by Kiki Swinson
While it looked all good on the outside, on the low a lot of his co-workers and colleagues actually despised Joel for his bluntness and cut-throat business tactics. He could be outright snide sometimes and he was definitely cocky, but he was at the top of his game and he commanded their respect.
As a senior executive at the New York Diamond and Jewelry Exchange, Joel was responsible for bringing in nearly half of the company’s revenue. His attitude was such that the haters could hate all the fuck they wanted to. As long as he was producing profits at a high level, there was not much that could be done to him. And while Joel was bringing in top dollars for the Diamond and Jewelry Exchange, you could best believe he was racking up some real pretty side dough for himself at the same time.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” Joel stood up and announced with stern authority as he popped a bottle of Dom P. “I would like to thank you all for coming out tonight for our dinner celebration. The New York Diamond and Jewelry Exchange has been on a steep upward trajectory for the past two years and I would like to celebrate that success with each and every one of you. As you all know, I’ve been a major component of the company’s success, and I’ve worked tirelessly to make this brand a major competitor in the most beautiful city in the world. I’ve also—”
“Yes, yes! Let’s make a toast to the Diamond Kings of Fifth Avenue.” Slimy Sal Silberman stood up from his seat and rudely interrupted his senior executive. Sal was a junior member of the executive board and a significant earner for the New York Diamond and Jewelry Exchange as well, and he hated Joel’s guts. Although they were partners-in-crime together in a highly lucrative underground diamond scheme, Sal was as greedy as he was slimy, and he wanted Joel’s job like he wanted his next breath. Joel was well aware of how his colleague felt about him, and the feeling was mutual. They took public jabs at each other and tried to show each other up at every opportunity, and tonight would be no exception.
“Hard work and dedication has always been our motto,” Sal continued, ignoring Joel’s bristling look, “and our stock is rising daily. And that, my dear friends and colleagues, is a testament to the drive and passion of not only Mr. Samuelson here, but to our entire staff and all of our associates. So, on behalf of the New York Diamond and Jewelry Exchange—and I’m talking about from the front desk clerks all the way up to the executives—we thank you all for your sacrifices and contributions.”
The smiles were bright and the applause was thunderous, and judging from the hard line of Joel’s jaw, it was obvious that he couldn’t wait to regain the attention that had just been stolen from him.
“Thank you, and we appreciate your knack for the obvious, Sal,” Joel said in a joking but dismissive tone. Joel knew Sal was secretly trying to get the lower-level employees to rally around him by interrupting his speech and highlighting their worth to the brand. It was an obvious slip-up, and Sal had taken advantage and exploited the opening, and now Joel was left steaming on the inside but standing at the podium he played it off like a boss.
“That concludes our remarks for this occasion,” he said cheerfully. “I hope everyone enjoys the lovely meal that was prepared for us, and we’ll have more festivities later in the evening. Dig in, people, dig in!”
With everyone dining and conversing with one another the mood at the banquet was festive and upbeat. Former co-workers, colleagues, and associates in the jewelry business were catching up with each other’s lives, and promises to get together at future gatherings were being planned. Sipping a cocktail on the sidelines, Joel was secretly eyeing Sal like a hawk on a snake, waiting for his time to strike so he could sink his sharp talons in his colleague’s bitch-ass neck. Minutes later he got his opportunity as he walked over to a table where Sal was engaged in conversation with two billionaire jewelers and their wives.
“. . . and this is my son, Sal Junior,” Sal said as he showed a picture of his baby boy to the sharply dressed gentleman, whose wife’s finger bore a diamond so rare and exquisite its worth could feed a small country for years.
“He’s a funny little guy,” Sal said with a prideful smile. “He’s always happy and pleasant. I can’t get enough of him.”
“Hey Sal,” Joel said as he inserted himself in their midst. “Let me get a look at baby Sal, the future up-and-coming executive of this company.”
“Sure,” Sal said as he passed him the picture.
