For the Strength of You (15 page)

“Yeah.”

“Okay then, there's no reason to worry,” she assured, walking behind him and pushing his seat back up to the table so that he wouldn't go anywhere.

Sitting back down, Unique took his hand, gazed into his eyes, and whispered, “I promise, if you be a good little boy, you'll have a night that you will never forget.” She smiled as she played footsies with his dick under the table.

“Girl, you gon' be the death of me.” He smiled back gullibly.

“You just don't know,” she whispered underneath her breath while checking her watch once more.

* * *

“You got the keys?” Kiara asked Eric in a low voice outside of the restaurant.

“Right here. You got my money?”

“Yeah, I got yo' money, nigga. Here,” she said, placing three crisp, new hundred-dollar bills in his hand.

“You know that I could get fired for this.”

“Nigga, quit whining and give me the keys so I can bounce,” Kiara said, surveying her surroundings and making sure no one was looking.

Quietly passing the keys to her, Eric went back to work as usual. Dressed like she was out having a good time, Kiara headed around back to the parking area. Cool, calm, and collected, she played the role perfectly while putting on a pair of black gloves. Knowing that the restaurant didn't have any security cameras in the parking lot, she deactivated the alarm and got in without leaving a trace behind. The valet driver, Thomas, never even saw her pull off the lot.

* * *

Skipping dessert, Unique informed Rico that she was ready to leave so that they could get the festivities started.

“Baby, while you pay the check, I'm gonna go freshen up.” She kissed his cheek.

“A'ight, baby. I'm gon' be outside waiting,” Rico said while eyeing her ass.

Once in the bathroom, Unique dialed Kay Kay's cell phone number.

“It's here,” Kay Kay replied without saying hello.

“A'ight. I'll meet you at LAX in about an hour.”

“One,” Kay Kay said, hanging up.

Checking her reflection in the mirror, Unique saw that her eyes were red. Going through her purse she found a tiny bottle of Visine. The blue contacts in her eyes were irritating the hell out of her. After dropping a few drops in each eye, she fingered through her black wig and touched up her makeup. The contacts and wig were all a part of her disguise. None of Unique's victims really knew how she looked.

Meeting Rico back outside, Unique saw him in a heated argument with the valet driver.

“I swear, sir, I don't know what happened,” Thomas tried to explain.

“I trusted you with my car, man! Where the fuck is it?” Rico yelled.

“What's wrong, sweetie?” Unique asked, pretending to be concerned.

“My car is gone! I told you we couldn't trust these muthafuckas. You betta hope yo' shit is still here.” Giving Eric her valet ticket, Unique listened to Rico's whining until her car pulled around the corner.

“My car is here,” she replied.

“What am I gon' do without my baby?” Rico cried.

“I'm so sorry. This is all my fault. I shouldn't have suggested that you leave your car with them,” Unique said, conjuring up some fake tears.

“Baby, don't cry. This is not your fault.” Rico hugged her. “It's this idiot's fault,” he said, pointing to Thomas. “Not yours.”

“So, what do you want to do?” Unique questioned, dabbing tears from her eyes.

“I'm gonna stay here and fill out a police report. You go on back to the hotel. I'll call you later.”

“Okay,” she said, kissing and hugging him good-bye.

Securely in the rental car, Unique gave Rico another wave while thinking,
Good riddance, you stupid fuck.
Whipping the car out into the busy intersection, she never looked back.

A couple of blocks away, parked and relieved that the job was almost over, she pulled off the wig and exhaled a sigh of relief. Changing into a wife beater and jeans, she placed another wig on her head and drove to the rental place. Since everything was cool with the car, it only took her a total of fifteen minutes to drop it off.

After taking a shuttle bus to the airport, she checked her luggage in and headed for Gate 16. Once she reached the gate, she saw all three girls laughing and talking as if they hadn't just committed a crime.

“Y'all hoes sure do look cool, calm, and collected.”

“What up, dawg?” Kay Kay smiled.

Taking a seat next to Zoë, Unique placed her carry-on luggage down beside her and began telling the story. “Girl, that nigga was so paranoid about leaving his car with the valet, it wasn't even funny.”

“He was?”

“Yeah, I kept on having to reassure him that the damn car would be all right. He even kept calling it his
baby
.”

“Damn, straight up? So, how did he react when he found out the car was stolen?” Kay Kay questioned.

“Girl, he went ballistic.” Unique laughed.

“It's always funny to see the reaction on their faces. Where is he at now?”

“As far as I know he's still at the restaurant wondering where his car is. Oops, I mean, his
baby
.”

“He's probably all like, ‘Dude! Where's my car?'” Kay Kay laughed.

