Thirsty

by Mike Sanders

  I kept trying to remind myself that I’d gotten away clean, but I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing. I knew the only people who could link me with what I’d just done were Red and Joy. But all Red knew about me was my first name and what kind of car I drove. And not even the car could be traced back to me because it was in Sapphire’s name. However, Joy knew a whole lot more. But unbeknownst to me at that time, Joy wouldn’t be talking to anyone ever again unless it was during a séance.

  I tried to force myself to relax by taking deep breaths and holding them for a few seconds before exhaling. After a few minutes of this I was finally halfway calm enough to almost concentrate on the road as I put in Keysha Cole’s CD and slipped my Chanel shades over my puffy, bloodshot eyes.

  “Two more stops, Justice, Rock Hill and Chicago. It’s almost over,” I kept repeating to myself as I rode down 1-77, heading towards South Carolina to meet my brother.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE MONK

  Hey, baby girl where you at?” I asked Tan as I turned down the volume on the radio. I was in D.C.’s Cutlass, headed to Rock Hill, South Carolina, to meet with Tan for the last time before Justice and I would leave for Chicago. My sister had called me earlier and told me that this would be the day. I was still heated because of what she had told me about J.T. and his cousins being the ones who had robbed Carlos’s people. But I was even more vexed with her because she wouldn’t tell a nigga where that muthafucka was living. She told me not to worry because she would handle it, but a nigga like me couldn’t just lie down and take it like that. Somebody had to pay, and pay they did!

  Tan’s voice crooned through the phone, “Hey Chink! I’m on my way to the Long Shoreman on Johnston Place. Know where it is?”

  I told her that I didn’t know where the restaurant was located so she gave me directions. After jotting down what she was relaying to me, I ended the call and followed the simple route she’d given me to the restaurant.

  Ten minutes later, I was pulling into the restaurant’s parking lot next to Tan’s BMW. As I parked, I observed her ride and noticed that the rims had been changed since I’d last seen it. The old rims had been replaced with brand new 24-inch Asanti rims, which were gleaming in the bright mid-afternoon sun.

  “Damn, these bitches really doin’ it big with that construction shit,” I muttered as I exited the car and admired the rest of the BMW like it was my first time seeing it.

  I was halfway to the entrance when I suddenly remembered that I’d left my money in the duffle bag inside the trunk of the Cutlass where I had stashed it earlier. I walked back to D.C.’s ride, popped the trunk and moved a few bags aside until I found the one with the money in it, laying amongst the bags of clothes I’d packed for the trip. While reaching inside the bag for some money, something on the trunk’s floor sparkled and caught my eyes.

  I reached in, picked it up, and mumbled, “Damn, I’m slippin’.”

  Paranoia had me looking around to see if anyone was watching me as I held the tiny piece of memory in my palm. While looking down at the earring in my hand I thought about the girl whom it had belonged to. Then I had a flashback about the night I’d kidnapped her and stuffed her in the trunk of the Cutlass.

  Since Justice wouldn’t let me get that nigga J.T. and I hadn’t been able to find Red, I’d decided to take it out on Joy! I had caught her coming home late one night from the club and I split her temple with my pistol, knocking her unconscious. After stuffing her inside the trunk I drove her to Mt. Holly, N.C. and found a secluded wooded area, which was miles from the nearest main road.

  Once I pulled her from the trunk I smacked her with the gun a second time, breaking teeth and busting gums. Her pathetic pleading and weak ass attempt to explain what had happened only made me that much angrier. I ordered her to strip naked and lay in the dense soil as I held her at gunpoint. I wanted to humiliate this bitch and make her ass suffer for what she’d done, so I started unzipping my shorts. She cried, “Monk, Please! I’m so sorry! I’ll do anything you wan—”

  “Bitch, shut the fuck up.” I kicked her in the stomach, and then pulled out my dick. “You’ll do anything I want? You want this snake, huh?”

  I was shaking my dick at her. She was crying and nodding with blood dripping from the corners of her mouth. I stood over her and pissed in her face and all over her head. I looked down at her and knew she thought I was getting ready to rape her trick ass, but raping that hoe with my dick would’ve been too good for her. So, I zipped my shorts back up, reached inside the trunk, and grabbed the crowbar.