“Wow, such a cute little guy,” Joel remarked as he eyed the picture. “But his skin is a little dark, yes? In fact, he looks biracial. I don’t know . . . your wife is very fair, Sal. Pale, actually. So what gives here? You have some African ancestors swinging from your family tree,” Joel joked, “or is there something else going on? Something a little more . . . shall we say . . . illicit?”
“Excuse me!” Sal said jumping to his feet. His face flushed beet red with embarrassment and his jaw worked furiously as he tried to come up with a response. “What in the world did you just say?”
“I’m just saying, Sal,” Joel said, loving the look of shame and rage on his business associate’s face, “the kid looks like he has some Zulu in him. Some Shaka Zulu! Now, I’m not saying Mrs. Silberman ever caught herself a case of jungle fever or anything like that, I’m just saying your kid looks a little dark, that’s all. I mean really, he’s as handsome as can be. Just . . . dark.”
The two high-society ladies at the table gasped and covered their mouths while their husbands tried to hide their laughter. Sal’s face flamed red-hot with anger and embarrassment and he pushed his chair back and stood face-to-face with Joel with his fists clinched menacingly.
“You’re taking things too far, buster,” he fumed. “Children and wives are off-limits!”
“Relax, pal,” Joel said, tamping down the heat as he patted Sal on the shoulder. “I apologize if you took my words seriously. I didn’t mean to offend you or anything. I’m just busting your balls for old times’ sake, that’s all. Come on man, I know you can take a little joke. There’s nothing dark about your baby. Your kid is fine. I mean, his nose is big as hell and he looks like he can nail a jump-shot from the concession stand, but he’s nowhere near dark.”
Sal sat back down trying to gather himself as Joel grinned and then confidently strolled away. The men at the table were still snickering at the major shade that had just been thrown on the junior executive, and Slimy Sal Silberman couldn’t have been more humiliated. Rage bubbled up in his chest and threatened to burst from his mouth. Joel Samuelson had crossed the fucking line by insinuating that nigger shit about his wife and kid! Business partners or not, Samuelson was going to have to pay for that dirty stunt he had just pulled. Sal was too pissed off to even think about eating, and with his blood boiling under the other guests’ snide looks of pity, he excused himself from the table and stormed out of the event altogether, vowing vengeance on Joel Samuelson with every step he took.
CHAPTER 8
Honore was shitting major bricks as she sat in the waiting room of the probation office. Her PO had called requesting a letter of employment to satisfy the terms of her probation, and now that she wasn’t working, getting such a letter from Sal Silberman was outta the question.
Honore sat there mad as fuck and tryna look cute at the same time. She couldn’t fucking believe that sucka-ass white man had fired her after she let him nibble all over her cookies and even lick up the crumbs! Stretched out on the floor of the attic nursery, she had put her wet juicy stuff down on Slimy Sam like a real pro; sucking his lil dick down to the bone until he sprayed her with his hot seed, and when he was finished she’d even licked all up under his saggy balls! She was the lip-lock queen, but he had still fired her!
Honore was dumb tight about the whole situation. As she sat down in the chair with her leg shaking from nervousness, all she could think about was her anorexic-ass PO violating her and sending her off to the Rock. Honore didn’t like that bitch and the officer didn’t like her ass neither. The only leverage Honore had was the fact that she’d paid her fine on
time, and up until the other day she had stayed fully employed. And now her freedom was in jeopardy over a series of unfortunate events that had ended in total fuckery.
“Forget all this shit,” Honore muttered to herself as her eyes darted around the crowded room. A fine-ass nigga with long dreads and pretty teeth was checking people in at the desk, and they had given each other some real long looks on her way in. “I already know that bitch PO is gonna try and do me filthy since my job situation ain’t A-one. Her ass is gonna straight lock me up. I might as well just dip on this appointment and buy myself some more time. Yeah, fuck it. I’m out. I’ll call her later and make up some stupid shit just to reschedule.”
Honore jumped up and jetted toward the exit, but just as she was nearing the door she heard her name called.
“Honore Morales? Is Honore Morales here?”
