But in all of his looseness with women, Ivan managed to stay away from any more of Lucina’s models. He spent less of his time around her crew unless it was an event where his presence was requested. He explained to Lucina that it was time for her to build up her own brand again. He noticed that IDPromotions.com had begun to overpower her. Nevertheless, a partnership was a partnership. So Ivan was forced to appear at Lucina’s Black Eyed Peas promotion, where he met back up with Carolyn Padilla.

“Ivan, why have you been hiding from me?” she asked him at the event for the crossover rap group. They were making their first visit to the Gaslamp with Fergie, their new female member. They were one of the many performing groups on Lucina’s wish list.

Ivan told Carolyn, “We just haven’t been in the same places lately, sweetheart.” He had to remain careful of Ashley, who was also working the event that night.

He thought, It’s a hell of a lot easier to deal with women who are not in Lucina’s circle now.

Carolyn hinted strongly, “Well, I look forward to seeing you tonight, if you remember what you promised. So don’t forget about me.”

When she walked away, Ivan turned to his right and met eyes with Lucina.

Shit! She caught me looking, he panicked. He could feel it. But he hadn’t done anything incriminating. It was just a stare-down. So he blew off Lucina’s look of caution. As he turned back to his left, he spotted Ashley heading right in his direction.

“What was that all about?” she asked him.

“What are you talking about?”

Ashley just stared at him. “What, you don’t like me anymore? You don’t call me.”

Ivan shook it off and told her, “Look, go on back to work. Nothing’s going on here,” and walked away.

He told himself, I don’t have time for this shit. I need to leave all of Lucina’s girls alone.

Lucina continued to watch him from a distance as Ivan separated himself from the crowd. He then caught up with Perry Downing sitting by himself at the VIP bar.

“Hey, Ivan, I need to talk to you, man,” he mumbled through his drink. He looked as if he had downed more than the legal limit already.

“Go ahead and shoot,” Ivan told him. He had nothing better to listen to. He didn’t even want to be there. His mind was on much bigger business.

Perry said, “I’m kind of like…in a bind right now, man. I don’t know if the Chargers are gonna sign me to a new contract this year. They haven’t talked about it this whole off-season.”

That got Ivan’s attention. “Your contract is up?”