Always Unique (20 page)

“Funny you should feel that way. I have been waiting all day to politick with you about just that.”

Billy raised an eyebrow.

“Winning and losing,” Took said with a warm smile.

“Haven’t we met somewhere before?” Billy asked, his eyes filled with both curiosity and caution.

It was the opening Took had been hoping for. “Not really,” he said, “but I was at Kennard’s party—you probably remember my face from there. The name’s Took.”

They dabbed. The dude had mitts for hands. Took checked his Rolex for the time.

“You’s a friend of Kennard’s?” Billy inquired.

At the party, Took did ear hustle in on Billy and Kennard going back and forth for as long as he could without getting caught. But from what he did hear and gathered on his own—and besides the fact, Kennard had a substantial piece of money and time invested into Billy and his career—one other thing stood out … they didn’t like each other.

Took chuckled a little at the question, shook his head and looked into Billy’s eyes. “I probably wouldn’t use the word friend.”

Billy gave Took his full attention. “Well, what word would you use?”

“Adversary. I don’t like him and I’m positive that he doesn’t particularly care for me either. Another reason I want to talk to you.”

“How about we grab something to eat to chop it up more in depth?”

Besides the comp food ticket in the restaurant, Billy didn’t have much more to lose. Hell, it didn’t cost anything to listen.

They found a booth inside of the restaurant near the back, giving them some privacy.

Took wasted no time beating around the bush. “I know a solid way to get you out of debt and stick it to Kennard all at the same time.”

Billy had a surprised but an interested look on his face, so Took immediately said, “Hope the play wasn’t too much, too fast.”

Before Billy responded a waitress appeared. “My name is Dahlia. Do you know what you all will be having?”

Billy ordered two servings of salmon, fresh broccoli and a bottle of water. Took asked for the grilled shrimp, baked potato and a Heineken.

As Dahlia walked away with their orders, Billy asked, “What makes you think I want to stick it to Kennard?”

Took had expected him to be a little suspicious from the start. Billy continued, “We’ve gotten a lot of money together.”

“You used to get money together—past tense.”

“The man did get me a six million dollar pay day.”

Took reminded him, “While he makes sixty million.” Then to yeast it up more, he added two more cents, “Not including the twenty million he put on you to lose the fight.” When he read the hurt all over Billy’s face, Took couldn’t resist adding more insult to injury. “All the while he was treating you like the hired help. Hell,” Took added, going in for the kill, “I’ve seen him treat a valet with more respect than he does you.”

The hook was in the water. Because the truth of the matter was that Kennard didn’t respect Billy either.

Behind those suspicious eyes Took could see the gears turning. He was probably thinking about all those bill collectors hound-dogging him. “How much bread are we talking about?” Billy asked. There was the bite. “And what do you have in mind?”

Before the steroid scandal and assault charges in the night club four years ago, Billy had been a heavyweight champion of the world; literally, sitting on top of a fortune. Now he was pinching pennies and hoping that things worked out so that he could make it to training camp, since he had jerked off more of his advance money.

“For starters, I need you to throw the fight. And I want you to make a public announcement that Kennard blackmailed you into doing it. I want it to be so obvious that you took a dive that Stevie Wonder would be demanding his money back for the travesty.”

“How exactly does that hurt Kennard, if he bets that I lose anyway?”

“Besides him being charged with blackmail and corruption, it would destroy his reputation as a boxing promoter, and may even bankrupt him.” Took studied Billy’s expressionless face. “Let him see what it feels like to be broke and left with nothing.”

The thought of sending Kennard to the poorhouse made his dick hard. Took was sure that Unique would rather ride a dirt bike thru hell than stay with a broke nigga and this would be Kennard’s and Unique’s destiny, if Took had anything to do with it.

The two mapped out their plan and when it was all said and done, Took gave Billy some good-faith money and a first-class ticket to his training camp. Took headed back to the city and couldn’t help but feel like a man with the world at his feet. How could he not?

With his pawns in position, Took already had his opposition in check.

