Always Unique Read online

  But after his girl and unborn child were kidnapped and murdered, Kennard got back into boxing, fulfilling his promise to Kyra. To channel his frustrations, he went to the boxing gym faithfully, but this time around, he took interest in the business end. At first, Bernard was still upset that his son, a natural boxer, had thrown away his career, but he couldn’t deny that the boy’s business sense was impeccable.

  He had all the qualities a good businessman needed: he was funny, charming, calculating, smart on many levels, egotistical, demanding, and slightly neurotic. All these components made him a force to be reckoned with. He could cause a vertigo effect on people by talking circles around them if they weren’t careful. For this reason alone, most people preferred to negotiate with Kennard on paper or across the e-mail.

  Kennard had to convince his father to come out of retirement and train Taymar, but it wasn’t easy.

  “Dude is washed up,” Bernard had said, when his son first brought up the idea.

  Kennard looked at his father dead-on. “Well, if anyone can bring him back, you can, Pop. You won’t be sorry.”

  “Do you know the difference between a dream and a fairy tale, son?” he said. “Dreams are meant to be achieved. Fairy tales are to be believed.”

  “I see it slightly different, Dad. I think that dreams are meant to be believed, as well. However, fairy tales are meant to convince someone else to believe in them.”

  Bernard chuckled. “I think we’re saying the same thing.”

  “I feel strongly about this, Pop. But, make no mistake about it; I’m going to need your help to pull it off.”

  Bernard said that he would think about it and then walked away. Kennard was sure that Pops would do it, but knew better than to press his father. The man was as stubborn as he was a good trainer. A week later, Bernard sat Kennard down.

  “You really believe in this guy?” The question had come from left field as far as Kennard was concerned. He thought his father had dismissed the idea altogether.

  “Yeah, Pop. I do.” Kennard could barely contain his smile. “Call it a hunch.”

  Kennard and his father didn’t always see eye to eye, but Bernard loved his son more than life itself, and he believed in his son’s instincts.

  Bernard signed on as Taymar’s trainer; Kennard signed the fighter to Knockout Management. Taymar understood that this was his last chance. With the father-son duo behind him, if he listened to them, his financial woes would be a thing of the past. And since that time Taymar didn’t look back, only down on the chumps unlucky enough to get in the ring with him.

  * * *

  Unique had to admit, she was enjoying the festivities. Not only were both boxers signed to Kennard’s management company, he was one of the promoters as well. Her man was a genius when it came to making money. And he was a stallion in bed.

  When Taymar walked on the stage, he was carrying a big, beautifully wrapped gold box with a black bow, which he handed to Jang. “I bought you a present,” he said into the microphone, for everyone to hear.

  Jang played along, good sport and all.

  “You shouldn’t have,” he said.

  Jang opened the box. A sheepish smirk appeared on his face once he looked inside. A wreath of flowers, the kind mourners send to funerals. Taymar had beaten him at his own game.

  The card read: FOR THE COUNT OF TEN. REST IN PEACE!

  Unique was enjoying herself, sitting beside her future mother-in-law … all the way up until she looked over her shoulder. Fat Tee was there, with a Kool-Aid grin plastered on his face. What the fuck did he want now? All Unique knew was she wasn’t going to dare let him come over and approach her, with Ms. Katie sitting there to witness whatever recklessness he had to say.

  Ms. Katie could see the look on Unique’s face. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Are you okay, dear?”

  “What’s wrong?” Tyeedah asked, sensing something wasn’t right.

  “I have to go to the restroom. I think I’m going to be sick.” Unique stormed off quickly. She knew she had to leave the press conference because she didn’t want any confusion between her and Fat Tee to pop off especially since Kennard was within a fifty-foot radius. Ms. Katie was about to direct Tyeedah to go with Unique, but Tyeedah could already sense that something was wrong and was hot on Unique’s heels. Fat Tee followed them both.

  Outside of the ballroom in the lobby of the hotel, there were a few people hanging out but they were caught up in the festivities and didn’t pay them any mind. Fat Tee stopped them in their tracks right outside the ladies’ restroom.

