Always Unique (18 page)

As Unique made her way across the room, Took moved so she lost sight of him, but he was still close enough to be within earshot of Kennard, so he could hear whatever it was that Unique was going to say to him.
Wonder what she’s gonna conjure up to tell this nigga?
Took thought, humoring himself.

As she approached Kennard, Took took another sip of his drink.
This shit right here is about to get good.

“John, have I introduced you to my beautiful wife, Unique?” Kennard asked the fella he was talking to, while taking her hand.

“Damn.” There was a pause as the man checked her out. “I mean, no, you haven’t.” John’s eyes were glued to Unique. Took watched as the guy undressed Unique with his eyeballs, then listened as he tried to stroke Kennard’s ego. “You were too busy trying to blow up your already morbidly obese bank account. But I now see why.”

“Put your tongue back in your face before I snatch that motherfucker out.” Kennard said it jokingly, but was dead serious. Then he turned back to Unique. “Baby, this googly-eyed clown’s name is John Bookerman. If I can get him to stop counting my chips and staring at my wife, I think we could get some business done.”

Unique smiled at Kennard, but Took knew that was her way of trying to hide that something was indeed wrong, and it made Took feel good that Kennard couldn’t see beyond Unique’s poker face.
Maybe they weren’t as madly in love as they portrayed to the world
, Took thought to himself.

“Nice to meet you, John. I’m sure you guys will work it all out,” she said curtly. “But, do you mind if I steal my husband for a second?”

“Take a couple of minutes if you need to,” said John. “That husband of yours could talk an angel out of his only pair of wings. I can use a few minutes to regroup from his tough negotiations.” John took a swallow of his drink and walked away. Took rolled his eyes at John who peeped Took ear hustling.
“Get off that nigga dick,”
he said under his breath, but the man kept it moving and tried to catch up with a Miss America chick. It was annoying the hell out of Took that he couldn’t recall her name. But he wasn’t going to get distracted with John and the beauty queen—he wanted to hear the convo at hand.

“What’s going, baby?” Kennard turned and looked into her eyes and Took knew from the way he held her in his arms that DuVall could finally sense that something was really bothering Unique, especially for her to chase the paper away. “Are you okay?”

Before Unique could answer, someone screamed out,
“Fight!”

Together, Unique and Kennard turned and watched as everyone started gathering near the smoked glass of the VIP suite, to look at the floor below. Unique and Kennard, reflexively, didn’t join the crowd. Kennard wasn’t overly concerned since he’d hired enough security, bouncers, and off-duty police officers to protect Obama if the brother had wanted to attend. Still, he put his arms around his wife as if he were going to protect her above everything else.

“It’s Thunderbolt and Tee-Quick,” somebody said.

“I got a thou on Tee-Quick,” said another guest.

“Make it five and you got a bet.”

“Done.”

“I bet they’re rumbling over that gold-digging bitch, Pinky,” John said, as he walked up to Kennard.

“They couldn’t save that shit for the ring?” Kennard shot back as he went for a look.

“Yeah, that bitch been going between the two of them for years now. Dealing with whoever holding the biggest purse. I thought the niggas had accepted that she comes with the belt—whoever wins is who she is with,” John joked.

“Unbelievable,” Kennard said. Tee-Quick was one of his fighters. While he was trying to make the deal with John for those two fools to go at it in the ring on Pay-Per-View for $40 million, they were brawling it out in the middle of the club, becoming the entertainment for his birthday party. “These some stupid-ass niggas. I can understand the Patrón may have them a little riled up, but over this stinking broad, Pinky?” That pissed Kennard off.

The woman with pink hair and a body like a superhero looked back and forth, saying, “Fellas, stop it,” as she tried to calm them both down, but the look in her eyes said that she was loving every minute of the two prizefighters fighting over her.

Amid all the commotion, Took slipped away … like a ghost.

OUT OF GAS

“Morning.” The sure grin Seymour sported made him look even cuter than he already was. “My apologies for running out of gas on you last night,” he said with a smile as he kissed her on her forehead.

