! THERE GO THE BUS!” Perry yelled toward the screen in reference to the Pittsburgh Steelers’ massive running back Jerome Bettis. Bettis rumbled over several Dallas defenders in the secondary for a touch-down, to give the Steelers a 16–3 lead in the second quarter.
As the crowd responded to the replays on the large screen, Perry boasted, “You wait till we play his ass in week twelve! I’m gon’ knock his damn wheels off!”
The Big Bad Hitta hollered right behind him, “THE SHOCKW-A-A-A-AVE!” and high-fived his teammates.
OUTSIDE AT THE INTERSECTION OF THE STREET, Lucina pulled up in her black E-Class Mercedes and eyed the dense crowd of sports fans and exotic cars that surrounded Raymond’s Hot Spot Lounge in the parking lot, as well as on both sides of the street.
“Oh shit, it looks like they did it tonight,” her passenger commented. It was her girl Maya, the dark-haired Colombian.
Lucina remained speechless at the wheel. She pulled up to double park outside the lounge entrance, next to a dark blue Bentley. She pressed her hazard lights on.
“I’ll be right back out,” she told her girl.
“You’re going in to see Ivan?” Maya asked her.
“Of course,” Lucina answered snidely. Why else would I go in?
Maya didn’t think anything of it. “Tell him I said hi.”
Lucina closed the car door behind her without responding.
Out in front of the lounge, the security guards were still trying to clear the disgruntled crowd.
“Look, you all just need to clear away from here. There’s no more room to stand inside.”
“Man, you don’t own this sidewalk,” someone jabbed from the crowd.
Lucina walked right past them all.
“Hey, Lucina Gallo,” one of the security guards noted.
A dark brown baller, draped with jewelry around his neck, in both ears, and across his front teeth, turned to recognize the Brazilian beauty for himself. He had only seen the much-talked-about San Diego woman before from a distance. Twice.
He responded, “Oh, shit, she’s up in the flesh out here.”
Lucina wore another expensive, eye-popping dress, with heels to match. As she walked by, she ignored the men out front as if they were all shadows in the dark.
“Is Ivan still inside?” she asked the security. She wanted them all to know who she was there for. It was more marketing for the future.
“Oh, yeah, he’s still in there,” the security told her.
“Take me inside to see him,” she ordered.
The security guards didn’t say another word. One turned to lead her inside.
One of the other ballers said, “Yo, I thought you said it wasn’t no more room in there,” to the remaining guards.
“There’s always room for her,” one of the guards deadpanned.
A few of the crowd started to chuckle. Someone said, “Well, goddamn, I wish I was Ivan.”
IN SIDE THE LOUNGE, Lucina strolled into the middle of the room and immediately called the attention of her four girls. All eyes were on her, just as she liked it, especially since the game had reached halftime. Her four pretty workers scrambled in her direction from their separate sides of the room, all wearing curve-hugging jerseys and heels with tight blue jeans. Then the whispers started:
“Hey, that’s Lucina.”
“You know who that is, don’t you?”
“That’s Lucina Gallo right there.”
“Is that Lucina?”
“Yo, she da baddest bitch.”
“That girl looks skinny to me.”
“That’s a nice-ass dress she’s wearing.”
“Who the fuck is she?”
“Damn, my dick is hard just looking at her, homes.”
“Yeah, she’s very pretty.”
“I guess she’s the boss bitch, hunh?”
“Why is everybody staring at her?”
There were nearly three hundred opinions of her inside the room.
Perry Browning hollered out above the crowd, “LU-CI-NAAA! You bring six more girls with you? I told Ivan he went cheap on us in here tonight!”
Lucina only smiled in the football player’s direction. She had little tolerance for him that night.
She asked her girls in their huddled circle, “Is everything okay?”
“Yeah, we’re good,” they all answered.
“And are they treating you right in here?”
“Yeah, they’re treating us good.”
Lucina nodded to them. By that time Ivan had spotted her. She made eye contact with him and proceeded to send her girls away. “Okay, everyone go to their own homes tonight. Now let me talk to Ivan,” she told them.
As soon as they all left her, Lucina stared at Ivan through the crowd and gave him a come-here finger motion.
Ivan saw it from across the room and froze.
God knows, I wanna fuck the hell out of that girl, he mused of Lucina’s sexy grandstanding. I thought she said she wasn’t coming tonight. Let me go over here and see what she wants.