  When Joy saw me reach for the crowbar she got up off the ground and attempted to run while screaming at the top of her lungs. I chased her naked figure through a few trees and bushes, getting slapped in the face by a few hanging limbs, until I grabbed her by her ponytail and slammed her to the ground.

  “HEEEEEEEEEELLLLPPP!!!!” Her voice echoed through the darkness.

  I struck her again with my gun to silence her cries. After picking her up from the ground where I had thrown her, I drug her back to the car as she kicked and pleaded for her life. Once I got her back to the car where I’d dropped the crowbar, I dropped her to the ground again and began kicking her in her head and chest until my legs got tired.

  At this point, she had become subdued and had stopped trying to fight. She lay there as if she was dead, but I saw her still breathing as blood poured from her mouth and nostrils. I picked up the crowbar, spread her legs with my feet and then rammed the cold steel so far up into her pussy I would have sworn I’d seen the imprint of it in her belly.

  Joy’s eyes sprang open at the feel of the sudden infliction, then she let out a blood-shaking scream that made my ears ring. I continued to jam the crowbar up into her until blood cascaded from her vagina and coated the black piece of metal, painting it dark crimson. She was trying to escape the brutality, but I held her down and continued to rip her insides apart with the steel. Her body jerked and convulsed as her eyes rolled into the back of her head. I knew I’d punctured some internal organs because the crowbar was imbedded so far into her womb that the only part I could now grip was where it bent into a curve. I was thinking that this bitch deserved every ounce of pain she’d endured because of the shit she had caused me and my sister to go through.

  When I looked down at Joy’s bloody, motionless body I decided that she still hadn’t suffered enough. D.C.’s face flashed in my mind for a moment, then I saw Sapphire lying in that hospital bed and fire arose in my eyes. I bent down and wrapped my hands around Joy’s skinny ass neck.

  “Go to sleep, bitch. Quit fighting it and embrace it,” I whispered into her ear as I choked her until I felt her let go of what little bit of life she was trying to hold on to.

  I let her head fall to the dense soil and then I pulled the dripping crowbar out of her because I was sure it was full of my prints. Seconds later, the crowbar was wrapped in her blouse and I tossed it onto the passenger’s side of the Cutlass before grabbing the paper bag that had been lying on the floorboard.

  Calmly, I walked back over to Joy’s mutilated body and bent down to open her mouth. I pulled the dead snake from the paper bag and I stuffed as much of it as I could into her mouth with a few inches dangling from her lips.

  “You said you wanted a snake? Now you got one. A snake for a snake ass bitch! Trifling hoe!”

  I was talking to the mutilated corpse as if she could hear me. Then in a flash I’d hopped back into the Cutlass and peeled out. On the way back to Charlotte I tossed the crowbar into the Catawba River as I crossed the bridge, exiting Mt. Holly.

  Back at the Long Shoreman, I shook off those thoughts of what I had done to Joy and shut the trunk before heading towards the entrance of the restaurant. As I approached the door, I casually tossed Joy’s earring into a nearby trash can. I discarded that tiny piece of white gold just like the person who had owned it.

  When I was finally inside the restaurant I saw Tan sitting in a corner booth looking sexy as hell in a short skirt and a sleev
eless blouse. The open-toes she had on made a nigga want to suck her pretty, pedicured digits right there in the restaurant.

  “Hõla Papi,” Tan spoke with a smile as I approached the booth.

  I was thinking, Damn, she callin’ a nigga “Papi” already.

  “What up, baby?” I spoke back as I slid into the booth next to her. Tan had the sexiest smile on her face and her whole aura was oozing sexuality. Even the way she was slurping her straw as she drank her iced tea was looking sensuous.

  We ordered and enjoyed our seafood platters as we teased one another with sexual conversation until the tension was almost too much for either of us to bear. Just as I was paying the bill, my cell phone rang. It was Justice.

  “Damn, not right now,” I muttered under my breath at the thought of Justice calling just when it was about to go down.