COUTURE CUISINE

Unique rolled up to the new and trendy Manhattan restaurant, Couture Cuisine, and while she was never one to brag or boast, she was proud to say that it was a wedding present from Kennard. The Upper East Side real estate had a reputation for being pricey—although when Unique asked Kennard, he wouldn’t breathe a word of what it set him back. Unique was sure, she knew for a fact, that it had to cost upward of tens of millions.

Another $1.7 million was generously dropped to transform the four-story building into a dining oasis, including the basement, which was used as a mega wine cellar. The restaurant was by far the most expensive, not to mention the most thoughtful, gift she’d ever received in her life. And Unique loved every square foot of it.

Since the grand opening three months ago, she was always the first to arrive and more often than not the last to leave. Today was no exception.

Inside, a faint but distinctive mélange of scents wafted through the ventilated air. Unique inhaled, taking in what had become both a familiar and welcoming arena. It would be an hour, at least, before Robert, her trusted manager, and other staff started to show. This was the time she normally used to go over the previous day’s numbers and the day’s projections.

Project in the future and reflect on the present,
she thought to herself.

Oftentimes, people spent so much time dwelling on their past that they wasted the gift of the present. Her mother, Brandy, was one of those people. Correction, the lady that pushed out and gave birth to her. Brandy was a lot of things—mostly a dope fiend and a punching bag or crack whore for some dope pusher—but in all the days that she walked the Earth was she ever a mother to Unique.

Just a couple of the reasons why, growing up, Unique learned to fend for herself with the two assets she knew she had: her body and her savvy, a brutal combo that got her through many hard times and tight situations—most of which she wished she could forget. But that wasn’t reality and as much as she tried to escape her past, some things could never be forgiven or erased. She sighed and said out loud, “Such is life.”

Exhaling, Unique made her way through the main first-floor dining room and passed the hand-carved mahogany bar that stood adjacent to her office door. The lock was disengaged—which was odd, she thought, because she never left her door unlocked unless she was actually inside. She was sure that Kennard wasn’t there. He was the only other person that she trusted thus far to possess a key and she knew for certain he hadn’t been anywhere in the vicinity.

Suddenly, it felt like someone was watching her.… She wanted to believe that it was just her imagination, that it was all in her head. Normally, she wasn’t a paranoid type of person, but the feeling was too strong to ignore.

She jerked her head around, looking behind her. No one was there. Her eyes went from table and chairs to wall to wall. Then she felt silly. Why would someone be hiding inside the restaurant? Besides, she thought reassuringly, the alarm system they’d had installed was state of the art, so if anyone was inside she would have been alerted by the motion sensors.

After glancing up toward the second floor, definitely unsure of what she was expecting to see, Unique finally stepped into her office.

Immediately, Unique knew someone had been there. And if they were still around, she thought, as she brandished the nickel-plated nine-millimeter she kept in her purse, whoever it was, they were going to get more than they bargained for.

With her deadly piece in hand, like a surveillance camera she quickly surveyed the office. At the left of the entrance, the cream leather sofa set, where it always belonged, was two inches away from the mocha-colored accent wall. No room for anyone to hide there, unless Demi Moore was the intruder. The brief moment of levity brought a smile to her face, but it was short lived as she slowly stepped farther into the room. Reluctant to face what was ahead of her, she felt like a petrified person in one of those horror movies.

The desk was straight ahead; it had been a source of a lighthearted debate between her and Kennard at the time of purchase. He favored the more old-school traditional mahogany pieces, while Unique opted for a contemporary style. The tempered glass and chrome desk that she chose was not only sleek and fashionable; to her relief at that very moment, it provided a clear view to the back wall. Nothing was behind the desk but her ergonomic massage chair.

Which only left one place inside of her office where someone could be concealed. Unique turned to her right. With the fuck-you end of the nine leading the way, she crept to her personal shower-equipped powder room. Stopping at the closed door of the bathroom, Unique breathed in a lungful of air, her nerves dancing.

“I know you’re in there,” she said, facing the door. “You can come out now and leave, or I can call the police.”

