“Yeah, I’m sure,” Sapphire told him. “I just got off the phone with her. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you kinda shook.”
“Nah, never that,” Carlos reassured her, “I just wanna make sure she ain’t got company an’ shit. You know a nigga up here wit’ no pistol.”
“Boy, you don’t need no gun. You’ll be aiight. Where you at now?”
“I’m pullin’ up now. GPS had a nigga lost for thirty minutes.”
Carlos got out of the rental car and listened to Sapphire tease him about being scared to surprise Justice, while he grabbed a dozen roses from the passenger’s seat. He grabbed the Godiva dark chocolate truffles gift box and exited the car.
He walked confidently to her condo and rang the doorbell. After waiting for a few seconds, Justice came to the door wearing a silk pink bathrobe with matching slippers. She cracked the door and was shocked as hell to see Carlos standing there holding flowers. She immediately slammed the door and left him standing there.
“What the fuck?” Carlos muttered. He knew she would be caught off guard, but he didn’t expect this kind of reaction. He rang the bell again and heard Justice holler from somewhere inside the condo. “Wait a minute!”
Carlos stood there for about five minutes, looking stupid as hell while Justice moved about inside. A few more minutes passed before Justice finally opened the door for him.
“What the hell you doing here?” Justice asked, looking at him with a slight smirk.
“Nice to see you, too.” Carlos handed Justice the card and the candies.
“Sapphire gave you my address?” Justice asked as she folded her arms across her breasts.
“Nah, I Googled your important ass,” he replied sarcastically. “You know she did. How else a nigga gonna get it?” Carlos said with a smile.
Justice pulled out the card from the bouquet and read it aloud: “Mistakes are human, but forgiveness is epic.”
Justice smiled at the irony of the words. She put the card back in the placeholder, took the dozen roses with one hand and Carlos’s hand with the other, and led him inside her home.
Carlos stepped inside and was impressed with the simple, yet modern-style of her home. The pearl colored sofa set looked soft as cotton balls and when he sat down, he liked how easily his frame sank in, almost like quicksand. He looked at the black oriental style lamp with its ancient animated frame. He was about to reach for the remote for the television when he heard Justice grunt.
“You want somethin’ to drink?” Justice asked.
“Yeah, what you got?”
“Tea” she replied while pouring him a cup. She brought it to him and he took it from her hand.
Carlos took a sip, “thanks.”
Justice sat on the love seat. She reached for the remote and turned
Basketball Wives
off. She watched as he swallowed the tea in the next sip as if he had not drunk anything all day. After taking a sip of tea herself, she sat back on the sofa and stared at him. Justice had taken a slight liking to him, but she wasn’t quite sure she wanted him in her house at the moment.
“So what brings you here?” Justice got to the point.
Carlos looked at her in shock because he hadn’t expected her to be so blunt with him. “I came to see you—maybe find out what your plans were.”
“You should’ve called first.” Justice played the tough girl role. Even though a small part of her was happy to see him, she didn’t want Carlos to get the impression that he could just come to her house whenever-the-fuck-he-felt-like-it. He had to earn that and Justice was determined to make sure that he did just that.
“You want me to leave?” Carlos was clearly agitated. He didn’t know what kind of game Justice was playing but he was two seconds from saying fuck it and going on about his business. There were plenty of bitches in Chicago who would love him to wine and dine them and then keep him up all night long. His problem was that he wanted to do those things with Justice.
“Want you to leave?” She repeated his words, “Hell, I didn’t ask you to come.”
“You funny,” Carlos got up and straightened his clothes. “I come here and you got a nasty attitude and shit. I thought I’d surprise you with some flowers, and some chocolates—maybe take you on a walk or to dinner or somewhere. Anything to get you out of the house and to spend some time with you.”
Carlos looked at Justice and he could see that she was in thought about what he said. After not getting a response, he turned to walk out of the door. As he turned the knob, he felt Justice pulling his arm back. “Wait—don’t leave.” She stopped him.
“Why shouldn’t I?” Carlos was sharp with her. He could see that Justice could tell that she’d pissed him off. “You play them high school games with them clown niggas you used to dealing with.” Carlos opened the door and stepped out.