  He called out, “Ayo, I need to talk to you.”

  Unique spun around. “We have nothing to talk about. I told you two weeks ago, our business is over,” she said discreetly, not wanting to draw any unnecessary attention to them. Tyeedah just crossed her arms over her chest, watching with contempt.

  “It’s over when I say it’s over.” He leaned in and said to Unique in a low tone, “And the fat lady hasn’t even warmed up her pipes yet.”

  “What do you want now?” Unique asked. At that second, she regretted refusing to take Tyeedah’s advice from the beginning.

  “Besides an early death,” Tyeedah mumbled under her breath.

  Fat Tee shot a look at Tyeedah to blow her off, then focused back on Unique, and leaned in even closer, and firmly told her, “You gone set that nigga up for me, just like you did me for Took. Same shit, just different day, different people.”

  “Are you crazy? Fuck outta here, I’m not doing that shit,” she blurted out, not caring if people heard her. She thought that she was going to be sick but it took everything in her to not go crazy and make a scene.

  “Don’t play dumb, bitch.” He was so angry that when he spoke, a slight bit of slobber came out of his mouth and went onto her blouse.

  Unique glared straight into his eyes and spoke slowly. She wanted to be sure he comprehended. “Listen to me. It’s. Not. Fucking. Happening. You heard me? I repeat: Not. Fucking. Happening.”

  He stepped toward her as if he was about to hit her, but she was quicker than him. She was prepared and showed him the business end of the pistol that she had tucked in her purse. “If you come near me again, I promise you on everything I love and hate, that I will kill your bitch ass.” She had tried to make it right, but all she got for her troubles were more troubles. No more. She was tired of being the nice bitch.

  He searched her eyes, looking for a sign that she was bluffing. The anger and rage written all over her face combined with fire in her eyes, let him know that this wasn’t a poker game, and bluffing … she wasn’t.

  One of the many extra security guards hired for the event noticed the commotion. He walked over and made his presence known. He was huge, six foot six and built like a truck. He asked, “Y’all good?” directing the question to the ladies. He was gritting on Fat Tee like he was itching for some reaction. Those two measly words spoke volumes.

  Unique kept her eyes on Fat Tee, but said, “Yeah, we good.”

  FADED TO BLACK

  Since the Tabby was hosting a lot of the major events associated with the fight of the decade, Kennard booked in advance more than a hundred rooms for the week for his VIP friends and guests, including the Presidential Suite for himself and Unique.

  While Kennard was running around doing a million things, Unique was relaxing under the masseuse-like pellets of hot water spraying from the hotel’s custom showerheads. She vacillated over whether or not she should come clean with Kennard about being accosted by Fat Tee yesterday. If she did, then she would have to tell Kennard about everything. But did she really want to open that can of worms? And hell, from the beginning God made it clear that man didn’t need to know everything. So why should I play devil’s advocate and give Kennard a bite of the apple? Some things were just better left unknown.

  Fortunately for Unique, last-minute details had Kennard ripping and running so they had next to no time alone all week. The night before when he finally came to
bed, all he wanted to do was make love, but he was so tired he could barely do that.

  Still, Unique knew that she would have to open up to Kennard and tell him sooner rather than later. The last thing she wanted was for someone else that may have witnessed the incident in the lobby to tell him first … or worse, for Fat Tee to manage to bump into him and drop a dime of the details of her checkered past plus God knows what else. How would that look? Like she was keeping secrets, that’s how—which she was. The problem with secrets, she thought, was that they ate at one’s conscience bit by bit. If one wasn’t careful they could consume one’s entire life. One secret oftentimes led to another, then another, multiplying like rabbits.

  Unique couldn’t take it: her mind was made up, she couldn’t hold water anymore. She made a promise to herself as she rinsed off the luxurious shower gel that she was going to tell Kennard everything. Every single sordid detail of her past—well, at least the Fat Tee and Took episodes. So just as Eve had done with Adam, she would practically hand-feed him the forbidden fruit. Let the core fall where it may, because she would leave no seed unplanted. She’d tell him it all … well, maybe not every shiesty detail.

