Chapter 49: The Mullet

I had continued hanging out with Leo at his grow op and the dungeon on a regular basis. We had become good friends. Leo had a silent partner who had invested all the money in the equipment but the building itself where the grow op was located was owned by a local Realtor/ Hustler named Jerome. Jerome took a cut of the weed at the end of each harvest as his rent payment. Problems arose when Jerome started to get greedy.

Leo spent several weeks putting up additional drywall utilizing a large empty space to build an additional grow room to increase his harvest and offset the cost of the rent.

One morning when Leo came into the grow op he discovered hot Cheetos chips on the floor in the new grow room. Leo was very strict with his helpers, and everyone knew food was not allowed in any of the grow rooms. When everyone had left the night before the room was clean.

Leo then received a text from Jerome asking to meet to discuss important business. Leo agreed and Jerome showed up after everyone else had left for the day. Jerome walks in, his fingers adorned in big rings, all orangish red from eating Cheetos. Jerome was one of those guys who grew up in the ghetto "on the streets" but made money and got out. He now considered himself some kind of shrewd businessman. He wore jackets with fir and designer hats.

Jerome stood in front of Leo's desk and pulled a gun out of his waist band and set it on the table. He then sat in Leo's chair with his new looking Air Force one shoes propped up on his desk. He reached his hand into his bag of Cheetos and shoveled them into his mouth like a slob. Some smaller pieces missed his mouth and fell to the floor. He obviously made no effort to clean them up.

"Listen up, I came by last night because I needed some weed and I thought you might have something fresh ready for me. I noticed your recent work you've been doing without telling me. I think we need to renegotiate my cut." Jerome said to Leo.

"You keep raising the rent, I built the new room to offset the cost. You will still get your pounds every month." Leo replied.

"Well, my payment was never a set amount. It's always been a percentage of whatever you are growing. Since you are growing more, I need more. " Jerome said with an attitude.

"I never agreed to a percentage. You said three pounds was enough." Leo replied.

"This month's payment was too light. I need more." said Jerome.

"You can't keep changing the agreement." said Leo.

"This is my warehouse; I own this property and everything inside if I want to." Jerome yelled at Leo.

"I don't give a fuck what you think. The new price is four pounds. You have a week to either get me the extra pound you owe me or get the fuck out of my building." Jerome added before getting up, picking up his gun and storming off.

Even if Leo wanted to pay the new price, he did not have another pound ready to give him. Coming up with the four for the following payment would be difficult as well. The truth was he needed any weed he had to sell and pay his own bills. His silent business partner did not want to cover the increase and still expected his investment repaid.

That week was tense. Leo carried his own gun on him at the grow op which did not make anyone feel safer. A few of the guys who worked at the grow op started to not show up for work without warning. Leo called them rats deserting a sinking ship.

By the end of the week, it was just me and Leo.

Leo decided he had no other option but to abandon the grow op. I helped him gather all his most expensive and useful equipment into a U haul. Leo rented a storage unit and stored it all there. He took as many plants as he could to his backyard at home but was forced to leave hundreds behind.

Leo’s silent partner owned a vacant rental house in Redondo, and they were able to store a few of the plants there with the lights and fans. It was hardly ideal.

Growing weed was Leo's source of income to support his family. He owned a nice house in Venice beach with a mortgage and lived a lifestyle that was not easy to afford.

Sara had been making good money off the events. We never expected them to even break even when we started out, so we had never really discussed any sort of split or payment for my part of the work. Sara mainly bought me nice gifts or treated me to expensive dinners as a thank you for my part each month. At first, I was just relieved she had money for her own bills, and I didn't have to pay for everything anymore.

I had actually saved up a bit of money not having to constantly help her financially. Leo's silent investor was scared off after the exodus from the last location and refused to fund another grow op with Leo.

Leo got a part-time job working at a grow shop that shared a parking lot with Safehaven. He was their top salesmen and resident expert that gave customers advice on equipment and grow tips.

Leo became friends with everyone who shared that parking lot including the renters of the building directly behind Safehaven. The building was rented by an older white man who resembled Doc from Back to the Future with a mullet. Everyone called him Sammy. He shared the building with his Asian wife who ran a food truck business. There were always several food trucks parked outside overnight.

Sammy had been an inventor and toy designer for Mattel and many other big toy brands. Basically, any toy from your childhood this guy probably designed it. He had a display case full of toys that must have been worth a million dollars at least.

His warehouse home was filled with different prototypes and machines for mixing plastics. They lived in a loft that sat above and supervised below.

Within the warehouse was a walled off section with two small offices and a storage area with a large roll up door to the exterior. After getting to know Sammy, Leo was able to convince him to rent out the offices and storage area for $1000 a month. Leo just needed a new partner.

Leo told me all about the new project while we hung out at Safehaven during an event. He even took me back there for a tour on his break.

"I really want to start a new smaller grow op here; we could maybe even use the roll up door to start a dispensary. But right now, after losing the other spot, money is tight. I can only really afford $500 a month." Leo explained.

"What about your old partner who put up the money for the last location?" I asked.

"He says this is too small and he's not interested. Between you and me, I think he got spooked by what happened with Jerome." Leo replied.

"Well right now with the success of the events and my business with my dad has picked up. I will put in the extra $500 if you will have me." I replied.

Leo seemed a bit surprised I even offered. He was ready to pass up on the opportunity.

"That's a big move Jordan. You sure you can afford it?" Leo replied.

"I have to admit, working in the cannabis industry has always been my dream. You have all the equipment and knowledge we need. How can we fail?" I told him.

"Let's do it! I will tell Sammy we are interested for sure. You got some big balls kid." Leo replied.

I became part owner of a weed grow op. The best part was it was about 50 feet from Safehaven and Club Chaos.

We began work late December customizing the rooms to suit our needs. We did a thorough cleaning job removing tons of cobwebs and dust. I painted all the walls. Leo fixed the electrical wiring. We put up a wall and door to separate the storage area and roll up door. Leo brought over his equipment and leftover furniture he had in the storage unit he rented. Sammy also donated some stuff. I got a nice desk and office chair.

By the end of January we had one main grow room, an office to hang out and smoke, and we were considering turning the storage area with the roll up door into a makeshift dispensary. Since we both worked up front at Safehaven, Leo the security and me an event promoter, and our grow op was in the back, we code named our spot "The Mullet". Business in the front, party in the back.

Chapter 49: The Wanker