Thirsty 2 (10 page)

All three lay on the bed motionless and spent until sleep consumed them. Minutes later, the only sound to be heard in the large suite was that of Marques’s snoring.

CHAPTER TEN

God must have had a lot of favor and love for Ms. Evans because ever since she had passed, the City of Charlotte had been experiencing a heavy downpour of rain and chilling cold weather from the moment she took her last breath.

“You’ve got to eat something,” Justice told Sapphire. The sympathy she had for her friend was beyond measure. She definitely related to what Sapphire was going through because she too had lost her mother to cancer some years ago. Sapphire had been staying with Justice at the Embassy Suites Hotel on S. Tryon Street since her mother’s death. She just couldn’t push herself to go home. Their family house would never be the same without her mother.

 For the past two days, Sapphire had lay across the king-sized bed and refused to move, even for food. Although she knew her mother’s death was imminent, she still didn’t want to believe it had come to past. Reruns of Toni Braxton’s reality show would make her smile weakly and emit a soft chuckle sporadically every time Tamar’s dramatic ass said something stupid but most of the time her tears flowed like Niagara Falls. They say sleep is the cousin of death, so when she was not crying she was sleeping. She figured that a dream would be the closest she’d ever get to her mother again.

Sapphire stared at Justice with bloodshot eyes as she slowly sat up on the bed. For the past few days, Justice had done everything needed to arrange for Ms. Evan’s funeral. From handling most of the business arrangements for the service, to contacting family and friends on Sapphire’s behalf.

As it stood, the funeral was four hours away and Sapphire had not left the bed, not even for the viewing of the body the night before. Many thought she would not show up for the funeral. She was totally broken.

“Let’s take a long, hot bath.”  Justice stood up and gently helped Sapphire off the bed. Justice went into the bathroom and turned on the water to just the right temperature. Then she took out the Dove bubble bath mix and poured it in the tub. As the bubbles started to form and the water rose, Justice continued to stir it with her hand so that there would be an ample amount of bubbles in the tub. She turned the water off, walked back into the room, and saw Sapphire, who was slowly making her way to the bathroom.

Once inside, Justice was at ease as Sapphire undressed herself, got into the tub, and relaxed for a few minutes before washing her body. Justice stood at the door to give her some privacy, but kept an eye on her to make sure that she didn’t try anything stupid. Sapphire asked Justice if she could wash her back for her.

 As she washed her girl’s back Justice noticed the healed scars and dark areas where she once had multiple bruises from being beaten like a dog by Carlos’s henchmen two years prior. Justice also washed her hair and in doing so, she felt pity in the pit of her gut as she saw the permanent scar that ran from Sapphire’s right temple all the way below her jaw line. If Sapphire’s complexion were not so dark, you wouldn’t have to look so hard to notice it. Justice had seen the scar many times before and each time it was like seeing it for the first time all over again. That scar told a story that Justice tried so hard to forget, but couldn’t. She admired Sapphire for her strength and determination. She had fought for her life after that beating and had won against the odds. How someone could forgive the people who were responsible for such brutality was beyond Justice’s comprehension, but Sapphire had forgiven and moved on.

Justice finished helping her girl bathe and get prepared so that she could be ready to bury her mother. After she bathed, Sapphire stood up and Justice handed her a towel in which Sapphire proceeded to dry her body.

 After putting on her bra and panties, Sapphire put on the black blouse and skirt that Justice had laid out for her.

Justice jumped in and out of the shower after she was confident that Sapphire would continue at the pace she was going and she too got dressed and put on her black dress. When Justice looked at the clock, it was time to get to the church.

***

The rain was pouring and Justice had barely pulled the Audi into the parking space when a man rushed to open her door. “Oh hell no!” she cursed when she realized that man was Carlos. She recognized the smile under that umbrella anywhere and  promptly locked the door. Instinctively, she reached for her purse but forgot that her gun was not in her possession.  She wished she had it because she was not afraid to be the cause of a double funeral. Although Carlos had shown signs of remorse for his past actions, she still didn’t fully trust the man and had no idea of his intent.

