Hustlers and Players Ch. 01

Author's Note: This story is completely fictional and did not happen. All characters and names are fictional and were made up. I do not make money from these stories. Please do not copy and plagiarize my work.

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The Bronx, New York

Sunlight cast down from a clear blue sky. A blinding ray of light caught the left side corner of a windshield, blinding the driver before the height of buildings covered it up. The wheels of a Cadillac rolled quietly down the streets of a Bronx neighborhood. The car was freshly washed with the shiny glimmer of black paint. The model year was 1969, a specific year for one special reason, as the car had previously belonged to a special owner. Sitting alone in the driver's seat, the car navigated the roads quietly as if the driver did not have a care in the world. Across his left wrist was a gold Rolex watch, matching a ring across his pinky on the same hand. He turned the steering wheel after slowing down. The car continued down a paved road to its destination, a once abandoned building that was now under a renovation project.

Few people in town knew of the name Carlito Garcia, but he could at least say he was a New York native. Born to second generation Puerto Rican immigrants, Carlito had once grown up in the Bronx, but that felt like a lifetime ago. The city did not resemble what it used to be, but that was of no concern to him. At fifty-four years of age, he could at least say he had lived a life prior to where he currently found himself. With two divorces and a grown son, family was the last thing on his mind anymore. His life had been spent in and out of Hollywood studios, managing deals and projects to earn a living. For the past seven years, his checks were signed by another person who happened to be a native of the Bronx. She too, was currently in her fifties but with no signs of slowing down at work.

Jennifer Lopez hired Carlito after he left his last Hollywood client. At the time, he was still working for a management company based in Los Angeles, juggling studio projects involving an A-list actress and a lead singer for a disbanded group. With Jennifer's management team, Carlito was able to leave the company almost overnight as he was welcomed into a new social circle of friends. She wanted him after they had met at a party in Las Vegas several years prior. They connected on a personal level as two people who had faced divorces and broken families. It was easy for Carlito to recall the first time he met Jennifer. Back then, Carlito never pictured himself working alongside her. Rumors swirled back in L.A. about an affair he shared with another woman. No one could tell if that led to his second divorce or not, but Jennifer knew all his secrets at this point in life. If there were anymore gossip tales to come, she would be at the center of such cheating stories.

As the years carried on, Carlito shifted from various projects for Jennifer. She preferred to keep him out of the spotlight, working in the shadows away from paparazzi camera lenses and tabloid reporters. He quickly learned that she valued privacy and knew how to keep her personal life out of the media. As Carlito discovered many years ago, privacy was essential to maintaining a lifestyle among the wealthy and famous. Jennifer went, he followed. They had a place in Los Angeles, New York, and Miami as one of the three was usually occupied. For the past six months however, Carlito had found himself stationed in New York to tend to a job she had put him to. An opportunity had risen for Jennifer to star in her own TV show linked to a streaming service. Another agent besides Carlito had negotiated a deal on her behalf with HBO.

Three years had passed since the release of Hustlers. A star vehicle film for Jennifer that turned out to have greater success than the budget predicted. The film was considered an Oscar snub on her behalf, while others insisted that it reminded the world of her powerful sex appeal. A writer in Hollywood had some bright ideas to take the film and adapt the format into a show. Adrian Romero was not a well-known name in the industry, but he had written for another show, The Deuce. Rather than go through the entrenched studio system, the man took it upon himself to seek a meeting with Jennifer and offer his script. Hustlers and Players was the working title, taking the setting of her film and crafting a fictional world out of it. The script told the tale of an older stripper with a younger sister. A woman who declared herself a hustler in a man's world with a handful of women she mentored into the dark side of life.

The show would follow the format of an organized crime story. The women would be known as hustlers, while the men would be called players. Pimps, madams, drug dealers, and thieves. The true scum of society thriving within the underbelly of a fictional take on New York City. Jennifer was amused at this script, complimenting Adrian for all the thought he had poured into an early rough draft. There was enough material to begin work on a pilot episode, but with only bare bones of the script, much work was needed. If only he was an agent she could hire into her own private company, Jennifer would have made the move after the script. Instead, she used another agent employed to quietly float the script among streaming services. With Adrian already having a history at HBO studios, it was easy to pull some strings with connections through offices. Within a month, a director approached Jennifer about starting a production company solely for the project.

