Bad Behavior

by Kiki Swinson

  Honore felt relieved that her schedule was going to be so light, and she had just pasted a big, cheesy grin on her face when Joel got up and walked around his desk and stood over her. Both of them were still smiling when he grabbed her by the hand.

  “I appreciate you handling that little issue for me the other day,” Joel said in a low voice, even though the office door was closed. “I knew the money I gave you and your cousin was well spent as soon as I saw the news broadcast about Sal’s gruesome murder.”

  Joel placed Honore’s hand on top of his swollen crotch and then said, “Of course I’ll be attending his funeral, and I’ll even give some type of bullshit speech about how we were the best of friends or some shit. It’s all part of the game, you know? Just business. But there are a few other business games that I’d like to play with you.”

  Joel was squeezing Honore’s hand and massaging it over his stiff prick when the office door flew open and Cucci strode in popping gum and holding the office mail.

  “Do you think you can knock next time?” Joel barked as he jumped a mile and dropped Honore’s hand. “Have a little respect for my privacy, would you please!”

  “Ay, sorry about that. My fault,” Cucci said, looking confused as she poked her lip out. “Any other time you be dying for me to come in here with you. But I see what you’re saying. Y’all go ’head with what y’all was doing. I didn’t mean to disturb no grooves.”

  “Thank you,” Joel said with deep sarcasm in his voice as he snatched the mail out of her hand. “Now do me a favor. I have a meeting coming up in ten minutes and I want you to take Honore to the outer office and get her familiarized with the front desk operations. I’ll be unavailable for about an hour, and then I’ll come and take her around to visit a few of the other store locations a little later so I can show her around.”

  Cucci bucked. “I thought I was the one going with you on the store visits!” she wailed. “You said you was gonna train me for that floater job so I could learn the ins and outs of every store location, remember?”

  “Well, I changed my mind,” Joel said stiffly. “I said the job was open, I never said it was definitely yours. I actually think Honore would be better suited for the position. She has the right looks and the right type of outgoing personality, and once I work on her diction and her wardrobe, she’ll be the perfect decoy to distract and disarm while we do what needs to be done.”

  “That’s some real fuck-shit right there,” Cucci bitched, glaring at Joel before she turned on her cousin and hit her with the killer face. “Some real low-down fuck-shit, ya heard?”

  “Cucci!” Honore hollered as her cousin stormed outta the office shaking her ass and clicking her dainty high heels on the floor.

  “Don’t you Cucci me!” Cucci hissed as the two cousins hauled ass down the hallway and headed back to the front desk.

  “Girl why you trippin’!” Honore yapped.

  “What the fuck was that all about?” Cucci demanded as soon as she made sure nobody was near and could hear her. “I seent you, Honore! I seent yo crabbin’ ass! That nigga was just pressing your hand down on his dick! I walked in there and you was looking like you was ready to start jacking that shit! Joel is my fuckin’ mark, so don’t forget that I’m the one making shit shake around here, Honore! This is my damn hustle!”

  “I could give a fuck less about that corny white boy and his lil dick!” Honore shrugged and countered. “You already know. We both eating off of the same plate, Cucci Momma! I ain’t come up in here tryna step on ya toes. You know how them white niggas be extra friendly with me all the time and shit. Get out your feelings ’cause we ain’t here for all that, and whatever one of us eats, both of us is gonna get full off of it and shit it out! Hell, if he wanna give me that floater job, I’ll take that shit! On the real, cuz, I’m just here to get up on some money and play my role, nahm’saying? All that other possessive-type shit is irrelevant to me.”

  “Yeah, a’ight,” Cucci said as she gave her cousin the side-eye and kicked herself up the ass. She had felt some kinda way about getting Honore a job there from the gate. The last thing she had wanted was for her cousin’s hazel-eyed ass to roll up in there and take over her situation. And now Cucci had a real funny feeling flowing from her head all the way down to her toes. She knew what kind of snake Honore was because they were both cold-blooded like that and they both wore the same scaly skin. But even still, she didn’t want her cousin just coming up on the scene and tossing shit up and threatening her position. As far as Cucci was concerned, she was the head bitch in charge of Joel Samuelson’s pockets, and she wasn’t about to get pushed to the side for nobody! Not even her fam!

