Page 62 of A Hood Wife And A Rich Goon 2

“You said that shit.” Eazy pulled away. “I been trying to be cool, but that ain’t gon’ ever work with us, Niv. Too much has happened.”

“Too much like that bitch and her baby?” she countered, drawing instant wrath in his eyes.

“The fuck you say?”

“I asked you for a baby, and you blew that shit off. Now you’re building a whole fucking family with a bitch you barely even know.”

“That’s the last time you get that off in front of me.” Eazy pointed a finger at her. “You don’t know Lotus to even be disrespecting her like that. You just mad shit didn’t work out with you and that nigga Oracle after the choices you made.”

“I fucked up! I wasn’t in the right state of mind. Oracle knew that. He used that to take advantage of me and make me fall for him. He knew all I wanted was to call you, but he always found some reason why it couldn’t happen or how you wouldn’t understand. Weeks turned into months, and months turned into years, and now here we are. Except I’m here and you’re there. How?”

“That’s just the way shit is, Niv, and sometimes you can’t change it.”

“So, that’s it,” she muttered, breaking eye contact like something just hit her. “No more you and me. I’m alone. I don’t have anybody. Except Crystal. All she cares about is where her next payday is coming from. I don’t have anything, Eazy!”

“What you need, Niv? I can help you get on your feet⁠—”

“I don’t want your fucking charity,” she sneered. “I want to be compensated. I was as much part of that night as the rest of you. I deserve whatever is coming to all of you. I know something is cooking. Midas all but said it himself.”

“Yeah? What else Midas been talking about?” Eazy demanded.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Niva perked up, a callous grin spreading across her cheeks.

“You might want to make sure you on the right side of this when shit hits the fan. I can’t promise anything.”

“Oh, is that your form of a threat, Eazy?” She cackled and marched over to one of the chairs in front of his desk to grab her patent leather Marc Jacobs bag.

“Find somebody else to play with.”

“But it’s so fun playing with you.” Yanking the door open, she winked before strutting into the hallway and closing it quietly behind her.

Eazy knew in that moment that she was bound to be a problem he didn’t need. Clearly, the accident, shit with Oracle, and coming back to Prospect Pointe had performed a mind job on her. She’d lost what was left of her mind, and she was already a little nutty before. Crystal had Niva out there and on drugs at an early age. If Eazy had never met and befriended her, helped get and kept her clean, there was no telling where she would have ended up. At the end of the day, he’d done right by her and had no regrets. He’d come to terms with the fact that his future no longer lied in what they thought they had.

“So, how are you after everything?” Lotus asked Toni as their guards lingered in the corner of the GAP store while they ransacked the kid and baby section. Lotus grabbed anything on sale and Toni had slung enough outfits over her arm for her kids to last a week each.

“Well, it was a little rocky at first. I wasn’t expecting to even get emotional after cremating Onika, but it is what it is.” Toni shrugged and sifted through another rack where she found a jean jacket for Bijou. “I got her cremated and shoved her ashes in a closet until I figure out what to do with them. Not like she had a lot of depth to her to begin with,” she muttered. “Honestly, I’m just glad it’s over. Now I can focus on Bull and the kids. Our business. Positive shit.”

“Like getting to know your father,” Lotus mentioned, peering up from a pile of onesies she’d sifted through.

“Yeah.” Toni smiled. “Kind of crazy. He’s the kind of parent I always wished I had. Even in the last week. Once I talked to Bull, and he green lit everything, Sudan has been super attentive. I talk to him every day. He wants me to meet his wife and my brother and sister too. I’m actually a middle fucking child in their dynamic. Which is crazy considering how I grew up. Bull told me not to expect too much, though.”

“He’s right, but it would be awesome if after all these years, you get to experience being someone’s sister. I mean, I kind of consider you mine already⁠—”

“Aww, Lo! I love you too!” Toni threw her arm around her and pulled their faces together in an embrace. “You are the best friend and sister I always wished for.”

“We should probably check out before I have Eazy cursing me out over his credit card bill. He said get whatever, though.”

“Then best believe he meant it. How are things going?”

“I don’t know.” Lotus shrugged then sighed. “One minute it feels like we’re making some kind of headway, and the next, he’s still walking out the door every night. He’s making sure I’m good, comfortable, and protected, especially in the new house. It just doesn’t feel like home without him there, you know?”

“Girl, yes, I do. Bull drove Brenda up to rehab, and he was gone two days. I couldn’t even sleep in our bed. I kept calling him and getting up, checking doors. I even made his ass stay up with me on FaceTime and watched him sleep. The attachment is real.”

“Yeah, I’m not sure how this is going to work. He’s still mad, and I don’t know what to do about it.”

“Tuh, men are easy,” Toni jested. “No pun intended. Eazy is your man, Lotus. Trust me. You’re carrying his baby. You just have to remind him of what he’s missing, and don’t be scared to fight for it. I get not putting in the work for a muhfucka that ain’t doing the same, but he’s actively showing he still cares. He’s just mad. Trust me. Bull and I were not always on the same page. Sometimes it didn’t even feel like we were in the same book, and look at us now.”

“From your lips, T. ’Cause I don’t know what else to do.”