Always Unique Read online

He took off his suit jacket and thought about waiting until she got out of the shower, to surprise her. But then he remembered how long her showers usually were and changed his mind. He also didn’t have that long before duty would call. He tossed his Armani jacket onto the chair in front of the bed. If he hurried, he could join her for a quickie shower.

  Unique called it Aqua Sex. Sir Nose, a member of the classic group, Parliament, coined it Aqua Boogie. Kennard sang the lyrics to the old song as he turned the knob. “Aqua boogie … under water, doing it just for you-ou.”

  When Kennard saw Unique sprawled out on the floor, he thought she had fallen and bumped her head. “Baby!” he called out, rushing over to her. But as he bent down to try to help her up, the blood and the bruises on her body quickly dispelled that belief.

  “Unique!”

  The shower water had overflowed and mixed with Unique’s blood, creating a crimson river all across the floor.

  “Shit! Baby!”

  Kennard fell to his knees by Unique’s side. “God, no.” If she was breathing at all, he couldn’t tell. He didn’t want to acknowledge that judging from the circumstances, Unique’s odds of living weren’t good but the thing he did know was that Unique was used to beating the odds. He prayed that she at least had enough strength still left inside of her to fight now.

  “Baby, just hang in there for me. Please, baby.” He prayed that she heard him. “I’m here, baby.” He got no response from her.

  “Who did this to you, baby?” His words echoed off the walls. He felt her neck for a pulse but there was none. He wanted her to answer him because it went without saying that whoever did this was going to pay. That wasn’t a threat. It was a promise on everything he loved.

  Kennard felt like he was having an out-of-body experience. The room started spinning slowly at first, then picked up speed. He felt a pain in his chest, like his breast plate had been cut open with the jagged edges of a broken Hennessy bottle by a blind surgeon who had had way too much to drink. He could feel a hand squeezing his heart until it was unable to pump the needed blood to other parts of his body. He felt numb, confused, sad, and angry all at the same time. His emotions were running wild.

  He gave himself a mental pimp slap across the face and ordered himself to tighten the fuck up. This was not the time to lose it. He had seen blood before and had even inflicted wounds on men that produced more blood than this, so this wasn’t new to him.

  Kennard inhaled deeply, the way he used to calm himself down when he was in the boxing ring. More often than not, the technique usually helped him regain his composure. This time was a little different—it helped some but not so much.

  Kennard knew that he had to get her immediate medical attention, but he didn’t want to leave Unique’s side. It was like a lightbulb went off in his head when he remembered that his cell phone was in his pocket and dialed for help.

  “Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?” the operator said.

  The woman’s voice sounded jaded. As if she would have rather been somewhere else, doing anything besides what she was doing. That made three of them; he was sure that Unique didn’t want to be there in this condition, either. At least the operator was getting paid, was conscious, and didn’t have the unconscious love of her life in her arms.

  He said, “My fiancée has been…,” then paused, realizing that he had no idea what had happened to her. “I found her in the bathroom unconscious. Blood is everywhere. She has bruises all over her body like someone attacked her. Send help.”

  “Sir…” the operator asked after a brief pause that felt like an eternity, “can you tell me where you are calling from?”

  He told the operator where he was.

  Nonchalantly, she said, “A paramedic is on the way. If you like, you can stay on the line.”

  Kennard didn’t even recall pushing the End button, and disconnecting the line. He grabbed the hotel phone that had been placed in the bathroom and called down to the front desk, where Sheila, the woman on duty, answered, and he briefly explained the situation. Unlike the emergency operator, Sheila wasn’t inured to day-to-day fatal crises. Kennard had spoken to her the past couple of days about deliveries, VIP guests, and their wants or needs. His name warranted her attention, but his situation evoked panic in her voice.

  “Oh my God!” she exclaimed. “I’m calling EMT right now, Mr. DuVall, as well as sending help up.” She mentioned that the hotel had a house doctor—her inflection indicating that she wasn’t sure if he would be much help but she said she’d already rung his phone.

  Kennard thanked her and hung up, then clung on to Unique’s hand and prayed to the Almighty for help.