Tyeedah’s vajayjay was still sore from all the screwing they’d done, but she still wanted him more than a kid wanted candy. She assured him, “You have absolutely nothing at all to be sorry about. I was running on pure fumes last night.” A coy smile took over her face as she hopped on top of him and looked into his eyes. “Fumes and good dick,” she said to him with a big smile of pleasure.

Her mainframe hadn’t been serviced this well since … well, much longer than she wanted to remember or admit.

Seymour, hands already under the comforter, gripped her butt, then pinched her on the cheek.

“A brother is only as good as his motivation,” he said to her, and then gave her a long tongue kiss.

“You know kissing is intimate, right?” Tyeedah asked, pulling back to lock eyes with him.

“Well, let’s get intimate then,” he said, giving her an even longer kiss, surprising even himself. He normally never kissed any woman on the mouth. It was a rule he had adopted a long time ago. But for some reason he didn’t care about breaking his own law, because in a strange way this felt right.

“I don’t become intimate with just any guy,” she said with a raised eyebrow when they came up for air.

“Well, let me assure you”—he leaned in as close as he could—“I’m not just any ole dude; I’m unlike any man you will ever meet in your life.” He looked in her eyes unblinkingly and said with authority, “I promise you that.”

There was something about this guy. The way he looked at her and took control of her body—there was no denying the dude was not only cute and charming, but he also had the swagger of a performer and was a true dick technician. All the things that she knew she needed and wanted in her life. “I thought cats from V-A were supposed to be country, backwoods-types of guys,” Tyeedah joked, then batted her eyes and asked, “Where’re you really from?”

Seymour laughed. “The country and backwoods?” He smacked his hand against his thigh. “I’m from the capital city of Virginia,” he said. “Not West Virginia.”

The image of the moonshine-toting redneck trying to seduce a sister brought out his own laughter. It was funny how people always seemed to get Virginia and West Virginia mixed up. She laughed with Seymour, realizing that she was so comfortable with him. The way they were vibing each other and the things they had done between those sheets, it was hard to believe they had met only two days ago.

Inside of the Icon Club, during Kennard’s birthday party, Tyeedah had been on her way back upstairs to the VIP room to look for Unique. No more than fifteen minutes had elapsed since she’d told Unique that she was going to run downstairs to say hello to someone.

That’s when she saw him standing near the Muhammad Ali ice sculpture, alone. While she was carrying on a conversation with a friend of hers, she couldn’t stop staring at him. Ruggedly handsome, he was indeed her type. When she was on her way back to the VIP section, something overtook her. Not sure if it was the rosé wine or just his pull, Tyeedah boldly approached him and said, “Hi, how are you doing? My name is Tyeedah.”

He didn’t say anything to her at first. She thought perhaps he didn’t hear her because of the music, so she repeated herself, a little louder. He still didn’t budge or acknowledge her. She thought to herself,
Maybe he’s mute, deaf, or just a plain asshole.
Whatever it was, she wasn’t going to let his nonresponse crush her ego or blow her high.
Forgive him, Father, this dude don’t know what’s good for him.

Just when she was about to walk away, he spoke. “I’m sorry, baby.” He smiled at her. “Did you say something to me, gorgeous?” He looked her up and down in a sexy way and said, “Besides, you need to be mine.”

“Really?” She wasn’t expecting those words and she decided to hear him out.

“That’s right,” he said in the cockiest way. “Pardon me, beautiful, my mind was somewhere else. I’m Seymour. And you are?”

“I’m Tyeedah.” She offered a smile. The chemistry was good right from the start. “You’re from down South, huh.” It was more of a statement than a question.

He had a bright smile and his tooth, left side, in the front, sported a gold crown. “What gave me away?”

“My best friend is from down South; you both have that same accent.”

They’d been talking for about five minutes, when someone yelled, “Thunderbolt is about to whip Tee-Quick’s ass!”

As some of the crowd of wealthy partygoers moved toward the action, the two of them looked at each other, smiled, and headed the other way, dipping out the auxiliary exit.

“Where to?” Seymour asked once their feet hit the busy New York street.

Tyeedah, already flagging down a cab, said, “I’m hungry. I was too busy socializing all night and we left before I could eat anything.”

