Ivan was a little defensive. His team sounded as if they were getting paranoid too early about being swindled on a buyout. He assumed that it was mostly coming from Eddie. He was a business veteran who had broken off to do something different. And maybe he was becoming greedy too fast.

  Eddie grinned and took a sip of his soda from the straw. He said, “We would just like a first-option clause, that’s all. With us helping you to build this thing, we thought that would be fair for all of us.”

  Ivan paused and calmed his nerves. There was no sense in him getting too excited over speculation. He had to manage it.

  He stood his ground and said, “The first thing we need to do is focus on making sure the website continues to grow. So I’m using all of my resources, just like you are, to make sure that happens. Now, as far as me giving you guys a first-option clause, the biggest problem with that is not knowing what the value is yet.”

  Eddie said, “Well, we could all sit down and work that out later, Ivan. We just want to make sure that we would have a right to have those conversations with you.”

  Ivan thought it over and mellowed out. Eddie was only being a good businessman. Ivan had to admit that their input, creativity, and professional efforts had all worked in tandem to create something special.

  Finally, he nodded and said, “All right, that’s fair. I’ll have my lawyers draw up something.”

  Eddie nodded back to him and grinned. “Great. Now I have a lot of good news for you. And none of this is definite yet, but it’s definitely gonna happen for us in the very near future.”

  He pulled out several files of paperwork from his briefcase and set them all out on the left side of the table.

  “After thinking about the editorial content, I went ahead and printed out some articles we could share with the writing staff that would really help us to get after these sponsorships a lot more aggressively.”

  Ivan looked at all the paperwork Eddie had printed out to present him, and he read the situation correctly.

  Okay, the man is trying to show off all of his value to me now, he told himself. He smiled over the table and remained speechless. And I notice he didn’t show me anything until he got what he wanted on this first-option clause. I guess that’s just what good businesspeople do, he mused. I probably would have done the same thing.

  WHEN IVAN MET back up with Thomas Jones, his real estate and business mentor had lined up six foreclosure properties to take a look at, right outside San Diego State’s campus.

  “Now, I would advise you to get in on these things fast, Ivan,” he warned. “Foreclosures are not for slow movers.”

  Ivan told him, “I understand.” He planned to waste no time deciding which three properties he would buy in his price range.

  Thomas said, “And my part for doing this for you, and educating you on the deals, is a free real estate banner on that website of yours. You said you’re about to start up a real estate page soon, right?”

  Ivan was already thinking about a real estate sponsor for the page.

  He said, “Actually, if you can get your real estate brokerage to sponsor the page, that would work out great for both of us.”

  Thomas argued, “That won’t work out great for me. If they sponsored the page, then I would have to compete with the other agents for all of the new business.”

  Ivan said, “Naw, we could still put up your banner, the company would just sponsor the page. So everyone would still see your personal spotlight for business. But I can’t even put up the page without securing a sponsor, because I gotta pay my webmasters to do it.”

  Thomas looked at Ivan and started laughing. He said, “I had no idea you would be this damn good this fast, Ivan. But come on, now, you put up this whole damn website without needing sponsors, so don’t tell me you gotta wait for one now to put up a real estate page.”

  He added, “However, once you get this page up and running and I let them know how much business you’ve brought in for me, I’ll be able to talk them into doing something with you.”

  Ivan smiled back and laughed himself. They were both running a me-first game on each other. He said, “You know I’m gonna do it, man. You’ve helped me out too much for me to act crazy on you. But at the same time, I can’t afford to wait around for you to ask your guys to sponsor the page. So, if you don’t ask them now, then that option may no longer be open.”

  Thomas looked at him and said, “Ivan, now, you know I understand business. Money talks, bullshit walks. So I’ll ask them about it, but I wouldn’t count on anything from them too soon.” He said, “To be frank, when it comes to spending dollars outside the normal channels, these guys can be reeeaal slow. You gotta prove everything to ’em first. They even wanna know what color drawers you wear before they spend money with you.”