  I flipped open my phone.

  “What up, sis?”

  “Where you at?” Justice was sounding nervous as hell.

  “I’m in Rock Hill at the Long Shoreman. Wuzzup?”

  “It’s time to bounce,” she stated impatiently.

  “Give me an hour,” I suggested as I looked over at Tan sliding out of the booth as she headed to the restroom. The way her ass was swaying had me thinking of all the positions I was going to put her fine ass in. My dick got brick.

  “No! We ain’t got a hour Monk! You need to meet me right now!” my sister commanded.

  I didn’t know what it was that Justice had done, but whatever it was I assumed she had handled it because she sounded okay, a little apprehensive, but okay nonetheless.

  “Girl, you aiight?” I asked curiously.

  “I just…I just…I’m scared Monk!” she stammered.

  I tried to calm Justice down.

  “Aiight, look…calm down. Come this way and hit me when you get to Rock Hill. We’ll leave from down here. Aiight?”

  “Okay, I’m on my way.” She sounded like she was crying.

  “You sure you okay?”

  “Yeah, I’ll be okay when I see you. Love you, bruh.”

  “Love you too, sis.”

  As we ended the call I thought about Ice’s well being. From the way she was acting I could tell she was spooked about something, but at least she was okay.

  Only a few more hours and we’ll be away from all this shit, I sighed.

  Tan came back to the booth while I was sitting there lost in thought about my sister. I knew whatever me and Tan was going to do we’d have to do it soon because Justice was on her way. And I definitely couldn’t let Tan see Justice’s face because she’d surely recognize her from the robbery. I slid from the booth before she could sit back down and get comfortable.

  I told her, “Look, that was my sister. She waitin’ on me so we can bounce. So, what’s the binness?”

  I was holding her hands in mine while staring into those sexy ass eyes.

  Tan was gazing in my eyes with a dreamy look as she smiled deviously like she’d just taken a triple-stack.

  “Follow me. I told you I can’t let you leave without giving you this. You deserve it.”

  She placed my palm on her ass as emphasis while she led me out into the parking lot.

  We walked hand in hand to her BMW and she told me to follow her down the street because she knew the perfect deserted spot. As horny as I was, I couldn’t have cared less if we’d fucked right there in that parking lot, but I let go of her hand and obliged with her request. I hopped in D.C.’s ride and followed as Tan drove a few blocks down the street. While driving behind her I was trying to pronounce the word that was on her custom-made license plate but it was in Spanish and I had no luck.

  We ended up in a deserted alley that looked as if it had been designed specifically for the purpose of what we had in mind because there wasn’t a soul in sight. I followed behind her until she slowed down, and then eventually came to a stop.

  I was thinking, This bitch wants a quickie! I wonder if she’s fucked in this alley before. She looks totally comfortable with this shit.

  I watched as she got out of her car and sashayed her way back to the Cutlass while looking around with devilish eyes.

  I stepped out and closed the door as I looked up and down the alley, noticing how serenely quiet it was. I walked to the front of the Cutlass and smiled, “Your ride or mine?”

  Tan wrapped her arms around my neck and whispered in my ear, “I want it right here on the hood, Papi.”

  She leaned against the hood of D.C.’s ride while I stepped between her legs and started kissing on her neck while reaching beneath her short skirt. My fingers slid inside the elastic of her thong and I began tugging it south. The whole while, Tan was breathing deeply and whispering Spanish in my ear in between licks and nibbles of my ear lobe.

  My dick was hard enough for a midget to do chin-ups on. I cupped her titties in my palm through her thin blouse while she stepped out of her thong with the skirt up around her waist. She raised her blouse and let her tanned breasts sprang free, inviting my lips. I wasted no time as I attached my mouth to her nipple and sucked away. As I continued to lick and suck on her hard nipples, I slid two of my fingers into her dripping wet pussy. She gasped and moaned seductively in my ear as I probed her wetness and stroked her clit. When she couldn’t take it anymore she grabbed my hand and sucked her juices from my fingers as I fumbled with the zipper on my shorts, trying to free the slave!

