Rude Boy USA Read online

  Chapter 2

  The daily routine starts. Get out the measuring tape and make sure everything is still the same as it was yesterday. Thirty-six by twenty-three by thirty-six. Yes, it is still the same despite that meal from the night before. Tail fluffed ears tidy, and glossy yellow bunny uniform sharp. There will be no demerits today. Celia Jones was ready for another night at work in the Playboy Club Manhattan. Celia was a beautiful five-foot-three firecracker. Celia has curves in the right places that turn heads wherever she walks. Her hair always coiffed to perfection. Sometimes she wore it flipped and other times she wore it curly. It all depended on her mood for the day. Many people had described her look as a brown-skinned, brown-eyed version of young Elizabeth Taylor.

  East Fifty-Ninth Street was just as jumping as the rest of the city, but the opening of the Playboy Club made it more attractive. The club employed a variety of bunnies. You could pick your flavor. If you loved strawberries, they had a few redheads; if you liked vanilla, there were plenty of blondes and brunettes. If you were into chocolate, however, your options were limited to just two women. Celia was one of the two at the club and one of the most sought after women due to her exotic looks and great personality. Celia found working at the club brought excitement into her life. The atmosphere provided socialization and great music, which she loved because she was also an aspiring musician.

  The club enforced strict rules. A bunny was there to look beautiful and serve. She could not fraternize with “keyholders” or any other employees. The keyholders were the clients who frequented the club. Only those who were connected or invited earned a key. The members were mostly men who went to the club for the environment, drinks, and eye candy. Interactions between the bunnies and keyholders are restricted to the drink and meal orders. Members could only identify bunnies by their nametags, except for Celia. They often referred to her as the “chocolate” bunny or “the black one.” Celia and the other black bunny had different shifts, so they rarely interacted. For safety reasons, the club did not permit bunnies to give their last name, home address, or phone number to keyholders. The club rewarded Celia with bonuses for her attention to the rules and willingness to work extra hours. Following the rules was not an easy feat for Celia, especially given the attention her looks alone received.

  A prominent black doctor from Harlem named Dr. C. Smith, frequented the establishment. People in the city knew him as a brilliant and respected surgeon, the doctor of many well-connected people in Manhattan, despite his race. Even with his success, he did not have much luck in the dating world. His career as a doctor did not help him because he was very unattractive physically, and the women he wanted did not see him as a suitable partner despite his wealth and reputation. He had many dates, but the women could not stand more than one night with him. Much like the other patrons, Dr. Smith went to the Playboy Club mostly to drink and look at the women. He had small hopes of meeting a woman who would find him good enough to marry. He did not socialize much with the other keyholders because, despite his status, he was still considered to be an outsider during nonwork hours. He was dark brown and overweight, and he was holding on for dear life to the last two hairs left in the middle of his head. He had a protruding belly and gap in his teeth so wide that you could kick a football between them. His teeth were clean but distracting.

  He had a nice disposition, and he would passively offer small talk to Celia. She knew that he was flirting with her. He thought Celia was beautiful, but she kept it professional, as the rules told her to do. Celia was not above breaking the rules, but despite the plethora of wealth and celebrity at her workplace daily, she never caved into pressure from any the keyholders. Some other bunnies took the opportunity to find themselves a husband and were promptly dismissed for doing so once they succeeded. Dr. Smith did not tempt Celia. She was not attracted to him. She never thought of herself as being shallow, but she had her limits. If she caved into him simply because of his money, or because of his friendly personality, she knew that she would be miserable. She would never sleep with a man like this. She also felt that Dr. Smith spent too much time at the club, as doctors were supposed to be on call at all hours. How good could he be if he was always drinking? He always excused his presence in the club by saying he had his practice and could be flexible. Celia told the other bunnies about this man and asked that if he got too flirty with her, one of them would go over and make a distraction so she could walk away. The bunnies looked out for one another, as most of them had problems with unwanted advances from a few overzealous keyholders. This way the environment stayed professional and keyholders did not violate the rules except in extreme cases. Celia often tag-teamed with Rose, a fellow bunny who wore the pink uniform. Rose was also her roommate.

  Rose was also an aspiring musician who worked at the Playboy Club. She parted her straight, blond hair down the middle, had blue eyes, and was of average height. She was quite ordinary looking but became more attractive once she put on makeup and the bunny suit. Rose and Celia hit it off when they met each other in the bunny dressing rooms and began discussing their plans for the future. When they met, both women were looking for their apartments. They became such close friends that they decided to live together. They settled in an apartment on East Sixty-Second Street. The place was ideal because of its proximity to the club and location in the Midtown. They agreed to split the rent fifty-fifty, as both of them could afford it. Both Celia and Rose planned to attend Juilliard School, as they both considered themselves talented musicians. Celia was a trained pianist, taught by her mother, who was the organ player in the family church in Harlem as well as a teacher to some of the parishioners. Celia wanted to be just like her mother but on a bigger scale. She wanted to be the first black internationally known classical piano player, and when she could not do that anymore, she wanted to teach kids how to play instruments. Rose played the violin. She did not have as much training as Celia; she only began playing the violin in high school. Both of them were waiting to hear whether they would receive scholarships to Juilliard as they both submitted materials to admissions. The competition was incredibly fierce; Juilliard had applicants from all over the world.

