Chapter 22

When I went to my room, I called Wang. I first let him know that I had the chips and would be able to gamble them back into the system some time soon. I asked about clubs to take the girls to and he said that he didn’t have much pull outside of Chinatown but to call Tony.

I called Tony and he said, “You sound like my daughter. Let me check with my guy. I don’t keep up with that shit.” He was gone for five minutes and then picked up the phone. “Be at the door of CBGB at 8pm and ask for Ronnie.” I’d barely thanked him when I heard him hang up.

I told the girls we were going to a club and be ready by 6pm. We would go to dinner first. There were squeals as they all ran out. It was only 4:30 but I guess they needed time. Grace came over and sat on my lap. “Why did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Bet for me and QI?”

“I saw in your eyes that you were going to win or die trying. I believed in you. If it would have been planned I would have talked to you both first but it was last minute and unexpected so I decided to do what I thought was best and let you get something from the fight besides revenge. You weren’t on the fight card and didn’t get paid for fighting so it all worked out.”

“Bull, when we saw over two thousand dollars in our account we were both blown away. We’d never saved that much in our lives. Then we have our own rooms in this amazing apartment. You trust us with your car, the money in your safe. I came from a fucking gang. If I was still in the gang they would tell me to kill you and take it all.”

“Do I need to worry about that?”

“No, I would die for you. You’ve taken me in when everyone else threw me away. You saved my sister and even helped my grandfather who sold us. I’ve done some bad things before but now, I have honor. I have freedom, I have security. I close my eyes at night without a care about waking up or my next meal. I don’t know if I can accept the money.”

“Do with it what you want. I placed the bet for you and you only got the profit. Not what I bet.”

“I don’t need anything, I don’t want anything. I have money coming in and don’t have anything to spend it on. Would your girl, Heather, take care of it for us? I don’t want my grandfather to know that we have it.”

“I think it’s below her minimum but I’m sure she’ll make an exception for you two.”

“Bull, I know you don’t feel comfortable with this but know that Qi and I belong to you. If you stopped paying us today, we would still serve you. We both love and care for you very much.”

“I may not always do things that make you happy. I saw your look when I was having sex with Karen last night.”

“I do wish that I would have been in her place but I was also proud of how well you performed. Like you were proud of me winning the fight. I was proud of you at how well you performed.”

I just held her for a while as she had her head on my chest. We finally drifted apart as she went to get ready for the club and so did I. We took a limo from the hotel and went to dinner at the restaurant at the top of the poker room. Gary was there and was happy to greet all the girls. We allowed them to drink since we were going out and didn’t know if they could drink at the club.

We met Ronnie at 8:00 and he looked upset at doing the favor until he saw that I was the only guy. He led us to the VIP section on a balcony overlooking the stage. There were a few people there and looking forward to the show. It was a band out of Los Angeles. They had an album out but few had heard of them. They started with a howl of a vocal and the guitar came in strong. I got up to look down and see the band. The music was hard rocking and I loved the sound. The girls were all up screaming and I saw that someone had passed them a joint or two and they were passing it around.

The band was called Guns N’ Roses. The manager and record producer were both in the VIP area with us as well as some other band called Jane’s addiction and a black woman named Tracy Chapman. They were both new and upcoming artists. The girls were not carded and it took some work from Qi and Grace to keep them out of trouble. At one point, Jill came up and said, “Grace said I needed to talk to you if I wanted to go someplace private with that guy over there.”

“Do you have a ride home? Will you be there in time for the game? Do you really want to leave your friends and the thought of safety? You can always call Andrew when we get back.”

She thought for a minute. “I’ve been horny for two days and besides the massages and my own fingers haven’t had much release. If Andrew turns me down, I’ll be in your bed tonight.”

“I hope he turns you down.”

That got me a smile and a kiss as she told the guy that she was staying with her friends. The band played two sets and when we left at 1am, the girls were drunk and high. Jill called Andrew and went over to pick up the tickets. She didn’t stay long since he had a game the next day but she got her wish and did something adventurous sexually.