  “Yeah, I guess you’re right,” Cucci said, fronting and biding her time. “Let’s just stick to the script and let all this shit play out. It’s your first day on the job and I’ma hold you down, cousin. Trust me.”

  CHAPTER 16

  Honore loved working at the New York Diamond and Jewelry Exchange. She was born for that shit, and she had only been working there for a minute when Joel Samuelson texted her and told her to meet him outside the job at twelve noon sharp.

  Honore was puzzled when Joel pulled up in front of the jewelry store in an all-white stretch limo. Looking business-sexy in her pale yellow skirt suit and contrasting camisole, she opened the door and got into the luxury vehicle slowly so she wouldn’t break one of her brand-new Balenciaga heels.

  “What’s going on, Joel,” Honore said as the limo pulled off. “I wasn’t expecting to go anywhere today. I have a lot of paperwork that needs to be handled in the office.”

  “Forget that paperwork,” Joel said as he lit up an expensive Italian cigar. “This is about some big bucks. It’s time that you see where the real cash is made. The fact of the matter is my job puts me in position to get money all kinds of ways. On and off the books. I’m a capitalist, and I’m going to get it either way. Me and Sal were working deals and sharing some good paydays until he tried to cross me.”

  “I can dig it,” Honore said as she crossed her legs. She knew what was coming and she had been waiting for this day ever since she started at the New York Diamond and Jewelry Exchange. She was a hard worker and a quick learner, and everything Joel told her to do she did it to perfection. Already he had introduced her to all of the big movers and shakers in the city that were involved in the business. Honore charmed them all and made a lasting impression. “What about my cousin though? I thought she was rocking with you when it came to the backdoor shit.”

  “Rayven is loyal,” Joel said as he poured himself a glass of Merlot wine from the whip’s minibar. “But she lacks the class and the instincts that I need to see in my new partner. Rayven will be obedient and do whatever I tell her to do, but you’re a little more free-thinking and decisive. You have your own mind and you’re not afraid to tell me what you’re thinking, even if I don’t agree with it.”

  “Can’t say I don’t agree with that,” Honore said as she shook her head and declined his offer of alcohol. There would be no drank-drank for her today. She needed to be fully on point because this was the big break she had been waiting for. “So where are we headed?”

  “To a drop and pickup,” Joel responded. “My partner Avi has some money for me and I have some goods for him. He’s my underground connection to foreign buyers and individuals with deep pockets.”

  “I get it,” Honore said as she reached inside her purse and discreetly turned on her phone’s GPS tracker just in case Joel was trying to line her up. “So how do you know you can trust him?”

  “Oh, I don’t trust him,” Joel said bluntly. “I don’t trust you either, but we all have our secrets, now don’t we? In fact, money and secrets is what binds us all together. Avi and I do good business together and we enjoy the fruits that we reap from it. Nothing more and nothing less.”

  A few minutes later the limo pulled into some nondescript abandoned parking lot where another vehicle was already waiting. A clean-cut white man in a dapper bla
ck Italian suit slipped into the limo with Honore and Joel.

  “Nice seeing you again, Avi,” Joel said with a smile. “I know you don’t like meeting on short notice but I have the package that you asked for, and I need to get the ball rolling immediately.”

  “Who is she?” Avi blurted suspiciously. “You know I don’t like meeting new people, Joel. I respect you and consider you an ally, but you know how I like to handle my business and this isn’t it.”

  “Avi, this is Honore,” Joel said dryly. “Trust me, I wouldn’t bring anybody around who wasn’t playing a role in what’s going on. So just relax. Everything I do is calculated. Now do you have the funds from the last transaction?”

