Hold U Down (11 page)

“Shut up.” Bigg playfully mushed her back in the head. “But, nah, for real. When you gon' quit bullshittin' and be my wife?”

Caught off guard by the question, Unique sat silent and unsure of how to answer.

“I know we've only been together for a while, but I got mad feelings for you, ma. I'm sick of the fact that you only call me your man when you want something. I want you to be my wife, not just my girlfriend or the person that I fuck on a regular, so I'm coming to you right now as your man, asking you to marry me.”

Staring into his eyes, Unique couldn't fight back the tears that stung her eyes. There was no way that she could play tough in this situation. Bigg was asking her the ultimate ride-or-die question. Unique loved Bigg and there was no denying that, but her life constantly got in the way of her happiness.

“Are you for real?”

“I'm dead serious. I told you, you was gonna be mine. I want you to be my wife, but first you gotta quit this whole stealing cars bullshit.”

Without hesitation, she said, “You ain't said nothing but a word. It's a done deal. I'm gon' tell the girls that I'm out. I'm sick of the shit anyway.”

“A'ight, then. Now answer my question.”

“What?” she asked, confused.

“Will you marry me?”

“You really want to marry me?” she asked, still unsure.

“Yeah. What, you thought I was playin'? I know you try to act all hard and you try to push me away, but it's gon' take more than that for me to leave you alone.”

Unique sat and pondered her answer. Checking herself, she knew that there was nothing to think about. Bigg was her man and she loved him to death, so the only logical answer was yes.

“Yes, Bigg, I will marry you.”

“That's what I'm talkin' about. Now drop them drawers and hop on daddy's dick,” he said, hugging her.

 

 

For the rest of the weekend, Unique and Bigg spent their time together. Lying in bed with Bigg making love into the wee hours of the morning was fun, but Unique had business that needed to be tended to. First, she had to meet with Cezar to tell him that she was out of the business. Second, she wanted to officially end things with Tone, and third, she had to meet with the girls to divvy up the money one last time.

“What's on your agenda for the day, li'l lady?” Bigg asked, pinning her up against his truck.

“I'm going over to Cezar's place first to talk to him and give him his cut. Then I'm going over to Kay Kay's house to give the girls their share of the money from our last job,” Unique replied, conveniently leaving out the part about meeting with Tone.

“A'ight. Call me later then.” Bigg kissed her gently on the forehead.

Arriving downtown at Cezar's home, Unique stepped out of Bigg's cranberry red Range Rover and walked into Cezar's house. He knew that she was on her way over, so the door was already unlocked. She found Cezar seated on the couch, reading the newspaper in his favorite robe.

“Have a seat,” he said.

Sitting down in a chair across from him, Unique waited for Cezar to acknowledge her presence.

“So, how much you got for me?” he asked.

“I got forty grand.” She handed him a yellow envelope, already ready to leave.

“Good.” He put the money down beside him. “I might have y'all a job up in VA in a few weeks.”

“I wanted to talk to you about that. After today, this will be your last time seeing me.”

“And why is that?” Cezar asked, putting down the paper.

“Because I'm out. I can't do this shit no more.”

“Oh, really? So, when did you come to this conclusion?”

“I've been thinking about it for a while, but I made up my mind once Bigg asked me to marry him.”

“And let me guess. You said yes.” Cezar smirked.

“As a matter of fact, I did.”

“So, that nigga finally locked you down?” he said more to himself than her. “Look, ma, I ain't got no problem wit' you marrying Bigg. That's my boy, but you fuckin' with my paper. You and the girls have brought me in a nice piece of change. I don't know if I can let you go that easily.”

“I'm sorry to tell you, but you don't have any other choice.” Unique stood her ground.

“What do Kiara, Kay Kay, and Zoë have to say about this?”

“I haven't told them yet. I'm getting ready to go meet with them now.”

“Well, tell them that I would love to keep them on my payroll.”