The next day was breakfast and then over to the game for a 1pm kickoff. We left with a few minutes left as the Giants were winning and the girls wanted to change clothes before flying. They’d checked out earlier but had all their bags at my place and they were all showering and getting ready. The car from the hotel took them to the airport and I got hugs and kisses from all of them as they left. I whispered to Kari that I would be down in a couple weeks to do my rounds. She just winked at me.

With the time I had, I spent a weekend in the bedroom with Sin. She needed some loving and some pounding. She got both and liked my new place. I spent the night with Carol a couple times once at her place and once at mine. I met with the managers and my accountant. Adam said that everything was running smoothly and he didn’t see anything that raised alarms. Heather set up accounts for Qi and for Grace and I told her to mirror my account. I’d missed another year of sailing and reminded myself that I needed to make time.

One afternoon I was done with my meetings and had nothing planned for the night. I had Qi drive me down to play cards. Grace came along and brought a book as she sat off to the side and read while I played. I normally bought in for the minimum. I was seated at a $100k buy in table. I was the youngest there by probably 20 years. I recognized one guy from the yacht club but he just nodded. I won a few hands and one guy started to give me some grief. I was playing with found money or money that I didn’t have to get out of the bank or my safe so I was playing somewhat aggressively but with some outs.

I was dealt a 10 and 8 of diamonds. By themselves they weren’t great but they could connect to make a straight or three other diamonds could make a flush. The flop came Ace, King and nine. The ace and nine were diamonds. The nine also helped my straight. One guy bet $37k and ran off two of the five in the pot. One guy called and I called. I figured he had an ace, a king or two pairs. He could have a set if he had pocket nines, aces or kings. I would need another diamond or runner, runner to hit my straight. The seven of clubs came and I knew it didn’t help anyone. The same guy bet $52k and again two calls. A three of diamonds came on the river and unless someone had a higher flush, I knew I had the best hand. I only had about $15k in front of me. The guy betting all in with $49k the other guy folded and I called, with my $15k. He pulled back $34k to make the pot right and flipped over a set. Pocket aces with one on the board. I flipped over my two diamonds for the flush and he was pissed. I’d won over $200k in one hand and he couldn’t believe I would call the bets he made with the cards I had.

He was calling me all kinds of names and telling me how bad my odds were and how dumb I was. Some of the others at the table were looking away as to not get involved. I said, “What were your odds for hitting a boat or quads? They were about the same as me hitting my flush. Throw in the open ended straight. I was ahead on odds even though you were ahead in the hand. You were only betting so much so you could run people off that were hoping to catch. I was willing to risk some money and it paid off. Maybe next time it won’t, but I won’t cry about it either way.”

“Are you some kind of trust fund baby? Don’t know the value of money or mom and dad will come in and pick up the pieces?”

“I do have a trust fund but created it myself. My CPA thought it was a good idea. I know the value of money and what a thousand dollars means to one man is not the same for the next. You put more than some people’s houses on the table when you sit down. Don’t you know the value of money?”

The guy from the yacht club, Hugo said, “I know that I just came by to have fun. How about we play some cards? I’m sure we all work hard for our money and for the time to play cards and put it at risk.” A couple others grunted their approval.

The next hand I was dealt pocket sevens. The loudmouth still had the $34k left in front of him. I bet $34k. He just looked at me knowing that I was calling him out. Everyone else folded before the flop. He called me with an ace and a ten. We watched five cards get flipped over. Not a single ace or ten in the mix. A seven came on the river just to rub salt in the wound. He got up and walked over to the bar.

Hugo said, “I haven’t seen you around much, Bull. What have you been up to?”

“Making money mostly. I was just saying to myself that I needed to get a boat next year and get out on the water. I’ve been too busy the last couple years.”

“I’m looking at moving up to a sixty-five foot sloop next year. My wife is finally comfortable with the lines and there are some self furling sails that take a lot of the work out of it.”

