Hold U Down (9 page)

Unable to speak, Unique allowed her heart to open up to the thought of being loved by someone. She tried her best to blink back the tears that had formed, but it was no use. She couldn't contain her feelings. Tears streamed down her face at lightning speed.

Gently, Bigg took her face into his hands and kissed her lips. There on the Riverfront with the stars twinkling up above, Unique gave her heart and soul to Bigg and promised that from that day on, she would love him forever.

 

 

Fast forward two weeks—Unique and Bigg weren't even speaking. Her biggest fear had come to fruition. One night while she and Bigg were asleep in bed, his cell phone rang, so Unique, being the chick she was, answered it.

“Hello?” she spoke in a raspy tone.

“Speak to Bigg.”

“Who is this?” she asked, fully awakened by the female voice.

“Brittany. Who is this?” the girl shot back.

“This is his girlfriend, Unique.”

“Unique? Bigg ain't tell me he had a girlfriend.”

“Well, bitch, I'm tellin' you! Don't call this phone no more.”

“You mean to tell me you not gon' let me speak to Bigg?”

“What part of the breakdown don't you understand? Are you dumb or something? Bigg is my man.”

“If Bigg was so much your man, I wouldn't be calling him. So instead of yellin' at me, you need to check your man,” Brittany spat.

“You know what? You about right,” Unique snapped, hanging up the phone. With a smack upside the head, Unique woke Bigg.

“What the fuck is yo' problem?” He jumped, turning over.

“Who the fuck is Brittany?”

“You lost your muthafuckin' mind? Don't put yo' hands on me no more, Unique.”

“Nigga, fuck you! Like I said, who is Brittany?”

“Go head wit' that, man. Just let that shit go. She was a jump off. Don't even trip.”

“You know what, Bigg? I ain't got time to be playin' wit' you. How can I trust you when you got hoes calling yo' phone and shit?” Unique shot, putting on her clothes and preparing to leave.

“Ah, here we go. What the fuck you want me to say, Unique? That we used to fuck around? Okay, I used to fuck her. Are you happy now?”

“Whatever, Bigg. I don't even care.”

“Where you going?”

“I'm going home. I ain't got time for this shit! I'm through fuckin' wit' you.”

“Ma, ma, ma, calm down.”

“Fuck you. Nah, I'm not calming down.”

“So, you not gon' even listen to your man? It ain't even what you think,” Bigg said truthfully.

“My man? Nigga, you ain't my man. My man wouldn't have other chicks calling his phone all times of the night.”

“You know what? You actin' real silly right now.” Bigg snatched the covers off of his body and got out of the bed.

“I can't believe I trusted you. I knew this shit was gon' happen.”

“Oh, so now you don't trust me?”

“What you think?” Unique rolled her neck and folded her arms across her chest.

“Humph, it's all good.” Bigg shook his head, rubbing his chin.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Look, ma, I ain't gon' argue wit' you. If you don't trust me then maybe we shouldn't be together.”

“How you gon' break up with me? You the one got hoes calling your phone, not me.”

“What are we even arguing for? You gon' think what you want to think anyway.” Bigg got quiet for a second. “You don't trust me?”

“No!”

“Then step.”

“You're telling me to step?” Unique repeated in disbelief.

“I ain't for repeating myself. Get the fuck out. You shouldn't have answered my muthafuckin' phone in the first place.”

“You know what, Bigg? Fuck you!” Unique yelled, slamming his front door behind her.

 

 

She couldn't believe that Bigg had actually tried to play her, but it was all good, because Unique wasn't gonna let any man bring her down. She hadn't seen nor heard from Bigg since their argument, so instead of trippin' off of him, she got on the grind. Heartache wasn't gonna come between Unique and her paper. At least that's what she tried telling herself.

On the real, Unique knew she was wrong for reacting the way she did. Her biggest fear in the world was that if she fully gave Bigg her heart, he would end up hurting or leaving her. Unique just couldn't afford for that to happen. She wasn't about to sit around and wait for heartache.