When Ivan reached her in the middle of the room, Lucina turned to walk toward the exit,
expecting him to follow her. And as soon as he followed her as she expected him to, he met eyes with Ida and felt a lightning bolt of guilt and shame strike his heart.
Shit! he cursed himself in a panic. I wonder what Ida’s thinking right now. I look like a fucking dog following his master out of the rain.
To make it all seem harmless, Ivan pointed to Ida and stated, “I’ll be right back in. All right?”
Ida made him feel better by nodding to him. “Yeah, okay,” she told him. Whatever, she thought. I know you like that damn girl. Cut your hair down for that bitch and everything. Didn’t even ask me about it. But that’s okay. You won’t be fucking with me tonight. So you best hope she wants to give you some of that South American pussy, because you won’t be touching me. Ever again!
And as Ivan walked out of the lounge behind his seductive partner, the whispers started up in the room again:
“What the hell was that about?”
“You think he’s fucking her?”
“So they’re supposed to be just partners, hunh? Yeah, right.”
“Man, she looked like she was mad as hell at him.”
“I thought he was with the light-skinned sister.”
“That’s a lucky motherfucker right there, homes. Let me tell you.”
Ivan walked outside of the lounge behind Lucina and was disturbed by her. She’d made him look weak in front of Ida at his own event. Then she had the audacity to walk away from him as he continued to follow her like a sidekick.
When she finally stopped and turned to face him a little ways up the street, Ivan asked her in irritation, “What’s going on?” She was acting as if they were a couple who had had a fight.
She stared at him and said, “I just came to check up on you.”
Ivan stared back at her. He frowned and asked her, “And that’s how you do it? You looked like you were having a tantrum in there. What I do to you?” he asked her. “You wanted me to fail? I thought we’re supposed to make money together.”
Lucina continued to stare at him without words.
Finally, she told him, “I don’t want you to fail, Ivan. I’m just concerned about my girls tonight.”
“Bullshit, man. You’re actually jealous that I pulled this shit off without you.”
“That’s not true.”
“Yes, it is,” he argued. “You were mad when your girls even agreed to do it with me. What do you think, you’re Mommie Dearest and they gotta listen to everything you say? They’re trying to get money, have a good time, and live out here, Lucina. That’s all.”
He calmed himself down, realizing he had said enough. He wasn’t even sure if Lucina could take that from him. Was she ready to move on and mark him off as another lost business partner?
She nodded to him and said, “Okay. You did a good job. Just make sure they all get home safe tonight.”
She started walking back toward her Mercedes parked in the street.
Ivan said, “You’re not staying? You can make sure they get home for yourself if you stay.”
Lucina looked back at Ivan from the street and shook her head. “Maya and I are expected at another event tonight.”
Ivan was ready to ask her more about it, but what difference did it make? She had promised to attend someone else’s event on a night when he had set up a party for them to make easy money. He thought about that and was irritated again. It seemed disrespectful to him. She knew he had planned the “Monday Night Football Bash.” She could have at least supported him on the first one.
Nevertheless, he nodded and blew it off. “All right, then. Y’all have a good time tonight.”
“Thank you,” she told him.
Ivan headed back inside the lounge without another word. The third quarter would be starting after halftime.
Lucina watched her determined partner walk away and felt betrayed by her pettiness. She wanted to hurt him just to see if he would bleed. She wanted to know if he still had a heart outside of business. And if he bled, then it proved that he cared. But was it fair for her to test him in that way just to satisfy her own insecurities about their partnership?
When she climbed back into her black Mercedes she felt guilty about it. She sat there in silence for a minute behind the wheel.
“Of course, he wanted us to stay,” she commented to Maya.
Maya read Lucina’s volatile emotions and already knew.
She likes him, she thought with a silent nod. So she’s going through a power struggle with him now. But there was no sense in her speaking up about it. Maya knew that Lucina liked to keep her intimate emotions to herself until she expressed them on her own. Even when they were obvious.
Finally, Lucina took a deep breath and said, “Let’s go,” before she restarted the car to drive off.
IVAN WALKED BACK inside the lounge and made his way over to Ida to calm the rough waters he could sense between them. Ida had already begun to complain about Lucina’s blatant disrespect of her. She also hinted that Ivan gave the woman far too much leeway in their partnership. But the power-play antic Lucina had just pulled inside the lounge may have been the straw to break the camel’s back.
