About a month had gone by, and things were looking up for E'ani. She had put in a lot of long hours, researching, making phone calls, using her connections properly and having meetings to get a few things set up for Amere. She was waiting on conformation back from those things, but she had them in place nonetheless.
Speaking of Amere, the two had actually become friends, kind of. They had a very friendly relationship, he joked around with her often and she would laugh, if she found him funny. Most times he'd be making fun of her and she'd just straight face him.
He was a really nice guy, and she enjoyed working for him, he didn't make anything difficult for her at all. He was, although, fine. Extremely fine, she had to watch herself around him or she'd catch herself staring. He just looked that good. She had absolutely no feelings for the man but appreciating his looks was something she found no problem in.
"Aight, we got a busy weekend ahead of us, sir," E'ani said, sitting in front of Amere at his house. They were having a little debriefing of his activities for the weekend.
"What's on the roster boss lady?" he asked, leaning forward.
"Well, first, stop calling me that," she chuckled, opening her MacBook. Tomorrow morning we have a meeting with your coach, and some staff to see about renegotiating this trash ass underpaying ass contract you signed two years ago," she said, curling her lip up. She hated the terms and the money he was being paid in the contract he signed.
From the moment Amere got drafted he was making waves. She knew he only signed for a year at first but the very next season is when he made ROTY, and his old agent should have tried to renegotiate before the season that just passed, but, he didn't. So now E'ani had to do it before September 10th.
She was able to get on the coaching staff's good side, which allowed her to wiggle her way in to a free Friday they had to have this meeting. Part of the hours she put in were just showing up at his practices and making nice with coach Pederson. Besides the fact that she was pretty good at networking, she knew how to use the face and charm she was born with.
"Second, you have a charity event, Saturday night in New York. Your flight is booked, I have your ticket conformation, and the outfit you need to wear, since you like to act like you've never seen a suit before," she chuckled.
"Aw you got jokes, rugrat?" he smirked. Once she stopped wearing heels around him, he saw her actual height and he just thought she was the smallest thing. She wasn't even that short.
"Chill on me, slim," she laughed to herself, making her accent sound much heavier, since he thought it was just so hilarious how she spoke. "Anyway! After you fly home, you have a free morning on Sunday, but at 1:30, you have an interview! Which is good, I'm gonna start pulling for more of those. Especially with women and black sportscasters, your core fanbase is black women and men, so I want you in places where they can see you. Good?"
"Sound peachy, boss lady—my bad!" he laughed at her when she gave him a face. "Ima need my hair done, I ain't had a retwist in a month damn near. You not coming to New York wit me?" he asked.
"I can get you an appointment somewhere, lazy. You need to have some kinda schedule for all this hair you have. When I used to do my cousins locs we was on it, every three weeks. But no, it's a charity event, I don't really need to be there,"
"You do hair?! Do mine then man! What I need an appointment fa' if my PA, agent extraordinaire can do it? But I mean, ain't it gonna be a whole bunch of different people there you could network wit? Wasn't you telling me I need a family friendly ass endorsement?"
She thought for a second and gasped. "You're right! Children's is definitely gonna be there! Ugh you're so smart today. And no, I'm not doing your hair," she shook her head.
"I'm smart every day, fuck you mean," he laughed. "Come on, Yanni! Just one time for the one time, we too short on time to be making me appointments and shit, just do it fa' me!" he sighed exasperatedly.
"Amere, you can't just ask me to do your hair two days before an event! You need a lineup and—"
"You could line me up?! I lucked up," he laughed, clapping his hands. "Come on, Yanni, just one time," he pleaded.
"Oh my Lord! Amere fine," she groaned, knowing he wouldn't leave her alone if she kept telling him no. "I'll be back over tomorrow after the renegotiation meeting, don't forget or I'm leaving. Your hair better be washed and conditioned when I get here," she pointed, shutting her laptop.
"Okay, mean ass girl. You so damn mean to me, we posed to be homies, love" he got up to walk her out.
"Says who?" she raised her eyebrows. She fought the urge to laugh when his face dropped. "I'm kidding! Look at your face, you was bout to be sick," she laughed. "I'll see you tomorrow, Boudreaux, behave," she called, walking toward her car.
The next morning, she woke up at the crack of dawn, 5:35 to get ready for Amere's contract renegotiation. She had to be at the office by 6:45, and she refused to be late. This was one of the most important meetings they'd have in a long time.
