The Golden Hustla Read online

  As soon as Nina finished, out came a thin, short white guy with bags under his eyes and thick brown hair. She dug the Brioni suit he was wearing and he introduced himself as Simeon. He took her clipboard and she followed him to his office where he motioned for her to sit down and then tell him about herself, including where she currently worked and what she did.

  At the end of the interview he held out his hand and told her he liked her attitude and it would be a pleasure to have her on board.

  That was easy, Nina said to herself. She was ready to get started. He gave her a tour of the beginning salesroom and it was triple the size of APS.

  Later that evening when she called Maggie and told her about her new job, Maggie got quiet. “Awwww, Maggie. You miss me already? Girl, I’ll be making three to four hundred dollars a sale!”

  “But what are you selling, Nina?” Maggie challenged. “Pussy?”

  “Girl, please. We call qualifying business owners and sell them engraved products with their business names.”

  “What are the products?”

  “Nice golden brass calculators, key chains and Montblanc pens. The smallest order is two grand. It beats a five-dollar magazine,” Nina told her.

  “Nina, I hear that they are crazy over there. The dude that runs the joint is crazy and plus they are under investigation. I suggest that you check them out thoroughly before you start counting the dollar signs.”

  “You heard that from who?”

  “People talk, Nina. All of you guys bounce around from one telemarketing room to the next. But listen, don’t take my word for it. Ask Jake. He worked there before.”

  “Jake?” Maggie could hear the frown on Nina’s face over the phone. She sounded as if she had just tasted a lemon. “That loser. I can outsell him. Plus, he don’t even come to work every day. I can imagine why he no longer works there.”

  Maggie let out a chuckle. She knew Nina was telling the truth. “Girl, I’ma miss you. You about the only sane person in the whole damn office. So whenever you want to come back, you know I’ll have you a desk.”

  “Awww, how sweet. Thanks, Maggie. I’ma miss you too. Plus, you know I’ll keep in touch.” Nina hung up.

  Today she had vowed to start anew. Take control. She was determined to make her life work. New job and new attitude. Fuck Reese, it’s his loss. She couldn’t believe she was mourning over him for so damn long. She ain’t never did no shit like that, especially not over some nigga.

  She was in the kitchen broiling a porterhouse steak and making a couple of baked potatoes along with a salad. She had a Carvel ice cream cake in the freezer, a bottle of wine and was only missing some of that sticky icky. She was serious about starting anew. She had the music blasting and was dancing around the kitchen. Her spirits were finally starting to pick up and she had cleared her mind and was actually starting to feel back to her confident and gangsta self.

  There was a knock and she figured it was the sister across the hall wanting to borrow something as she danced and sang her way to the door. She peeked out the curtain. Speak of the devil. It was Cream. She wasn’t unhappy to see him because she had been thinking about him and had already decided to use him, the way he was hoping to use her. And it didn’t hurt that he was looking good, standing there in a State Property sweat suit with some red roses. She opened the door.

  “My. My. My. What a pleasant surprise. I’ll let you in only if those roses are for me, you got some weed and you gonna give up some dick.” She shifted her weight to one side, twisted her lips and then looked at him, daring him to say the wrong thing.

  As she waited for an answer, he handed her the roses, felt in his inside pocket for the weed and then ran his other hand across his dick, giving her a naughty smile, and said, “Oh, I got you.”

  “Then come on in,” Nina said as she danced her way back to the kitchen to check on her meal and to get a vase for her roses.

  “Uuuummm. It smells good up in here. I’m a nigga with impeccable timing,” Cream said real loud and in anticipation of getting him a plate.

  “Yeah, I just threw a little something together. What brings you on this side of town and with some roses? It’s not Valentine’s Day, so what’s up?”

  “I come in love and peace.” He threw his hands up as in surrender, then licked his lips as he admired her in her coochie-cutting shorts and sports bra.

  “Oh, really? So why the roses?”

  “The roses are just to say congratulations for your new job. What? It’s been two weeks? Read the card.”

  “Okay and you came to see me about what? To start some shit?”