It was Saturday afternoon, and she had just returned home from yet another job out of state. In a mad rush to check her voice mail, she left her bags by the door. After putting her pin number in, Unique learned that she had no new messages. Hurt that Bigg hadn't called, she slammed down the phone. Needing to hear his voice, she picked up the phone again, but her pride wouldn't allow her to dial a single digit, so she hung up.

“Unique?”

“Yeah. Did Bigg call me while I was gone?”

“Nope,” Patience replied, coming down the steps, eating an apple.

“Did my package get here?”

“Yep, it arrived this morning. Everything's there. I put it in the safe like you asked.”

“Cool. You want to go to the mall? I don't feel like sitting in the house all day.”

“Yeah.”

“A'ight, get dressed then.”

Quickly, Unique and Patience jumped into the shower, lotioned up, and dressed.

 

 

On the upper level of Nordstrom where all the major designer clothes were located, Unique held a pair of L.A.M.B. capris in hand when her cell began to chirp.

“What up?”

“Girl, where you at? I just tried calling your house.” Zoë talked into the phone, popping gum in her ear.

“At the mall,” Unique said, switching the tag on the pants from two hundred and fifty dollars to forty.

“Why you ain't call me? I would've went wit' you.”

“My bad. I'm wit' Patience, though. I needed to spend some time with her since I ain't seen her in a couple of days.”

“That's cool, but um, I was calling to tell you that yo' boo's group is performing down at Toxic tonight.” Just the mention of Bigg caused Unique's heart to go pitter-patter.

“Oh, for real.” She tried to sound unfazed.

“You ain't gotta front. I know you wanna go.”

“Girl, please. I ain't fuckin' wit' Bigg right now. I might pop his ass if I see him.”

“Whatever, Unique. You know Bigg got you wrapped around his finger.”

“Never that, sweetheart.”

“Nique, you ain't got to front with me. I know you feeling Bigg, and that's cool. Y'all make a good couple.”

“You mean that?”

“Yeah. Everybody can see that y'all love each other. Ain't no need trying to hide it.”

“You know how it is though, Zoë. I can't really be with Bigg until I cut some things loose.” Unique hinted to what they did for a living.

“I feel you, but if you really love him, then you got to do you before another bitch come and take your place.”

“Girl, please. Bigg ain't crazy. He know I'll kill his ass.”

“So, are you going?”

“Yeah, I'ma go.”

“A'ight then, I'll be at yo' house around eleven.”

“One.”

With a huge smile spread across her face, Unique approached the cash register and purchased herself and Patience six pairs of BCBG heels. She also bought the L.A.M.B. capris. Calling her beautician, Miesha, she made an impromptu appointment to get her hair flat-ironed. By the time she finished getting her hair done and her nails filled in, it was dark.

After dropping Patience off at her best friend Chantell's house, she rushed home, showered, applied her makeup, and then stood in front of her walk-in closet. Unique hadn't seen Bigg in over a week, so she grabbed one of her come-fuck-me dresses and put it on. Standing in front of her full-length, three-way mirror, she eyed her physique from every angle. Hearing Zoë outside blowing, Unique gave herself the stamp of approval and walked outside to meet her girl.

“You trying to hurt somebody tonight, ain't you?” Zoë teased as Unique got into the car.

“Nah,” Unique replied, playing it off.

“Yeah, right. You're trying to make sure that Bigg notice that ass.”

“Oh, he gon' notice me a'ight. I'm gon' make sure of that.”

As Unique and Zoë approached the door of the club, they were greeted by a slew of people they knew. After saying “What's up?” to a couple of people, they both headed inside. Zoë headed for the bar to get a drink, while Unique searched for Bigg. It was hard to spot him because of the neon lights, but she quickly noticed Cezar, NaSheed, and Bigg's other partna, Chris. NaSheed and Chris were a part of Bigg's rap group called St. Louis' Finest.

As soon as his cash flow picked back up, Bigg reopened his entertainment company, Bigg Entertainment. Chris and NaSheed's first single “Money & Hoes” was already in heavy rotation on every radio station across the United States. They also pumped D for Bigg on the side. They were his number one workers and closest friends.

