Hold U Down (23 page)

 

 

“How did it go when you went to see Aunt Syleena?” Zoë asked as she and Unique stood in their lanes at the shooting range.

“She remembered me for a second, but then she started trippin' again, thinking I'm trying to control her mind and shit.” Unique aimed her .380 at the target in front of her. With one eye open, she pulled the trigger without hesitation, emptying the whole clip. Stepping back and pulling the goggles from her eyes, she smiled at a job well done. Every last shot had landed in either the head or the heart.

“I don't know why Bigg gave your ass a gun.” Zoë shook her head, laughing.

“Don't hate.”

“Whatever. Watch this,” Zoë said, doing the same thing.

“I don't know why I gave yo' ass a gun,” Unique joked.

“Girl, I still can't get over the fact that Legend is a cop.”

“Have you talked to him?”

“Nope. I haven't talked to him since the night all that shit went down.”

“Fuck that nigga. He's dead in my eyes.”

“How can you say fuck Legend when you just accepted NaSheed's number the other day?”

“Zoë.” Unique turned to look at her.

“Zoë my ass. Yo' ass is trippin'. I don't know what kind of shit you on, but you done lost your mind. Here I was thinking that you was all in love with Bigg, but I guess I was wrong. You sure I don't need to check you into Malcolm Bliss with your momma?”

“Don't play with me. Stop being so simpleminded. There is a bigger picture to all of this. You know I always have a plan.”

“If you say so, but anyway, what you got to tell me?”

“It looks like I only have one way to get Bigg out of jail and out the country.”

“And what's that?”

“Time to start back robbing niggas for they whips. I already have two hundred thousand left in my safe, so all I have to do is rob eight hundred thousand dollars worth of cars.”

“Damn, Nique, that's gon' be damn near impossible to do in such a short time.”

“I know it is, but I gotta make it happen. If you don't want to help me, that's cool. I'll understand.”

“Don't make me slap you in yo' face. You're my cousin, my blood. I'm gon' always be there for you.”

“A'ight then, it's set—oh, one more thing. We need Kiara and Kay Kay to make it happen.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. I can't stand Kiara's ass for what she did, but without her I'm not gon' be able to make this shit happen. I can be woman enough to set aside my feelings for Bigg's sake.”

“
Okay
. . . if you say so.”

“Trust me. I got this,” Unique said, turning and shooting at the target again.

“Ooh, I think they like me . . . I think, I think they like me.”
Unique's cell phone rang. “Speak of the devil. What it do?”

“What's up, Nique? This Kay Kay.”

“What's up?” Unique replied, putting her cell phone on speaker so that Zoë could hear as well.

“Ay, I heard about Bigg. That shit is fucked up.”

“Yeah, it is. I'm real torn up about it.”

“Umph, yeah, right,” Zoë whispered, rolling her eyes.

“Was that Zoë?” Kay Kay asked.

“Yeah, that was her. Don't pay her no mind.”

“The reason I called is because I got your message.”

“Oh, you did.”

“Yeah, girl, everything you said was true. Too much shit is going down right now and we're cousins. We shouldn't be fighting. There shouldn't be no beefs between us, so I suggest we all get together for lunch tomorrow and squash this shit.”

With one eyebrow raised, Unique contemplated Kay Kay's offer. She did, in fact, miss her cousins. Kiara and Kay Kay were like her sisters. She couldn't live the rest of her life without them. Even though Kiara had done some fucked up shit, they still were blood no matter what.

“A'ight, where?”

A year had gone by since all four girls sat in a room together, let alone shared a meal together. Kiara and Kay Kay waited patiently on the deck of Landry's Seafood Restaurant and Bar with bated breath. Both of their pockets had been suffering severely since Unique and Zoë left the business.

When Kay Kay had told Kiara about the meeting, Kiara couldn't believe her ears. Unique had put any and all ill feelings for Kiara aside for the sake of Bigg. She wanted to let bygones be bygones. They would all meet and have an adult conversation like the adults they were.

“What's taking them so long?” Kiara asked, rubbing her nose while situating her glasses on her face.

“I don't know, but you need to get yourself together,” Kay Kay spat, irritated by her presence.

“Don't start, Kay Kay!”

“Whatever.” Kay Kay shook her head in disgust. “There they go now.”

“About time.” Kiara rolled her eyes.

“What's up, cousin?” Unique hugged Kay Kay.

“Hey, girl. What's up, Zoë?”

“Shit, cute shoes.”

“Thank you. I got them from Petit Peton when I went to New York a month ago.”

“Can we get this thing started?” Kiara asked, clearly needing a fix.

“Well, hi to you too, Kiara,” Unique snapped.

“My bad. What's up, Nique?” She stood up, trying to hug her. Hating the touch of Kiara's skin against hers, Unique stood still, not hugging her back.

“Okay, that's enough.” Unique pushed her away.

“Zoë.”

“Hi, Kiara,” she said dryly.

“Is there anything I can get you ladies?” the waitress asked.

“No, thank you,” Zoë replied.