Carlos walked to his rental, heated that he had flown all the way from Charlotte to try to spend some time with Justice and to see where their relationship could go and her response was some bullshit. He sat in the car fuming. As far as Carlos was concerned, she could shove the candy and the flowers in her ass.
Tap-tap-tap!
Carlos could hear someone tapping on the passenger side window. He unlocked the door when he saw Justice standing outside. Justice opened the door and got in. He looked at her and then he looked away.
“I’m just trying to figure this shit out okay!” Justice defended herself.
“What is it to figure out?”
“You went from loving me to being my fuck buddy—to trying to kill me behind some shit I had nothing to do with—now you love me again.” Justice said as she put the seatbelt on. Carlos turned on the ignition and he pulled away from her condominium. “I told you that I had nothing to do with them running up in your spot—didn’t even know who was involved in it and you ignored me like I was some random, basic bitch.
Carlos shook his head and acknowledged the truth. He remembered ignoring her calls and messages. “You ran with Cross and I warned Monk not to try me—what did you expect?”
“I expected you to believe me and trust that I’d
never
let Monk cross you. I did not know Cross was running with Red and J.T. I pieced together the puzzle after the fact and that was after y’all tried to kill Monk at TGI Fridays. Hell, I didn’t even know that Sapphire was fuckin’ Cross until after she told me that’s why he was at her house the day yall killed him.”
Carlos felt guilty because this was the first time he was hearing the truth. He didn’t even know that Sapphire and Cross was fucking, but that made since for him to have left her house like that. That made him feel extra bad for how Ali later reported that Sapphire had been handled.
“T.G.I. Fridays.” Carlos sighed. “That wasn’t even my call,” he looked over at Justice and admitted “Tan ordered the hit on Monk and D.C.”
Confused, Justice locked heated eyes with Carlos to see if he was lying about what he had just revealed. The look in his eyes told her that he was telling the truth. “Grimey ass bitch.” she mumbled under her breath as she turned back toward the window and stared out as if in a daze. That revelation had just added fuel to the fire and Justice’s blood was starting to boil.
Carlos hated to admit it, but this conversation had to happen if he expected to move forward with Justice. Just as he had to trust her, he knew that Justice needed to believe that she could trust him and that he wouldn’t snap off on her like that again.
“So where does this leave us?” Carlos got straight to the point. He hadn’t realized it, but he was just a couple of blocks from U.S. Celluar Stadium. The crowd was getting thick from all of the Cubs fans exiting the stadium from a pre-season game.
“If we gonna be together, we need to be together—if not, then we’d probably do better to go our separate ways. Because this time around I ain’t tryna just be a booty call” Carlos joked, then turned to face her. He took her hand in his, “I wanna be with you.”
He looked in Justice’s eyes and he knew she was trying to decipher whether or not he was telling the truth.
“You wanna be with me—you gonna have to prove it.”
“And how am I gonna do that?”
“Help me find Tan.”
Carlos exhaled slowly. “Come on, Justice.”
“Naw fuck that,” Justice didn’t back down. “I knew that bitch asked about me when I was in Charlotte and you think I forgot about that shit because I never brought it up again. I got news for you—I’m gonna get that bitch one way or another so you can choose. Either be with me when I bury that bitch or watch that shit from the sideline. Because trust, it’s gonna happen.”
Carlos thought long and hard before responding. His jaws had tightened. He took a deep breath and let out an exasperated sigh before reluctantly responding “aiight, I’ll help you.”
For the next few minutes, there was awkward silence. An old school Musiq Soulchild cut about love was playing in the background as Carlos had begun to approach her condo again. Carlos hadn’t realized that he’d driven in a circle. Once he pulled up to her spot, Justice jumped out of the car. He turned off the ignition, got out of the car, and caught up with her. “I’m serious, I’m on Team Justice. I’ll do what I gotta do to help you out.”
Justice turned to face him. She searched his eyes once more for the truth.
Justice pulled out her keys and opened the door. Carlos tried to follow her in but she held her hand out, keeping him at an arm’s length distance. “Not tonight.”