  Both Celia and Rose came from working-class families. While Rose had two active parents, Celia was raised mostly by her mother. Her father went in and out of her life because her parents divorced and he started a new family when Celia was just five years old. He went on to have four other children, with whom Celia never had much contact. The two mothers did not get along, as her father had had an affair with his new wife while still married to Celia’s mother. Her mother, Agnes, found solace in church after the divorce, and some days Celia would go straight to the sanctuary from school. Some of her other local family also attended the same church. She spent a lot of time with church friends and cousins as a child and into her teenage years. Celia began playing the piano after watching her mother do so and seeing other people enjoy her music. Celia’s mother became injured at her day job and had to go on disability months before Celia graduated from high school. Agnes did not stay immobile, but her injury limited her work options. She took a permanent role as church staff but on a part-time basis. The pay was barely above welfare wages. Agnes told Celia, “Do not worry; life is not supposed to be easy. It will challenge you. You can meet a man who you think will be your future, and God will let you know that he has other plans for you, better plans. Don’t you worry, child, I’m gonna be fine.”

  Because Agnes’s income was limited, Celia decided to put off college and get a job to help her out until things got better for the both of them. The Playboy Club was not her first choice. Celia worked as a clerk at a steel company before hearing about the openings for the new Playboy Club in Manhattan, which was paying more than she was earning at the time while answering phones. She figured that she was in shape and felt pretty enough to try out. The club hired her on the spot. Celia never told her mother about the job. The family would disapprove. Her mother and family still thought she wor
ked as a secretary at a shipping company and was working toward her degree because that was all the information she gave them.

  John frequented the bars and areas around town at night as a way to escape the stress of home life, work, and the struggle to bring in new business and to scout new recruits. He felt he could easily approach the best workers while they were helpless, intoxicated, and out of options. He was not concerned with how long he spent at the bar because he and Edina were fighting again. He was sleeping in his backup apartment away from their marital home. This often happened, as he would make her mad (sometimes on purpose) when she got on his nerves, and she would demand that he leave. Fights are an ongoing cycle between the two, so John became a staple around the city. He had a good rep with bars around most of the city’s hotspots because he tipped well. He tipped the bartenders with money; they tipped him with women to take back to his apartment. His favorite bar was a small club called P. J. Clarke’s on East Fifty-Fifth. He frequented that bar the most because it had a great atmosphere and a beautiful variety of female customers.

  John did not become intoxicated often, but when he did, he always managed to make it home without incident, until that night. While at the bar, John briefly noticed a man staring at him disapprovingly in the back, but he looked away because he did not know the man. He thought nothing of it and continued to socialize. John flirted with the women as usual and attempted to pick up a leggy brunette woman, but she decided not to take him up on his offer. Women did not reject John very often. This night, John struck out and decided to go back to the apartment, as it was close to midnight, and he wanted to get some sleep before the next day. He had plans that he wanted to start back at the office. As he waited outside the bar for a cab, he stood alone. No cabs picked him up although he waited for twenty minutes. Many of them passed him but did not stop. He decided to walk down a few blocks to a busier spot so he could get a ride home. He made it to Sixty-Second Street before he jumped by a man.

  “Where’s my money, motherfucker?” the person yelled at John while pushing him from behind. John turned around and noticed immediately that this was the same guy from the bar. John had never been good with names, but his photographic memory was immaculate. John had never seen the man except for that brief glance, and he did not know what money the man was demanding. The guy was not one of his clients, but the attacker knew who John was. The assailant told John that his people owed him money, and he wanted his payment immediately. John assured the person that he had no details of the transaction. The attacker was one of those people who dealt with Bernie and Ben directly, and they never discussed him with John or anyone else in the group. He was one of the jurors whom Bernie had promised to pay off to keep Ben out of prison. Bernie kept the identities of top clientele secret from the other men. He did so for their protection because these clients dealt directly with law enforcement, the courts, and specific cases. Bernie would buy out jurors as favors for some of his friends and clients if necessary. He did this for a small fee. Somehow, the client that was involved in Ben’s case knew about everyone else at Chimera. Ben was supposed to mail this man a check for his services, but he never got around to doing it. The man had been waiting months for his payment and had begun threatening Chimera about going to the police with the jury tampering, even if it got him in trouble.

  The attacker punched John, and John hit him in the back. The attacker picked up a brick that was in the street and hit John in the head with it, knocking him to the ground. When John’s intoxication kept him from getting up quickly enough, the attacker began kicking and punching him some more. John had never felt scared before, but he was worried that for the first time, he was losing a fight, and the consequences of this loss would be dangerous for him, he could die right there on the ground. A few people on the street were watching the bout, but they did not stop; they did not want to be involved.