  Looking into Unique’s slack face he thought, This can’t be happening again. The thought wouldn’t stop echoing inside his head.

  This whole scenario was like someone had pressed the previous scene button on the DVD of his life. His mind flashed back nine years to when his former pregnant girlfriend, Kyra, had been kidnapped and murdered. He never wanted to experience that hollow feeling again, like his insides were being sucked out of his body, when he had to identify Kyra’s body at the morgue. Her body had been mutilated by bullet wounds. The loss was immeasurable and he never thought he would recover.

  Now, it was happening all over again, to him, his girl, and their unborn child. This couldn’t be his life. He had been living the right way. He wasn’t in the streets conducting illegal business anymore. This couldn’t be his destiny.

  But as sad as it was unfolding, it was!

  MADHOUSE

  Tyeedah made her way through the opulent lobby of the Tabby Hotel, trying to figure out what the hell all the commotion was about. She had been coming and going in and out of the hotel for the past few days, hanging out with her best friend Unique, and although the place had been a spectacle all week this evening took the cake. It looked like a full-blown circus with bona fide clowns, certified jokers with both famous and wannabe entertainers, ballplayers, security, and groupies, not to mention the paramedics wheeling an empty stretcher through the lobby. If she hadn’t been summoned the best seat in the house was in the lobby, people watching.

  Tyeedah shook her head at the traveling acts posted up in the lobby, but more so she could not believe how quick the clock was moving. After the massive traffic on the Brooklyn Bridge, she was running about thirty minutes behind schedule and now she had to deal with this.

  She pushed her way through the crowd, allowing her oversized overnight bag to lead the way to the elevator bank. “Excuse me,” she said firmly to a man that thought he was a statue. “Like, hello, I’m trying to get through to the elevator, please.”

  He sucked his teeth. “Isn’t everybody trying to get upstairs?” he said back to her.

  “Yeah, but I’m actually a guest. Now, let me by and stop acting like the Statue of Liberty.”

  He sucked in his stomach, took a half step to the right, and offered an apology as Tyeedah scooted by.

  After navigating the human minefield, she made it to the other side of the lobby. She was happy that the security guard blocking the elevators recognized her and let her get through to the elevators with no problem. Tyeedah pushed one of the buttons that controlled the elevators to the tower she wanted. To her surprise, the six shiny gold-plated doors opened immediately. She stepped in and hit the button that would take her to the twenty-sixth floor.

  As soon as the doors closed, she exhaled, knowing good and well that she was going to have to listen to Unique bitch at her for being late. “Girl,” she could already hear her best friend’s voice in her head, “why the hell you always got to be on CP time?”

  And Tyeedah would answer the same as she always did. “Because I am a colored person, bitch.” Then they both would fall into laughter. That was the beauty of their friendship. They had no problem finding the humor in everything and they accepted each other’s flaws—and lateness was definitely one of Tyeedah’s shortcomings.

  The elevator glided through the shaft w
ithout interruption, heading to the twenty-sixth floor. Finally, she was where she needed to be to begin the process of getting glammed up for the fight. Her hair was already in check; it was the makeup and wardrobe that needed to come together. She and Unique had been looking forward to this big night. Unique was excited that the fight would bring lots of success to her man’s business and that things would get back to normal with her and Kennard. Tyeedah was excited because she knew Kennard would make sure that Unique and her would have a nice time, along with nicer seats. The ringside seats would give Tyeedah a bird’s-eye view of the major players and put her in immediate proximity of them, which was just up her alley. After all, she wasn’t the one damn near married. Tyeedah was single and ready to mingle.

  The elevator dinged when it reached the penthouse floor. As she stepped off the elevator, disorder was all around her. If the lobby had been a circus, then the twenty-sixth floor was nothing short of a madhouse. Along with guests standing around trying to get an eyeful of whatever had caused the commotion, Tyeedah saw the NYPD, hotel security, and some other toy cops trying to control the parade of nosy folks.

