Whatever he says doesn’t matter, he told himself of Daniel’s antics. So just keep your cool and finish the internship.
>>>
After dinner, Natasha set up a secret rendezvous with Brandon inside the fifth floor stairwell of the hotel.
Oh, my God! Brandon thought while reading her text. Is she serious?
He walked out of his room and was filled with anxiety as he met up with her. He had no idea what to expect, but he was hopeful of something good. And he planned to let Natasha take the lead. But when they met, she seemed as jumpy as he was.
“This seems so high school, right?” she asked him. “Then again, you just came out of high school.”
Brandon grinned. “So, what are we doing here?”
“I just wanted to see you again before we leave tomorrow. Is that okay with you?”
“Yeah, I was only asking. I’m not complaining.”
“You better not be,” she warned him. Then she changed the subject. “Danny seems like he’s really fed up with The Beast Team. He was drilling you at the table tonight. I couldn’t believe he was doing that. It seemed so juvenile.”
Brandon shrugged. “Yeah, it doesn’t matter. He’s never gonna be as creative as we are. So, I don’t blame him. He’s mad at us because he’s stuck in his position.”
Natasha smiled and shook her head. “Don’t get too cocky, Brandon. What goes up must come down.”
“I’m sorry. But we never really liked that guy,” he told her. “And you didn’t make the trip any easier when you brought Danielle over to our booth like that.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry for that too.”
“Yeah, but now we have our first girl member, so it all worked out,” he commented.
Natasha remained right in his face, a replay of how close they had been in the swimming pool. But this time, they were alone. And in her heels, she stood nearly eye to eye with him.
“So, how far do you plan to take it? And I’m not Danny, so you can be honest with me.”
Brandon chuckled. “I guess, as far as we can take it. I mean, I don’t really have another answer for that.”
“Do you have an answer for this?” Natasha leaned in and kissed his lips. Brandon tried to kiss her back, but he reacted too slowly before she pulled away. It was all too sudden for him to catch. “If you slow, you blow,” she teased him with a chuckle. “But I’ll slow it down for you. Come on.”
Brandon smiled and leaned in slowly to kiss her. But right as he got into it, she pulled away from him again.
“That’s enough. I just wanted to do that before you left. I’ll see you again in Memphis.”
Brandon was stunned. “That’s it?” He didn’t know what to do or how to feel. It felt incomplete. What a tease! he thought.
“Yeah, that’s it,” Natasha answered with a nod. “What more do you want?”
Oh, my God! Brandon panicked. Natasha read his mind and warned him, “Don’t answer that. Just hug me.”
Brandon paused to stop his mind from racing forward.
She reached up under his arms and hugged him tightly. “You need to get used to this for New York,” she said.
All that Brandon could think about was how great she felt and how enticing her perfume was up close, as if you could only smell it through touching her.
“You smell really good,” he blurted.
“Okay, that’s enough,” Natasha said, pulling away again. She was deceptively strong. “You feel better now?” she asked.
Brandon felt his pants rise. He chuckled, embarrassingly, and turned to the side. “Yeah, I feel better.”
Natasha continued smiling. “Okay. I’ll text you.” She walked out of the stairwell without another word.
>>>
Back in Glendale on a Wednesday afternoon, the guys met their new agent, Raymond House. They had spoken to him over the phone a few times prior to that, but their first face-to-face meeting in Brandon’s game room made it real. Raymond sat on the same soft sofa the guys had relaxed on for years. He wore a light grey summer suit and a colorful tie with his white and black He Got Game Jordans.
Simba and Leon sat on either side of him while Brandon sat in the chair across from them. Paul had left the room alone so they could get to know Raymond and talk business.
“So, how was Tampa?” Raymond asked. In his mid-thirties, with a penny-brown complexion and a sharp, low haircut, he didn’t look much older than them. He thought fast and young too. And they loved that he wore a classic pair of Air Jordans to their first meeting.
“We picked up another Beast Team member—Danielle Lyles. She’s a nationally ranked soccer player,” Brandon answered.
Raymond nodded. “Soccer’s big for girls. That’s a good pickup.”
“Yeah, and she found us,” Simba told him.
“She looks good, and she’s into sneakers,” Leon added.
Raymond grinned. “Sounds like the kind of girl you want. I have a uniform contract for you guys to sign people with now too. But we have to be leery of signing any legal documents with anyone planning to play college sports. So, you can promote David Terry and Danielle all you want with The Beast Team, but they can’t actually take any money from you until they become professionals.”
“Not even before they go to college?” Brandon asked.
“Not a dime—legally,” Raymond answered. “Just ask your uncle.”
Leon shook his head. “That’s messed up, man. But Jay Stewart can make all the money he wants from skateboarding.”
Raymond grinned. “If the NCAA allowed kids to take money—like you guys planned to do with these posters—do you know how many kids would have endorsement deals in high school? It would be crazy. High school athletes would become walking billboards.”
“So, we have to tell that to David Terry then,” Simba commented.
“Oh, yeah, I wasn’t gonna let you go down that road. Paul and I already discussed it. So, what you guys are doing is building valuable relationships for later. And when these young phenoms become pros in a few years, you guys will already have those relationships with them.”