“Where you wanna go?” he asked.

Without hesitation, she said, “I know where they sell the best pizza in New York.”

“Aren’t we a little overdressed for pizza?” Seymour asked as he climbed into the backseat of a yellow cab next to Tyeedah, willing to go somewhere a little more high-end.

“You are in the Big Apple now, baby,” she said in her thickest New York accent. “You can never be too sharp to grab a few slices in the city.”

After a couple pizzas and beers, they talked for hours. They watched the sun rise over the city from the window of his hotel room. The next day, after a morning filled with hot sex, they went out to get her a change of clothes, followed by lunch in Central Park, a tour of the Statue of Liberty, and a horse-and-carriage ride while watching the sunset. The climax of the day literally happened back at his hotel room again for the rest of the evening and all of the night.

Tyeedah was awakened by Took opening the curtains.

“Good morning, gorgeous,” he said when he realized she was up.

“Good morning, baby” she said, immediately reaching for her purse. “How did you sleep?”

The bright sunlight was bringing Tyeedah back to reality. As beautiful as the past two days had been, she knew it had to end. Nothing final, but a girl needed some time to get her shit together. Besides she was never the type to be clingy. She dug through her purse and found her phone. She hadn’t even turned it on since she’d left the club Saturday and today was Monday.

He walked over to her. “Slept good, dreamed of you.”

“Wow, I’m the woman of your dreams,” she said with a big smile, then powered on her phone. The iPhone came to life, with the voice mail and text alerts sounding.

“Somebody is looking for you. And missing you,” Took said.

She scrolled through the phone, looking at her messages. “Yeah, my best friend, Unique is worried about me. This is totally out of my character—to just leave and not tell anybody—and be out of pocket for days.”

“Well, then it’s right for her to be worried then.”

“Actually, it’s crazy because her husband hit me up too.” She smiled. “I know I’m in big trouble now.”

“That nigga Kennard texted you?” Took asked.

“Yeah, but only because I’m sure Unique is worried.”

“How long you two been friends?” he asked, fishing.

“We been friends for a long time. We met in prison and been besties since then. In fact, she moved here with me, and then met Kennard when she was out with me. So, I’m like her sister from another mister, and he’s my brother-in-law,” she said, proud to be a part of their family.

The man Tyeedah knew as Seymour nodded. “That’s nice.” He was glad that Tyeedah was a direct link to Unique. It was why he had targeted her. But after last night and looking at her smiling face now, Took felt a twinge of unease and found himself wishing that Tyeedah wasn’t connected to Unique at all.

“I helped him pick out her engagement ring, helped him pick out the right place for her restaurant when he was trying to surprise her with his wedding gift.”

Took shook off his discomfort. He couldn’t be getting all soft now. He had a mission and he was going to see it through.

“So, where did he end up getting it?” he asked. “I heard it just opened up, but I haven’t had a chance to make it by there yet.”

Tyeedah loved how attentive Took was when she spoke, especially about the people she cared about the most. She glanced at her phone, noticed the time and realized that she had been running her mouth for a minute now.

“We have to go,” she said.

“Yes, we do, baby. There are a lot of things we have to go, do and see,” he said. “So you want to call her and let her know that you alive?” He smiled.

“I will call her in a few. Just want to enjoy you now.”

“I like the thought of that. Do you want me to order room service?” he asked, about to make plans to get their day started.

“Don’t you have to go handle the business you came here for?” she asked.

He got up and took her into his arms. “You are the business I’m here for now,” he said as sincerely as he knew how to say, which surprised him.
What the hell is wrong with me?
Took thought.

Tyeedah smiled because she really wished there was some truth to it. And little did she know, she was now a part of his plan.

She loved the feeling of being safe and cared for that she experienced being around him. “I definitely like that I’m a part of what you are here for now,” she said, falling back into his hands. “But by no means do I want to be that chick who stands in the way of a man going to handle his B-I.”

“By no means would I let anything stand in my way of something that I need to do. But I hope one day to have a bond so strong with you that you take precedence over it all.”

“I want that,” Tyeedah said with a look in her eyes that let Took know that he was definitely putting down his mojo.