Nadine Book 7

34. Negotiations

Me and Elek eat and the brain talks. "Dipak is informing everyone on the level that Tobias is back and is not banned from the 6th level."

"WHAT THE f**k?" We hear Tye from 4 doors down.

Tre runs by my hole in the wall.

Elek stands up. "I'm going to go see what that's about. See if it's the island or if he's pissed about Tobias."

"I'll come too. You might want to fix your eyes first. You can always think about Tye throwing you out the window." Then there's a big crash. "On 2nd thought. I'm staying. Window open for departure. In case I need to throw myself out. Your eyes are good now."

He runs out.

I connect Dipak's feather.

"Hi sweetheart. Did you get the message?"

"Yea, someone is redecorating the 6th level."

"Coming now. The elevator won't work."

"My window is open."

Dipak, Marcus, and Nikolas fly in, then walk through. They bust out laughing.

I run out. There's a brain standing in the hallway with its head cut off and 1 arm. Tye's wall is all over the hallway. Tye's pulling his shorts up. He's not wearing anything else.

"THAT DAMN THING JUMPED ON ME."

The boys are trying to stop laughing.

"The brain jumped on you?"

"NO THAT. IT CAME RIGHT OUT OF THE BRAINS MOUTH. f*****g JUMPED ON ME."

Tre loses it. "He came out naked and swinging the sword."

"I DIDN'T KNOW WHERE IT WENT. I THOUGHT IT WAS ON ME."

"What is it?"

"Big spider."

I climb Nikolas.

"It's dead, babydoll."

"He destroyed the brain and his door. Came out naked swinging a sword. Knocked a guard into the elevator controls. Proceeded to declare war on everything while he was naked. Then Johen walked over and stepped on it."

All the boys lose it.

Tye shakes his head. "IT JUMPED ON ME. Whatever. Brains, if you have spiders or snakes living in you, go destruct."

"Fix the elevator." Dipak pulls me off Nikolas. "You're safe. You can go back to work. What were you working on?"

"I have no idea."

"We finished the family packages. We need some prices from Tye. And then we have to write down what she needs to negotiate for. I think Tre is doing that part."

Marcus nods. "Yea, her and Tye can't negotiate anything. He'll try to give her everything free, and she'll try to pay more than it cost."

Dipak looks at Elek. "It hurts anyone's head who tries to watch those 2 negotiate. Tre can negotiate for Nadine. Tye will need someone to negotiate his side."

Elek takes me back to my office.

We get it priced and figure out what we're negotiating for.

Elek gives me a kiss. "I'm going to go get Tre and find someone to negotiate with him for Tye."

"It'll probably be you."

"If it's me, I'll give you a good price." He leans in to kiss me again.

"ELEK GO." Dipak yells and we jump.

"I forgot the feather was connected."

"Uh huh. Marcus and I are coming down to make sure this goes fair."

"Why? It's for 5g ice cream and 10g pizza mostly."

"Because you and Tye are laying the groundwork for the other resorts, sweetheart. You're going to be in all of them. You're going to be trying to get ice cream and drinks from us too."

I run for Tre and disconnect the feather.

"TRE, DIPAK SAID THIS NEGOTIATION IS LAYING THE GROUND WORK FOR ALL THE RESORTS. THEY'RE ALL GOING."

"Don't panic. We know what we're doing."

Elek hands him a stack of papers. "This is what he's charging for the stuff."

"Do we have his cost for it yet?"

"Didn't ask."

"Brain get me his cost list for this stuff."

"Yes sir."

Tre puts the robe on. "Need to look professional for negotiations."

Me and Elek laugh. Elek smirks. "The slippers really pull it all together Tre."

"I thought so too."

The brain looks at him. "They said no."

"I can be a d**k too." Tre kisses my head, and we go to Marcus's office.

Marcus, Dipak, Nikolas, and Tye are on 1 side of the table. Tye looks like he's going to puke.

"YOU CAN'T ALL BE OVER THERE."

They smile at me.

"Well fine. s*x negotiations are going to get weird from here on out."

Tye jumps over the table and sits on my side.

Marcus looks at Tye. "Let's start small and work our way up."

"I'm assuming you have the cost list?"

"Yes."

"Alright. Ice cream. She'll pay 2g."

"3g."

"Fine."

"Coconut drink. 3g."

"5g."

"4"

Several hours later...

Tre nods. "I'll ok that. Total is 16,400. And I want to lock in her prices for 6 months. Other than the fishing trips. I would settle for locking them in for 30 days. If her store runs out during that time. The brain can purchase more."

"Only in the increments already purchased."

"That's a good one. Check the account and realize they bought 70,000 ice cream vouchers while we slept."

Elek stands up. "Let's go work on the package pricing now."

I throw myself on the floor. "UGH. NOOOOO. How do you work for so long? I can't do anymore anything."