  After a busy night at the club, where she had to fight off yet another round of awkward flirting from Dr. Smith and others, Celia decided to walk home with Rose, which was something they often did to look out for each other. On their way home, they both heard a commotion in the street, which was not uncommon at the time. The neighborhood they lived in was not posh but middle class. The area was not immune to some of the street violence that occurred in Manhattan. The girls knew that they were taking risks by walking home at that time of night, and they sometimes took cabs if they were alone, even if it was just a few blocks. As they walked closer to their front stoop, they stumbled upon two men fighting, with one clearly winning. One of the men was kicking the other one while he was down on the ground. When the kicker noticed Celia and Rose walking close to them, he took off and left the other man lying in the street moaning in agony and covered in blood. Celia wanted to go over to the man to see if he was OK. Rose, who was apprehensive, attempted to discourage Celia from walking too close to him, as they did not know why the men had been fighting. As far as Rose was concerned, they could have been gangbangers or robbers. Rose wanted to go in and call the cops instead. Celia walked over and knelt next to the mysterious bloody man. She told Rose to stop being mean and to get an ambulance to help him. Rose did so but kept an eye on Celia from the window while on the phone.

  As Celia knelt over him, the man tilted his head over, looked at Celia, and gave an approving smirk—the same smirk he always gave when he saw an attractive woman. A broken nose, busted lip, bloody face, excruciating pain and some cracked ribs did not stop him from trying to pick up a woman. His never turned off his chick radar. He complimented her beauty, as she still had on her makeup from the club, sans the bunny ears. He could not see the rest of her body because she was wearing a closed trench coat and kitten heels. Because of her positioning under the streetlight, Celia had perfect lighting, making her easier to see with his squinty, injured eyes. Celia reassured the man that help was on the way and that she would be there for him until the paramedics arrived. As he was asking for her name, the sirens blasted loudly and help finally arrived. The police and first responders asked for Celia’s identification, and she informed them that she did not know this man, but she stayed to help when she saw him in distress. When the police officer looked at John, he immediately noticed who the man was and told him that everything would be OK; he would take care of everything. The officer thanked her for her help and reassured her that the injuries did not seem life-threatening upon initial inspection. If she called the hospital later on, they would update her on his condition. She never got the mystery man’s name, and he never got hers. Once they put him in the ambulance and drove away, Celia walked to her apartment with a sense of accomplishment. She did not check on the man, as she did not know which hospital they sent him. She just hoped for the best and moved on.

  A few weeks later, John returned to work after a brief hospital stay and temporarily moved back to the marital home. He needed Edina to take care of him and cook him meals, as he was not able to do so himself while he healed. He could have taken more time off, but he did not want to spend another twenty-four hours straight with his wife, as she was beginning to push him for sex and attention. He was not into it but partook in it to keep the meals coming and to keep some peace in the home until he healed. He did so because he needed a release and it had been some time since he had been with any woman. John was vulnerable, and Edina took full advantage of him. John told her that random thugs robbed him, even though he knew that Bernie and Ben had caused the attack by maintaining poor bookkeeping and defaulting on a payment. Bernie and Ben shared responsibility for the funds in the company. Bernie had the most power in monitoring how funds were distributed. Ben kept the books for tax purposes and made sure that the numbers added up correctly and that people were compensated for their work. He was the pseudo accountant.

  John’s incident was one of the very few times he found himself in trouble while working for Chimera. Each time something happened, this being the worst, he would take a lesson from it. This quality made him stand out from the rest. John
was determined never again to be caught in a compromising manner. This incident would be one of the last times it happened to him. While John was on hiatus, Bernie, Jerome, and Ben had been keeping Chimera afloat. They eventually paid the man who jumped John, but not before Jerome and Ben returned his beating to him twofold. After that, Bernie, Jerome, and Ben kindly asked him to leave the city with his money and life. The man complied. If one of the four cores of Chimera was hurt, they all went in to defend his honor. John was often the one fighting for the others, whom he considered his brothers, even Ben. This time, they stepped in to help John.

  Bernie had friends in high places, and that included Hugh Hefner. Mr. Hefner wanted Bernie and his crew to come by and check out the happening Midtown location of his Playboy Club, which had become the spot in the city to be seen if you were a high roller and big name. Bernie had been too distracted with work and the issues with John to take advantage of the offer, but he decided to do so after the management also offered him, John, Jerome, and Ben keys to the club and their bottled table. Bernie felt that a trip and membership to the club would boost morale in the group. Bernie offered John the first key as a reward for his troubles, and John decided to go for a preview before everyone else.

  John was ready to find a new bar home. He felt that if something went terribly wrong in his life, he should cut all ties with everything associated with it within reason. He felt that Clarke’s was tainted. He did not know whether other bar patrons had it out for him and the group. He was 80 percent healed from his injuries and was ready to get back out there and mingle. He was not prepared to start sleeping with women just yet, but his eyes worked just fine. The Playboy Club appealed to him since it had every type of woman he liked under one roof. The place was full of eye candy, and he could not resist.