  “Of course I do,” Avi said, still staring at Honore with suspicious eyes as he passed Joel a briefcase. “But we have a situation with the upcoming deal. The buyers from England want the product to be shipped on their own boat with their own personnel. I don’t trust them to pay up front, and I have a pressing matter I have to attend to so I can’t oversee it.”

  “I’ll go,” Honore blurted out with confidence. “I mean I’ll go make sure things run smoothly. A female face might ease some of the nerves for all parties involved. Plus, we can put a tracker on the shipment that’s rigged with some type of explosives, so if they try some funny shit we can blow their asses away. I know it isn’t the ideal way to handle things, but if you get robbed and they get away with no repercussions, then word will get around that you’re soft and you’ll get stuck up every day. I mean, there’s no guarantees in this shit so the only thing you can do is cover your ass the best way possible. The only thing mothafuckas respect is money and violence. You need to be known for delivering both.”

  “You see why I brought her here?” Joel said laughing hysterically as he slapped his hand on his thigh. “What she just said makes a lot of sense to me, my friend. In fact, I think it’s a damn good idea. What do you think, Avi? What’s your paranoid mind telling you?”

  “Being paranoid is what keeps me alive and well paid,” Avi said as he loosened his tie. “But I honestly think it’s a good idea. We don’t want to get violent if we don’t have to, but it’s always good to have an insurance policy just in case. As long as your friend here can execute our plans, then I have no objections with it.”

  “Well then it’s settled,” Joel said as he sipped his second glass of wine, clearly geeked up. “Send me all the information so I can get Honore prepped. We’ll take it from there. As always it’s been a pleasure seeing you my guy.”

  Avi just nodded and looked at Honore and Joel with cold eyes before stepping out of the limo and slamming the door.

  “Is he always such a tight ass?” Honore turned and asked Joel. “What the hell is his problem?”

  “Avi is a very smart guy,” Joel assured her. “He is a true professional and I can’t blame him for being cautious. He’s a great asset to have on our team because he sees and hears everything, and he’s never been wrong. By the way, that was a very bold move that you just made, not that I’m surprised. I know firsthand what you’re capable of. Now you have to deliver on your word and earn Avi’s respect. If you don’t fuck this up I’ll make sure you get a nice cut out of this deal. I mean that. Just don’t fuck it up because this is your moment to prove your worth.”

  Prove her worth? Honore smiled and nodded. Joel just didn’t know. She wasn’t really tryna be Joel and Avi’s little errand girl, no damn way. Sheeeit, she was trying to build a strong coalition and go into business for her damn self!

  CHAPTER 17

  The next week or so was a whirlwind of activity for Honore. In addition to working out the details of the new come up business that she had conceived in her mind, she was also working very hard on her new job at the Diamond and Jewelry Exchange.

  Joel had her chauffeured around some of everywhere in all five boroughs of New York City so she could showcase the company’s modest, but still valuable diamonds. Each day a private car would arrive to pick her up bright and early, and Honore would go to the company vault and sign out a certain number of diamonds, mostly women’s rings, and then mount them onto a custom-made display board that she carried all over the five boroughs.

  Once she was on location, Honore would prance into several member and affiliate stores in each borough and present her used diamonds for sale, but while she was there she would also be steady scoping shit out and keeping her eyes open for the type of chicks that she was gonna need in order to build her secret coalition.

  She found a real pretty chick named India working in a store in Brooklyn. The girl was so sweet and had such a beautiful body and a bright smile that Honore ran her get-money game down on her and snatched her up right away. She recruited two other chicks at the jewelry store in the boogie down Bronx. One was named Kellie, and she was an educated chick who also had a quick mind on her, and the other one went by the name Breezy, and she was pretty and eager, but also kinda hood. The last two chicks Honore picked were diamonds in the rough. One was a beautiful half-Asian chick named Mai with long, jet-black hair, a big ass, and lil bitty nubby titties; and the other one was a cute stud chick who was so damn masculine about herself that Honore just called her Man-Man.

