The Golden Hustla Page 16

  “Nina. Now you know I would not insult you like that. I am not calling you a ho. I would never disrespect you like that. I’m just trying to put more money into your pockets.”

  “And your pockets,” Nina shot back. “You better send some of them chickens you got working in the back. Or better yet, you want somebody to sell some pussy, tell your wife to do it.” Everyone started snickering.

  “Those are your clients, Alexis. How we gonna send somebody they don’t know. These clients have been sending you their money. They know you,” Rinaldo pressed.

  “Oh shit!” Nina gasped in disbelief. “You are seriously crazy. These old white men think that they are talking to a young white girl. I sound like a white Yankee over the phone. I can see me ringing the doorbell and saying, ‘Hi, I’m Alexis, your sales rep from WMM.’ I’ma either get shot or somebody’s gonna drop dead.”

  The whole room erupted into laughter. “Man, you can’t be serious, can you? That is rather dangerous,” Milt, the levelheaded one, stated. “You know if these old-timers knew they were sending all of this money to somebody black, they would fall into cardiac arrest.”

  “Martin Luther, you mean to tell me if old lady Lipscoe wanted a date with you for twenty grand, and thirty if you lay the pipe down, you wouldn’t take it?” Rinaldo challenged.

  “Ewwww,” everyone blurted out. They all were disgusted at the thought of old lady Lipscoe—who was old, shriveled up and looked like the Crypt Keeper—naked and legs spread. But she was crazy about Milt. She sent him gifts, flowers and pictures of herself on the first of every month.

  “Hell, thirty grand? I’d honestly have to think about that. That would cover several semesters.” The whole room erupted into more laughter.

  “See, that’s what I’m saying. This is a huge untapped market. One of your clients might want to go dancing, one may want to go to dinner, and some just want to meet you in person. They are lonely and need some excitement in their lives. And we are gonna give it to them. It ain’t about the color anymore.”

  “Man, outta twenty grand how much do you keep?” Milt wanted to know.

  Nina did a double take when Milt asked that. She couldn’t believe that he was actually contemplating Rinaldo’s crazy-ass scheme.

  “The twenty grand is yours except for twenty percent. Plus, we charge an extra ten, fifteen percent for setup-slash-administrative fees, but in return you can get a baldheaded blow job.”

  “A what?” everybody said in unison.

  “Damn, y’all dumb. You never had your dick sucked by a bitch with no teeth?” Rinaldo cracked up at his own joke. “Okay, okay, seriously. Twenty grand for a weekend. Straight up.”

  That got a bunch of “ooh”s and “uh-huh”s out of the room. Except from Nina.

  “That’s crackhead money to me,” she snapped. “I ain’t no crackhead ho.”

  “But understand, people, what was just said in this office, stays in this office because this is only for my Platinum sales force to participate in. Travel can only take place on weekends. I need y’all here during the week to work those phones. And this is a package deal. Meaning, if you are a Platinum Team member you are expected to be here Monday through Friday working the phones. If you are a Platinum Team member you are expected to take these weekend assignments as they come. Being a Platinum Team member, the seven-day workweek is now a mandatory package.”

  “Mandatory?” Nina screeched.

  “C’mon, money,” Milt added.

  “Man, you crazy,” Shawn barked.

  “Mandatory!” Rinaldo said with pride. “Whoever doesn’t want to take part in this opportunity of expanding their pockets as well as the company’s, maybe they should go back with the beginning sales force.” Rinaldo issued the obvious but subtle threat.

  “Now who’s in?” Rinaldo passed out celebratory cigars.

  Nina got up and walked out.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS

  Cream was waiting on the porch with a bouquet of roses when Nina pulled up in front of the house. He motioned for her to stop in the driveway instead of going into the garage. She rolled her eyes at him, turned the engine off, grabbed her purse and a container of food from Yasin’s and stepped out of the car.

  “Hey. I’ve missed you and I figured we could go out to eat tonight. These are for you.” He held out the roses for her. She looked at them, then at him, and went into the house. He followed her.