“I'll have a Sprite, please,” Unique requested.

“Okay, coming right up.”

“Now that we're all here, what's been going on with everybody besides the usual?” Kay Kay questioned.

“Well, shit, you already know about Bigg,” Unique started.

“Nah, all I know is that he got locked up for killing Tone. What made him do it?”

“I don't know. I guess he was jealous.”

“What?” Zoë asked, confused yet again.

“Come on, Z. You ain't gotta front no more. You knew that Tone and I was still fuckin' around.”

Kiara grabbed her ice water and sat up at full attention. “So you and Tone was fuckin' around for real?” she asked.

“I mean, yeah. That is what you told Bigg, right?” Unique questioned with her head tilted to the side, awaiting her answer.

“Giiirl, I was just fuckin' wit' Bigg that night. He took it the wrong way.”

“Mm-hmm, I just bet—but anyway, Kay Kay, what's been up with you?”

“Nothing. Tryin' to get this paper, that's all. Things been real slow since you and Z left.”

“For real?” Unique said as she sipped on her drink.

“On the real, though, Nique, I'm feelin' like you. I'm getting sick of this whole thing. I think I'm about to be out the game too.”

“Excuse me?” Kiara snapped.

“You heard me. This shit ain't making us no money no more, so we might as well get out while we're ahead. Besides, I'm the one taking care of your daughter. I need to be able to provide her with osome kind of stability.”

“Fuck stability. We need to get this money!”

“I mean really, do you ever think about Arissa?”

“This is not about Arissa. This is about me!”

“Still the same ole Kiara, all about self.” Unique snickered.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“Be easy, ma. I'm just making a statement. Kay Kay, I feel you when you say you want out, but me and Zoë want back in. I already told y'all about Bigg. Well, what I didn't tell you is that all of his assets are frozen and his bail is set at a million dollars. All I have is two hundred grand left, so I need eight hundred to get Bigg out on bail—”

“No, you don't,” Zoë interrupted.

“What you talkin' about?” Unique was caught off guard.

“I have a hundred Gs sitting around collecting dust. You can have it.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah.”

“Nique, I can give you fifty grand,” Kay Kay added.

“I can't take y'all's money.”

“Yes, you can, and you will. Once this whole thing is over, we gon' get our money back plus some.”

“Thank you. So now all I need is six fifty.”

They all looked at Kiara and wondered when she was going to chip in. Seeing that she wasn't, they resumed the conversation.

“That shouldn't be that hard to get. I already have a job lined up that will bring us enough money for you and us, but it's in St. Louis.”

“Uh-uh, we can't do that. I'm already hot. Police already watching me like hawk.”

“Nique, we don't have no other choice,” Zoë complained.

Breathing in and out, Unique wondered how things had come to this. Zoë was right; they had no other choice. They had to do the job.

“A'ight, where?”

“Out in St. Charles.”

“Who are we gonna work with?”

“This guy named Anthony who I'm seeing. He has a crew of li'l locs that have been helping him steal cars. What they do is steal cars and then ship them overseas. A lot of people overseas are willing to pay double for the cars, more than what we do here in the States. He needs us to steal two cars for him, and he needs us to help load the cars onto the freight containers on the twenty-sixth.”

“What kind of cars are they, and when are we going to get 'em?” Kiara asked.

“One's an Aston Martin Vanquish, and the other is a Ferrari F30 Spider, and I was thinking later on this week,” Kay Kay answered.

“Sounds good to me. Come on, Z, let's go. I gotta go pick up Patience from school.” Unique stood up, preparing to leave. “Oh, but before I forget, this is for lying on me, bitch!”

Whap! Whap!
Unique punched Kiara in the face twice, causing her to fall backward out of her chair. With nothing but determination on her face, Unique strutted around the table and grabbed Kiara by the hair. While holding Kiara's head, she drew her hand back and punched her dead in the mouth.

“And if I ever catch you lying on me again, I'm gon' beat ya ass worse than that!” Standing up straight, Unique dusted her clothes off and grabbed her purse and shades before security came. Walking out of the restaurant with a smile on her face, Unique felt better than she had in weeks.

“Damn, Nique, you ain't have to fuck her up like that. She probably won't help us now.” Zoë was concerned.

“Fuck Kiara! She'll do anything to feed her habit.”

 

 

“
What makes you think that I'm gonna wait forever when we both know that you're never gonna leave her?
” Zoë sang as she made up her bed, thinking of Legend.

“Girl, how many times are you going to play that song?” Unique asked with her face twisted up.

“Until I believe it.”

“I'm sorry, Z. I've been so preoccupied with Bigg that I haven't even been there for you.” Unique plopped down on the bed Zoë had just made. “You sounded good though.”

“Thank you. It's just that I want to know why. Like was I part of the plan, or did I just happen? I need to know if what I felt was genuine, or if it was all based on a lie. I mean, before Legend came along, everything in my life was a sure thing, but with him I always felt confused. I just need to know the truth so I can finally move on.”

