Page 26 of A Hood Wife And A Rich Goon 2

Eazy sucked his teeth. “I’m also moving in until further notice. Gotta keep an eye on you. Sucking down those gummy worms like that. You know how much sugar in that shit, Lo?” He looked her over and picked up the empty plastic packaging she’d left in the seat.

“Oh, my God! You are not moving in with me!” She reached for the door handle and pushed it open.

Eazy got out on the other side, and Lotus slammed her door shut after slinging her bag over her shoulder.

“Say whatever the fuck you want.”

“I’m not a child! You can’t tell me what to do!” she barked, catching the attention of a few of the shoppers coming outside the store or just arriving.

“You carrying my fucking child though, Lo,” Eazy reminded her before squinting at something past her that caught his attention.

Niva and Oracle pushed a cart full of groceries nearby, close enough to hear him and Lotus arguing and for Niva to peep him with another woman. Clearly someone knew how to rattle him. Eazy was never the type to go back and forth or argue. He’d shut down before he engaged in that shit. He kept a huge part of himself closed off to Niva. She knew it was just unhealed childhood trauma, but at times it didn’t sit right when the one you bared your soul to couldn’t reciprocate. She’d caught a moment between him and Lotus, and a slight twinge pulled at her heart. It wasn’t even what he said to her. It was how he said it. The aggressive, yet careful tone in his voice. His dark eyes narrowing on her but still sparkling amorously at the same time. He hadn’t ever looked at her like that.

“What are you looking at?” Lotus swung her glance over her shoulder and caught Oracle and Niva watching them as he popped the trunk to the Lexus they were pushing.

Lotus squinted when he popped the trunk to the Lexus they were pushing. Unsure, she would bet her last dollar that the blonde with the pixie cut was Niva. She looked at Eazy while with another man like she’d dropped her fucking dime. Eazy pinched the bridge of his nose and sniffled.

“Let’s just go in here and get this food, aight?”

He walked ahead of Lo, right past Niva and Oracle like he hadn’t known them both for most of his fucking life.

“E, it’s like that?” Oracle questioned.

“Lo, this is Oracle. This is Giniva.” Eazy introduced them for the sake of Lotus knowing exactly what the fuck they looked like if she crossed paths with them again. His arm slid protectively around her.

“Right,” Lotus mumbled. “Hello.”

“Couldn’t help but overhear the news. Congratulations on the baby,” Niva said with a tight smile, eyes flicking to Eazy as if she were convicting him. He wasn’t hers. Not anymore. She’d made that choice years ago and had to live with it. Never did she imagine she’d be in his midst again, with a pregnant girlfriend no less.

“Thank you,” Lotus replied, brows knitting together because she hadn’t expected that from her.

“Look, E, I ain’t trying to be on no bullshit,” Oracle chimed in. “We boys. Grew up together. Prospect is my home too. I see now I fucked up. Made some bad choices. All I’m trying to do is make up for ’em.”

“I ain’t even gon’ hold you.” Eazy shook his head. “I don’t trust you. Neither one of you. Do whatever you want with that. I ain’t here to appease your guilty fucking conscience either. See you around.” He pulled Lotus away, not wanting to spend any more time with either of them than he had to.

CHAPTER 6

OFF GUARD

Four months later…

“What’s the word, bro?” Eazy asked, seated at the island in Bull’s kitchen, scarfing down a plate of Toni’s enchiladas, rice, and beans.

“Quiet. Too quiet.” Bull shook his head. “I keep thinking, why didn’t I dig deeper before? How it took so long to get here?”

“Life, nigga.” Eazy paused and eyed him across the counter. “You became a father and had a family. That other shit took a back seat. Maybe if I had been here, gave you and T the benefit of the doubt⁠—”

“Like you said, life.” Bull picked up the glass of fruit punch in front of him and took a sip. “Unlike these other muhfuckas, though, you never switched up, E. You been the same asshole you always been.”

“Fa life, nigga!” Eazy grinned and scooped another bite onto his fork.

“Any word on that work?” Bull questioned.

“Nah.” Eazy shook his head. “Nothing. Even the black web is mute on that shit. I been keeping my ear to it. The gallery fills my days, but I ain’t sleeping on shit. A nigga find that, it’s official. I can launch my own spot. Since you back in with your moms, you ever think about going through some of Bronx’s shit to see if you could figure it out?”

“Bronx was smart. He wouldn’t put that shit in anything we could find. It would be somewhere that meant something to him, in one way or another. Somewhere the average muhfucka would never think to look.” It was driving Bull crazy because he felt like it was in his face this whole time, and he just wasn’t seeing it. Shit kept him up a lot of nights. Often retracing Bronx’s steps to see if he’d left any kind of breadcrumbs.

“Girl, that building was not it.” Lotus’s voice carried into the kitchen as she and Toni strolled inside.