“I will, but who are you going to get to run things now? You know Kiara's not reliable, and I think Zoë might feel the same way I do, so that only leaves Kay Kay.”

“What do you think? Do you think she can handle running things?”

“Yeah, Kay Kay's a smart girl. She can do it, but look, I gotta jet.”

“A'ight. Everything's set. I hope everything works out for you and my boy.”

“It will.”

“I hope not.” Cezar smirked.

“Let me hurry up and get away from you before I hurt you.” Unique laughed.

 

 

Stepping up to Tone's door, Unique adjusted the shades on her eyes and knocked.

“Who is it?”

“It's me, Unique.”

“What you doing here?” Tone asked, opening the door and looking like he was still half asleep.

“I came to talk to you about the other night. Can I come in?”

Being a gentleman, Tone stepped to the side and let her in. Unique looked around to see if everything was still the same. It was. Tone was never big on furniture, so only the bare necessities were in his place. One thing that stood out, though, was a picture of him and Unique. It was a large black and white photo they had taken a year ago. It hung over his mantle.

“Look, I ain't gon' take up too much of your time, but I need to talk to you.”

“You cool. Let me go put on a shirt, though.” Tone had on nothing but his boxers.

“You're all right. It ain't like I ain't never seen you in your drawers before. I just wanted to tell you that I am with Bigg and whatever me and you shared is over now.”

“Really?” Tone closed the door behind them.

“Yeah, I'm getting married.”

“Damn, I always thought it would be you and me.”

“Nigga, please. You cheated on me the whole time we were together.” Unique laughed.

“Even though I cheated, I did have feelings for you.”

“Oh, so you're finally admitting it?” She hit him playfully on the arm.

“I mean, you know . . . but you sure you want to be with that nigga? He seems like he kinda crazy. Oh, I forgot. You like them crazy niggas.”

“Bigg's cool. I love him.” Unique blushed like a schoolgirl.

“Did I just hear Unique Alexander say she loved something besides Gucci, Fendi, and Prada?” Tone joked.

“Shut up. It was nice seeing you, but I gotta burn out.”

“It was nice seeing you, too, ma,” Tone said as he opened the door for her. “Can a nigga at least get a hug before you go?”

“Sure. One last hug couldn't hurt.”

After hugging Tone good-bye, Unique hopped in the Range Rover and sped off.

 

 

Thirty minutes later, Unique was at Kay Kay's house. They all sat in the kitchen, awaiting Kiara's arrival.

“If she ain't here in the next five minutes then she just gon' be shit out of luck,” Unique spat, pissed off.

“She knows what time we supposed to meet up. She just being silly,” Zoë added.

“What's been up with her lately? She has been acting crazy for a minute now. I mean, at first I thought the bitch was just going through something, but now she just get on my nerves.”

“Well, since I get on your nerves so much, don't say shit else to me,” Kiara said, entering the room.

“Yo, don't even start it today, Ki. I'm not in the mood,” Unique warned.

“Whatever. You got my money so I can get up out of here?” Kiara sniffled, wiping her nose.

“Yeah, let me hurry and give you yo' cut before I end up saying something I'm gon' regret. Oh, but before I do, I got something to tell y'all. I have some good news and some bad news.”

“What?” Kay Kay asked.

The good news is that I'm getting married.” Staring around at their faces, she saw that all of their jaws had dropped. Nobody said a word. Only silence filled the room.

“Congratulations, girl!” Zoë exclaimed, running around the table to hug Unique.

Hugging her back, Unique watched as Kiara and Kay Kay exchanged disapproving looks. She could tell that they were not happy for her.

“First of all, who is crazy enough to want to marry you, and where is your ring?” Kiara questioned, not missing a thing.

“If you would quit hatin' and shut the fuck up, maybe I could tell you. Bigg asked me to marry him the other day, and I accepted. I don't know when I'm getting my ring. I just know that it's going to be huge.”

“Well, I wouldn't have said yes if the nigga didn't have me a ring.”