After showering and completely wetting her head full of thick hair, she managed to slick it back into a perfectly shiny bun at the base of her scalp. She did a very minimal beat on her face, choosing a more natural look.
She got dressed and slipped her heels on, looking in the mirror, taking a deep breath. "Okay, E'ani. You got it, you're gonna walk out of that meeting with at least 2.5 mil on the table. He deserves that. You deserve that," she pointed at herself. "You are leaving with more than you walked in with," she assured herself, turning on her heel and strutting out of her front door.
Amere's leg bounced up and down anxiously as he waited on E'ani to pull up next to him. He didn't know how this meeting was gonna go, and he was scared he wouldn't leave this meeting with much more than he already got.
Just as he was about to dive deep into thinking way too much, he saw a very familiar Impala pull up next to him and he smiled as his agent walked up to the car knocking on his passenger side window. He rolled his window down.
"You ready to make some money big dawg?!" she cheesed.
"Hell yeah," he laughed. He rolled it back up, getting out with her. She held her fist up, and he laughed again before bumping it.
"Okay, game face on," she said, straightening out her expression immediately. "Lets go, she nodded. They walked into the building and boarded the elevator together, not saying a word. They walked to their destination, and Amere could see the confidence in her walk.
"Good morning, gentlemen," she smiled a bit as they entered a conference room. "Good to see you all,"
"Good morning, Ms. Anderson," one of the head office staff spoke to her. "I say we get straight to it?" he suggested, making everyone nod. "Now, with his current contract Mr. Boudreaux is signed to a four year $495,000 deal, I see you feel it should be negotiated for...more?" he asked.
"Yes sir, that's correct. I do believe that the amount of money detailed in the terms of his contract is nowhere close to the contributions he's made to the team in these last two years. He's making lower than median pay. If we were talking about a benched player that averages little to no yards, with low stats, that'd be acceptable," she began.
"We're talking about Amere Boudreaux. He's averaging yards like he's been playing for four plus years. He has more playing time than most of the vets on the team, it's rare that he's ever benched. We're talking speed, catching, touchdowns, making plays. We're talking rookie of the year," she explained, making Amere struggle not to smile.
His heart smiled whenever he knew someone believed in him.
"How do we know he can keep these up, though? If we take this negotiation and increase his salary, how can we be sure Mr. Boudreaux will keep up these contributions to our organization year after year?" one of the other old men asked.
"Well, if you all remember when Amere was in college, his stats have only gone up since then. Even back then he was stellar on his team, outshining so many of the other prospects and making it clear that he was the valuable asset. Which is why you all signed him in the first place, if I remember his draft correctly. As gets older, he gets better. His value goes up every game, and we can all see that. He doesn't deserve to play on a team that doesn't value his hard work with as much dedication as he's been giving," she explained simply, like the answer was obvious. "His agent was irresponsible with his previous contracts, but I plan to get him the type of contract he deserves, whether that be with this organization or without," she said, leaning back and crossing her legs.
Amere was terrified. He didn't expect her to throw that last part in, he definitely wanted to stay with this organization, he loved it here and he loved Philly, the last thing he wanted was a last minute trade.
After a short silence, and several communicative looks, the first man leaned up to the table again, looking straight at E'ani.
"What terms can we edit?" he asked, and E'ani smirked triumphantly.
"Well, outside of his salary, his salary cap needs some fixing. I have a few ideas," she nodded. "First let's start with salary. I firmly believe a player of this caliber shouldn't be among the lowest paid on this team. I'm putting two five on the table as a start," she said.
2.5 Million? He thought to himself, eyes wide. That was a huge jump from his 495.
"Before you all discuss, as his coach, I think she should be starting with a base of more than that, the man has been making strides since his very first game, it's an undeniable turnaround," Pederson interjected. E'ani sent an appreciative smile in his direction and they began discussing amongst themselves.
Looking over at her, he wouldn't think she was stressed at all. She looked extremely confident in her words and her ability to persuade, and it had been working so far.
By the end of the meeting, Amere walked out with a four year fixed salary contract in comparison to his salary that fluctuated before with a low salary cap.
Not to mention, he walked in making $495,000. He left with a guaranteed yearly salary of $2.8 million, and bi weekly pay compared to his once monthly before. He was completely astonished at how she got them to jump that high at the snap of her fingers.