  Ivan joked, “Well, you tell them I wear money-green boxers…Fruit of the Loom.”

  And they shared a laugh.

  THINGS WERE MOVING and shaking at lightning speed in the new year. Ivan had already made another fifty thousand dollars by the end of January: a split of seven thousand each week from NFL playoff parties at Raymond’s, another seven thousand split each week from a combination of small cow parties downtown and around San Diego, and a more than twenty-thousand-dollar net from website advertisement.

  The website ad team had reached nearly forty ads a month, with five page sponsors on board, including Hutch & Mitchell Accounting and Pacific Property Realtors for the “Financial Corner” and the “San Diego Real Estate” pages, respectively. With the additional web pages, their ad capacity and viewer impressions continued to grow.

  “Now we can make close to a hundred thousand a month off the ads before we even increase our rates again,” Ivan told himself while going over the numbers at his apartment. He used his second bedroom as a home office, with a large desk, a leather office chair, two meeting chairs, a large LCD screen for his computer, a color laser printer, a multipurpose fax and copy machine, and a separate phone line. He had begun the process of remodeling and painting the three foreclosure properties he had bought close to San Diego State’s campus. They were on schedule to open up the home office for business by the second week of February.

  Ivan leaned back in his downtown apartment office chair and propped his feet up on the desk like a big boss. He told himself out loud, “I’m turning twenty-nine this year. I’m not even thirty yet. And I’m making out like a bandit now.”

  Then he checked his watch to make sure he was still on time for the party he promised to stop by and make an appearance at downtown.

  It was only nine thirty, right on schedule.

  “I need to buy an upgraded watch, too,” he reminded himself.

  As soon as he stood up to get himself ready for the party, his cell phone rang from his hip. He looked down and read the number. It was Julio, his old neighbor.

  Ivan answered his call. “Hey, Julio. What’s going on, man?”

  Julio said, “I got great news for you, Ivan. You know I’ve been telling my cousin about you, right? So I told him to check out your website. And when he finally got around to looking at it, he says he loves it now, man. So he told some of the guys to check it out, and now Busta Rhymes, Eve, and Xzibit all want to come down to San Diego and do a couple parties or whatever with you. He told me even DJ Quik checked out your website.”

  Ivan said, “Oh, yeah? So again, man, what’s their price tags for a basic party appearance? Because I’m not paying thirty to fifty thousand dollars just for them to show up,” he repeated.

  “Yeah, but that’s okay,” Julio told him. “They’re willing to work with us now. So, if you, like, can give us fifteen thousand in cash, we can work it all out.”

  Ivan listened closely to the language and understood that Julio and his cousin had placed themselves in the middle of the deal. And since Ivan doubted Mike Elizondo would be hurting for money with production credits on multiple Dr. Dre records, he figured that Julio was using the opportunity to jump-start a bankroll for himself.

  But that’s all right. I can’t stop a man’s hustle. As long as he can guarantee that they’ll be here, Ivan reasoned.

  He said, “Well, I can’t send them fifteen thousand dollars in cash through the mail. They would have to be here to get it.”

  Julio said, “That’s no problem. Just give me, like, five thousand as a down payment, and I’ll make sure on my cousin’s word that they’ll be here.”

  Ivan asked him, “Will I get a chance to even talk to them first, just to say hi over the phone or something?”

  “Oh, if you wanna do that, man, then yeah. We can make that happen. I just gotta let my cousin know.”

  Ivan didn’t have the time to talk to Julio all night about it. He had a party to prepare for. So he cut their conversation short.

  “All right, well, just call me back and let me know who’s ready to come down first and on what date. All right, Julio? But I gotta run now, man. I got another party to attend tonight.”

  “Oh, yeah, where at?”

  “In the Gaslamp.”

  IVAN STROLLED OUT of his downtown apartment building after ten o’clock that Thursday night wearing a dark blue sports jacket over a cream-colored mock turtleneck.