“Please . . . Y’all let’s not do this,” Sapphire started to beg. “I just wanna get this over with.”

Justice saw the despair in Sapphire’s eyes and she realized that she too wanted to get this over with so that she could get back home and take care of business. Justice sucked her teeth and let out a loud sigh before unlocking the doors. She opened her door hard, hitting Carlos on his knee. “Shit!” he cursed as he hopped in place on one leg for a moment.

Carlos adjusted his umbrella to shield Justice from the rain once she was to exit the car. “Good mornin’” He greeted and beamed those pearly whites that she had once fell so weak for. As Justice carefully climbed out of the car, she subtly noticed how good Carlos looked in his tailored suit and fedora. Once out of the car, Justice mumbled, “Make a bitch act up if you
want
to,” as she looked him dead in the eyes. Her heels had her towering over Carlos by an inch or two. “I still won’t hesitate to show my natural black ass . . . house of God or not. Keep that in mind.” She knew Carlos was anxious as hell to try to talk to her, but she was still not ready to cross that bridge. Therefore, she tried to nip it in the bud.

“Look, ma.”

“Justice, my name is Justice and whateva you gotta say to me can wait ‘til after the funeral. Just let me and my girl go lay her mama to rest in peace.” Justice snatched the umbrella from his hand, leaving Carlos with only the fedora to shield his head from the downpour. Justice rushed over to Sapphire’s side and opened her door and Sapphire stepped under the umbrella. They quickly walked off so they could get to the front of the line and inside the church to start the processional.

“You need to forgive that man,” Sapphire said weakly while they got to their place in front of the procession line.

“What?” Justice bit her tongue to keep from going off on her best friend at her mother’s funeral. She couldn’t believe the words coming out of Sapphire’s mouth, and she still couldn’t believe Sapphire didn’t feel some kind of way for how Carlos’s men had beaten the brakes off of her ass.

Just the sound of Carlos’s voice took her back two years. Past scenes played in her mind like a movie. Briefly, she remembered the war that had gotten started that eventually caused the demise of innocent people. Carlos may not have pulled the trigger, but his anger and rage at the wrong niggas caused people to lose their lives over something that had nothing to do with them as far as Justice was concerned.

“I’m just saying,” Sapphire said solemnly, “I have forgiven him and moved on and you need to do the same. After all, we are in church and my mama would have a fit if she could see how you’re acting right now.”

Justice wanted to rebut, but she knew Sapphire was right so she said nothing. Out the corner of her eye, she saw where Carlos and another man who looked almost identical to Carlos, along with Supreme were getting in line behind Sapphire’s family and her mother’s friends. As Justice stared at the younger man beside Carlos, she squinted. 
I know that ain’t Warren lookin’ all grown an’ shit
.  The last time she had seen him he was running behind Carlos and his boys, begging to get into trouble.

Because of her charitable work in the community and how well known Mrs. Evans was, the church was packed beyond capacity. The doors were opened and Sapphire and Justice were ushered in first. They were led to the front of the church where the casket was. Once in front of the casket, the reality of her mother being gone washed over Sapphire like a riptide. She lost it! Justice tried her best to hold her up. Through the tears, Sapphire managed to look down inside the open casket and saw her mother’s still face. Sapphire’s emotions were so overwhelming; she could no longer contain the vomit that was coming up from her stomach. She threw up everywhere.

***

Justice and Sapphire stepped foot into the limo to go the burial ground where her mother would be buried. The family had opted to give Sapphire her space and the driver put up the privacy screen so Sapphire wouldn’t be disturbed. She and Justice sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity before Sapphire finally spoke. She looked up at Justice and sniffled. “When I go, I wanna go in peace. I don’t wanna have any regrets and I don’t wanna hold any animosity. I wanna have a free heart . . . just like I know my mamma did. I’mma be all right because I know where she at. She up there rejoicing right now.” Sapphire let a weak smile splay across her lips as she looked toward the roof of the car. She blew her nose into a handkerchief and then looked back over at Justice. “It took me a minute to forgive Carlos, but I did and I think you should, too.”