  “Nina, for real, I’m just wishing you well, and I didn’t mean to manhandle you when I first saw you and we a team now, so why should I start some shit? I’m just mad that I fucked up and let you get away.” Without waiting for her to respond he moved close to her and put his hand between her thighs and began rubbing her pussy.

  He lifted her up and sat her on the counter. She liked that about him. He was not one to wait when it came to fuck. Forget all of the games, foreplay and the rest of the shit.

  “So we gonna fuck now or after we eat?” he asked as he was already trying to pull down her shorts that seemed to be painted on.

  Nina pushed him back. “My steak is in the broiler.” Cream was standing between her legs with his hard dick right on her pussy. She slid off the counter, but not before getting a little grind off. When she went over to the oven and bent over to open the broiler, Cream was right behind her grinding on her ass.

  “Cut if off. I’m ready to fuck. Right now.”

  She did. When Nina stood up Cream took her by the waist and started to walk out of the kitchen. They made it as far as the couch before he had stripped off the little bit of clothes she had on and was hittin’ it from the back. Every feeling that Nina ever had for Cream began to surface, causing her to enjoy him even more. Cream must have been feeling the same way because he was stroking Nina nice and slow, causing very sexy moans to escape her mouth.

  “Ooooohhh… Cream.”

  “You forgive me, Nina?” he whispered as he continued to search for that special spot.

  “Yeeeessss…” Nina managed to moan out. Shit, the way he was giving her that dick she would have sold the family jewels.

  Right after that Cream went in deep and fast and she began to cum and yell out his name. He pulled out slow and turned her around, looked her in the eyes and whispered, “Let’s go to the bedroom so I can handle this pussy like it needs to be handled.” She looked down at his hard ten inches and led the way.

  Nina went from beginner to intermediate sales rep in three and a half weeks. She had set a goal for herself to make two sales a day. Those sales would gross her five thousand a week. She hadn’t reached that goal but was close to the halfway point and was sure as hell trying her best. She was ecstatic about her accomplishments and was shocked when she was called into Rinaldo, the big boss’s, office along with Shawn, Milt and Pete.

  Rinaldo reeked of cash. New money. Money that she wanted. Nina checked out his calfskin shoes and tailor-made Brioni just like Simeon’s and he had a big-ass diamond in his left ear. She didn’t even want to think about what was on his fingers. She studied him. He stood about five-foot-nine, a muscular one-hundred-ninety-pound frame and had dirty-blond hair that he kept pulled back into a short ponytail. His beady blue eyes reminded you of a hawk. And he didn’t miss anything. His tailor-made suit and shoes made him look like a model off GQ magazine. And for a white boy, which wasn’t Nina’s taste, he was very easy on the eyes. It didn’t hurt that he had lips like a brother’s.

  He stood up and paced back and forth a few times before beginning his spiel. Nina had no clue as to why she was called into his office.

  “All of you are here because you were handpicked. Several factors were taken into consideration. Such as your attendance, your work ethic, how hungry you are and no drug habits. Well, at least for the most part.” His attention went to the brother sitting in t
he corner. “Pete here is my only Platinum Member and he needs some competition. Once you get comfortable in this business, my business, I have a problem with that. You have to stay hungry to keep me happy. Comfort is not good. My wife is pissed at me because my mattress is a wooden plank. Fuck being comfortable. Y’all get the picture?”

  Everyone nodded except for Shawn, who chuckled.

  “I’m offering you all the opportunity to be a part of my Platinum Sales Team. I promise, you’ll make a minimum of ten g’s a week.”

  “Yeah, right,” just about everybody mumbled.

  Rinaldo started laughing. “I know that y’all don’t believe me.”

  “I don’t believe you.” Nina spoke up first.

  “I want to know how,” Shawn barked.

  “I’m listening,” Milt added.

  “You don’t have to ask me. But ask Pete over there.”

  Pete only nodded.

  “I designed the program, so I know it works. But the key is to do like I tell you. And don’t get comfortable,” Rinaldo went on to explain his Platinum program. And when he finished there was no doubt in anyone’s mind that ten g’s was just the starting point. “Now, if you are in, be in my office tomorrow morning at seven sharp.”