  “Have a good night, Ivan,” the on-duty security guard told him out front. He was aware of Ivan’s popularity as a party promoter, and he had seen him around a few times with the pretty women who surrounded him.

  “Oh, yeah—you, too,” Ivan responded.

  He now lived a five-block walking distance from the Fifth Avenue Gaslamp Quarter.

  This is real convenient for me now, he thought as he paced forward with a wide grin.

  Lucina called him on his cell as soon as he had made it halfway there.

  “Are you on your way here?” she asked him. “Jeffrey Morefield from the Chargers is here with his fiancée. They have a wedding date now,” she told him.

  Ivan could hear the music in the background through her phone.

  “Yeah, I’ll be there in five minutes. So tell Jeffrey and his lady to hold tight for me.”

  AS SOON AS LUCINA clicked off her cell phone to return to the party, one of her girls approached her in a panic.

  “Lucina, that guy I was telling you about is here. I really think he’s stalking me.”

  She was a brown-haired white girl with very pert breasts, wearing a small top that exposed her flat stomach.

  “The military guy?” Lucina asked her.

  “Yeah.”

  Lucina had heard enough already. She wanted to get to the bottom of things. Her girlfriend had obviously gotten herself into more trouble than she could handle.

  “Where is he now? Point him out to me.”

  Her friend looked even more terrified. “What are you gonna do?”

  “I’m gonna ask him what his problem is,” Lucina told her.

  “Lucina, he’s crazy, that’s his problem.”

  “Well, you let me be the judge of that. Now where is he?”

  She began to search through the partially crowded dance floor. It was a mostly red-lit club called the Red Cave.

  “He’s right at the bar,” her girlfriend informed her.

  Lucina spotted a clean-cut, clean-shaven white man sitting at the bar solo.

  “The guy in the striped shirt?” she asked.

  Her girl looked cautiously. She didn’t want the man to turn and spot them looking at him. “Yeah, that’s him.”

  Lucina took a breath and began to walk in the man’s direction through the club. The party was too upscale for any nonsense. It was more of a business affair.

  “Lucina, no…” her girl cried out to stop her. But it was too late. Lucina was halfway to the bar already, and she was not planning on turning back.

  When she arrived in front of the young Marine at the bar, she said, “You seem to know one of my friends very well. Her name is Faloni.”

  The soldier, in his midtwenties, looked into Lucina’s eyes and nodded. He said, “Yeah, I do know her. But she’s trying to pretend now that she doesn’t know me. And I just wanted to ask her why.”

  “Is that why you’ve been following her?” Lucina asked him. “Because she does not like it. And you should give yourself something else to do before I tell security.”

  “Tell security what?” he asked, confused. He hadn’t done anything wrong.

  “That you are making a guest feel uncomfortable.”

  He said, “Well, excuse me, but I have the right to be here like everyone else. I paid my money to get in just like they did.”

  Lucina dug into her purse and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill. She held it in front of him and said, “You may leave now. And my friend does not choose to know you any longer.”

  The Marine shook it off and refused to take the money. He said, “Well, I still choose to know her.”

  Lucina took a breath and decided to go another route. She said, “Look, you are an American soldier, correct?”

  He nodded and answered, “Yeah.”

  “So, how come you don’t have any respect for the citizens of your country?”

  She hoped that her obvious accent would allow him to understand the ridiculousness of his irrational behavior. And it worked. He finally took the twenty-dollar bill she had offered him and stood up to head for the door.

  He said, “You tell Faloni that she needs to learn how to be a real lady.”

  “Thank you. I will,” Lucina told him as he began to head for the door.

  Ivan walked in just as the Marine began to walk away. He caught the tail end of the exchange.

  “What was that about?” he asked Lucina.

  She exhaled and shook it off. “It was nothing important.” She looked Ivan over, nodded, and smiled briefly. “You look good tonight,” she told him. “Let’s go find Jeffrey and his fiancée now.”

