Chapter 19: Sold

            Isadora waited patiently for Jade to arrive.  Of course she was going to be late.  Isadora was so ready to get this over with; despite being a professional she really hated these long boring negotiations.  It was apparent last night that the guys needed to be away from the situation that they were in and that evil woman.  They would without a doubt be better off in her care.  Impressively enough there actually was something criminal about the way Jade treats them and yes Isadora had looked it up.  It was important that once she took ownership she made sure that no allegations could be brought up against her for what Jade had done.  She put on her best corporate smile as Jade finally approached her. 

“You’re late, I hate when people are late.” Isadora rudely stated as Jade joined her in the private booth.  She waited for Jade apologized and got right into why she had wanted to meet with her today.  She continued to play the part of the over eager young fan, to try to throw Jade off of what was really going on, she was being played.

“I want to buy ‘N Sync from you.” Isa stated.  She paused and took a sip of her soda before continuing.  “And I hate to tell you they aren’t worth much in their current condition but I am willing to over look some things.”  Jade smiled, she was glad to hear that they were on the same page in terms of what they wanted.

              “That is good to hear, I was afraid Chris might have run you off last night and completely ruin my chances to talk to you about my proposal.  I love the guys but they can be such screw ups.  But I have heard all about you, you run your business with an iron fist.  Those boys don’t stand a chance with you.” Jade stated, sipping on her wine.  Isadora just smiled, she did run her business very well but the guys were more than just business.  “I also understand your concerns; it’s not my fault you see, I just don’t have the staff and support that I am sure you would have.”

            Jade went on to explain that she understood that she had reached an end point with the guys, she wasn’t in a position to take them any further in their careers but Isadora would be a much better fit.  She listed ways that Isadora could profit off of them, things Isadora herself had already thought of but humored Jade.  And as for Chris, he was very thing Isadora had expected him to be the night before, not really the man she had thought he would be but times had changed.

“I am a little worried, he appeared a little thin.  Their health is a concern to me.” Isadora stated when Jade was finally done delivering her sales pitch.

“That is Lexi’s fault I told her to fix them, but that girl doesn’t listen.  But they just need a little TLC and then they will be back to dancing and sing their little hearts out in no time.” Jade explained, of course it was easy to blame Lexi when she wasn’t there to defend herself, but Isadora already knew the truth.  And what Jade couldn’t pin on Lexi she blamed on the guys’ themselves.

            “I was hoping that we could factor that into the price, like you said I could do so much with them but these health issues could put me back a little on my desired timeline.” Isadora lied.  Her timeline had always been flexible.  She continued to try to bring down Jade’s price, after all the less she spent to get them the more that would be left over to spend on them.  Isadora had one advantage on Jade, everyone knew her and if Isadora left the meeting unhappy everyone would know just how much the guys were really worth.  Jade would never be able to get more than that for them. 

            Isadora continued to chip away at her but tried to remain an objective business woman.  They finally were able to come to agreeable terms, it wasn’t completely ideal.  Jade would get one week severance, in which time she could do what she wanted with the guys, and basically beat them, further into the ground.  It was understood that Jade would need to make good on dates already booked and performances that were already scheduled.  But Isadora stipulated that there be no more sexual favors during that time and that everything taken from them would be handed over to Isadora.  As their owner she got everything that they had own prior to the war, their music, merchandise, and everything that came with.  It was as fair a request as she could make.  It would take a day or two for the paper work to be drawn up and finalized so there was always a chance either party could change their minds, not that Isadora was planning to.

            Jade wanted to make sure that didn’t happen.  It was clear she had run the guys into the ground and it was only a matter of time before one of them wasn’t able to continue or even died.  Then what would she do, and at this point it would cost more that she was willing to pay to get them back on their feet.

After the meeting was over Jade headed straight for the club, there was another matter that she needed to tend to.  When she got there Lexi was just about to leave.  It wasn’t her day to work but she liked to check in on the guys and make sure that someone remembered to feed them.  Jade motioned her into her office.  Lexi groaned but followed her any way.  This was not what she wanted to be doing on her day off.  She hated that woman.