  “You choke me twice, threaten me to keep a job that I hate and then show up here and expect me to accept your cheap-ass roses and go out to dinner with you? I don’t think so.”

  “I got something for you.” He pulled out a manila envelope. “Here’s ten thousand dollars. I plan to have more for you soon. I do appreciate how you’ve been holding me down. That girl group that I got is about to blow up. They came in first place in that talent show last night,” Cream stated with pride.

  “You keep the ten grand. Use it to take care of your baby and baby mama. I want you out of here. Get all your shit and go,” she told him as she went inside the house with him right on her heels.

  “Nina, why do we gotta fight all of the time?”

  “Because, Cream, I am not your woman. We are not a couple. You have somebody.” And I hope to have somebody named Rick. “It is over. Our little fuck-fest is over.” She was pushing him towards the door.

  “Don’t do this,” Cream pleaded. He was trying to put the envelope of money into her hand. “What about us?”

  “Us? There is no us. You forgot you got a girl and a baby? That means you have a family, Cream.” She allowed the envelope to fall to the floor. “It’s been all about you and whatever it is you are trying to get out of my damned job. There is no us. Let’s keep it real. And I didn’t even see it until you threatened me to keep it. You don’t give a fuck about me. Like I said, it’s all about you, and it’s always been.”

  “That move was about us. Your job is gonna be my come-up. I meant to say our come-up. You won’t have to work anymore. I’ma take care of you. I promise. But you gotta trust me and give me a little more time. I got the right people already working on it.”

  “What people, Cream? What are you planning on doing? I’m still clueless to this day.”

  “I’ll let you know when the time is right. I just need you to keep working as if everything’s everything.” He picked up the envelope. “Here, Nina. Seriously, I want you to have this.”

  “Cream, listen to me. I don’t know if I can do this. Rinaldo now wants us to go trick off with the clients.”

  “Trick off? You ain’t ’bout to do no trickin’.”

  “I know I ain’t.”

  “Damn, that cracker is greedy as fuck. But listen to me, baby, I ain’t for you trickin’ off with no damn body. I just need you to go to work a little while longer. I also need you to place this under his desk.” He held out what looked like a simple magnet.

  “What is that?” Nina jumped as if he was handing her something toxic.

  “It’s a recording device.”

  “Nigga, are you trying to get me killed?” she shrieked.

  “I’m telling you, baby, that cracker is setting y’all up. And this is going to protect you.”

  “Protect me how? Cream, what have you gotten me into?”

  “Nina, I’m telling you. If you trust me on this, you can walk away from this shit, free and paid. It’s getting ready to get real ugly. My sources say that your man has been under investigation for almost three years now. That whole operation is going down. The feds already have a secret indictment cooked up.”

  “Where are you getting this information from, Cream? Are you working for the feds? If you are that’s your business, but I’m not a fuckin’ snitch.” Nina was beginning to see how serious Cream was about bringing Rinaldo down but still didn’t understand why.

  “Hell naw, I ain’t workin’ for the feds! You should know me better than that. It’s some people who your boss happened to piss of
f and I happen to know them, be in the right place at the right time, with the right info. I’m telling you. It’s bigger than the feds. I am about to hit the fuckin’ jackpot. They gave me twenty g’s last night. I split it in half with you. Now I just need you to hang in there a little while longer. Can you do that for me? For us?” He stared at her with begging eyes. “Let me use this opportunity to prove to you that I got your back like you’ve always had mines.”

  Nina for once was at a total loss for words. This was not happening. She knew that he was a piece of shit, but this? He outdid himself this time. Place a recording device under Rinaldo’s desk? What if she got caught? Rinaldo didn’t hesitate to take out Ted Branson’s nephew. What the fuck did Cream think he would do to her? Give her a slap on the wrist?

  “Hell to the no! Plus, you would have to give me a whole lot more information than what you been giving me. Rinaldo ain’t no fuckin’ lame in the streets and he damn sure ain’t nobody to fuck over.”

  “My sources ain’t neither. But the less you know the better. And yes, my sources are well connected and assured me that nothing would happen to me or you.”