  Her cell phone vibrated in her lap, waking her outta her purple-hazed fog of what happened almost two years ago. The screen lit up and the words FUCK YOU BOSSMAN flashed across the screen, causing her to frown. She pressed the speakerphone button.

  “What’s up, Rinaldo?” she asked with absolutely no enthusiasm.

  “What’s up? What the fuck you mean what’s up? Your clients are blowing up your phone, that’s what’s up. How come it’s going on noon and you ain’t at work? That’s what’s up. The fact that—”

  “Rinaldo, please spare me the theatrics this morning,” she cut him off. “I’m in front of my house on my way now.” She regretted those words as soon as they escaped her mouth. “Give me twenty minutes.”

  “Home? Alexis, I mean Nina or Kelly, whoever the fuck you are, you need to get your ass here to this office!” he screamed before slamming down the phone.

  Nina tossed the phone over to the passenger seat and sighed. “This muthafucka!” She cranked up the engine and headed for the offices of WMM.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  WE MAKE MILLIONAIRES

  Nina pressed on the buzzer to the offices of WMM Advertising. From the outside, the office was set up like Fort Knox. At the parking lot entrance, you gained access by using a plastic card, and then you had to key in your password. Nina had one of the four elite parking spaces right in front of the building, and she would keep that spot as long as she was top sales associate. She turned the engine off and hurriedly jumped out of her Porsche SUV.

  “What’s up, Alexis?” A short and stocky sales associate greeted her by her phone name as he held the door open for her. Around the office, everyone was often called by their sales name, except Rinaldo, the boss.

  “How are you?” she asked dryly.

  “I’m good,” he chirped as he headed for the parking lot.

  Nina tried to recall the young guy’s name but shrugged it off when she drew a blank. She pressed the buzzer to the main entrance again, which was the only way you would be able to get into the staff offices. She waved at the security camera above her, in hopes of getting the secretary’s attention. After a few minutes, she leaned on the buzzer again, steam hissed out of her ears at the thought of her encounter with Houser and his hounds from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. She focused her gaze out into the parking lot, which told her who all was at work. Rinaldo, “bossman” as she sometimes called him, had his $300,000 Bentley Arnage Drophead Coupe, which was always taking up two parking spaces. He was so scared somebody was going to scratch up his precious Bentley. Nina told him how ghetto he was being that if he could afford a $300,000 car then he surely could get a scratch repaired. He is such an ass, Nina said to herself. There was Shawn’s $120,000 Mercedes S500, Milt’s $65,000 custom-made Cadillac Escalade, Pete’s $60,000 Porsche Cyanne, Angelia’s SAAB, Vera’s Mercedes 430, Tony’s $70,000 Range Rover Sport and Rocky’s Lexus, to name a few. The parking lot on any given day could pass for a fed’s confiscation car auction or a luxury car show. Rinaldo had some kind of hookup with a car broker that kept him laced with anything his Platinum Team wanted.

  “Yes, may I help you?” Deanna the receptionist chirped.

  “It’s me. Alexis.”

  Bzzzt. The steel door popped open and Nina went to see Deanna. “What’s up, girl?” Deanna asked her. “You-know-who is on the warpath as usual, and you being three hours late only added fuel to his already raging fire.”

  “Fuck him! Because I’m on the warpath too,” snapped Nina.

  “And here are your messages. Please call Garvin Meese,” she emphasized. “He has been calling every hour on the hour. The Lampkins called twice.”

  Nina snatched the messages from Deanna’s hand. Then did a double take. Deanna was the only black girl she ever met from Wyoming. She was weird. Ditzy. She dressed like she was a homemaker who lived on a farm. On top of that she was also tall, almost six feet, and shaped like a box. And God, her hair! Nina was sick of the Afro. She wanted to snatch a whole fistful and drag her to the nearest beauty salon. Maybe then she would look more like Macy Gray instead of Don King in drag.