  She’d talk about the robberies she and Took pulled off together. She would even share how while they were supposedly on a romantic vacation, Took had drugged her and then sold her to a whorehouse in Mexico for a key of cocaine and a chicken, leaving her with no passport but wanted by the law in the United States. He didn’t do it because he needed the drugs, and he sure as hell wasn’t hungry. He did it because he had a warped sense of humor and no sense of forgiveness. The funny thing, Unique thought, as her mind conjured up vivid memories of the past like a blooper reel of her life, was that although she was pissed to the highest level of pissitivity for what Took had done, she knew, deep down, that she deserved his treachery. She had crossed that invisible but very tangible line of trust first. She, too, had convinced herself that his actions were only a reaction to her action.

  If Kennard wasn’t run off by then, she would also finally come clean about Fat Tee. How she and Took robbed him back in the day. How Fat Tee found her by seeing her on ESPN. Leaving the note on her Benz, following her, breaking into their house, raping and then blackmailing her. The stolen diamonds to get Fat Tee off her back, which obviously didn’t work.

  She would leave no stone unturned. No more secrets. If Kennard left her, which he probably would if he had any sense, so be it. At least she would be at peace with herself. And if he stayed, which was a long shot, but if he did, their relationship would be stronger for it. They could truly be a family—him, her, and the baby growing inside her stomach.

  Knowing that there was no perfect time to confess something as complex and of this magnitude, she decided to do it after the fight tomorrow night. No need to destroy the man’s mood before one the biggest milestones in his professional career.

  One more day to pretend, but right now all she could do was get herself together, put her game face on, and focus on the here and now. Turning the volume on the shower radio up—tuned to Hot 97—she closed her eyes and let the water cascade over her face and the rest of her body.

  The built-in steamer inside the shower melted away some of the stress she felt. The weigh-in for the fight was this evening, and Unique had agreed to meet Kennard downstairs at 6 P.M. for photos. In another hour her makeup team would arrive, and thirty minutes later, Tyeedah would be knocking on the door.

  Unique had chosen a stunning custom-made dress for tonight, a prelude to the eye-popping, body-hugging peek-a-boo she planned to debut tomorrow. She rubbed the soapy sponge across her flat stomach, which was hard and toned. She worked diligently in the gym to keep her body in tip-top shape. The fight would probably be her last stage to flaunt it before she started showing a baby bump.

  She planned to make the most of it.

  Entertainment Tonight, Extra, and Inside Edition had already asked Kennard for interviews, and Unique wanted to look her best in case they flashed the camera on her. Unless there was a crime against being drop-dead fabulous, she had no worries about being criticized by any of the glorified tabloids’ in-house fashion police.

  Just as Unique was finishing her shower, the lights went out, blanketing the bathroom into complete darkness. She figured Kennard had come back up and caught her in the shower and was in a joking mood.

  “Ha-ha, Kennard, real funny. Now turn the lights back on. I’m running late as it is,” she said, while trying to feel for the knob to turn the water off.

  “Maybe you will think this is funny now.” The voice shocked the hell out of her. It wasn’t Kennard.

  Fear replaced the water enveloping her entire body and within a blink of an eye, a pair of hands ripped her from the shower and then punched her in the face so hard it rattled her teeth.

  “Where’s your pistol now, bitch?”

  Unique absorbed the punch and was still on her feet. Hell, if she made it through this mess, maybe she’d be Kennard’s next big prizefighter. She could take a blow, that was for sure. And to take a blow of that magnitude from a dude like a champ showed that if she was in the ring with a broad she’d definitely make it to the final round. But then again, hadn’t she always been the last bitch standing?

  “You ain’t bad now, is ya, bitch?”

  She wondered how in the hell Fat Tee had gotten into her secured hotel room. And why had she left the gun in her purse in the chair? Of course, she hadn’t expected a maniac to break into the room of a five-star hotel’s Presidential Suite.