  If this place ain’t running neck and neck with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus, my name ain’t what it is. Hell, if it wasn’t a mixed crowd, I would have sworn this place was the UniverSoul Circus. What in the hell is going on here? She thought about stopping so she could give the scoop to Unique. If she came with gossip, then that might excuse her tardiness. Since time was of the essence, she decided to mind her own business and keep it moving to get to where she was supposed to have been thirty-five minutes ago.

  However, all the chaos seemed to come from the same direction she was headed. When she rounded the corner, her heart dropped when she realized that all the hoopla was coming from the end of the hall, focusing on suite 2649, the same suite in which her best friend and partner-in-crime was staying.

  “What the fuck?” she muttered under her breath. She put the pep in her step and started running toward the room, pushing her way through the throng of people.

  She made her way past the bystanders, but was stopped dead in her tracks at the door by an officer of the law. “Sorry, miss, but you can’t go in there.”

  “This is my sister’s room,” she informed the officer. “Unique Bryant. She’s a registered guest in the room.”

  The cop paused for a second as he wondered if he should let her go. “You have to wait out here, miss.”

  “What?” Tyeedah almost bit the officer’s head off, then she said with some pitch in her voice, “This is my sister’s room. I need to get in there.”

  “I’m sorry, miss.” And although the man was only doing his job, Tyeedah immediately disliked him for what he was about to say. “But you’re going to have to wait out here until we get the situation under control.”

  “Situation? What’s going on?” She could tell by the look on his face that he wasn’t going to give her any more information.

  Tyeedah was pretty sure that she could take him. She turned to calmly walk away and just when the officer thought she had let it go, without any notice, she tried to push past him. Not a good idea. He was only a few inches taller than her, but outweighed Tyeedah by about a hundred pounds, mostly around the middle. He easily held her off.

  “That was a good attempt, but I can’t let you go in there.”

  “But you can,” Tyeedah insisted. “You just won’t.”

  “Look, miss, I can’t let you go in there,” he said firmly. “I understand you are concerned for your loved one, but it will help if you wait out here. I cannot let you go in there.”

  She could tell by the look in his eyes that he meant business, but there were always two ways to skin a cat so she started to scream at the top of her lungs, “Unique! Unique! Kennard! Kennard!” hoping that they were all right and that one if not both of them would hear her making such a ruckus and would tell the officers it was okay to let her in.

  She only wanted to know if Unique and Kennard were fine. Maybe it was a break-in, she tried to convince herself. But deep down in her gut, her street smarts knew that the police wouldn’t have come out in this type of numbers for a B&E. And there would be no need for paramedics. “Unique … Kennard!” she kept calling out, hoping and praying for a response from one of them.

  “Miss,” said the overweight officer, who was not only holding her back but blocking her view as well, “you’re gonna hafta keep it down.”

  Tyeedah didn’t care about him. He wasn’t on her side, and she had no use for him. “Fuck you!” She was tired of this fool telling her what she couldn’t do. “My sister and brother-in-law may be in there and you’re playing these games with me.”

  Just then her tantrum was interrupted by a loud, clear, firm voice, saying, “We need to clear a path so that we can get out of here. People, we must clear the way. We have to get to the hospital.” The voice had come from inside the suite. The officers in the hall went into action and began clearing a path so that they could get the stretcher out and to the elevators.

  Tyeedah’s heart almost fell into her pumps when she saw the gurney being pushed by the EMT guys with Unique lying on top. “Oh my God,” she said out loud.

  Kennard was right alongside the gurney. His clothes were discolored from what appeared to be Unique’s blood, but he kept stride with the fast-moving gurney as he held her hand. Tyeedah peered into Unique’s eyes. They looked empty. “Kennard,” she blurted out as he and the two emergency technicians rolled past her. “What happened to her?”

  Kennard didn’t answer. He seemed to have a one-track mind. He walked right past as if he didn’t even see her.

  “Kennard, tell me what happened to my sister.” When he still didn’t answer, Tyeedah thought that Kennard might be in shock and so tongue-tied that he couldn’t even answer.

  The sea of onlookers that filled the hall parted as the gurney made its way to the elevator.

  “Kennard, that’s my sister! What happened to her?” she asked with eyes and a tone that demanded an answer.

