Page 95 of Packed Up In Vegas

“All right, then. Miles, get me a meeting with management. I have some assholes to persuade.”

“And why would we be interested in a repeat performance?”

I fought the urge to roll my eyes. Miles had told me they would try to play it cool and wear me down to give them as much as they wanted while giving me as little as possible in return.

“Because I am well aware of how much money my show produced.”

“There’s no reason to think you would make that much again. People have already seen you.” Jeff and Kyle were a pair of pissy pants. Their sour expressions matched their too-sharp citrus scents.

“People have already seen my pack before too, and they still show up. You don’t think new people are going to buy tickets who have never seen me before? Besides, I can offer you something your other performers can’t.”

“Oh?” Jeff raised one eyebrow. “What’s that?”

“Another live bonding during the show.”

The two of them exchanged a look.

“You can’t pretend it didn’t get results for all of us when it happened the first time. How many people are ever going to get the opportunity to see an omega bonded during a heat unless it’s their own? Market it. Sell the experience.”

Kyle narrowed his eyes at me. “It’s not enough.”

All right, then. Let’s add the next layer of sugar to sweeten the deal.

“What about a new alpha? I know people like the omega to be the inexperienced ones, but I think it would be fun to have an alpha experiencing everything for the first time.”

“And you’re just going to let some random alpha join your heat?”

“Not a random one,” Miles stated from behind me from where he was supervising the meeting. “Me.”

Jeff burst out laughing. “Are you fucking serious? You finally got tired of standing on the sidelines?”

“No need to be an ass,” I snapped. “There’s also no need to pretend you don’t want the money you know will come from this. I know you’re both smarter than that, and you can play this game all you want, but if you don’t want me, I can take my talents elsewhere.”

Kyle snorted. “Talents? Is that what we’re calling it now?”

“If the two of you think it’s so easy, maybe you should take a turn onstage in your own show. But I can understand why you might not want to. I doubt either of you could keep it up that long, and I know you prefer to leech off the labor of others instead of doing actual work yourself.”

“Callie,” Miles said quietly, his voice laced with anxious warning.

I only shrugged. “I’m only giving them this opportunity because of you, Miles. If they don’t want me, I’ll head right over and sign my other offer.”

“Whoa, wait. What other fucking offer?” Jeff asked.

“You can’t take our performers,” said Kyle. “They’re under contract.”

“I’m sorry, do you think we can’t read? There’s no non-compete clause anywhere in their contracts.”

“Jesus Christ.” Jeff crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s still not enough. What else can you offer?”

I shared a look with Miles. I had only been bluffing about the other offer, but the management didn’t need to know that. “Tell your patrons it’s a breeding heat. I won’t take the birth control beforehand.”

That seemed to get their attention. I had already laid out the terms: all pack members would be released from their contracts with no buyout required, and everyone would continue to get paid at their same percentage rates, plus tips.

“I’ll help with the cinematography this time. I think if you took down the option of a livestream and turned tickets into an auction, you’d make just as much.”

“The livestream brings in half the income,” Kyle pointed out.

“Start the ticket price at triple.”

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