  The initial shock of the moment waning, Unique took a looping right-handed swing that clipped Fat Tee on the chin. To spend extra quality time with Kennard and to stay in shape, she had taken boxing and self-defense classes at the boxing gym. The trainer had said she was a natural. But with the slippery floor under bare, wet feet, she wasn’t stable enough to create the force behind the blow that she tried to throw.

  Fat Tee wasted no time landing another sledgehammer against her temple. This time, Unique’s legs wobbled like a bowl of cheap ramen noodles before quitting on the job.

  Once Unique hit the cold marble floor, Fat Tee dropped down on top of her, knees straddling her upper body. The bastard moved around like he had been slithering in the dark all of his life. Who knew shit would play out like this? But then again, Unique should have known, for it had already been written.

  “I told you this wasn’t over until I said it was over. But you wanted to play rough. So,” he said, with one hand around her neck and the other holding her wrists above her head, “I’ll show you what the fuck rough looks like, bitch.”

  She could smell the Hennessy on his breath.

  Unique wanted to beat herself up for underestimating Fat Tee, but there was no time for woulda-shouldas. Besides, Fat Tee had literally beaten her to the punch anyway.

  But regardless of how daunting the situation seemed, she didn’t intend to be raped by Fat Tee again. Unique was going to fight with everything she had—for herself and for the baby growing inside of her.

  Fat Tee had enough pressure on her neck to prevent her from screaming. And she could barely breathe. The hold was similar to the way he had handled her when he had overtaken her at the house. But this time Unique was determined not to let him achieve the same results. One was her maximum limit in this lifetime to be raped by this stupid fuck-off.

  “It didn’t have to be this way,” he said.

  Unique tried to speak but the words couldn’t get past the grip he had on her neck.

  Fat Tee sensed that she was trying to say something, and he loosened his grip … slightly. Unique mumbled, but there was no way he could discern what she was saying. She couldn’t even recognize the garbled words as they squeezed through her windpipe.

  “What did you say, bitch?”

  She heard the greed in his voice. He probably thought she was giving in, trying to tell him how he could rob Kennard.

  She spewed off a few more, low words.

  Fat Tee be
nt over, placing his ear closer to her mouth so that he could hear better. He wasn’t taking any chances by loosening the choke hold, allowing her to scream for help.

  The side of his head was inches from Unique’s face.

  She raised her head to get closer. Close enough to kiss him if she wanted to. Instead, Unique clamped onto the lobe of Fat Tee’s ear with her teeth. He screamed, “Ouch, bitch,” but she held on like a mother pit bull fighting for her pups. Yanking her head, she tore a chunk of his ear away, kindred to the way Mike Tyson disfigured Evander Holyfield in the ring.

  Fat Tee screeched like a wounded mutt and jerked back, which gave her just enough to—with all the strength in her body—swing her knee upward, Tae-Bo style, toward his petite dick. Praying that size didn’t matter, she felt the softness of his testicles crunch under the hard bone of her kneecap.

  Fat Tee sang in soprano, curling up on his side.

  Unique hurried to her feet before Fat Tee recovered and headed toward a sliver of light, peeking under the bathroom door. She took off toward the light. Her mind quickly ran through her options. She had no time to get dressed, and Fat Tee would be back on his feet at any minute. She either had to flee the hotel room naked and get help, or retrieve the gun from her purse and help herself.

  She was no more than two feet from the light—near freedom—when Fat Tee grabbed her ankle. She tried to stomp his hand with her free foot, but she hit a slippery spot on the floor and her feet skated from beneath her. She lost her balance.

  Regaining his composure, Fat Tee was back on top of her. He slammed his fist into her face so hard she thought she saw the Big Dipper. She raked at his face with her nails. She felt the manicured claws dig into his flesh. She smelled his blood, or maybe it was her own blood—no, she was sure it was his—but Fat Tee kept pounding her with blow after blow until Unique eventually faded to black. When Fat Tee finally stopped, he realized that she wasn’t moving and all he saw was a puddle of blood. He smiled because he never thought in a million years that Unique would ever go out like a blood bitch. He washed his hands and looked at Unique’s lifeless body bleeding out on the floor, and said, “What goes around comes around, bitch.”