  “Hell no, Cream. Get the fuck out!”

  * * *

  Nina was dying to tell Rick about her job, Cream and all of the drama in her life. But something kept telling her not to. To wait until the time was right. They had been hooking up just about every other weekend and going to the drive-in. With him she always left everything at the office or in Jersey.

  She had finally stopped fucking with Cream, changed her cell number, and he seemed to have gotten the hint because he had stopped coming around.

  One month later…

  Nina and Rinaldo had been constantly at each other’s throats. When he saw that he couldn’t persuade her to go meet clients like everyone else, he threatened to kick her off of the Platinum Team and put her in the back with the Intermediate Sales Team. He told her he would give away all of her clients and made sure Simeon gave her the shittiest leads. He even went as far as to not tell her that the private detective called, the one she had hired to find her daughter. The relatives Jatana stayed with moved and now they were back at square one. She found that piece of information out from Rochelle. When Rochelle told her that, Nina declared all-out war against Rinaldo.

  Last week when Shawn and Milt told her how much money she was missing, how much money they were making, she still wasn’t about to be pimped out by Rinaldo on these weekend excursions.

  “Congratulations to everyone. This is working out better than I expected.” Rinaldo was handing out his favorite cigar for the week, Bolivar, to his Platinum sales staff. “This is one of the best sales meetings I’ve had in a long time,” he exclaimed while handing Nina a cigar.

  “I don’t smoke.” She fanned him away.

  “Well, give it to your man. These are expensive.” He shoved the cigar into her hand, then went back and sat at his desk. He put fire to the Cuban and took a long drag. “God, I love these things! I really think that these are my favorite. They are as close to natural as you can get. They taste good because they are aged longer than most brands. That’s how the old-school growers do it. This is a premium cigar.”

  That got several grunts of approval from all the men flunkies in the room, including Shawn, who were all now puffing away.

  Nina went to his desk and turned on his smokeless ashtray. “Is this a sales meeting or a cigar convention?”

  “Both, Alexis,” Rinaldo told her. “Don’t forget this is my world and you’re just a squirrel trying to get a nut.”

  “Now back to you guys.” He nixed Alexis off. “Why hasn’t anyone been willing to share any stories or escapades with your favorite clients? I mean, what’s the big secret? I thought about taking pictures and hanging them up on the board. What y’all think?”

  “It doesn’t matter what we think. You gonna do what you want to do anyway.” Nina’s voice dripped with sarcasm.

  “Alexis, since you haven’t been participating in our very profitable extracurricular activities, your opinion doesn’t count. However, I am feeling rather chipper on this Monday morning. And I’m not going to let you spoil that for me. We took in almost a million dollars last week. I’ve been working that shit outta the beginners. Now if we can just stay on that track, I’d be one thrilled muthafucka. Y’all feel me? And I know that y’all are just as thrilled to be making a shitload of easy, extra money.”

  Everybody agreed.

  “Now back to what I was saying. Tell me how your clients like their outings. Let us start with you, Nina. Oops,” Rinaldo teased. “I forgot. We have to start with somebody else. Because you haven’t been a team player.” He smiled at her. “But, I gotta tell you this. If you don’t participate this coming weekend, then it’s back there in the cheap seats you go. Comprende?”

  “It doesn’t matter to me. You wanna know why? Because I can sell, Rinaldo. You can put me in the garage, it don’t matter. You obviously forgot who the fuck I am.”

  “Yeah, I know because I’m the one who taught you how to sell,” he reminded her. “So tell us, Martin Luther, how was your very first date?” He turned his attention to Milt.

  “All the Howells did was take me out to dinner and tell me how much money they made back in the day, their children, blah, blah, blah. It was actually quite boring.”

  “Boring? You made a quick and extra fifteen grand. See, Alexis, what you been missing out on all these weeks? Looks like you are no longer my top salesperson anymore. Is this Friday’s check gonna be boring?” Rinaldo asked Milt.

  “Hell no!” Milt said, and everyone started clapping.

