Page 12 of The Biker and the Gamer
He pops the cap off his beer and takes a swig. “Vaughn and Drake? Yeah. What happened?”
“Well, I sorta had lunch with the ‘Vaughn’ from Vaughn and Drake today. The Asian one. They’re offering me a hundred thousand dollars to use me in their game. But I haven’t given an answer yet—I wanted to talk to you first. Hear your thoughts.”
He scoffs. “Ask for five.”
“What, you think they’re lowballing me?”
He props himself against the island. “Not really, ‘cause you’re no one famous. But I know they can afford more, so take advantage and ask for more.”
“How do you know that?” Toni asks him.
“Because I’ve met Vaughn and Drake. Alec Vaughn is Eric’s little brother.”
Ohhhhh.I slap my palm to my forehead. How had I not put the pieces together? Eric Vaughn is Grunt’s “new life” best friend and co-worker. He, too, is an engineer. We’ve not exactly warmed up to each other, but we’ve been at a few gatherings together.
“You know how much they made after a month of releasing Thorned Venture last year?” he continues. “Three hundred and thirty-three million. By the end of the year, they were billionaires. Trust me on this, take advantage of this and ask for five. Drake, the smart business guy in it all, will totally fight it. I’m surprised he’s not the one you had lunch with. But Alec is the creative mind, so if you’re who he wants, he’ll fork it out.”
A huge smile stretching my lips, I look to Toni and ask, “Which one do you like more: the bad boy-caveman-biker Grunt, or the techie know-it-all Nero?”
Toni grins back. “Whenever he has his hair down like this, I know I’m getting Techie Nero. But whenever he has it pulled back in his sexy man-bun, I get the bad boy biker Grunt.” She eyes her man and her cheeks redden. “I’m always ready for either, because I’m deeply in love with both.”
“Whatever,” Grunt grumbles. Then he points his beer bottle at me. “Do what I tell you, hear?”
After taking another sip of my soda, I smirk. “Maybe I’ll shoot for the moon and ask for a mil.”
“Yeah, now that’s just plain ass stupid,” he growls and leaves the kitchen. “Pull that and you won’t get shit.”
Toni and I burst out laughing. Becausethatwas Grunt.
Alec
“You're kidding me, right?” Cedric snorts.
Three days. That’s how long Kendra Tisdale made us wait before returning with a counteroffer. For five hundred thousand dollars. Much to Cedric’s disbelief.
The truth is, the original offer Cedric and I agreed on was two hundred thousand. I had intentionally low-balled her at a hundred thousand with the expectation of a counteroffer for double the original. I would’ve pretended to capitulate, knowing two hundred thousand is what we intended to pay to begin with.
What I didn’t anticipate was a counteroffer for three hundred thousandmorethat we planned. Not that we can’t afford it. Hell, I even respect her for it. Seize every opportunity and squeeze the most out of it.
However, I knew the moment I hung up that this would be a big issue for Cedric. He doesn’t appreciate the importance of creativity, imagination coming to life. All he cares about are the commas and the zeroes, the ROI, savings and revenues. Whichisimportant, of course. I mean, I wouldn't be as rich as I am without the guy. But 500k is nothing for creativity on this scale.
“Two hundred thousand. That's our final offer,” he says. “We have a budget and we're sticking to it. Remember, this wasn’t planned. We already amended the budget to accommodate this new idea.”
“I’ll pay it.”
Cedric glances over at me from where he’s seated at the dinner table, his laptop open in front of him. “I'm sorry?”
“I’ll pay the rest out of pocket,” I repeat.
“Why on earth would you dothat?”
“Because I want her.”
At that, Cedric turns in his chair to face the couch, where I'm sprawled back. His eyes are shrewd and discerning. “You do understand that it's never, ever, smart to mix business with pleasure, right?”
Never said I was smart. “Where's the pleasure part coming from?”
“Oh, don't give me that. I saw how you were looking at her that evening. You like her. That's why you didn’t want me to take the offer to her.”