“I was thinking about one of those big catamarans. Something fast. I don’t need a place to sleep, just something to sail on.”

“The Petersons got one of the new cats that has sleeping compartments in the hulls. It isn’t built for racing but they say it’s more stable. They like it a lot.”

The conversation was still calm and friendly as we played. Loud mouth was back with another $100k in chips. Hugo was asking what I was doing to make money.

“Mostly real estate and the stock market. I’ve had good years in both.”

One of the other players said, “I took a bath in the market and the value of real estate seems to be down. My banker told me that the building my business is in is up for sale. I was thinking about buying it.”

I said, “It’s probably a good time to buy.”

Loud mouth said, “Commodities are the place to be. Both real estate and stocks have done shit this year. I trade commodities and haven’t had the big dive.”

Hugo got back in the conversation, “How did you do so well if everyone else was taking a hit? All my money is in my business. We’re growing like crazy and I’m borrowing as much as I can to expand.”

“I hope you don’t lose your expansion tonight.” I joked. “I was short the market when it went down thanks to our friend at the club. After the tax changes at the end of last year, I started to buy real estate and have found some pretty nice buildings, dirt cheap.”

“It sounds like you timed it well. If you have anything you want to lend, let me know.”

“Meet me tomorrow for lunch. I’m always willing to listen.”

Loudmouth won back some of his money but not much. I cashed out the money from the night and the chips that I still had in my pocket. I mentioned it to the manager so he wouldn’t be too worried about the count at the end of the night. Hugo walked out with me. He was going to call a cab but I offered him a ride. He actually lived in my building. He was a few floors down. I invited him for a drink.

“I thought these floors weren’t available. The top floor was priced like it was the last place to live in New York but he sold them all.”

“I own this floor and the next one down. All the doors on this floor are just doors besides my place. So tell me about your business and why you need cash.” He told me about computers and his company Control Video Corporation. They did something that he called online and he was opening data centers to do stuff for a company called Atari out in California.

“Bull, banks don’t understand my business and by the time they’re willing to part with some funds, I’ve already spent that and need more. I feel like I spend 80% of my time raising funds.”

“When will the tides turn and this huge outflow will turn into a huge inflow?”

“I would say that we should be at break even in two years and having trouble counting cash in five.”

“How much do you think you’ll need for infrastructure between now and then?”

“With phone lines and data centers, switches, routers, marketing, advertising, I would say fifty million.”

“What do you think it will be worth?”

“A few billion. There are a lot of changes going on right now with computers. What people use huge mainframes for will be changed to small boxes under everyone’s desks.”

“If I didn’t want to loan you money but buy in as a partner, how much would fifty million buy me?”

He sat back in his chair and took a long sip of his drink. “Bull to be honest, the company today as we stand isn’t worth fifty million. I don’t think I would want to sell control of the company.”

“How much is it worth today?”

“The banks have it at $40 million.”

“How much do you owe?”

“About eight.”

“Why don’t we set it up this way? I’ll have my CPA verify your numbers. If he agrees with the banks, I’ll give you twenty. That will pay off the banks and give you twelve million operating capital. I’ll get twenty percent. I’ll have the option to buy in three more times to get ten, ten and nine percent for a total of 49%. A million dollars a percent. That way as the company grows you’ll have the capital and I can get something for my investment.”

“You’re willing to give me half the value of my company for a twenty percent stake. That’s a crazy offer but on the other hand, I wouldn’t sell you the whole thing for a hundred. Let me think about it and talk to my wife and my COO. We can still meet for lunch tomorrow at the club.”

He let himself out. I stood with a bourbon in my hand looking out at the city. I was thinking to myself, “How do I get mixed up in these things?”

We had lunch and he said that the extra time and the lack of interest payments would free them up both timewise and on the financial side that their projections for growth went up by 60%. We shook on the deal in theory and I set him up with Adam to meet and go over the books. I had to go to Florida but would be back in a week to sign off if Adam approved.