Night Work Read Online Free PDF Page B

down."
        The drinks arrived and Charlie quickly drank nearly half of his. "You're a serious man, Frank."
        "At times."
        "I'm impressed. Go on."
        "You said in your offer to us that we could look forward to becoming partners at some future point."
        "That's right."
        Frank shook his head. "That's wrong. Again, if I'm to put everything on the line, I expect you to do the same. I have no desire to be your employee, Charlie. If all I wanted to do was straight bookings, I'd have gone to one of the big boys. If we do business together it's all or nothing. We're partners from the word go."
        "Are you nuts?" he asked, nearly choking. "You expect me to just turn over a portion of my company - a company I've busted my balls to build - just because you're willing to handle my bookings?"
        "What am I, fucking stupid?" Frank snapped, increasing the intensity of his voice without raising the volume. "Are we talking business or jerking off?"
        The smile vanished from Rain's face. "I'm listening."
        "I'm telling you that we will double your sales and make you more money in the first year of our partnership than you've made to date. As a measure of good faith I'm willing to accept a trial where we can come to know each other better and have the opportunity to prove what's being said and agreed to here tonight. But once we've proven our end, we're in all the way, and we're in for good, or I take my offer to one of the other independents."
        Charlie finished his drink and sat quietly for what seemed a long time. When he eventually spoke he asked, "How much?"
        "Half."
        "Jesus H. Christ! Half?"
        "Relax, Charlie," Gus said smoothly. "A little bit of something is better than all of nothing."
        "Think about it," Frank said. "Right now you only book between six and eight shots a year. If in the first year with us we do, say, twenty shots, fifty percent of the profits on twenty is still a hell of a lot more than all of the profit on seven or eight."
        "Basic math," Gus said.
        "Of course we also agree to pay half the expenses," Frank added. "It's a straight split right down the middle."
        Charlie smoked another cigarette before he spoke again. "You're willing to agree to a three month trial?"
        "Of course," Frank said. "If things don't work out, they don't work out."
        "We go our separate ways?"
        "If that's the way you want it."
        He considered what Frank had said. "There's something else you've got to understand. Pro wrestling isn't like any other business - even the regular entertainment business. At first, incorporating you into the performance side of things might be a slow process. The boys don't trust people they don't know, and it'll hurt me with them if they get the idea that I'm answerable to you as an equal partner."
        "Not a problem," Frank told him. "Bring us into that end at a pace the talent is comfortable with."
        "Do you guys have a room here?" Charlie asked. "Or are you heading back to Massachusetts tonight?"
        "We've got a room."
        Charlie nodded. "I've got some promotional stuff for you - flyers, posters, examples of cards and tickets. The sell itself is a simple process. I can explain it all in an hour or two and have you prepared to sell the product by the time I leave. How long before you're ready to rumble?"
        "I can have people in place by next week."
        "Let's go up to your room where we can spread out."
        "Then I take it we have a deal?" Frank asked.
        Charlie's wide smile returned. "Why not? The way you set it up I got nothing to lose, right?"
        "That's right."
        "Besides," Charlie said, standing, "it's just talk. Until you deliver, you're just another rim job."
        They'd nearly reached the elevator before Frank realized that he was the one who had been