7 Negocio

Negocio

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The windows were tinted dark, so we couldn't see where they were driving us to. It was hard to remain calm, but I had to be. Gus wouldn't kill us...no he wouldn't, our product was too valuable for him to do that.

After driving for an hour, the road became very rocky.

Guess they were taking us to the desert.

Hopefully it wasn't a one-way trip. Victor kept staring at me and Mr. White. He was assessing us, I presumed. The man was intimidating despite his short stature.

"Jesse- Mr. White started talking but I quickly silenced him.

"Thanks for revealing my name. Genius! Stay quiet for the rest of the ride." I scolded my high school teacher. It was an act, of course. I knew that Gustavo Fring knew my name, In fact I'm pretty sure by now he knows more about me than I do. The reason I stopped Mr. White from speaking was that he had a tendency to take a situation from 0 to 100 quickly. He might blabber about something or reveal important information. In fact I would even argue that he has a gift for messing things up.

After twenty more minutes the SUV stopped moving.

"Get out." Victor ordered us.

The door opened as soon as he said that. Man these henchmen really got their timing down.

"Get out!" He said again, pushing my head prompting me to get out of the vehicle quickly.

"Alright, alright no need to be so rough." I put my arms above my head.

Mr. White followed me.

We were in the middle of nowhere. It was just endless sand and tumbleweed. Directly opposite to us, a black Volvo faced us. It was an older model but otherwise well cared. A man with a cotton jacket waited for us with his palms knotted and back straight as an arrow. His posture was that of a strong, no nonsense, businessman.

I kept walking towards Gustavo Fring.

When we were a couple of feet away from him.

"That's close enough boys." A bald man beside Fring said with a blank look. I guess that was Mike Ehramntraut.

I raised my hands up and backed a few inches to show that I didn't mean to insult them.

"I'm sorry about that." I said apologetically.

My eyes were on the ground, I wasn't going to start a fight with Gus Fring.

"You must be the cook." Gus spoke with icy coldness.

I thought he was speaking to me but turns out it was directed towards Mr. White.

"Yes...I'm the cook." Mr. White said defiantly with a little bit of pride in his voice.

"I'm told your product is quite.... impeccable."

"it is." Mr. White answered without missing a beat.

"Hmm....You." He turned his attention to me.

"Yes, sir?"

He paused for a second and then looked at Mike. Mike looked at me for a second and then back to Gus. Mike shrugged his shoulders.

Gus turned towards me and said, "When was the last time you used?" His eyes were drilling into me like a pincer.

Better to be honest here!

"It's been a week, my partner here convinced me to quit using. This will be my last deal, I'm out of the game once I get the money. You don't have to worry about me being a liability."

He adjusted his specs and studied me again carefully.

"Do I have your word on that?" Gus Fring tested me again.

"Yes-" I started but was interrupted by Mr. White.

"Frankly I don't see how that's any of your business." Oh here we go, Mr. White was in the backseat and Heisenberg was in control now.

"For me to distribute your product there must be certain assurances...I can't risk working with a junkie!'

"Jesse's not a liability! He's useful and the only I'm willing to work with. If he's out, then....so am I."

"Yo, you don't have to-"

"Jesse, be quiet and you. You talk about assurances...you drag us all the way out of nowhere and have your what...goons push us around? Why? What did we ever do to you other than offer you a business opportunity. One that would be extremely profitable for you!"

Oh sheesh, Mr. White's done it now! Gus still remained unfazed, but I knew that he was getting a little irate when left slightly twitched.

"Mr. White, profit is not all that matters. There are concerns as well, one of them being Mr. Pinkman's addiction." I won't lie the way that he mentioned both of our names sent a chill down my spine. Even though I knew that he knew everything about me, it was still unnerving when he said it. By the looks of it, Mr. White had the same response.

"It seems that you've barely avoided attention and that will not do. Gentleman, it seems like we're at an impasse." He turned to face his car.

Oh no! We're about to lose the deal of our lifetime.

"Hey wait a minute...look...uh....We have 59 pounds of product left excluding that one pound sample I gave you. With our product's purity you could easily charge twice the market price...So why don't you give us a fair chance!"

Gus stopped after hearing the words 59 pounds. I guess I have him interested...okay now is the time to seal the deal.

"An opportunity, that's all I'm asking for. Look...if you're still not convinced, I understand but just buy our remaining stock and if you still don't want to distribute our product after that then cool. All I'm asking for is for you to give us a fair chance."

He turned back. No matter what he couldn't deny the juicy profit margins of our product. He adjusted his glasses again and said to me, "You have another 60 pounds of product."

"Including the sample I gave to you, yes!"

He kept staring at me for a few moments and then nodded once.

"Very well...I will buy out your remaining stock."

"Thank you."

I waited for him to specify a time and date, but he didn't bother speaking any more.

"So, when do you want-"

"I have your number."

"Okay...cool. That's cool." I looked at Mr. White, he was still not sold on this deal.

I looked back to where Victor was standing and said, "So can you drop us back already?"

______________________________________________________________________

"So, what do you do for a living?" Jane asked me as she lit a cigarette in her mouth. She loved smoking after sex.

"I'm an entrepreneur of sorts." I played with the ends of her hair.

"Whatever does that mean?' She laughed.

"It means that I'm a rich loser who thinks everyone who actually works for a living is a loser."

She smiled mischievously at that and put her cigarette aside, then she pounced on me like a cat.

"Ow, what do you think you're doing?"

"Putting the rich snob in his place." She had that naughty look.

Well time for round 2-

DING.

The doorbell rang.

"Oh man, who is it?"

"Are you expecting someone?" Jane asked me with a puzzled look.

I grabbed her by the hips and gently removed her from my body.

DING. DING.

"Yo I'm coming, wait a goddamn second." I was annoyed. Whoever it was, it better be good because they were interrupting sexy time with my girlfriend.

DING. DING. DING. DING.

"Alright, Jesus wait a minute for crying out loud!"

I checked the peephole. Guess who it was. The devil himself.

I opened the door rather forcefully and said, "What do you want? I don't come prancing around your house at night, Mr. White."

"Jesse, we have to talk...do you mind if I come in?"

"Yes...Yo I'm busy with other things right now, come back tomorrow morning."

"Jesse! No don't close the damn door, listen to me!"

"Mr. White come on, I'm really tired now and besides I have company-"

"Jesse, who's that?" Jane called my name from the bedroom.

I turned towards Mr. White and said, "See."

"Jesse, we really need to talk." He said with a dead serious face.

I took a deep long tired breath and said, "You know the Park nearby, meet me there in ten minutes."

He nodded and stepped off the porch. Good lord that guy was a giant pain in the ass.

"So, who was it?" Jane walked in just as soon as I closed the door.

"Nobody, some Jesus freak. Don't worry about it...I see that you've taken quite the liking to my shirt."

I heaved a sigh of relief; it looked like I was in the clear.

She flashed me that smile again, "If you wanna get it back then you're gonna have to come take it." She beckoned me with her index seductively.

Oh boy let's have a quick round 2.