“And you would too, right?” Brandon hinted.
Raymond cringed. “Not necessarily. I represent you guys, not the people you choose to associate with. Now, the Jay Stewart deal is different because he’s now viewed as a professional. But I don’t want you guys talking to any of your young Beast Team members about me until they are legally able to. I’m your guy, not theirs. Otherwise we could all end up in hot water.”
“Okay, but if we signed, like, a hip-hop artist or someone who wasn’t an athlete, it would be okay to introduce them to you?” Simba asked.
Raymond stopped to think about that. “Well, rap artists do like sneakers. That might not be a bad idea. And they have more marketing presence than a lot of athletes. We don’t have to worry about the NCAA with them,” he cracked.
“Yeah, but then we would have to worry about them getting into trouble all of the time,” Brandon commented.
“And a rap artist without trouble is a nobody,” Leon joked.
“J. Cole doesn’t get into trouble, and he’s not a nobody,” Simba argued.
“Yeah, but we can’t sign J. Cole,” Leon countered.
Simba shrugged. “Why not? He’s a beast on stage.”
“Because he’s probably way too expensive,” Brandon chimed in. “Those rap guys like having upfront money, and we don’t have any yet.”
“These are all good thoughts, though,” Raymond said. “But are you guys ready for the big news?”
They all looked around at each other. “Yeah,” they answered in unison.
“Okay, the trademark paperwork for The Beast Team should be back any day now, using the original artwork that you guys have. You can add any additional artwork and designs as you go along. I’ll talk to you more about that in a minute. But the Jay Stewart deal is going down by the end of this week as well. And they’re giving him three million dollars for five years.”
“Three million dollars for five years?” Brandon repeated.
“That’s a good deal for a skateboarder,” Raymond said. “Thanks to you guys, Adidas now wants to use your Jay Stewart Splash campaign on T-shirts, headbands, wristbands, backpacks and a bunch of other things. So I talked the Stewart family into giving you guys a slightly better deal of seven-point-five percent.”
“Oh, shit!” Leon blurted uncontrollably.
Simba and Brandon laughed. They were thinking the same thing, but Leon had beaten them to the punch.
Raymond chuckled. “You guys like that, right?”
“Yeah, thanks,” Simba answered.
Brandon smiled and nodded, still thinking. He knew that Raymond wasn’t finished yet.
The young agent continued. “Now, how it’s gonna work is like this: We’re gonna break the payments up into fifteen checks over sixty months, or basically a check every four months. That way we keep the money evened out for all of you guys. But they also have a buyout clause in the contract, where they could close it out at one-point-five million after the first two years if the brand doesn’t work well for them. So, that gives you guys an incentive to keep pushing it.”
“Did you calculate how much each check would be?” Leon asked him, grinning feverishly. A rush of energy surged through him. He felt like running around the room in circles and screaming at the top of his lungs.
Simba and Brandon kept their poise, listening to it all with big grins of their own. It was a dream come true in a miraculously short time. So Brandon waited longer for the catch.
“Fifteen thousand dollars every four months, starting with the first check after signing,” Raymond answered.
“And how much is he getting?” Brandon questioned. Fifteen thousand dollars didn’t sound that exciting to him. Even Leon piped down after hearing it.
Raymond smirked. “That’s his business. But you can do the math and figure it out. Of course, this is all still confidential, so as much as you may want to talk about it, I wouldn’t let this information leave the room until we have a signed and sealed contract. And even then, I would advise you guys to keep your personal business to yourself.”
“He gets a hundred and seventy-five thousand every four months,” Simba said as he calculated on his cell phone. He took into account Raymond’s additional five percent agency fee.
Raymond nodded. “That’s good. You also have to pay taxes on it. But where you guys can make your big money is with this Beast Team trademark. So I’m putting together a first-option deal with Adidas. That way, we can start a bidding war with Nike, Under Armour, Reebok or whomever. But that’s only after you make the brand bigger. So, when I heard that you guys are attending NYU together for college this year, I almost wet my pants. How unlikely it that?” He chuckled. “I don’t know who’s idea that was, but it’s perfect.”
Leon and Simba looked at Brandon.
“You already know,” Leon commented.
“Well, of course, New York City is the marketing capital of the world, so if you can make The Beast Team fly up there, you can write your own meal ticket. But I would incorporate the business here in Arizona, that way you’re not paying those New York City taxes.”
“We’ve had our business name and bank account here in Arizona for two years,” Brandon said. “My uncle helped us to set it up. We just didn’t have a trademark for it because we never did anything that big.”
“Well, now you do, so you need to do big things with it. I would start by getting some of your NBA friends to wear T-shirts and take pictures in them. We won’t get into trouble with them. Amar’e Stoudemire, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and all of the other popular ballers you know would be good. I’ll make a few phone calls for you guys myself. But you really want to make the scene in New York as much as possible.”
>>>
After the guys went out to eat with Ray and Uncle Paul that evening, Brandon got Simba and Leon on a three-way call to discuss everything.
“Guys, five thousand dollars each over four months is not a lot of money. We can make that on our own,” he complained.