“Is there something I can do for you, I know that I am not supposed to be here today but I didn’t clock any or anything.” Lexi explained.  Jade took two pictures out of her desk drawer and placed the on the desk in front of Lexi.  Lexi glanced at them but seemed to not be bothered by the photos of her and JC kissing in the back all the night before.

“After your little stunt last night I had one of the waitresses keep an eye on you two and this is what she saw.  So how long have you been stealing from me?” Jade snapped.

“Stealing?  It was one kiss.  It’s not like it has affected him or his performances.  If anything you owe me for making him a better kisser.” Lexi fired back.  She wanted to just walk out but it wasn’t the right time for that just yet.

“I thought maybe you were getting a little too attached to them but it seemed to be working in my favor.  Not that it matters, I sold them this morning, just waiting on the paper work.  But until then I will be watching you and you will not being having any more psychical contact with JC or any of the guys again.  Is that understood?” Jade asked.

Lexi got up and dug a $10 bill out of her pocket.  “Here this should more than cover the kiss I got from JC.  Sorry if I ripped you off.” She just reached the door when Jade spoke up again.

“Congrats on the job interview by the way.  I hope you get it that way I won’t have to fire you and pay you unemployment.”  Jade explained; slipping the money and the photos into her desk drawer after all she needed the photo for when she confronted JC about it.  Lexi just smiled and continued on her way. 

“Thanks, I hope I get it too.  I’ll stop and let JC know that you need to speak with him.” Lexi called to her boss from the hallway, at least that way she could warn him that he was about to have his ass handed to him over a kiss, which she had now paid for.  Jade just thanked her and got to work calling her lawyer.

After warning JC and sending him to meet his fate with Jade, Lexi headed right for Isadora’s hotel.  She was just hoping that Jade had not been smart enough meet with more than one person today, she wanted Isadora to be the one to get the guy not some stranger.  At least Isadora was someone that she knew and could trust for the most part.

Later in the day JC was stilling on his cot hold an ice pack to his temple, which had collided with a chair in Jade’s office during their little confrontation over him handing out freebies.  He had tried to defend the kiss, which was the only one that he was admitting too though there had been many others before it.  Jade wasn’t having it; it was almost as if she didn’t want to see him happy at all.

“Can we talk about Lexi?” Chris finally asked.  They knew what had happened to JC and why but that wasn’t what Chris wanted to talk about.  JC just motioned for him to continue.  He wasn’t in the mood to fight with any more people today but this had been coming for awhile.  “There is something off about her lately and I don’t think it has anything to do with whatever is going on between you two.”

“What do you mean?” JC asked, he had noticed some changes with her but wanted to see what Chris was thinking about before raising any more alarms.

“I saw my date, Isadora put Lexi’s name in the 15 minutes of heaven drawing last night.  I gave her a chance to come clean about it last night at the end of the night but she didn’t say anything.  I also saw the two of them talking briefly at one point during the night.  I feel like there is something that she is not telling us.” Chris explained.  It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her, he just didn’t trust women much and the evidence was not helping her case.

JC thought about it, there could have been any number of reasons as to why Lexi had been talking to the millionaire the night before.  She admitted to him that she was looking for a job, what better way to get a good one than networking with people of a much higher social class?   It didn’t explain why she put Lexi’s name into the drawing but it was something.

“Maybe there is something going on,  but we can’t afford to upset the one person that treats us half way decent by accusing her of something that we can’t even prove.   Not that it matters she told me that she has a job interview today.  I hope for her sake she gets it, anything would be better than having a front row seat to our untimely demise.” JC sighed.  He closed his eyes and hoped that they could leave it at that.

Lance recalled his conversation with Lexi awhile back about her rich friend and wondered if it could be the same woman but didn’t say anything.  JC was right there was nothing they could do with the information; they still needed Lexi even if they couldn’t trust her 100%.  Something was defiantly up but they didn’t have the strength left to stress about it.

“We just need to focus on ourselves right now.  We can’t control what happens to us so stressing about it isn’t going to help.  JC is right as well, even if we can’t trust Lexi she is all we have.  We have used her to our advantage more than once; it’s not fair how we treat her.” Lance explained trying to put it into perspective.