“Oh, shit!” she muttered under her breath as she ducked her head and switched her booty straight out the door. Honore knew if she went up in that office she would be coming back out in handcuffs, and there wasn’t no way in hell she was marching back past fine-ass Mr. Dreadlocks with her hands behind her back wearing no goddamn metal bracelets!
Honore was beating feet down the steps and planning to duck into the subway when her phone rang. She snatched it outta her purse and glanced at it and saw that it was Slimy Sal’s dickless ass.
“What the fuck do you want?” Honore spit with mad attitude. “Last time I checked you fucked me and fired me, you stank-breath clown! What the hell are you calling my phone for?”
“Honore, Honore,” Sal said with a laugh. “Why all the hostility, sweetheart? I thought we grooved pretty good together the other night. I made you cum, didn’t I?”
“Fuck you!” Honore shot back. She was embarrassed as hell by the way she had rode that asshole’s face with her legs shaking and quivering like she was having a seizure. Sal’s tongue job was way better than Chimp Charlie’s was. Ten times better!
“Why the hell you calling me, Sal? I just left the probation office and I coulda messed around and went to jail today fucking with your grimy ass! I don’t work for you no more so don’t be calling me no more! Matter fact, you can kiss my ass!”
“Oh, I’ve already kissed it several times, and what a nice ass it was to kiss,” Sal said as his creepy ass laughed in her ear. “But anyway, you’re right. I did fire you. Sorry, but you’re not the type of person I want taking care of my son. But you do have other qualities that I greatly admire, and another job just came open that I think you’d be perfect for.”
“I took damn good care of your ugly-ass baby so I ain’t trying to hear none of that noise. Besides, I ain’t beat for you or nothing you gotta say,” Honore said, still heated. “I don’t trust lying-ass lil-dick creeps like you, Sal! Plus I ain’t ya fucking puppet. If you ain’t talking no real shit and ready to write me an employment letter for my PO, then I’m done rapping with you.”
“Just meet me at the diner around the corner from my house,” Sal said. “I promise it’ll be worth your while. And you don’t have to worry about your probation officer finding out that I fired you either. I’ll have my secretary fax the letter of employment in right now, and I’ll go along with everything just like normal, okay? Now you can cheer up and drop the attitude. Meet me there in a hour.”
Honore hung up the phone feeling suspicious as fuck. She couldn’t front like she wasn’t relieved about that letter being faxed in, and now that she didn’t have to explain shit and suck up to her probation officer, a huge weight was lifted off of her shoulders. Spotting a deli across the street where she knew some good kush was sold outta the back room, she decided to skip out on her appointment anyway now that her ass was covered. She was gonna go get her head right, slam down a turkey and cheese hero, and then go see what kind of bullshit job Sal had planned for her.
* * *
Dressed to impress, Honore strolled inside the crowded diner about twenty minutes late and saw Sal sitting in a booth alone. The joint was full of old white people, the kind of potbellied, red-nosed dudes who smoked cigars and wore those stupid little golf shirts. Honore swung her happy hips from left to right in her thigh-high Versace plaid skirt as she flounced by, knowing damn well that every old man in the joint was focused on the sweet honey-colored flesh she was hiding up under it.
“I knew you were going to be late,” Sal said as he shoveled a plate of sausage, eggs, and pancakes into his face. “What do you people run on, nigger time, or something like that?” He laughed and then shrugged. “No worries. With that hot mouth of yours, you’ve already shown me that you’re a meat lover, so I took the liberty of ordering you some steak and eggs.”
“I ain’t hungry so you can skip all the small talk, Sal,” Honore riffed as she twisted her lips and gave him the stupid look. She slid into the booth across from him and said, “So what’s the move? I came here to talk business, so what you got for me? Ga’head and spit it out because I got other shit to do.”
“A straight-forward woman who knows exactly what she wants, huh? Yeah, I really like that about you Honore,” Sal said as he wiped his mouth with a napkin. “That’s why I picked you to do this particular favor for me. Because I need somebody who will just go in and do whatever has to be done.”
“Oh yeah? And what type of shit you cooking up that’s gotta be done?”