“Get asked first; then we'll have that conversation.”

“I thought you said that you and Bigg were just friends,” Kay Kay said.

“The whole thing between me and Bigg is complicated. I just know that I love him and he loves me.”

“I heard that he still mess wit' his baby momma anyway,” Kiara spat.

“Bigg ain't hardly fuckin' with Carmella no more, so fall back. I don't even know why I'm entertaining this conversation with you. You're sorry. You need to quit smoking that shit and get yo'self together.”

“Bitch, fuck you! You was the one that was all about fuck niggas, get money, and love is not allowed. Now all of a sudden you marrying this nigga out the blue?” Kiara asked, furious.

“Kiara, we are getting older. It's time out for all this shit. You can't be a block bitch forever. I know y'all want to settle down and have kids and live a normal life just like I do. And, Kiara, you really need to be getting your shit together. When is the last time you even saw Arissa? Instead of worrying about me, you need to go and take care of your daughter.”

“Keep my daughter's name outta yo' mouth!” Kiara screamed, stepping up to Unique.

“Do it! I dare you.”

“Come on, y'all. That's enough!” Kay Kay yelled, pulling Kiara back.

“Unique is right. We are getting too old for this shit. I know that I want to go back to school, and I can't do that with us going out of town every other week robbing niggas. Our cousin is getting married. Fuck all the dumb shit. It's time to celebrate.” Zoë tried sticking up for Unique.

“But what about Cezar? What do you think he's gonna say about all of this?” Kay Kay questioned.

“I already talked to Cezar. He's fine. He told me to tell y'all that if you want to continue on that y'all can. Kay Kay, he wants you to take over.”

“What?” Kiara yelled.

“He wants me to take over for real?” Kay Kay asked, astonished.

“Yep.”

“What about me?” Kiara questioned.

“What about you? I've been tellin' you for the longest to get your shit together, but you never wanted to listen. Everybody knows that you're not good with handling your business, Kiara.”

“I can't believe this shit. You probably had something to do wit' his decision.”

“Look, I ain't got to explain myself to nobody. We had a good run. We made that nigga a lot of money, but the shit is over for me. We have made a killing off of this shit. I would rather stop now while I'm ahead then for me to get knocked over some bullshit, you feel me? Now, I've been saving up my money. Have you, Zoë?” Unique asked.

“Yeah, I have about two hundred thousand left,” she answered.

“What about you?” Unique questioned Kay Kay.

“I got about one eighty put up.”

“And you?” Unique asked Kiara.

“I've been saving all of my money,” Kiara lied, knowing she had only ten grand left.

“Okay then, that's that. We all get twenty-five thousand apiece today, so everybody should be cool for a while. It's time to grow up, girls. Jersey was officially my last job,” Unique said, giving everybody their cut.

“So, you're really serious about this?” Kay Kay asked.

“Serious as a heart attack. I'm sick of this shit. I just didn't know how to tell y'all.”

“On the real, I'm getting tired of all the lying and plotting myself,” Zoë agreed.

After checking her money, Kiara grabbed her purse and left without saying a word.

“That's another reason I wanted to quit. I ain't got time for that dumb shit. That's my muthafuckin cousin and she gon' shit on me like that. Fuck her!” Unique snapped.

“Yo, that was fucked up,” Kay Kay chimed in.

“It's all good. Like I said, fuck her. So, what y'all plan on doing?”

“I'm sorry, Kay Kay, but I'm out too. Like I said, I want to go back to school. I want to take up graphic design.” Zoë smiled.

“That's cool, ma. I guess it's just me and Kiara for now. What you gon' do?” Kay Kay asked Unique.

“I'm going to continue to save my money. My main focus is starting me a little business and giving Bigg a son or daughter within the next year.”

“Look at yo' ol' in-love ass,” Zoë joked playfully.

“I know, right? How her ol' thug ass gon' be somebody's momma?” Kay Kay continued.