Thirsty 2 by Mike Sanders, Nuance Art

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