  This was going to be an all-female operation and she was gonna call her posse the Crushed Ice Clique. There would be just the seven of them to start, and they would all basically do the same things for the Clique that Honore and Cucci did for Joel: steal diamonds. But Honore didn’t want no trouble outta Cucci Momma, and she knew the only way her plans were gonna work is if Cucci believed she had some say-so in the command and control of the operation, so Honore made sure to present each girl to Cucci as just a “possibility” who was waiting on Cucci’s “approval.” Her approach seemed to work too, because instead of being salty over losing her top spot with Joel, Cucci’s nose was open on all the money that the Crushed Ice Clique was gonna be bringing in as they stole diamonds from their individual stores and had them replaced with worthless but convincing copies.

  For the most part things were going exactly the way Honore had envisioned it, but of course Cucci had to get her last bit of attitude out and let her cousin know how she really felt deep inside.

  “I don’t care how much money we make,” Cucci bitched one night as they were splitting up the dough they had made from one of India’s stolen diamonds that Honore had gone behind Joel’s back and paid Avi to crush into ice. “That was some dirty shit you pulled on me, cousin, for real. Joel was minez, and you made some violating moves on me that you ain’t never made before. I ain’t gonna forget about that shit neither.”

  Honore had looked up as her cousin was rolling her eyes and grilling her like she wanted to jump up and bite her and said quietly, “Tell me something, Cucci Momma. Did you really like fuckin’ that old scraggly, gray-haired, fish-belly looking mothafucka?”

  Cucci had smirked. “Girl hell no! The only reason I fucked with him was for the money. So I could get them extra ends and make these little side deals like we making right now. Joel ain’t nothing but a plug, stupid. You should already know.”

  “Well all right then!” Honore said, full of exasperation. “I don’t know what the hell you so damn salty about! So what if that nigga thinks I’m better suited for the damn job than you? If you wasn’t catching feelings for him or busting a million-dollar nut every time he fucked you, then you shouldn’t be complaining! You still gonna get paid the same amount you was getting paid before. Maybe more. The only thing changing is that now you ain’t gotta fuck him no more. I do.”

  “Still!” Cucci complained. “I was supposed to get that fuckin’ promotion, Honore! I been working there way longer than you and Joel was my sugar daddy first! Some shit just ain’t legitimate and all this moving in on my hustle type shit you tryna do is a flagrant foul!”

  “But look!” Honore pointed at the pile of cash as she pleaded with her cousin to understand. “You still making money, Cucci! We’ve got our own clique now and pretty soon we’re go
nna be expanding our operation big time! Together! Listen,” Honore pleaded, trying to get the real deal shit through Cucci’s thick head. “All our lives we’ve split every fuckin’ thing between us fifty-fifty and that ain’t gonna never change! Me and you sleep in the same bed and we eat outta the same pot. If I hustle me up a dollar, you know you got fifty cents. If you scramble up a egg sandwich, we slice that shit right in half. Whatever one of us gets, both of us have always prospered from, and I don’t see why this shit gotta be any different now.”

  Cucci thought about it for a long minute, and then she shrugged and nodded her head. Honore was right, and she had to admit it. They were a tag team. Twins born from separate uteruses. If you cut Honore, Cucci’s DNA would come squirting out. If you shot Cucci, Honore would fall over dead to the ground. They were bonded to each other in all the ways that mattered, and their shit was just that tight.

  “A’ight,” Cucci finally relented. “Ga’head and take the reins on the clique and let’s build this shit into an empire! Plus, you can go ’head and fuck Joel all you want to, but don’t blame me if that thirsty mothafucka gets on your last nerve! His balls stank, and I ain’t never liked that stupid wheezing noise he makes when he busts a nut anyway. You ga’head and hop right on that shit, cuzzo. As long as we still making money, ere’thang is all good.”

  “That’s what I’m talking about,” Honore said as she grinned and beamed. “Don’t you worry about a damn thang, cousin. Especially Joel. You just hold that old nasty white dog down and let me fuck him.”

  CHAPTER 18

  The ladies of the Crushed Ice Clique had been working very hard to pull off their individual capers, and tonight they were enjoying their first night out on the town together as a team.