“Girl, you silly. Y'all FedExed the money to Patience, right?”

“Yeah, Nique, Zoë and I went before we came here.”

“Y'all wrapped it up in newspaper and bubble wrap, right?”

“Yeah, they did. Damn, quit trippin',” Kiara said, annoyed. She slumped down in the seat with her arms folded across her chest.

“What the fuck is yo' problem?”

“Why is it every time we do a job you ask us the same stupid-ass questions over and over again? Ain't nobody gon' fuck up.”

“Yo, who the fuck you think you talkin' to? Last time I checked, I ran this shit. Don't ever question me, 'cause I'm the one who has to answer to Cezar, not you.”

“You still need to calm down. I get sick of you badgering us all the time.”

“I badger you 'cause this shit will give us ten to life if we fuck up.”

“Ten to life? You buggin'.” Kiara waved her off, rolling her eyes.

“First of all, you need to shut the fuck up and play your position. I'm that bitch, and what I say goes. If you don't like it, step the fuck off. Kick rocks. The road is that way.” Unique stood up, pointing her finger in Kiara's face.

“Yo, chill! We don't need this shit right now. We're cousins. Remember that,” Kay Kay said, pulling Unique back.

Looking around at the other girls, Kiara tried to see if they agreed with her, but neither one of them said anything. To her, Zoë and Kay Kay were nothing but punks because they never stood up to Unique. Whatever she said, they went along with, but Kiara was sick of following Unique's rule.

“I'm sick of this. When we get home, give me my cut and don't say shit to me. I'm done fuckin' wit' you.”

“Bye, bitch. You can take your money and step,” Unique replied, heated.

“Everyone boarding Flight Sixteen from Los Angles to St. Louis please line up to board the plane,” the flight attendant said over the loudspeaker. Grabbing her bag, Kiara pushed past the girls and got in line alone.

“She be on some dumb shit,” Zoë said, shaking her head.

“Yeah, you better get yo' sister before I hurt her, Kay Kay,” Unique added.

“I don't know what her problem is. She been trippin' lately,” Kay Kay said, supporting Unique.

“All I know is she better come to me correct before I kill her ass,” Unique snapped as they boarded the plane.

The weather in St. Louis was hot and muggy as Unique and the girls stood outside the airport awaiting their rides. Kiara and Unique were still not talking, and neither was willing to apologize. Catching each other's glances from time to time, they would roll their eyes at one another. The two had been bumping heads ever since they were little.

Unique didn't know if Kiara called herself being jealous or what the problem was. Either it was a snide remark coming out of her mouth, or she wanted to run the clique's business her way. Unique felt that if she could trust her with handling their affairs, she would, but Kiara was way too flashy and often ran her mouth too much to the wrong people. Kiara was too much of a loose cannon to run the business.

Any time they had beef, it was because of something Kiara said or did. As far back as she could remember, Unique always had to fight Kiara's battles, and frankly, she was getting tired of it.

As a matter of fact, she was getting tired of the whole thing. If they weren't cousins, she would have gotten rid of Kiara a long time ago.

Hugging Zoë good-bye, Unique watched as she climbed into her tender, Vito's '04 Chrysler 300C Hemi. Hailing down an airport cab, Unique hugged Kay Kay and told her that she would have her cut of the money by the following Monday. Not even acknowledging Kiara's presence, she jumped into the cab and headed home.

Riding past her old neighborhood on the north side of St. Louis, Unique asked the cab driver to make a quick detour. Pulling up, they parked in front of her old house on Beacon Avenue. Just seeing the house brought back so many memories for Unique—some good, some bad, some she wished had never happened, and some she wished she could experience again.

Unique reminisced about the times she spent with her mother, Syleena. Her mother was diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia when Unique was five. No matter how much medication she was given, she could never break loose of the brain disease. Unique tried to help her mother, but nothing she did seemed to make the situation better.

Syleena was in and out of mental clinics Unique's entire life. She saw her mother locked up and put in restraints too many times to remember. Unique and her little sister, Patience, were often sent to live with their Aunt Teresa, Kiara and Kay Kay's mom, when Syleena was sent away.

To make matters worse, Syleena blamed Unique for her mental state. As a teenager, Syleena was raped on her way home from school by an unidentified man and became pregnant. The police never caught him.

Being brought up in a heavily religious home, Syleena's parents refused to allow her to get an abortion. Syleena was distraught, to say the least. She hated the idea of having a rapist's baby. She tried everything to get rid of the fetus—everything from not eating to hitting herself in the stomach—but nothing worked.

