Page 109 of Dope Boys: Most Wanted
Reign slightly shrugged her shoulders. “I thought I was. I’m only late by a couple of weeks. I was sick this morning, but it really could be all of this stress. Or maybe I just can’t because of all the ones I had to give up.”
Markus’ jaw tightened.
“See, this is why this isn’t the right time. I’m fine. Maybe next time. Plus, we got time, right?” She was trying to soothe him, but more than that, herself. She knew better than to get her hopes up. “Good news is Nia is expecting. We have that to look forward to.”
“For real?” he posed with a slack expression. “About time Svyn slowed her down. Happy for them. They deserve that shit.”
The hope his eyes held minutes ago, now distant. Reign clasped her hands around his and smiled sweetly. “Our time will come. There’s a lot to do before then. First things first, get you fed so you can weather the rest of this week.”
Markus inhaled as he kissed the top of her head. “Yeah.”
Once he released her, she stepped around him and out of the bathroom. Back to the kitchen to take over whatever he was doing before she got up. She took a beat to gather her emotions. As she wiped her face again, she felt him box her in.
“We’re going to have the world. And I’m going to put you at the top of it,” Markus muttered. “Do me a favor, though.”
“Anything,” Reign said just above a whisper.
“Don’t lose your light in my grief. Don’t take your voice away from me. I had my hopes up, too. Who knows, maybe she did know something we didn’t. Time will tell.”
“It will.”
He climbedout of his car and took in the late fall, early winter air of the city. For two days, he’d been fully submitted to Reign’s care. She allowed him his space, was present when he needed to lay his head in her lap. She wiped his snot, kissed his tears, and rubbed his back while she petitioned God for his healing. The restoration wasn’t done, but she stood upright so he could step back into the lenses of the watchers.
Blair Point Funeral Home was a business he inherited when Lucille and Slim gave him the keys to the game. He moved plenty of product and cash through here, but never expected he’d be stepping in to plan a funeral for his pilar. Inside, Nia was standing shoulder to shoulder with Ophelia, looking at the casket outfitting.
“She needs to be comfortable,” Nia mumbled.
“Put up nicely,” Ms. Ophelia replied. “My girl is gone.”
“She needs to go like she came in. In her prime, she had this city on its toes. I don’t care what it costs, Lucille needs to look like Lucille, not that frail woman hooked up to oxygen day in and day out,” Markus rumbled, grabbing their attention.
Nia turned, and her eyes lit up. “I thought you were going to make me do this without you.”
Markus welcomed her into her arms and kissed her temple. “You’ve been taking care of yourself?”
“Your boy won’t have it any other way,” Nia softly spoke as she lingered in his hold a little while longer.
“I heard the news, congratulations. I’m happy for you. Make sense why your mean ass got meaner,” Markus joked, earning him a swat.
“I am who I am. What can I say? Raised by the coldest in the game,” Nia said as Markus hugged Ms. Ophelia.
“She was a bad woman, wasn’t she?” Markus hummed.
Ms. Ophelia rubbed his arm and gave him a faint smile. Like she knew what weighed on him. “It’ll come.”
Markus returned the gesture. “I know. Would’ve been nice to take my mind off this shit.”
“And then what? Have it hit you like a ton of bricks and you become emotionally unavailable? You need to be what you never had. Everything lost will be returned,” Ms. Ophelia assured as Aunt G’s voice flowed through the space.
“Flowers are handled,” she spoke, finding Markus. “Nice of you to join us. I almost wasn’t expecting you.”
“I said I was going to be here. I’m here. Needed some extra propping up, but I’m cool. You got her those orchids? I want them everywhere. I want everyone in white. There’s this fur she had that Slim gave her with the matching hat.”
“I pulled that out of her closet last night,” Ms. Ophelia spoke up.
“You supposed to be at Reign’s,” Markus said, and she shook her head.
“I wasn’t going to be in your way when y’all came back. And I wanted to get her house together. You know she would hate the state it was in. Nia wants the repast there, so I needed to be there. To feel her. Friends for over thirty years. I’ve seen the highs, the lows…”
