“I see you haven’t changed.”
“What?” I said defensively.
“You always check my butt out,” she said, and gave it an extra wiggle. I groaned and rolled my eyes. She came up and kissed my cheek. “I never said I minded.”
Garrett, one of the personal trainers, saw me and came over. Ford had set me up to work with a trainer. I had met with the three main ones when I signed up. One of them was usually on duty. The plan was that they would all know what I was working on, so one of them would be there if I needed help.
“Hey, David, glad to see you’re finally taking advantage of the facilities. We were worried you’d start getting fat,” Garrett said.
His comments got a chuckle out of Eve. He turned to her.
“I take it you’re David’s girlfriend.”
“Yes, yes I am!” Eve exclaimed, the look in her eyes daring me to dispute it.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Garrett. If there is anything we can do for you, please let us know.”
“Actually, I’m taking off to do a photo shoot and go skiing with my church, so I won’t be back until the first of the year. I’m helping Eve get all her extra weight off so we can be seen together in public,” I said, as Garrett and I looked her over.
I could tell there was going to be hell to pay by the glint in her eyes.
“Can you possibly help her with all her problem areas?”
How I said that without laughing I don’t know. Eve and I both looked at Garrett for his response. He looked like a deer facing down a semi.
“Ahhh, yeah, that shouldn’t be a problem,” Garrett muttered.
I lifted up her shirt, pinched her waist, and shook my head.
“I mean, we can’t have her in anything too revealing right now,” I complained.
Her eyes were getting bigger. I grabbed her waist, turned her around, and ran my hand over her bottom.
“And this ... I mean, it’s fun and all, but do you have some ideas?”
Garrett blushed.
“Let me get a clipboard and take some notes,” he stammered.
When he was out of earshot, Eve turned on me.
“What the hell was that?”
I took my offending hand off her butt and smirked.
“I was just helping my ‘girlfriend,’” I said in mock sincerity.
She grabbed my hand and put it back on her butt.
“Do you really think my butt’s too big?”
I took the opportunity to explore my newest fascination. I pulled her into me so she could feel what I thought of her backside, and I smirked.
“What does that tell you?”
It was her turn to groan.
“Dawson, if you didn’t have such a nice girlfriend, you’d have more than your hands full.”
Garrett came back and I let him show her how to use the machines. I went and ran on the treadmill, did my sit-ups and push-ups, and then met Eve in the pool and we swam our laps. We finished up and headed to Tom’s office so Eve could sign her contract.
WHEN WE GOT TO TOM’S floor, I split off and found Kendal. She was happy to see me.
“Hey, Rock Star, I hear you’re adding a new client to the wall.”
In the lobby, they had pictures of all the talent. So far, everyone on the wall was due to me steering him or her to Tom and Kendal. When I came in I’d seen they had Ford’s logo on the wall, and underneath it said ‘partner.’
“Eve’s a childhood friend. She made a go of Nashville, but it sounds like things didn’t work out. I think she just needs a break and she’ll be big. Think Rachel Quist, but someone that can sing.”
Rachel Quist was a popular country singer whose looks far exceeded her talent. Kendal just rolled her eyes at me.
“I need to talk to you about your financials,” she said, getting serious. “Your mom’s doctors are suggesting she go to a specialty center for cancer. The one they’re recommending is Stanford Cancer Center. They’ve made great strides in the type of cancer your mom has.”
This was the first I’d heard of this. If they felt it was necessary, I was willing to spend the money. Tom had set up a line of credit for me to help my mom out. Dad had tried to get insurance on the government website. After trying like thirty times, he finally got it to work. The insurance offered was expensive and didn’t cover all of what we needed. They didn’t offer much flexibility in doctors or hospitals. It was a little iffy whether they would ever cover a specialty cancer center. They would pick up some of the costs, so that was a help. We had made a family decision that we would have to make up the difference, no matter what it cost. It would give Mom the best chance to survive. I felt sorry for other people in our predicament who couldn’t afford what was needed.
“How much is this going to cost?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but it isn’t going to be cheap. The good news is you’re starting to earn some income from the other talent you’ve found, and the Red commercial money is coming in. You’ll also make a nice amount doing the Florida shoot,” Kendal commented as she looked at her financial reports. “We need to decide how much you want to keep in your personal and business accounts before you dip into your credit line.”
“What do you suggest?”
“You need enough to pay taxes and have spending money. I would say you need to have at least $40,000 in your business account to cover your taxes and $5,000 in your personal account for now.”
“Kendal, you know better than I do. Go ahead and set it up. Is there anything else you need?”
She pulled out a folder with some pictures from my Range Sports shoot.
“Kennedy Images wants to buy the rights to these pictures so they can sell them on their websites. They’re offering two deals: $5,000 per image, or 30% of their sales of each image.” She pulled out the one with me chasing the wolves. “Tom and I talked and he suggested that you take the $5,000 now on all the images except this one. He thinks you need to hang onto the rights to it.”
I counted the pictures and they were twelve. Kennedy Images was a major source of pictures for advertisers and websites. I was sure that, over time, I could make more with the 30% deal, but I needed funds now for Mom’s cancer treatment.
“Okay, that works.”
I had noticed, as I walked back to Kendal’s office, that several of my photos from various shoots were on the walls. There were also a couple from the other models. I had a sneaking suspicion these were pirated copies.
“I have a question.”
Kendal looked up and saw that I was up to something.
“What is it, David?”
“I saw my butt hanging in the conference room and several other photos. Did you pay for those?”
I could tell from Kendal’s blush that she’d been caught.
“Ummm ... I would have to look into that,” Kendal bluffed.
“You have my financial reports right there.”
“Okay, I forgot to ask if we could use the pictures to decorate the office. The partners thought it would help market the talent. I didn’t think you’d mind.”
“Tell you what: you know the main wall in my apartment,” I said to Kendal, and she nodded in recognition. “If you set up a gallery of my work while I’m gone over the next few weeks, you can use any of my photos you want in the office.”
She flinched, I’m certain because she was taking pictures home, and I was sure she was giving some to her coworkers. I gave her a stern look.
“Kendal, fess up. Have you been giving my work-product away? You realize this is how I make a living, right?”
She looked ashen when she realized what I was saying. She had access to the original files, and some of the better shots were being sold in a high-end gallery, and also by a decorator, for as much as $5,000. Some of the lesser shots were selling in the $250 range. Exclusivity made up a serious portion of the value. It was one thing to be using the photos in the office; it was another to be giving them away to the staff.