By the time she was in her third trimester, Syleena came to the realization that no matter how much she wished and prayed the baby away, she was gonna have it. Still, she didn't like the idea. She detested the child inside of her. When Unique was born, she refused to hold or feed her. Syleena's mother had to do all the work. As Unique got older, the hatred her mother held toward her seemed to only manifest more. Syleena seriously thought that God was trying to punish her by having Unique, and she constantly reminded Unique of this. The words
You're a curse from God
replayed over and over in Unique's head.

Trying her best to make life easier for her mother, Unique began working at different fast food restaurants to support them, but the money wasn't enough. Bills were stacked up to the ceiling, the rent was past due, and every time she looked up she had a 42-year-old and a 12-year-old mouth to feed. Stealing was her only other option, so at the age of 18, Unique began helping herself to a five finger discount wherever she went, but that didn't work either. They were so far behind on the bills that one time when Syleena was sent away, Unique and Patience got evicted from their house.

With nowhere to go and only two hundred dollars saved up, Unique and Patience slept on the streets and ate fast food for meals. They could've gone over to their Aunt Teresa's house, but living on the streets was a far better choice. Teresa's house was like living in a death trap with a street name, but once Patience became sick, Unique saw that she had no other choice, and she took her sister to their aunt's house.

As they got off the bus, she saw that everything was still the same in the Walnut Park section of St. Louis: same old run-down houses, dirty-ass kids running around, crack fiends begging for a hit, and nickel-and-dime dealers on the streets. Shaking her head, Unique knew that she could only live this way for so much longer. She was tired of giving her all and still having nothing.

Walking three blocks, she found Aunt Teresa's house and knocked on the door.

“Who is it?”

“It's me,” Unique mumbled, unsure of what to say.

“Me who, goddamnit!” her aunt yelled from the other side of the door.

“It's me, Unique, Aunt Teresa.”

Cracking the door open, her aunt peeked her head through. “What you doing here? Ain't you supposed to be in a group home or something?”

“Nah, Auntie. Me and Patience were evicted from the house. Momma gone to the clinic again, and Patience is getting sick,” she spoke, holding back the tears.

“Humph. Well, what you want from me?”

“I wanted to know if we could stay here for a little while, you know, until I get on my feet.”

“You got some money? I know you got some ends.”

“Yeah, but all I got is fifty dollars,” Unique lied, rolling her eyes. Her aunt couldn't care less about them. At the end of the day, she was all about the bucks.

“Well, give it to me, and I want another two in a month, so you gon' have to get a job,” she said, finally opening the door. “Kiara and Kay Kay, yo' cousins here!”

“What's up?” Kiara spoke, coming out of her room and looking Unique up and down.

“Hey, Nique. Hey Patience.” Kay Kay greeted them both with a hug.

“Hi,” Patience spoke softly.

“What's up?” Unique spoke too.

“Sista, I'm hungry.” Patience tugged on her arm.

“Now look! Y'all ain't gon' be coming over here eating up all my goddamn food. And it's only two bedrooms in here, so y'all gon' have to sleep on the floor,” Aunt Teresa yelled.

“No problem.”
I've slept in worse places
, Unique thought. “I'll get you something to eat, Patience. Don't worry.”

“It's getting late and I'm getting ready to go out, so make yourselves at home,” Aunt Teresa said, grabbing her purse. With a fifty-dollar bill in hand, Harrah's Casino began to call her name.

Placing her bag on the floor, Unique sat down on the couch and surveyed the room. The once-white walls were now gray, the carpet was dingy, the couch was worn out, and Unique could have sworn that she had seen more than twenty roaches since she entered the home.

“You got a boyfriend?” Kiara questioned from out of nowhere.

“Nah.”

“Peep this.” She whispered so that her mother wouldn't hear. “When my momma leave, we leaving too.”

“Where we going?”

“It's Saturday. We going downtown on the Riverfront. All the ballas be down there.”

“I can't go. My sista sick.”

“She'll be a'ight. You can leave her next door with Miss Mae. She'll take care of her.”

“I don't know.” Unique shrugged.

“Come on, girl. You only live once,” Kay Kay added.

“Patience, do you want to go next door with Miss Mae?”

“Yeah, I like going over her house. She always has food, and her house is clean, plus she be nice to me.”

“A'ight then, I guess I'ma go.” Unique sprang up from the couch, preparing to leave.

“Uh-uh, you ain't going nowhere with me looking and smelling like that.” Kiara scrunched up her nose.

Unique knew she looked a hot mess and smelled an even hotter mess. Her red, green, and orange sleeveless top showcased her dirty bra and brown crumpled deodorant. The orange Guess jeans were two sizes too small, and the Reebok Princesses she wore were so run down that the sole flapped when she walked.

“Well, I don't have anything else to wear, so I guess I can't go.” She plopped back down, embarrassed.