“Yeah, it sounded like a lot of money at first, right?” Leon agreed.
“No, you just didn’t do the math yet. You were counting Jay Stewart’s money,” Simba responded. “But we only get a small percentage of that. He’s the one making all the money.”
“Well, like Ray said, we have to think about building our own brand now,” Brandon suggested. “Simba, remember you were talking about doing our own sneaker conventions?”
“Yeah, I’m serious about that, man. We could make a killing. And you said that we could do it in college,” Simba reflected excitedly.
“Yeah, I’m thinking about that now,” said Brandon. “So, as soon as we get up to New York, we need to start looking into doing that.”
“We should look into it before we get to school,” Leon advised. “As soon as we get this first check from the Jay Stewart deal, we need to take a trip up to New York and see where we can rent out a space for September or something. You know we can’t do that last minute. Then we can promote it through August and start school in New York with a splash. And then we can invite some of the NBA players.”
“Man, that’s a great idea!” Simba said. “That’s the best thing I’ve heard Leon say in years.”
“Whatever, man. That’s why I’m the marketing guy,” Leon boasted. “You just stick to that law stuff and your school books.”
Brandon laughed and thought about it, while making a fast decision. “All right, let’s do it. It’s all about The Beast Team now.”
BUSTED GROOVE
AFTER THEIR BUSINESS talk with Raymond House, the guys were more pressed to promote their Beast Team brand than ever. And as much as Simba loved their internship with Adidas, even he understood the much higher stakes involved. Adidas was ready to pay a fifteen-year-old skateboarder three million dollars for a shoe and clothing endorsement! That reality drove the guys nuts with eagerness. Mountains of money were out there for the taking, and the guys wanted a much bigger share of it.
Suddenly, Brandon realized how big of a deal Michael Avery’s suggestion of a trademark brand could be. It was indeed a golden opportunity. So Brandon called him up to thank him.
“Man, you were right. Our trademark is gonna be worth way more to us than Jay Stewart’s deal.”
Michael laughed. “You’re preaching to the choir, Brandon. I’ve been in this business for nearly thirty years, and the trademarks mean everything. Endorsement deals come and go, because they’re only borrowing a name. But when you own the brand, you own it, like Air Jordan. So keep doing what you’re doing with The Beast Team, and eventually you can make twenty times more than what Jay made.”
Brandon heard that and loved it.
Michael scoffed. “As much money as these companies make, they only write checks when they absolutely need to. Otherwise, everybody would want them to write a check. So, you guys have to continue doing the hard work to make them believe.”
Brandon paused for a minute. “To be honest with you, we still don’t know if we even want to be at Adidas. We have to figure that out.”
“Like I said in the beginning, you guys can take your time and explore all of your options,” Michael told him. “You’re still young, and you’re way ahead of the game, and I’m still rooting for you guys no matter what.”
“Thank you.”
“Yeah, and when you get up to New York, my daughter and Adrienne will be willing to help you.”
“They will? They said that?” Brandon asked innocently.
Michael answered, “Of course they will. They like you guys. Natasha may even have her boyfriend and his friends to help promote your T-shirts at their Seton Hall track meets.”
Brandon stopped cold. “What? Natasha still runs track? She told me she stopped after high school.” His heart was racing like he stole something. Did he j
ust say her boyfriend? he asked himself in a panic.
“Well, yeah, she no longer runs track—for now—but her boyfriend does. He’s one of the best quarter-milers in the country. Maybe he’ll be another one of your Beast Team athletes. Who knows?” Michael added with a chuckle.
Brandon knew it immediately. There was no way in hell any boyfriend of Natasha’s would become a member of his Beast Team.
>>>
As soon as Brandon hung up, he paced his game room, breathing fire. “I don’t fucking believe this!” he cursed. “Why would she do that?!”
He needed to calm his nerves before he attempted to call her. He thought, for the life of him, that they were headed somewhere serious. Everything had been going perfectly! Finally, he dialed her number.
“Hey, B.J.? What’s up?” Natasha answered playfully.
“You’re getting ready for Memphis?”
“Of course. You?”
“I don’t know yet,” he lied.
“What do you mean, you don’t know? I thought you were always prepared.”
“I’m just thinking about these new deals we have on the table now,” he said. “We really want to start promoting The Beast Team now and not Adidas. So, we’re thinking about not even coming anymore.”
Natasha paused. “What? I mean, Brandon, just look at it this way—you only have two more trips to Memphis and then Atlanta. Then you can promote The Beast Team all you want in New York.”
“Yeah, but I’ll see you again in New York too when we get there,” he told her. “In fact, we’ll come down to New Jersey and see you at Seton Hall. You wouldn’t be embarrassed by some freshmen, would you? Would you be against me coming to see you in New Jersey?”
“No, but New York is more fun to visit,” Natasha countered.
“Yeah, but I wouldn’t have a problem coming to New Jersey. Or would you want to hide me from Adrienne and your other girlfriends?”
Natasha laughed. “Trust me, if I make a decision, I’m not thinking about hiding you.”
“You thought about it in Tampa,” he reminded her.
The Sneaker Kings Page 16