“What did I miss?” Ivan asked Ida in reference to the football game. The game had moved into the third quarter now.
Ida shook off his question. She answered, “I wasn’t really watching it.” She said, “But since you have everyone in here now, I’m getting ready to go. I have some other things I have to prepare for.” She handed him the cash box and the money bag.
Ivan didn’t like how that looked or felt. He asked her, “What’s wrong?” as if he didn’t know.
Ida refused to talk about it. “Nothing’s wrong, I just have some other things to do tonight.”
Ivan stared at her. “Are you sure?”
He was itching to get told off, but instead of taking the bait, Ida took a breath to compose herself. She wanted to remain civil.
She nodded and said, “Yeah, I’m sure. Let me just go ahead and go now.”
Ivan took a deep breath and looked away in frustration for a second and caught Christina eying them from across the room.
He turned back to Ida and nodded. “All right. I’ll call you when I get in tonight.”
When Ida left the lounge, no more than five minutes after Lucina had left him, Ivan felt alone in the crowd, and with a load of money in his hands.
Fuck it, let me go count up this loot, he told himself, moving toward Raymond at the bar.
As he made it through the crowd, he watched all of the girls to see how they were making out. They all looked to be enjoying themselves and working the crowd effectively. He could also see that Audrey was continuing to work her charm on Emilio. She made sure she passed him with every move she made inside the players’ VIP area. Then he watched Christina to see what she was up to. As he studied her from a distance, he noticed that she seemed distracted.
She knows I’m watching her, he told himself. And she knows that Ida is pissed at me. She’s smart like that.
“Hey, Raymond, can I use your back office for a minute?” he asked behind the bar area.
Raymond was working his ass off behind the bar, with boxes, bottles, and glasses everywhere. But he was pleased as hell to be doing so.
He looked up at Ivan while filling another drink order and noticed the metal cash box and money bag in his hands.
“Oh, sure, Ivan, one minute,” he said, finishing up the drink. He grinned and led Ivan back to his office. “You really did it tonight, man. I mean, really. This is gonna be a great deal for us.”
His wife was hard at work, filling drink orders with two other bartenders. Three waitresses and Lucina’s girls all worked the floor.
Ivan smiled at Raymond and said, “I’m just glad you decided to do it.”
“Oh, me, too, man. Me, too.”
Ivan closed and locked the door behind him before spreading the money out across the floor. He sat in Raymond’s office chair, leaned over, and separated the hundreds, fifties,
twenties, tens, fives, and ones as usual. But this time he did it by himself. And when he did his recount, the take from the door came to exactly $5,238.
Ivan grinned and mumbled, “Either Ida let somebody in for eighteen dollars, or she took or lost two singles out of the cash box.”
He wasn’t going to make a big deal over that. But Ida had left without even being paid that night.
“Yeah, I know something’s up with her now,” he assumed.
He set the metal cash box and the money bag in a corner of the room and returned to the bar to have Raymond lock the office back up until they were ready to close for the night.
“What are you guys looking like tonight?” he asked Raymond in reference to their take at the bar.
Raymond looked at him and said, “So far, thirteen thousand.”
Ivan smiled, feeling like a contestant on the game show The Price Is Right. His estimates were right on target. It felt like he was taking candy from a baby.
He nodded and said, “Okay.” Another G for me, he thought. But just imagine if I owned the lounge.
He stepped away from Raymond and pulled Christina from her VIP duties to speak to her in private for a minute.
“Are you all right over there? You doing okay?”
She looked at him with all of her girlish innocence. “Yeah, I’m okay. Why do you ask me that?”
Ivan felt her steadiness all over him. That was what he was used to from her. But he couldn’t see it from her when he was staring at her.
He said, “Maybe it’s just me, but you seemed to be… distracted tonight.”
She shook it off again. “No, I’m good. But how are you doing? Is everything all right with you?”
Ivan looked into her small dark eyes, surrounded by her beautiful brown skin and dark wavy hair, and he began to think with the wrong head. He felt like reaching out and pulling her sexy frame into him and telling her the blunt truth at that moment.
After making this easy money in here tonight, I feel like I deserve some good pussy. Seriously!
Since Ida and Lucina had left him there alone, Ivan had no other bumpers to keep him away from a payout from Chris. So instead of him playing it all business, like his normal MO, Ivan changed up his script.