A contract was later worked out, and then it was her job to begin funding what she viewed as a passion project. HBO was willing to offer a sum of cash to build set pieces and prepare a pilot episode, but Jennifer was ready to bankroll herself. Carlito watched her pour twenty million dollars into preparing the show, all while Adrian had the time to work alongside her in crafting his scripts. So far, the budget matched the entirety of the film production of Hustlers. Taking the role of executive producer, Jennifer established her own writing credits by adapting her lead character for herself. Adrian began to write more characters, but they had yet to cast anyone else alongside the main star. All the while, a location had to be sought out. Upon returning home to the Bronx, Jennifer was advised by her longtime assistant, Rodney, to check with the real estate.

Abandoned buildings littered the edges of the city. Some of them had been left rotting away in decay for decades. When taking a drive through the Bronx, these old buildings were easy to see from a watchful eye in the distance. With some research, Rodney discovered that many of these relic buildings were owned by real estate companies for simple holding. Jennifer set her sights on an old theater built in the 1960s and abandoned since 1989. A three-story building was ideal to build into a set piece for their TV show strip club. The building itself had passed through multiple real estate companies with previous owners hoping to renovate. Urban explorers had come and gone, documenting the building in their diaries online. Vandals had come and gone over decades, leaving behind graffiti paintings and other damage not caused by natural decay.

A massive renovation project was now underway. Jennifer decided to spend over ten million dollars between two construction companies to have the building repaired and renovated. Five months had passed since the day she signed the deed and all the other paperwork required with her new production company, JLo Films. While she had other projects, a family and a life to tend to, Jennifer left Carlito in charge of Hustlers and Players. He stayed busy working alongside writer Adrian and the security chief Jennifer had brought in. As the months passed by, this became Carlito's main job. Today made yet another Monday morning he cruised the streets in his slick black Cadillac en-route to the old theater building. So far remodeling construction had been going well. Security guards patrolled the street, stopping all traffic that did not belong to the film company or construction crews.

Taking his time, Carlito enjoyed the scenery of this trip. There was no place like home, as an old saying went. Hair dye covered up any grey hairs that he could see on an early morning, but unfortunately, he could not say the same for his beard. His brown eyes were covered behind a pair of gold framed aviator sunglasses. A thick mustache with a trimmed beard showed his age with the grey hairs. Every day on a trip like this, Carlito left his hotel suite wearing a suit. Beyond his unbuttoned navy blue jacket was a light pink shirt. After parking the car in the freshly painted parking lot behind the building, Carlito shut the engine off and stepped out. He slipped off the pair of sunglasses and then made his way to a backdoor to enter the refurbished building.

Most of the construction work was in the front of the building, where the entrance led to a massive auditorium. The exteriors were covered with brick, now redone and with a new coat of black paint. All the doors were replaced, matching the black look. Carlito took the back door, inhaling the raw scent of new wood, paint, and other pieces of decoration. A stairwell in the back offered a quick way to climb up to the higher floors. Much work had been done to redo the ceilings of the three floors, going along with new repairs to the roof. All the previous water damage had resulted in the flooring and walls needing a complete remodel. Carlito had witnessed the progress made as the building was starting to undergo a transformation into a proper film set. As he walked from the back rooms, he found the foreman of one construction crew. The two men shared a conversation, as it was Carlito's duty to keep track of the project.

After a short talk, he wandered into the auditorium room. Rows of seats had been stripped from the floor and soon, the construction of set pieces would begin. An artist from Hollywood would be flying in soon to visit the set to work on the new construction. Interior design would be key to turning the building into a proper film set. Carlito took a moment to stand in amazement at all the hard work. His eyes scanned up to the roof of the auditorium and then to the center stage. The brown of wood was still visible, with the roof and walls now undergoing a new paint job in black. He could not help but wonder about the forms of entertainment that unfolded on that stage back when this building was a proper venue. Concerts, stage plays, and comedy shows used to be on the bill. The old stage would soon be fitted with stripper poles, new lights, and sleek decorations.

