GRAVES

CHAPTER ONE

By nine-thirty Friday night, Kazi Banks had changed her outfit three times, threatened to quit her job twice, and accused her sister of stealing a lip liner that was sitting underneath her own thigh.

"You slow as hell."

Shanti didn't even look up from the mirror. Kazi frowned and lifted herself from the edge of the bed. Sure enough, the brown pencil rolled out from beneath her.

"Okay, but why you ain't say nothing?"

"Because I wanted to see how long you was gon' keep looking."

Jada burst out laughing from the bathroom.

"Bitch been accusing everybody for ten minutes."

"Man, fuck both of y'all."

Kazi snatched the pencil off the comforter and turned back toward the mirror. Their bedroom looked like somebody had robbed a beauty supply store and dumped everything they didn't want across the floor. Clothes covered the bed, makeup crowded the dresser, and three different flat irons were plugged into the same extension cord even though only one of them was being used.

A half-empty box of wings sat open beside Shanti's purse. Somebody's lashes were stuck to the corner of the mirror, and Jada had been asking where her other heel was for the past fifteen minutes.

Kazi leaned closer to her reflection and carefully traced the edge of her lips. She had already decided she looked good. That wasn't the problem. The problem was deciding exactly how good she wanted to look.

There was regular Friday-night good. There was make-some-money good. And then there was make-a-grown-man-go-to-the-ATM-twice good.

Tonight, Kazi needed the third one.

She sat back and examined herself. Long black hair fell past her chest in loose waves, her makeup was soft except for the dramatic lashes, and the black lace bodysuit she'd finally settled on hugged every part of her that made men forget they had bills.

Kazi smiled at herself.

"Yeah."

Shanti glanced over. "Yeah what?"

"This the one."

"You said that about the last two."

"Nah. This one different."

"You changed a black outfit for another black outfit."

"They were not the same."

"They were all black."

"That don't mean they the same!"

Jada emerged from the bathroom adjusting the strap on one of her heels. "Don't argue with her. You know Kazi think changing a necklace make it a whole new outfit."

Kazi slowly turned around. "Why is everybody on my dick tonight?"

"Because you make it easy."

Jada ducked when Kazi threw a pillow at her. It hit the bathroom door instead, knocking a purse off the handle.

Shanti shook her head. "Can y'all please hurry up? I'm not paying no late fee because Kazi wanna have a fashion show."

Kazi's smile disappeared. "Who paying a late fee?"

"You."

"The fuck I am."

"You the reason we late."

"I'm also driving."

"That don't mean nothing."

"It mean a lot, actually."

Jada grabbed her purse from the floor. "It means if we piss her off, we taking the bus."