  An officer tried to stop Tyeedah from getting on. Kennard looked at him and said, “Let her on.” Tyeedah slid her body through the elevator doors just as they were closing.

  It hurt her to see her friend like that. Unique had been so full of life, and seeing her almost lifeless body and the harm that had been inflicted on her brought tears to Tyeedah’s eyes.

  Kennard got the words out. “I don’t know what happened. She was attacked, brutally beaten and left for dead. I came back to the room to try to get a little time with her before y’all showed up and found her lying on the bathroom floor with no pulse or anything.”

  Tyeedah believed him. Fire, hurt, pain, and anger were written all over his face.

  The elevator seemed to fly down to the lobby, as if it could also sense the urgency. As soon as the door popped opened, the wheels of the gurney were gliding across the marble floor of the lobby of the Tabby Hotel, then out the door to the waiting ambulance.

  With Kennard on one side and Tyeedah on the other, they were there every step of the way until Unique was put into the back of the ambulance and Kennard got in with her. When the doors were about to shut, Tyeedah asked, “What hospital y’all taking her to?”

  “Mount Sinai.”

  The trained driver of the emergency vehicle was no slouch. He pulled that ambulance into New York City traffic and peeled out like he was a NASCAR driver.

  KEYLESS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

  In the coffee shop across the street from the hotel, Fat Tee sat nervously sipping on an espresso, looking out the window at the front entrance of the Tabby Hotel. He couldn’t stop replaying how he had finagled his way into the hotel’s Presidential Suite less than an hour ago when he posed as Kennard.

  He had to admit he was a genius and deserved a pat on his back to be able to pull that stunt off. It went to show that any hotel can be broken into. His momma always told him, if he believed, he would achieve.

 
By luck Fat Tee saw that a room service attendant had left the service elevator unattended and while no one was looking, he hopped on and took it straight to the penthouse floor.

  “Excuse me, miss,” he said to the housekeeper who was vacuuming with her headphones on.

  The housekeeper never looked up from her work. Her mind seemed to be a thousand miles away, oblivious to her surroundings.

  Fat Tee spoke up and said again, “Excuse me, miss!” He waved his hand in her line of vision. Her hand snapped up and her eyes showed embarrassment and guilt that she was not being attentive to one of her valued guests. She quickly cut off the vacuum cleaner and said, “Pardon me. Me no see you here, sir.” Fat Tee could see the nervousness in her eyes. He could tell that she thought she may be in trouble, and he used that weakness against her.

  “Not a problem at all,” said Fat Tee, in an attempt to ease her mind and relax her more. “You don’t know how glad I am that you’re here.” As he spoke, he looted his pockets, in search of a key that was never there in the first place.

  Lola, the housekeeper, gave him a slight smile and asked, “How may I help you?” The interruption was delaying her from finishing her work but she was glad that he was a nice man and that she wasn’t in any trouble.

  Fat Tee said, “I’m trying to get into my room. But I must have left my keycard inside.”

  Lola seemed to ponder his request and she knew it was against the rules for housekeepers to use their master keys to let guests into rooms. After a brief pause, she dropped her head, wishing she could help. “Me so sorry, sir.” Not the answer Fat Tee was hoping for. “No allowed to do this.”

  Fat Tee told her that he understood. “However,” he said, not willing to give up that easily, “I really have to use the bathroom.” He made faces as if the insides of his stomach were at war. “Very bad.”

  Lola looked around, unsure of what she should do, hoping someone else would show up to help her decision.

  Taking advantage of her indecisiveness, Fat Tee said, “There’s no way I can make it to the desk for a replacement key without overloading my drawers.” He squeezed his legs as if he was really trying to hold his bowels. Then he lowered his tone as if the two of them were sharing a secret. He leaned in closer and said to her, using his best Southern charm, “I have the runs.” By the look on her face, Fat Tee figured that the housekeeper didn’t understand what he was saying. He had an idea. “Vroom! Vroom!” With both hands on his butt, he made a squatting motion. “Runs,” he said again. “Vroom! I have the runs.”