Across the stage, the curtains had been pulled back. The sound of stomping was audible in the distance, but to Carlito's curious ear, he figured it had to be part of the construction job. Instead of letting that noise alert his senses, the older man quietly stepped around the room. His eyes scanned back up to the ceiling to view the new roof that had been added. He did not feel like exploring the upper floors. One part of the second floor was to be used for filming, and then the third floor was reserved for equipment. Much work remained in contracts and show preparation. The casting process was currently underway, but Carlito did not know the details involving Adrian's writing at the current moment. All he knew was that scripts were subject to change through revisions. Glancing back at the stage, Carlito soon caught the sight of a familiar face.

"Hey Carlito! Are you looking for me?"

The stomping noises had become thunderous as Jennifer Lopez made her grand entrance across the empty stage. A pair of denim blue jeans hugged all her curves along those muscular legs. A pair of red stiletto high heels gave her height a slight elevation. She wore a white blouse, completing the casual look with her brunette hair pinned up into a high pony tail. The sight of Jennifer was enough to make Carlito smile.

"Well, well, if it isn't the boss lady herself."

His words prompted her to smile, crossing her arms over her chest in a goofy pose. Jennifer leered down at him as Carlito slowly approached the stage.

"What brings you out here today, Jennifer? I thought you were still in Miami. You should've called, I would have sent down the limo to drive you up here."

She shook her head.

"There's no need for any of that back home. We don't want to attract any photographers right now."

Carlito nodded at her point. Uncrossing her arms, Jennifer clapped her hands together, speaking again.

"I just got back in town last night. I figured I'd drop by and see how this place is turning out."

Grinning back at him, Jennifer carried on.

"And I wanted to talk to you about something. Wanna go grab some lunch together?"

Returning the smile, Carlito nodded.

"You know, I can never say no to that."

"Come on then, let's go for a ride in that big black Cadillac of yours."

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1 HOUR LATER

Carlito and Jennifer left the set building, ready for a quick ride in the black car. It was funny to him that she required the ride, as Jennifer knew that the car once belonged to her. 1969 was her birthday year and the main reason she had kept this old car in storage for so many years. When Carlito took his job as one of her agents, the vehicle was a gift to him only in New York. In Miami and Los Angeles, Jennifer had a fleet of different vehicles for him to choose from. For the past several months, the Cadillac had been used quite often. It was her choice of destination for them to grab lunch. Jennifer instructed him to cruise to a small local diner not far from the construction building. The restaurant was small, an old family owned business with painted windows and a door bell that rang when customers entered.

Inside, a familiar brick design was visible on half of the walls. From the top to the middle, it was painted white. Decorations of framed old photographs hung from the walls, some showcasing the history of the business in black and white. Jennifer chose to take a seat in a booth near one of the windows where they had a clear view of the open streets. The food served was simple; hot dogs, fries, and soda drinks to go with them. Carlito was thankful that the restaurant workers did not notice Jennifer as a woman of fame. He knew the pressure she faced over time when most of the world knew her name. As they sat face-to-face, Carlito was eager to catch up on lost time. Apart from business, he liked to ask Jennifer about her family and what her home life appeared to be for now.

It became apparent early on in their conversation that Jennifer wanted to talk about business instead. She finished one hot dog, then began to slowly eat her fries one by one, between taking sips from a plastic cup. Carlito began to fill her in on the current status of the renovation project. Since Jennifer had stopped by today, she was able to witness the construction crew's progress with her own eyes. She explained to Carlito that she had been making progress on the script alongside Adrian. The pilot episode was nearly complete, only with dialogue and names left to fill. Next up would be the casting process, and Jennifer had already pushed the director to begin quietly making auditions for the male leads. Their goal was to use lesser-known male actors to steer away from big names. Jennifer hoped to remain the sole A-List talent involved.

"I guess the casting part is gonna be the hardest. We might get stuck and backed up a few months until we find the right people."