  I heard Tan’s breathing get heavier as she lowered her head to my ear once again and began chanting something in whispered Spanish. I was getting so turned on it felt like I would bust off before I could even get my dick out. During her whispers and heavy breathing there was a slight pause in which she coughed once into her hand. Once she removed her hand from her mouth, the next thing I felt was the sharp sting of something slicing through the flesh of my throat.

  The suddenness of it all caused me to look up into Tan’s cold eyes one last time before realization of what had happened made me stumble away from her. In a feeble attempt to hold the loose flabs of flesh in my throat together, I saw the blood spurting from my wound like a lawn sprinkler as it escaped through my fingers.

  I looked at Tan in disbelief as the pavement suddenly rushed up and slammed me in the face. Just that quickly, the blood loss was making me lose consciousness. In my state of semi-unconsciousness, I heard Tan speaking.

  “Putá! Marícon! You think I didn’t know it was you who tried to rob me!? You think I couldn’t see those slanted eyes through the mask!? I’m a Jersey bitch and there’s nothing slow about me! If you hadn’t been so fuckin’ stupid, you would’ve known the coke and the money was right under your fuckin’ nose! You think I had Ralphie guarding that room for no reason!? You lil’ Chinese-looking son-of-a-bitch! When those niggas missed you at that restaurant I knew I had to be the one to take care of you! Never send a man to do a lady’s job.”

  I couldn’t move an inch and I was getting weaker by the second, but I heard Tan’s every word crystal clearly as she continued to rant and rave with a thick Spanish accent.

  “Who do you think put the press on Carlos to make that hit on you and that bitch D.C.? Yeah, it was ME! Me and my family has been serving Carlos for years and he listens to us! Why do you look so surprised?”

  My eyes must have unconsciously widened at the revelation of her being Carlos’s supplier!

  “After you killed Ali and stole my money he was bringing to me at the hotel, Carlos begged me for your location but I wouldn’t give it to him because I wanted to take care of you myself. You got away at the restaurant, but you won’t be getting away from this! By the way…”

  She walked over to where I lay on the pavement trembling and struggling to breathe. I saw her bend down and she pressed the razor blade to my right temple and sliced all the way down to my chin. The blade went in so deep I could feel it scraping bone.

  “That’s for slapping me! You rice eating piece of shit!”

  Tan was speaking with enough venom to kill a deadly co
bra.

  She hissed, “Now give that to God!”

  She spat in my face and I watched helplessly as she picked up her panties, calmly walked back to her BMW and climbed into the driver’s side.

  I cut my weak eyes towards the Cutlass and thought about the pistol that was hidden beneath the driver’s seat, then and I realized my limbs wouldn’t move. The last thing I saw were those new rims spinning and that custom made plate with that Spanish word that spelled m-e-n-do-z-a. Tan drove away and left me there on the asphalt spraying blood like a showerhead.

  My last thought was, Never in a million years would I have expected to go out at the hands of a bitch!

  Tan had been singing me the sweetest lullaby for weeks, now it was time for a nigga to sleep. My entire life flashed before my eyes just before I heard my mother’s sweet voice telling her son to “come home.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY JUSTICE

  When I reached the Rock Hill city limits I called Monk back and listened as his phone rang six times before it went to voicemail. I hung up and re-dialed, waiting for him to pick up but he never did. This time I left a message.

  “Boy, where you at? I told you I’m ready to go. I’m already in Rock hill, so hit me back as soon as you get this.”

  I hung up and sighed with frustration as I neared the Galleria Mall exit. I got off the highway and pulled into Applebee’s parking lot, which was located across the street from the mall. Eating definitely wasn’t on my mind at the time, actually I was feeling a little nauseous and I just needed to sit for a minute. I tried my brother again and got the same results—no answer!

  “Shit! What the hell is this boy doin’?” I said aloud out of frustration.

  I was wondering what was going on with him. He knew I’d been on my way so there should have been no reason for him not to answer his phone. I was willing to bet that he was somewhere laid up with that Mexican bitch. I made my mind up to cuss his ass out as soon as I got a hold of him.