Page 42 of A Hood Wife And A Rich Goon 2

“But he was already in it, Lo,” Eazy pointed out. “If we hadn’t ran into the nigga tonight, were you even gon’ tell me?”

Lotus didn’t have an answer . Eyes drifting to the ground, she avoided looking into his disappointed stare.

“That’s what I thought.” Eazy nodded, hurt also visible in his eyes that Lotus wished she could take back.

“So, now what?”

“Now, I take you home and spend the night at my grandparents’ place,” Eazy voiced, watching hurt flicker through her eyes.

“So, that’s it? You not even coming home to me?” she croaked, fighting the urge break in front of him.

“It’s been a long day. I’m hot. Tired. And I need a little space from you, Lo. This ain’t no get back shit or none of that. I just need a minute.” Eazy swiped his hand down his beard.

“Then take your space. I know what that means. Don’t worry about me. I’ll have my parents take me home.” Lotus turned, and as bad as he wanted to go after her, he let her stomp away.

Tonight, he needed to be away from her, even though his heart knew better. Bull and Jewel approached when Lotus stomped off, both watching her then turning to Eazy.

“What you do to her?” Jewel frowned.

“I ain’t do shit. Just taking a little break.” Eazy swallowed the last of his drink. “She got me fucked up. I need to cool off so I don’t hurt her hormonal ass feelings.”

“This nigga Midas gotta fucking go. Ion like running into that nigga. Shit awkward as fuck.” Jewel took a bite from the last Puff in his paper boat.

Standing behind the Mama Lila’s booth together, the three gathered in a semi-circle. Music thumped in the distance, old heads danced in the street, kids laughed and chased each other with balloons flowing behind them in the wind.

“Midas ain’t slick.” Bull shoved his hands into the pockets of his cargo shorts. “That nice guy shit ain’t gon’ work. He think marrying Essence puts him in the inner circle.”

“Or as close to it as he’s gonna get.” Eazy pulled a rolled Backwood from the pack in his pocket and brought it to his lips.

“He’s after what everybody else is after. Those fucking paintings,” Bull surmised, swiping his beard pensively. “So is Sudan. He approached Toni with my kids at the park. Wants me to reach out.”

“Why we can’t just let all these muhfuckas kill themselves over them shits? We ain’t never gon’ find ’em. Bronx is dead, and that nigga loved a good treasure hunt,” Jewel suggested.

“Everybody we care about is at risk if we don’t deal with this shit. This why we can’t just let them have it.”

“So, we don’t pick a lesser of two evils. Let’s find these muhfuckas ourselves. If Midas gets them, he controls the board. If Sudan has them, so does he. What if we have them, though?”

“Find ’em before them, then we hold the cards,” Bull stated, nodding. “We can make anybody pretty much do what we want. We talk to Sudan, make him think the play is to get the paintings for him.”

“I’m with that shit.” Eazy sparked his blunt and took a puff.

“I gotta go talk to Bronx’s ex, Fancy. See if she can give me some insight and see if she still has any of his paperwork around that I can go through. This nigga left a trail somewhere, somehow. We just gotta find it.”

Across the market, Midas watched. He couldn’t hear the conversation between the three men as he bit into his classic Puff, but he didn’t need to. He knew exactly what men looked like when they were plotting some shit. Especially those three. Essence walked up beside him with a to-go container filled with street tacos and birria tacos.

“What you looking at?” she asked, picking one up and taking a bite.

Midas swallowed and sipped the cup of water he also copped.

“Nothing, baby,” he answered, eyes never leaving his old crew. “Just enjoying the view.”

“You want to get on the streetcar? They’re giving the town history tour. I thought we could do that before heading home. All this food has me sleepy.”

“Anything for you, baby.” Midas knelt to kiss the top of her head.

Kissa and Javon agreed to drive Lotus home, and she was more than ready to go. Nerves shot, stomach in knots, all she could think about was the look on Eazy’s face. She should have told him, but she didn’t want to put any type of strain on what they had and Evren was in the past. Seated on a bench at the end of the block where there was a large parking lot, Lotus took a breath and looked around.

“You’re beautiful.” A familiar voice sent a cold chill up her spine.