Nothing at all but silence.

“I promise … you won’t like your other options as much as the first two.” The nine-millimeter was steady in her hand, and was trained on the door. At the slightest provocation, she would harbor no compunctions about busting a cap in a joker’s ass.

Still, there was no sound or movement from the other side that she could detect.
Okay,
she thought.
If this is the way you want it, so be it
. Her left hand on the door handle, the nine firmly in her right, she twisted the knob.

To her relief, no deranged lunatic lunged out toward her. In fact, the bathroom was spotless. The open frosted-glass shower partition provided her a clear view inside the stall. It, too, was also empty. Maybe
she
was the only lunatic in the bathroom after all? She turned around, making her way back to her desk.

A quick glance at her Rolex watch confirmed that she still had a good forty-five minutes of alone time to go over sales and inventory.

Sitting down behind her desk she noticed it. It had been there the entire time, right on the monitor of her iMac computer, right where it would positively be seen. Someone had left a note.

I wasn’t imagining at all that someone had been in my office,
she thought.

The beginning of the message was innocent enough:
CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NUPTIALS.

And then a second line, which chilled Unique’s blood:
COMEUPPANCE IS A BITCH! AND THEN YOU DIE!

With no idea how he had gotten into the restaurant, much less into her office, Unique knew exactly who left the intimidating message.
Fuck you, Took!
she thought to herself.
I will not let you get to me!

Any illusions she might have had of Took’s sudden appearance being a coincidence was now out of the window.

Immediately, she dialed Kennard, who said he was on his way.

While she waited on Kennard, she called Tyeedah and filled her in on everything that was going on.

Tyeedah couldn’t believe it. “Seymour just called and said he was on the way back to his hotel from Atlantic City, and I was going to finish getting myself together and meet him, but under these circumstances I’m gonna head over to you.”

“No, girl. I’ll be okay.” Unique wanted her friend there but at the same time, understood that Tyeedah should spend time with her new boo. “I’m good, and besides, Kennard will be here any minute now.”

“And I’m sure he will come up with a sufficient way to deal with Took.”

“Me too,” Unique said, but she was still a bit shaken up.

Unique concluded the call the second Kennard walked in the door. He took her into his arms and she felt like she had found her refuge. “Baby, I told you that this nigga wasn’t here by chance. And I know he came here for something, and knowing what I know about him, it’s not to give us his best wishes. You don’t know him like I know him. Baby, if you never took me seriously, then—”

He cut her off. “I do take you seriously, never think that I will underestimate any man and especially one who left you in Mexico and has the nerve to show up in my town.”

“I know, baby,” she said with a sigh, “but I can’t stress enough to you, he’s the most calculating person I ever met in my life, and if he’s here and was at that party, he’s here for a reason, and I’m sure he has some accomplices right under our noses.”

“I doubt that.”

“I’m telling you, babe,” she said in a desperate plea for him to take her seriously. “I know how this guy works.”

Kennard believed the words that were coming out of Unique’s mouth, but had no idea just how treacherous this guy could be.

NO SURPRISES

Kennard wouldn’t settle down until Unique agreed to have security with her and to take the next day off. The plan was that she would spend the first half of the morning at the spa and the rest of the day with Kennard. No work, only relaxation.

The spa was exactly what she needed, and she was blessed to be able to get in with Raphael at such short notice.

In order for the spa to accommodate her, she had to be the first person on Raphael’s book.

When Unique arrived at the spa, she was so early that the receptionist had not arrived yet. She and Rambo, the big six-foot-seven, three hundred pound security guard, were greeted by Maggie, the owner of the spa.

“Hey, Mrs. DuVall.” She always addressed Unique as the
Mrs
. now, since she had tied the knot.

Any other time, Unique would tell her to stop being so formal, but Unique loved the sound of her new last name. It made her feel important to know that she was not just anybody’s wife, but Kennard’s wife. Especially after all the drama with Fat Tee, this man had still married her. She not only loved everything about him, but she also loved the respect that came with her new last name.