  “Why are you looking at me like that?” Deanna snapped. “Just because guys around here tell you that you favor Janet Jackson, doesn’t mean you gotta look at me all crazy!” Nina was glad that she said what she was truly thinking.

  By no means was she trying to disguise the disgusted look she had on her face but now Nina was shocked. No, this rural bitch did not just go ghetto on me. She never heard Deanna talk like that before. Neck roll and all. “You can call yourself a psychic today, but bitch, don’t hate because I’m fine. You need to let me give you some beauty lessons,” Nina said as she headed down the hallway to Rinaldo’s office, trying not to laugh.

  The entire office was just redone with dark burgundy carpet and light gray walls. She could hear the intense chatter of the sales workers through the closed doors. When she barged into Rinaldo’s office, the other secretary, Vera, was between Rinaldo’s legs. She got up off her knees and adjusted her miniskirt.

  “Hey, Vera.” Nina eyed her with disgust.

  “Hey back, Alexis. I like that pantsuit. Donna Karan, right?” Vera smiled as she grabbed a stack of folders off of Rinaldo’s desk, acting as if she was not just caught in an uncompromising position.

  “Well, well, well. Look what the cat drug in. Close my door, Vera, on your way out.”

  She walked past Nina with her head held high.

  Nina waited for Vera to close the door before she turned to her boss. “Rinaldo, I could have been your wife barging in here. I heard that you make chicks who want an advance suck your dick. I wish I was your wife so I could have kicked your ass. If I didn’t see if for myself I wouldn’t have believed it. You are so nasty. Getting head at your place of business, as you always say. What a fucking loser.”

  Rinaldo laughed. “Yeah, you said it right. You wish you was my wife.”

  “Man, go ’head with that. I don’t do the white meat. So don’t flatter yourself.”

  “And so what if I bust a few nuts at work. You should try it sometime. You need to mind your business and concern yourself with bringing my money up in here. Besides, she was sucking my dick for a reason. Want to know why?” he asked with a smug look on his face.

  “Hell to the no. And you’re right. It’s none of my business.”

  “Too late, I’ma tell you anyway. She wants to have this weekend off.”

  “You are disgusting.”

  “Enough about me, I gotta hear what excuse my top salesperson is going to give me for why she lost two of her best clients and missed out on thousands of dollars.” He waved two sales sheets in the air.

  “What do you mean lost two clients?” She tried to grab the pages from hi
s hands, but he kept fanning them in different directions. They went at it like a pair of kids with Nina being the victor as she grabbed hold of the sales sheets.

  Rinaldo chuckled while leaning back in his chair. He picked up one of his favorite cigars for the week, a Davidoff. He ran it under his nose before lighting it.

  Nina scanned both of the sales sheets that Jeff signed. All that did was add more fuel to her already raging fire.

  “This is a joke right? I know you didn’t give my clients to Jeff!” She was standing in front of his desk with a hand on her hip.

  Rinaldo took a deep drag of his cigar with the designer’s name, held it, and then blew smoke up towards Nina’s face. “I sure did!” He was trying not to laugh.

  “Rinaldo, you know damned well the Prestons and Don Friedman are two of my favorite clients. I’ve been selling to them for years now!” she screamed as she threw both sales sheets at him and began pacing the floor.

  “You weren’t here, Alexis. And they called for you. They were ready to be sold,” Rinaldo stated with a smug nonchalance. “You know the rules. If the sales rep is not here and the client is ready to be sold it goes to the next man.”

  “That’s bullshit, Rinaldo, and you know it! You could have told them I’d get back to them and I was out of the office. You are so full of shit!”

  “Get back to them when? How could I tell them that when you didn’t even call in? I didn’t know if you quit or not.” Rinaldo smirked.

  “You are so evil,” Nina growled as someone knocked on the door.

  “Come in,” Rinaldo yelled. It was Jeff.

  “I’m talking to you, Rinaldo. Get out, Jeff,” she gritted at him. “This is my time. Rinaldo, you are so fucking evil and rude.”

  “How fast can we ship to the Prestons and old man Friedman?” Jeff asked, ignoring and avoiding eye contact with Nina.