“I don't know, Z. If I was you, I wouldn't fuck with his snake ass, but that's just me. You had a relationship with this man, so I guess if you need answers, call him.”

“I can't talk to him. I might snap and kill him.”

“Even though I don't want you to have any contact with his slimy ass, you need to find out the truth for yourself.”

“Okay. Give me a minute by myself so I can call him.”

“A'ight, let me go get this big-head girl up and ready for school.”

Sitting on the side of her bed, Zoë bit into her bottom lip, inhaled deeply, and dialed his number.

“Agent Johnson speaking,” Legend answered, not expecting it to be Zoë.

“Did I catch you at a bad time?” Zoë asked, caught off guard by the way he answered the phone.

Hearing the sound of her voice, Legend leaned back into his chair, closed his eyes, and pictured her face.

“Nah, you cool. How you been?”

“Okay. I called because I needed to talk to you about something.”

“I've wanted to talk to you, too, but I was afraid of how you might react to seeing me, so I laid low.”

“Well, can you meet in like half an hour at Forest Park by the waterfall?”

“Yeah, I'll be there.”

Forty-five minutes later, Zoë arrived. Sitting there for a second, she watched as Legend paced back and forth. Almost a month had passed since they last saw one another.

For him to be a federal agent, he sure looks like a thug
, she thought. Nothing had changed in his appearance. He had on a NY Mets baseball cap, a white tall tee, LRG jeans, and peanut butter Timbs. She could tell that his hair had been freshly cut by the way his hat was cocked to the left. Zoë hated that the sight of him still caused her breath to shorten and her nipples to harden.

She tapped him on the shoulder, getting his attention.

“What's up?” he said, not sure whether he should hug her or shake her hand.

“Nothing.” She was unsure of what to do too.

“You look nice.” He eyed her short black hair, sky blue chevron striped Juicy jogging suit, and sky blue and yellow All Star Chuck Taylors.

“Thanks.”

“You want to sit right here?” Legend asked, pointing to a bench in front of them.

“Yeah, that's cool.”

“I've been thinking about you a lot lately.”

“Really? Me too.”

“Look, Z, I know that I have a lot of explaining to do, but before I do, I just wanted to tell you that I love you too. I just couldn't tell you that night because I was already getting in way over my head when it came to Bigg's case. I wasn't supposed to get attached and I did, not only to Bigg, but to you too. I didn't know that I would meet you and grow to have feelings for you. You caught me off guard for real, and I didn't know what to do.”

“I just . . . wish that you would have never let it get this far. I mean, did you ever think about how I would feel when I found out the truth?”

“Believe it or not, I thought about it every day. I was brought in to do a job. Bringing in criminals is what I do. My job was to bring Bigg down, and I did that. I know it might sound fucked up, but that's my job. I will say, though, the day you walked into that studio, my whole agenda flipped.”

“So, was the part about you having a girlfriend and daughter even true?”

“Nah, the girl you saw me with was my partner, Tori. That was her daughter I was holding. We were meeting up because she wanted to talk to me about a case she was working on.”

“Oh my God, so I went through all those nights of crying my eyes out for nothing?” she asked, heated.

“I'm sorry, ma.”

“I can't believe this shit.” She shook her head in disbelief.

“You wanted to know the truth, so I'm giving it to you. I love you, and I'm sorry for how everything went down.”

“Do you know that you locked up an innocent man? Bigg didn't kill Tone. Somebody else did.”

“We have his fingerprints on the murder weapon, Zoë.”

“I shouldn't even be telling you this, but since you say you care about me so much, maybe you'll do the right thing. Nique saw the tape of Patience and Tone. She went over there. She fired twice at him but missed. They got into a fight, and he hit his head on the table. That's how he got the wound on the back of his head. Unique checked his pulse before she left, and he was still alive.

“Nique got scared and left, but she forgot her gun, so Bigg and NaSheed had to go back and get it before the police found Tone's body. Bigg gave the gun to NaSheed without any gloves on, and then I guess NaSheed snitched and told the police where the murder weapon was since he was working with y'all.”

“So, during the time Unique was gone and Bigg came back, somebody else had the opportunity to finish what Unique started,” Legend said out loud, putting the pieces together. “About how much time you think passed after Unique left and Bigg arrived at Tone's house?”

“I don't know. Maybe thirty minutes to an hour.”

“I knew something wasn't right!” Legend snapped, standing up and pacing again.

“What?”

“We had until April to bring Bigg in. If I didn't arrest him by then, I was going to be off the case and on traffic duty. My boss, Federal Agent Lansing, told NaSheed that if he didn't come up with some incriminating evidence against Bigg, he was going to go to jail for ten years for selling drugs to an undercover cop.”

“So, he lied on Bigg just so he could get off.”

“Yep.”

“Bitch-ass nigga!”

“Plus, Lansing had two coroners perform autopsies on Tone.”

“Why?”

“I don't know, but I'm going to find out. You gotta help me find out who killed Tone.”

“I can't help you.”

“Why not?”

“'Cause I don't trust you.”