  “Now see. Was that so hard? Here you was rebelling, acting like I was pimping you out or something. Who else got something to share? Anybody got a freaky customer?” Rinaldo looked around the room at his tight-faced sales team. “Milt’s little outing wasn’t exciting enough for him. What’s the matter with y’all?” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a platinum money clip. “All right. I’m going to make this interesting.” He began throwing one hundred dollar bills onto the desk. “Here go a thousand! I understand the game is to be sold not told. Who got something freaky?”

  Pete jumped up, beating Jeff to the desk. “I got this!” He went to snatch up the money.

  “Hold up,” Rinaldo told him. “You do have something freaky to share with the class?” Rinaldo put both hands over the cash, cigar dangling from the corner of his mouth.

  “Yeah, man.” Pete lifted Rinaldo’s hands, grabbing up the grand.

  “This is crazy.” Shawn chuckled.

  “Get that money!” Milt encouraged.

  “Let’s split it. I got a story to tell too,” Jeff pleaded.

  “Nah, nah, you too late,” Rinaldo teased. “Let’s hear it, Pete.”

  “Cagan.” Pete shook his head back and forth as if he didn’t believe what he was getting ready to say.

  “Who? Henry Cagan? The ex-lieutenant governor–slash-congressman? I’ll be damned! The lieutenant governor is a freak? What did he say when your black ass showed up at his front door? I would have paid anything to be a fly on the wall!” Rinaldo and everyone else were laughing. Nina had crossed her legs and was now sitting on the edge of her seat. Pete had Shawn and Milt’s full attention as well. They all knew that these clients were positive that they were sending their hard-earned cash money to their people, white people. These older white clients would not have it any other way.

  “Yeah that’s him. And I must say… he was shocked. He said, ‘Dick, by golly, I thought you were Caucasian!’ ” Dick Garner was Pete’s phone name. “I said, ‘Henry, by golly, I thought you were black!’ ”

  The room erupted in laughter.

  “You’re lying, Pete,” Jeff said in disbelief.

  “No, I’m not. I swear on my great-grandmother.” Pete placed his right hand up in the air.

  “So what happened next?” Rinaldo prodded. They were all dying to hear the rest of this escapade.

&n
bsp; “We shook hands, and he invited me in. He gave me the tour of his crib. Even though his house is small the tour took forever. He walks with a cane. We then sat down and had a few drinks. He wanted to know the inside scoop of WMM, and how much I wanted for sharing info on how he can get the biggest share of the gold coins. At that point he didn’t see me being black. I was all gold.” Everyone started laughing again.

  “I knew he was a true player. What did you tell him?” Rinaldo questioned. “Did you take the bribe?”

  “I told him some bullshit about me getting in trouble for insider trading, and that shit just hyped him up even more. He was rubbing his palms together and literally drooling at the mouth. I could not believe it. It’s amazing to me how these clients are so into this gold.”

  “All right… all right… get on with the freaky shit!” Rinaldo pressed.

  “Hold up, man. Be patient. I got you.” Pete used this opportunity to remain in control. “We then went to the golf course and played a few rounds. He even brought me all new golf gear. You were right, these muthafuckas are lonely as shit! After golf, we went to dinner and he got pissy-ass drunk. When we got back to his house, his driver and I had to hold him up and walk him inside.”

  “Driver?” Rinaldo and Nina blurted.

  “Yeah. I know you ain’t surprised. He is seventy-two. He does not drive anymore. We then downed some black coffee, ham sandwiches and Danishes and that’s when he popped the question.” Pete looked around at everyone in the room.

  “C’mon, man. Popped what question? He wanted to marry you?” Shawn joked.

  “Naw. He asked if I would give him a sponge bath!”

  “Oh my God!” Nina shrieked. “How fuckin’ sick!”

  Rinaldo was laughing so hard he was choking. Shawn and Milt were bent over laughing as well.

  “Man. I know you didn’t do that?” Jeff did not find that request funny at all.

  “The fuck I didn’t! It’s all about the Benjamins, homeboy. I got a four-grand cash tip for that shit!” Pete proudly stated.