  Ivan followed her into another section of the darkened room.

  “Hey, Ivan, how are you tonight?” Faloni asked him, grinning.

  Lucina eyed her sharply and said, “I will speak with you later. Okay?”

  Faloni caught on to her sharp reaction and backed off.

  “Oh, okay. Well, thanks.”

  Ivan noticed the stiff-arm Lucina had given her and chuckled. “What did she do?”

  Lucina answered, “She made her life more complicated than she needed to.” She changed her tone and smiled when they reached the football player and his fiancée.

  “Jeffrey, Ivan is here now,” she commented.

  Jeffrey Morefield turned to face them, looking professional as usual.

  “Hey, Ivan. Let me introduce you to my fiancée, Lachelle.”

  Jeffrey had not been to many of their events lately. And when he did show, he had not brought his fiancée.

  Ivan extended his hand to her and was impressed. She was a tall, slim, medium brown woman with very smooth skin and a mane of curly, reddish-brown hair. She also had small eyes like Christina’s, but her cheekbones were higher.

  “Hi, I-van. I’ve heard a lot about you and Lu-ci-na. It’s nice to finally get to meet you both.”

  She had an accent of her own. Ivan nodded to her and grinned.

  He said, “Well, I hope somebody gave me a good reputation.”

  Jeffrey’s fiancée laughed and said, “Oh, they did.”

  Ivan asked her, “Where is your accent from?”

  “I am from Gambia in Africa.”

  Ivan was surprised. He’d been thinking the Caribbean. “Oh, okay.” So Jeffrey went all the way back to the motherland. And she looks damn good, he told himself.

  Lucina said, “We were just discussing us doing something nice for their wedding reception. They’re getting married in early May.”

  Ivan nodded. Jeffrey hadn’t said much. He was being Mr. Silent again. Ivan read that and wondered what was on his mind.

  He told Lucina, “All right, we’ll see what we can do. We got plenty of time to plan something for that. And congratulations to you guys.”

  “Oh, thank you,” Lachelle told him.

  Finally, Jeffrey spoke up. He said, “Hey, Ivan, let me speak to you for a minute.”

  Jeffrey excused himself from his lady and Lucina as he and Ivan stepped away to speak in private.

  Jeffrey said, “I like what you’re doing with the website, man. That thing is really taking form. What are your plans for it?”

  “I plan for it to keep growing,” Ivan answered.

  Jeffrey nodded. “You need any financial help with that? Any investor needs?”

  Ivan looked at him and read his interest. With the internet boom all over America, his website must have looked plenty enticing.

  He nodded and said, “I thank you for your interest.” However, he was still not quick to give up any ownership of his baby. Jeffrey would definitely not ask to invest in it without wanting a piece. So Ivan figured he would test out his interest in something else.

  He said, “To be honest with you, man, this internet and website game can take a while. But if you’re looking for some heavy hitters to invest in soon, I may be heading in the real estate game. I got some inside tracks on development properties on the southeast side near Chula Vista. And I just bought a couple of foreclosure houses near San Diego State that we’re remodeling to sell or rent right now. I’ll let you check them out when we’re finished in a couple of weeks.”

  Jeffrey’s face lit up immediately. He said, “Oh, yeah? I’ve always been interested in real estate.”

  Ivan jumped on that quick and told him, “Hey, man, real estate is the oldest money game in the book. Forty acres and a mule, right? Black folks should still be looking for that. So at my accounting firm at Hutch and Mitchell, we always advise our clients to invest in the many values of property,” Ivan hinted.

  Barry Mitchell was working on a blog on that very subject that Ivan couldn’t wait to post on the “Financial Corner” page.

  Jeffrey said, “Yeah, I’ve still been meaning to call you up on that.”

  Ivan blew it off to appear less eager. “Well, like you said, during the season you’re thinking about football. I understand. But football season is over with for a minute now. Now it’s time to focus on the other parts of your life. And you can remind your teammates about that, too. They probably need it more than you do.”