Jennifer's eyes gazed back at Carlito as he made his statement. He was finished eating, now sitting back against the white plastic cushion of the booth.

"I've got a director for the pilot already lined up from the suits at HBO studios."

"You do?"

She nodded, taking a sip from her plastic straw before answering his question.

"Tim Van Patten is doing the pilot episode. He worked on The Sopranos, The Wire, and Perry Mason."

Carlito smiled.

"Nice work getting him. That's some pretty big credentials he's got."

She nodded, continuing on.

"Yeah, from what I was told, if the pilot picks up, there will be other directors wanting to step in. Adrian will have the script done by the end of the week. I'm ready to put on my heels and start getting into character, if you know what I mean."

He smirked at her comment about getting into character. Carlito thought about teasing her by mentioning method acting, but before he could speak, Jennifer went on.

"I need your help with something, Carlito. You're the only person I can trust with this."

Studying her light brown eyes fixed on his face, Carlito knew that this request would be personal. He shared many secrets with Jennifer over the years.

"What do you need me to do, Jen?"

Taking one last sip from the straw of her cup, she let out a sigh. Her eyes shifted back to his face. She cracked a slight smile across her pink lips.

"Adrian didn't come up with a backstory for my character, so I get to write it myself. She's a veteran stripper, as you know."

"Right."

Jennifer grinned.

"That means I'm also playing an escort. I need you to set me up with a quick escort date."

Shocked at this request, Carlito's eyes enlarged for a moment. Did he hear her right?

"You need me to do what?"

Leaning over the table, Jennifer let out a sigh.

"I need you to set me up as an escort looking for a client. Come on, you know what I mean."

"You want me to escort you!?"

His voice raised. Jennifer glanced around to make sure that his loud words did not alert anyone else in the diner.

"Look, you're the only person I can trust to do this for me. I need some help getting into character, okay?"

Carlito shook his head at her.

"No, there's gotta be an easier way for you than this."

"Carlito honey, I'm playing an escort in the show. I might as well do this just one time so I can get a feel for it."

"No way. If you want to roleplay out a scenario like that with me, I can do it. But setting up an actual escort deal? No way, Jen. Come on, you know this isn't worth the trouble."

Exhaling a frustrated sigh, Jennifer rolled her eyes. She shook her head at him before replying.

"I knew you would say no at first, but I've thought about this."

Leaning back in the booth seat, Jennifer smiled as Carlito shook his head.

"You're asking for something that just ain't worth it, babe."

"Oh come on, honey. You did it for Nicole, remember?"

Freezing up in his seat, Carlito did not anticipate Jennifer uttering another woman's name. Nicole Scherzinger was one of his previous agents. He had shared many affairs with her in the past, contributing to rumors of his second divorce. Jennifer smirked as she noticed that flabbergasted expression across his face. It was true that he arranged a similar setup for Nicole where he played her pimp. Only now did he regret telling Jennifer about that memorable night. There was no way out of this now as he had to agree to her arrangements.

"You're the only person I can trust to do this. Let's set up an ad with a fake name, some profile photos, and then wait it out. The right client, I think would pay for something."

Ready to go along with her desirable plan, Carlito nodded. At this point, he knew better than to try and argue with her, so his attitude quickly shifted.

"Yeah, but I'd rather do it out of town. How about in Jersey?"

Jennifer nodded.

"I'm fine with that."

Carlito raised his finger and spoke again.

"And we'll have to set up something safe for you, that way there aren't any surprises."

"That's what I mean. I know I can trust you to take care of me."

For a moment, Carlito had to let out a nervous sigh. From time to time, Jennifer came up with strange ideas like this. Now he was involved in something he could not step out of. Upon grabbing the tray of empty food, Carlito began to think back to years gone by. The memories of his arrangement with Nicole were not something he could forget. He threw down a tip with a few folded twenty-dollar bills, and then together with Jennifer, they departed from the diner. She stepped out of the swinging front door first, leaving him behind to witness her phat ass cheeks slightly moving in the pair of tight jeans she wore. Outside, Jennifer turned to Carlito and offered a smile.