“You can borrow something of mine,” Kay Kay said, shaking her head at Kiara.

After giving herself and Patience a bath, Unique was fully dressed and ready to go. Dressed in a pink fitted tee, tight jeans, and a pair of clean white K-Swiss, Unique looked hip and more up-to-date. Kay Kay even styled her hair in a weave ponytail to spice up her look.

After dropping Patience off at Miss Mae's, they headed downtown on the bus. The girls weren't even down on the Landing ten minutes before they started getting hollas.

Guys approached Unique left and right, but she turned all of them down because none of them appealed to her. One guy in particular caught her eye, though. He wasn't your best-looking brotha, but his position in the dope game and the money that he brought in every week made him attractive to her. His name was Tone. He sold heroin and embalming fluid, also known on the streets as Water.

Unique saw Tone as her opportunity to make it out of the hood, so she gave him her aunt's number. Tone was a sucka for love, and she fed off that shit. All she had to do was rub his dick and purr in his ear, “I love you,” and she got whatever her heart desired.

In a matter of weeks, Unique and Patience moved in with Tone, and she had gotten him to place her mother in one of the best psychiatric hospitals in Missouri.

Now, don't get it twisted. Tone wasn't a pushover. Unique respected his gangsta.

A year into their relationship, she got Tone to rent her a loft in downtown St. Louis, which cost twenty-five hundred dollars a month. Unique also got him to furnish her brand new home with furniture from Bang & Olufsen. After getting her GED, she even got Tone to pay her way through school while she took classes at the University of Missouri–St. Louis. Trips to Paris and Milan with twenty-five thousand dollar shopping sprees were what came next.

Unique thought she had hit the jackpot, but slowly she saw that nothing in life comes cheap. Everything was cool between the two of them, until Tone got possessive. He expected Unique to cater to his every need, while he continued to lie and cheat. After being together for five years, Unique was slowly becoming tired of Tone and their whole situation.

Tired of reminiscing, Unique let the cab driver know that she was ready go.

* * *

“Hey, Jeffrey,” Unique spoke to the doorman as she got out of the cab.

“Good evening, Unique.”

“Has Patience arrived home yet?”

“Yes, ma'am. She arrived about an hour ago. Mr. Robertson is also waiting for you upstairs.”

“Thank you.” Pressing 10 on the elevator, Unique couldn't wait to get in her bed and go to sleep, but first she had to deal with Tone. She hadn't forgotten about what she had heard earlier from Patience. Getting off on her floor, she pulled out her keys and opened the door to her place.

“What the fuck took you so long?” Tone asked while sitting on the couch, flicking the remote control.

There he was, the nigga she had been playing for the past five years, sitting on her couch with his pants unbuttoned, watching television. Looking at him, Unique wondered why she had stayed with him so long. Yes, Tone was attractive in his own way. He was dark-skinned with smooth waves in his hair and a muscular build, but his ways made him uglier and uglier every day. He constantly lied to her, but Unique, being the chick she was, continued to stay with him. She didn't care if he lied and cheated. He took care of her, and that was all that mattered. Rolling her eyes at him, she stomped her feet and entered her spacious living room, which was decorated with Parisian art.

“Who the fuck are you talkin' to? And button up your pants!”

“Just answer the fuckin' question.”

Pausing for a second, Unique tried to pull herself together before she went off. “I stopped by my old hood. Where is my sister?”

“She's upstairs doing her homework. Why you go by there?”

“Because I wanted to see if it still looked the same. Why you all up in my business?”

“How much of my money did you spend while you were in L.A.?” Tone yawned as he buttoned up his pants.

“I didn't spend any of your money,” Unique snapped while taking off her shoes.

“You need to quit that shit. When you get locked up, don't come crying to me. I don't understand why you feel the need to steal anyway. It ain't like I don't provide for you.”

“You will never be able to give me as much as I can steal,” Unique shot, getting up.

“Whatever.”

“Yeah, whatever.” She paused for a second and continued. “So, I heard you were at Toxic last night acting a fool—popping bottles, buying drinks for everybody, smoking weed, fuckin' with hoes. You did your thing, huh?”

“Don't start.”

“Nah, nigga, don't you start! I know you were with Robin last night.”

“You don't even know what you're talkin' about.”

“Yes, I do. Patience told me,” Unique shouted as he followed her up the spiral staircase.

“Man, Patience don't know what she talkin' about.”

Ignoring him, Unique poked her head into her sister's room and said, “Hey, baby sis.”

“Hi!” Patience jumped. She sat on the edge of her white canopy bed wearing nothing but a towel. Unique figured she'd just gotten out of the shower, so she told her she'd talk to her later. Tone still had to be dealt with.