Carlos wanted to curse—he’d wanted to at least come in and see where things would lead, hoping things would lead to her bed. And he definitely wasn’t expecting to hear “no” for an answer. Instead, Carlos kept his composure and played off the brush off. “I respect that.”
“Cool.” Justice replied. “Thank you.”
Carlos watched as she walked in and closed the door, leaving him standing outside looking like a lil’ boy who had just lost his puppy. He felt his phone vibrate with a text and as he walked away to look at it, he saw that it was from the devil herself.
“Did you find that bitch yet?”
Carlos shook his head. If it wasn’t one thing, it was another and his lesson for the day was that women were the most difficult creatures to please. As he began to conjure up a response, he knew that before it was all over with that neither Tan nor Justice would ever be completely satisfied with him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Justice had barely gotten out of the shower when she heard her phone ring. Recognizing Sapphire’s ringtone, she quickly rushed to the phone because she had a few words she needed that chick to hear. Sapphire had a lot of damn nerve giving Carlos her address and she needed to know that shit wasn’t cool.
“Bitch!” Justice answered the phone—not mincing words about how she felt about the girl at the moment. She heard Sapphire laughing uncontrollably in the background and that only seemed to make her madder. Justice quickly re-wrapped the plush towel around her body and put the phone on speaker as she walked back to her bed and put on the clothes that she’d laid out earlier. “That shit wasn’t cool and just so you know, I don’t appreciate that shit.”
“Girl, I’m sorry.” Sapphire played with her.
“No you’re not—don’t ever do that shit again.”
Sapphire continued laughing, “Just, I’d thought you’d be cool with Carlos beating down your door and begging for forgiveness.”
“Well, he did just that if that’s what you called to find out.”
“How did it go?”
“We talked.” Justice stated, not going into detail as she put on her matching panties and bra, then slipped into the slacks she’d had pressed a week earlier.
“Okay. I was calling to make sure he got there okay.”
“Yeah, with yo’ help, he got here just fine.” Sarcasm was thick.
“Good, now look, I also called to ask you what I should wear for his Biker’s party next week. Because you know a bitch like me don’t do bike parties. I’ll ride with Joe every once in a while but I’on do them ratchet ass parties. Them chicks be looking a hot mess and the nigga’s be thirsty as hell.”
Talking about bikes made Justice think about Monk and that candy chameleon Suzuki Hayubussa 1300 he had purchased months before he was killed. He’d taken her joyriding on it one time and she also used to like riding on the back of Carlos’ bike as well.
“Just wear something comfortable, yet classy and you’ll be alright.”
“Damn, you a lotta help.” Sapphire said.
Justice was about to say something slick when she heard her doorbell ring. “Lemme see who this is at the door.” Justice put her top on and rushed to the door. Upon seeing Carlos standing there, she opened it and let him in. “Let me call you back.” She told Sapphire.
“No problem.”
Justice looked Carlos over and she was happier to see him today. “I hope I ain’t interruptin’.” Carlos said while peeping inside to see if she had company.
“Nah, I was just talking to Sapphire.”
“I hope you ain’t blast her for giving me your info.”
“No but I should have.”
“Going somewhere?”
“I’m going to the club to meet with some of the new dancers who will be performing this weekend. And then I have a meeting with the management for the artist that’s coming in a few weeks.”
“Who’s coming?”
“I can’t announce that yet, but look, after the meeting, we can hang out somewhere okay?”
“Cool—lemme come to the club with you. I wanna finally see what the infamous Phire & Ice look like.”
Justice thought about his request for a minute. “Follow me. But once the meeting starts, I won’t be able to see you until afterward.”
Once Carlos stepped out of the apartment, Justice locked up and then headed to her car. Upon pulling around the front, she found Carlos’ rental and honked her horn for him to follow her.
***
Both meetings went well and Justice was happy with the idea of a major artist hosting a party at her club. The last time she had hosted an artist it was Jaime Foxx. The event was bananas and everyone from the strippers, to the servers were happy with their tips.
Carlos drove her to the John Hancock Observatory. She didn’t think he knew the place had even existed.