What he didn't know, was that threatening his departure, knowing they were scared to lose him, had them on their toes. She was never really going to propose a trade if they swung too low, but they were too scared to even think about that possibility.
"Thank you gentlemen for your time, it was a pleasure," she smiled politely, shaking hands all around the room, and he did the same. They said their goodbyes, and exited the building the same way they came in.
Once they reached outside, her shoulders visibly relaxed, and her stance loosened up.
"We did it," she cheesed, turning around.
"I-I'on even know how to thank you, man. How you convince them I was worth that much damn money?!" he asked, still in shock.
"I didn't have to convince them, they know. You are worth that much money, they just needed a little push in the right direction to show you they know. Every time we walk into a meeting you better remember that. Know what you worth and tax it. I'm not bout to let nobody undervalue you, and neither should you," she shrugged. Before he even had a chance to respond she was walking back to her car.
"I'm going to take a nap! When I get to your house, your hair better be clean!" she reminded him, before hopping in her front seat, leaving him speechless as she sped away, sending him two goodbye honks.
Around 6, Amere's hair was in fact clean and conditioned when he heard his bell go off. He jogged fast down his steps, towel on his shoulders so his hair wouldn't drip on him, and made his way to the door.
E'ani was on the other side of the door, dressed completely down in a big t-shirt, some leggings, and slides. She had a black plastic bag, assumedly from the beauty supply store and a clear plastic one filled with candy and other snacks for her.
"Why are you naked?" she asked, looking him up and down. "I didn't sign up for this," she shook her head.
"It's my house," he laughed. "I'a walk around this bitch ass naked if I want to," he continued, moving to the side and letting her in.
"Whatever, you need to be wearing clothes," she chuckled. "Your hair washed?" she asked him, getting a chair for him to sit in. She did hair better standing anyway.
"Yeah, I thought you was gon kill my ass if it wasn't. Just sit?" he asked and she nodded, starting to take stuff from her bag and set it on the table. "You not heavy handed are you? I'm tender headed na', don't hurt me,"
"I'm not heavy handed, Amere," she chuckled. "You needed this done a week ago. You real live lazy. You need to be helped," she shook her head, starting at the back of his head. As she said, she wasn't heavy handed at all, she twisted the entire bottom row and clipped it with no complaints from him.
By the time she was halfway through, he was falling asleep.
"Amere!" she called, tired of his head falling back and forth.
"Ma'am?" he mumbled, still half sleep.
"Wake up, bruh. You're gonna make me pull it, I'm almost finished!" she complained. "You ain't take no naps since noon? Get up Amere, I'm two seconds away from popping your ass with this comb," she threatened.
"You so damn mean, E'ani, shit," he chuckled, sitting up straight. "I work hard, I need some damn sleep,"
"Sleep when I leave," she retorted.
Once she was finally done retwisting, she lined him up just like her daddy taught her to do on him, her brother and her cousins. Being the only girl in a family full of boys had taught her some very valuable skills.
"Look in the mirror, please," she said, cutting the clippers off. She was finally done, and she was ready for bed herself. They had a full day of travel and events tomorrow, she wasn't fully prepared for the press yet, she hadn't dealt with it. Since it's offseason, the post game interviews aren't as frequent, but when regular season started is when her PR work actually began.
As of right now she was just focused on getting his name in places where it should be, which she was hoping to accomplish with this interview. She knew he obviously interviewed with ESPN, just like everyone else. But Amere being a young black man is extremely marketable for the simple fact that his audience is also black for the most part.
She wanted to see him on GQ Sports, at the BET Awards, on NFL network with other young black athletes because she knew that's what his fans wanted to see. They want to see him being human and doing normal things, off the field. They know all about him on the field but little to none knew him off of it, she planned to fix that.
"It looks good! You sure you can't be my hairdresser full too? I'll pay you," he asked, making her suck her teeth. "Please? It looks so nice and you're not heavy handed at all come on friend!"
"Amere, goodnight! Stop asking me questions, please," she shook her head, getting her stuff ready to go.
e'ani talks cash ONLY. PERIOD.
lol hi!
how'd we like this chapter? we see our pals are now friends after a little while and ms. e'ani anderson is working working.
writing her as an assertive businesswoman is really fun lol.
thank yall for all the feedback so far! i love all the love this book is getting it's making me happy 😊
leave me some thoughtssss, what do yall wanna see??i have something up my sleeve but 💀 we're gonna do a little filler before that.
till next time ❤️