Bigg and his boys were well on their way, and Unique felt threatened by this. In a short amount of time, Bigg had made his way back on top. Shortly after they had returned home from Louisiana, Bigg quit working for Cezar and set up his own thing. Jackson was Bigg's connect. With Jackson as his connect, Bigg had no other choice but to do the damn thing. His top two recruits were, of course, Chris and NaSheed. Besides Cezar, he trusted them the most. Money was pouring in left and right.

Financially stable, Bigg made it clear that he wanted Unique to quit stealing. The man was willing to take care of her and give her whatever she wanted, but Unique could never see herself living off of a man.

Spotting him in the back of the club by the bar, she stopped dead in her tracks. There he was, leaning against the bar with some chick that Unique didn't recognize.

The girl had her arms wrapped around his neck and was whispering something into his ear. Unique couldn't believe what her eyes were seeing. Even though Bigg wasn't touching the girl back, she was still pissed. Her whole point of coming to the club that night was to apologize for the fight they had. Pulling her shoulders back, Unique held her head up high and took her place right beside her man.

“Come on, Bigg. I miss you,” the girl whined, biting down on his ear.

“Ahem!” Unique coughed, clearing her throat.

“Unique, baby, what you doing here?” Bigg asked as he pried the girl's hands from around his neck.

“Uh-uh.” She placed her hand in front of his face. “That's not important right now. Who is this?”

“Hi, I'm Brittany.” The girl spoke in a perky voice with her hand stuck out for a handshake.

“Excuse me?”

“What? Is there a problem? Bigg, who is this?” Brittany eyed Unique up and down.

“Oh, so you're the li'l chick that I talked to over the phone?” Unique said, piecing everything together
.

Whap
! Unique slapped Bigg dead in the face.

“So you lied to me. You
have
been fuckin' wit' her!”

“Yo, chill! What the fuck is your problem? You on some ol' crazy shit,” Bigg yelled, grabbing Unique by the neck and trying to block her next hit.

“Nah, nigga, let me go!”

“Kill all that noise, ma. It ain't even what you think.”

“It ain't what I think? You got this bitch, the same bitch that we argued about, hanging all over you, but it ain't what I think? Let another nigga even look my way and you go crazy,” Unique yelled, swinging her arms wildly and trying her damnest to hit Bigg again.

“Who you calling a bitch?” Brittany snapped, getting into Unique's face.

“You! Do you see anybody else standing here? As a matter of fact, both of y'all some bitches.” Unique swung her fist, hitting Brittany in the mouth and causing it to bleed immediately.

“Oh, no you didn't just put your hands on me,” Brittany snapped, grabbing an empty beer bottle.

“Yo, you better fall the fuck back,” Bigg warned, taking the bottle out of her hand.

“Fall back? Nigga, please. Your hands were just all over my ass, so don't even try it.”

“Bitch, please. I wasn't touching you. I told you I had a wife when you walked yo' retarded ass over here. Don't get it twisted, ma. You wasn't nothing but a jump off, a one-night stand. That's it.”

“Why is you lying, Bigg? You know you told me you love me. I was your wife, not her.”

“Yo, Bigg, what the fuck is going on, man? You know we can't have no fighting in the club,” one of the bouncers said.

“My bad, dog. I got this.”

“A'ight, man. Check yo' girl.”

“Answer me, Bigg. Why is you lying? You know you said you wanted me to be your girl,” Brittany continued.

“Bitch, what the fuck don't you understand? I don't want you.”

“You know what, Bigg? This is really amusing, but I am so not beat.” Unique laughed. “If you wanna be with the bitch, be with the bitch.”

“Yo, shut the fuck up and quit talkin' out the side of your neck,” Bigg ordered, grabbing Unique by the arm and walking away.

“So, it's like that, Bigg? You just gon' leave me for her? Nigga, fuck you!” Brittany continued.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. You couldn't suck dick anyway,” Bigg shot over his shoulder.