Oh, here she goes with this forgiveness shit,
Justice harped in her mind as she thought about how nice and friendly Sapphire and Carlos had been toward one another. It was as if she had forgotten all that he had done to her. Something just didn’t seem to click with that shit. “I’ll work on it,” Justice nonchalantly replied as she looked out the limo window.

Just then, Sapphire’s phone rang. She looked down and saw a number with a 305 area code.
Now is not the time
, she thought then pushed the ignore button and told Justice “Look at it this way.” Sapphire sniffled a little. “You still wanna get Tan, right?”

Justice was astonished by how fast Sapphire wanted to talk about revenge when she was just talking about forgiveness. Nevertheless, Justice would rather talk about murdering Tan than thinking about Ms. Evans being minutes away from being stuffed in a hole forever. And if this meant getting her girl’s mind off of it for a minute then she had no problem continuing the conversation. “Yeah, you know I want that bitch.”

“Carlos told me that he still deals with Tan, even though she ain’t his main supplier anymore.”

Justice sat up. “Oh really?”

“We talk. Carlos tells me a lotta things. Just like a man to tell all his business. Sometimes, I think he tells me more than he realizes. A spiteful bitch would . . .” She cut her sentence short. “Neva mind. But anyway, I think he’s still tryna convince me to forgive him, not believing that I already have.”

Justice smiled as she realized that her ex-boyfriend might really be trying to make amends. If all else failed, he would at least be her best option to get to Tan. Therefore, she decided that it might be worth getting close to Carlos to get to her goal.

After a short ride to the burial site, the limousine stopped. Justice looked out of the window and saw the rain still falling and the tent set up in preparation for where the services were going to be. She looked at Sapphire, glad to see that she was more composed than at the church.

Their door opened and a hand reached in and Sapphire stepped outside. Justice followed and realized that her hand was in Carlos’s. They walked to the burial site and for a moment Justice was still mad at Carlos for everything, but then she decided that maybe Carlos wasn’t so bad . . . for now. Sapphire took her seat at the head of her mother’s casket and Justice and Carlos sat next to her like a grieving couple.

This is wrong
, Justice thought,
Carlos should be sitting next to Sapphire consoling her, not trying to console me.
Justice had put aside her own grieving for Ms. Evans to be there for her friend and she realized it was a nice gesture that someone had thought of her feelings.

The burial service was fast and short with the pastor reminding everyone that death was a necessary part of life and that they all would pass through that tunnel someday. Justice didn’t want to think about her mortality, so she turned her thoughts to home and her business. She briefly wondered what was going on at Phire & Ice.

As Justice rose up to get her flower, she spotted a silver Jaguar creeping along the street. A light-skinned chick that greatly resembled an enemy was behind the wheel. “Can’t be,” Justice mumbled to herself.

“What was that?” Carlos inquired, as he looked in the direction that Justice’s eyes were focused on.

“Oh, nothing. I just thought I saw a dead bitch driving.”

The venom in her voice did not go unnoticed by Carlos. Justice stared as the car made an abrupt stop, then eventually crept off in the direction it was going in.

Justice and Sapphire watched the rest of the service continue, complete with the casket being lowered into the ground. Other mourners patted her and Justice on the back as they watched the dirt being thrown on the casket. “You ready to leave?” Carlos asked them.

“No,” Sapphire said as she looked up. “I’mma stay until they throw the last speck of dirt on her grave.”

Carlos walked away and Warren turned to walk off. Preme had already limped ahead. Justice watched Carlos and his goons walk away. She looked back in the direction where she thought she saw Tan’s car and realized that she might be extending her stay in Charlotte.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Tan and To’Wanda rode down Statesville Avenue after picking up some money from one of Tan’s workers. She had a little over an hour to make it to the bank so she could deposit the money along with the receipts from the construction company so the money could be “washed and dried” over the next few days.

Her phone rang and she recognized the theme song from
Looney Toons
that she had assigned to Loon for his ringtone. To’Wanda busted out laughing. “You know you wrong.”