Sal shrugged as he chewed. “Just a little sneaking around. You know, the kind of sneaking in and sneaking out that you did at my house the night you kidnapped my son.”
Forgetting where she was, Honore broke. “For the last fuckin’ time I ain’t kidnap your fuckin’ son!”
“Didn’t,” Sal said quietly. You mean you didn’t kidnap my son. We’ll work on your grammar later, but right now I’m having a little issue that needs to be resolved. I’m going to be traveling out of the country in a couple of weeks, and while I’m gone I need to have a certain package dropped off in a certain person’s house without him knowing about it.”
Honore nodded as she smirked. “So you saying you need some shit planted on somebody and you wanna be outta town when it’s done so nobody knows you were down with it, huh?”
“Right,” Slimy Sal said, looking up from his plate. “You’re smarter than you look, and that’s a good thing. The person I want you to target is very rich, but he’s also very ignorant. He’s an arrogant prick and he’s been a major thorn in my side for quite a while now. Plus, he insulted my wife in the presence of guests! I want you to sneak into his house and leave something there that will get him buried ten feet deep in a federal prison cell where he’ll rot away for the rest of his life.”
Right off the bat Honore bucked. “Uh-uh, my nigga.” She shook her head back and forth making her soft curls bobble. “Hell no. I don’t care what kinda shit you call the cops and tell ’em about me, I ain’t playing mule-mama and carrying no drugs for you or nobody else, okay? Been there and already got busted for that shit. You want somebody to plant some meth or rock or lady on ya boy, you betta find somebody else, ’cause if shit goes left I ain’t going to jail.”
Sal shook his head and laughed. “I’m not involved in the drug trade, Honore, and nobody is going to jail. I’m a legitimate businessman in the diamond industry.”
“Yeah, and you’s a slimy asshole too, for fuckin’ firing me!”
“Listen, the past is in the past, and this job is a fairly simple way to make a lot of money. You sneak in, leave the item where I tell you to leave it, and you sneak out. That’s it. Either you’re game to do it or you’re not.”
Honore thought about it for a second and then she nodded. “A’ight,” she agreed, picking up a piece of sausage from Sal’s plate and popping it in her mouth. “That sounds like something I might be able to pull off,” she said, figuring what the hell. She had lined up plenty of niggas to take a fall in her time. This sounded like some easy-money shit that was right up her ally.
“So what’s in it for me?”
“Well, first off, I�
�m offering you my word that I won’t have your sweet ass prosecuted and thrown in jail,” Sal said with authority. He watched her face turn red hot with anger before he spoke again. “And when the job has been completed I’m willing to give you a five-thousand-dollar cash payment to put in your pretty little pockets. That should buy you all the bubble gum you can chew and still be ample compensation until you find another job.”
Honore played like she was considering his offer, but she knew she couldn’t turn a five-rack lick down. Her and Cucci were down to eating Vienna sausages and crackers so she needed the damn money. Plus she had to keep Sal’s big-ass mouth shut. He knew damn well she wasn’t trying to kidnap his brat, but he had caught her on video so he had her by the nipples and she had to find a way to make him let go.
“Here,” Sal said as he slid an envelope across the table toward her. “Take it. Here’s half the money and all the instructions and background information you’ll need on your mark. Study everything very carefully and when I give you the word I want you to move in and complete the job. I’ll supply you with the object before I go out of town, and you make sure you leave it exactly where I tell you to. I don’t care how you get inside of the mark’s house. You can smash a window, break down the door, do whatever it takes, as long as the job gets done.”
“Yeah, a’ight, Sal,” Honore said with a shrug as she slid the envelope deep down in her designer purse. “Tell ’em to put that steak and eggs in a doggy bag for me and we got a deal. Hurry the hell up, too. I got shit to do.”
“No problem, sexy.” Sal laughed, eyeing her bulging cleavage. “Just be sure to answer your phone when I call you. In fact, I might need a little midnight snack before our mission gets set in motion. Come by after Leah goes to sleep tonight and I’ll throw in an extra couple of hundred dollars just to help you out.”