"We need to get it done."

I shake my head.

Tye looks at Elek. "I think she might be done for the day."

Marcus stands up. "Yea she looks done."

Dipak stands up. "Let's go finish the day at the afternoon meeting. It's about that time. They can hear any complaints about the clothes."

"UGH." I slam my feet on the ground.

"I'll come back and help you finish it tomorrow. Is that better? Then it'll be done."

"Fine."

"Ok get up."

"I DON'T WANT TO."

"WOMAN."

I cross my arms and stare at the ceiling.

Elek picks me up and puts me on my feet. "Come on. Don't get in trouble now. The day is almost over. Then you can get out of the offices. You can make it another 20 minutes. You did good."

"I did do good."

"Yea you did. Let's go."

Daddy comes in Dipak's office last. He's wearing shorts, a robe, and slippers with his hair in a towel. I laugh so hard. "DADDY."

"I would like to say that I really enjoyed the slippers today."

Dracul nods. "The slippers should be added to the dress code."

Dipak shakes his head. "We're not wearing slippers every day. Did anyone have any complaints about the spa line attire?"

"I'm unsure about the sandals. They may be perfect on the beach, but I did not enjoy them in the castle."

"I kept stubbing my toes on everything."

"I almost fell down the stairs."

Mary cracks up laughing. "No, you did fall down the stairs, and you took out 2 servants while you were at it."

"We'll do a 2nd trial day for those. At the island."

Daddy looks at me. "I want this size towel in the castle."

Thora jumps up. "BRAINS DO THAT. Sorry, that was just a good idea."

I look at the brain. "Any towels in the castle that are still new, package them back up, and I will sell them at my shops."

"How many size towels do you make and where are they?"

"The beach towels are for sale on the island and are now here, apparently. The regular towels are in my shops only. The hair towels will be in the spa shop and here. And cloths will be here, my shops, and the spa shop."

"What the f**k is a hair towel?"

"It's a smaller size towel for my head. I can't use normal-sized towels. I wrap my hair up and it goes everywhere. Then it falls out. It's a real pain."

"I use those. I use them for Ana too. They are perfect."

Daddy laughs. "That's why I pull out towels that are f*****g tiny. Then I stare at it. What the hell am I going to dry with this?"

"Are you all stealing my hair towels? Is that why I keep having to make more?"

Dipak rubs his eyes. "Brains, inform the servants there are 2 sizes of towels. Put them on different shelves in the bathrooms. The smaller towels are for hair."

"Yes sir."

Elek smirks. "So the hair towels are only here?"

"Yes, I need them. They are only for me... And Ana, I guess."

"They are perfect for Ana."

Elek stares at Tye.

Tye stares at him. Then he jumps up. "I CAN MAKE KIDS BEACH TOWELS TOO."

Thora jumps up. "AND FUNNER. I'LL DESIGN THEM. THINK ABOUT IT, A SMILEY, FRIENDLY SHARK."

"Use the colors already in the kids' suits though. I can't do the whole color thing again."

"Ok. I'll do that tomorrow." She sits down and jumps back up. "I CAN DESIGN 1 FOR USE IN THE KIDS' CLUB. THEY ALL MIGHT NOT HAVE THEIR OWN TOWELS BUT WILL STILL WANT TO SWIM."

"That's what I did in the spa. The towel on daddy's head is the towel people can buy, but if you go in the spa, I have a different towel. I did it that way, so people wouldn't steal them. Brain bring me 1 of those towels."

A brain walks in with a striped sea glass and white towel.

Thora nods. "Show me a couple with all the bright colors mixed."

I look at Tye. "That is 1 concern I have for inns. Is the towels. I love that you used white in the rooms. No stains, just a clean towel I can use on my body. But at the resort, people use those towels for everything. I have seen them on the beach. And I guess that's fine, but they will get stained faster and it's gross if you pull a stained towel out to dry yourself."

"I imagine people would clean fish with them too. I bet you go through them quick."

"I do."

"Maybe we could come up with an outside towel that doesn't show stains as easily."

After several trial and error, we end up with tie-dyed beach towels.

Then another brain walks in with a towel. It's pink. "This towel is made to look like a butterfly and has a hood with antennas."

I jump up and put it on my head. "I have antennas." I wrap it around me as best as I can. It's not big enough for me but "I love it." I sit back down in my spot and keep it on my head.

Daddy smiles. "You are precious my princess."

"We can do different animals with antennas or a fin or something. Think shark for blue, sea turtle for green,..."

"AN ORANGE CRAB WITH PINCHERS."

"And it doesn't have to be perfect on the colors. Think an orange walrus."

"PURPLE STING RAY." I laugh. "With a tail."

Tye smiles. "Yea, I definitely like the idea. I'll go with that for the kids' towels."

Dipak stands up. "That's enough for today. Everyone come back for the morning meeting."