Page 67 of A Hood Wife And A Rich Goon 2

“Ain’t shit funny, Lo. I’m glad you was the oldest, and we didn’t have no more siblings. I ain’t have to do shit like this growing up.” He lifted a teacup and pretended to take a sip with his pinky in the air and everything.

“That’s right, Daddy! You did it!” Clover clapped her hands together in the background where she and Cyn had set up an entire tea party with their dolls and stuffed animals.

“Shouldn’t they be in bed?” Lotus took a bite of her apple and carried it with her through the house toward the front entryway.

“Yo, where can I get some of that melatonin shit at?” Jewel leaned forward and whispered into the camera. “Rhem don’t really want them on that shit—” He was talking about it like it was a drug.

Lotus couldn’t help but chuckle and shake her head on her way up the staircase.

“Did they eat? They need a bath, a snack, and a story, Jewel. Get it together.”

“And if that don’t work, a shot of cognac, right?” He checked with her.

“Lord, let me pray for my nieces.”

“Yo, Eazy just left. Me, him, and Bull had to sit down and talk about some shit. You good?” Jewel pried.

“Why wouldn’t I be? He say something to you?”

“Nah, nigga was just hella preoccupied. I could tell. Check it, I know that bitch Niva trying to press up and act like what they had was some fairytale shit, but I was there, sis. Yeah, the nigga loved her. It was the first time he ever felt like that about a bitch. We all saw it⁠—”

“Jewel, if there is a point…” Lotus arrived at her bedroom door.

She set her plate of fruit on the dresser and went to run her bath.

“My point is it takes a real woman to change a man. Not that nagging shit either, I’m talking about when the nigga starts moving different without being told. That’s when you know a nigga in love. Without Niva, maybe he never would have gotten to where he is now. So, think of it like that. His past led him to you, that baby, and your future.”

“Excuse me, who are you and where the hell is my brother? It sounds like Rhema got you moving differently, too. You at home on a Wednesday night instead of in the club looking for your next victim. And I know it’s Wayback Wednesday at Clout.”

“Ain’t nobody in there but the same tired hoes.” Jewel adjusted the hat on his head.

“Ran through ’em all, huh?” Lotus teased.

“Fuck you.” Jewel flipped her the bird.

“Thanks for checking on me, bro.”

“Aye, I am my sister’s keeper. Don’t get that fucked up.”

“Love you too! Night, girls!” Lotus waved to them in the camera before hanging up.

She added bubbles to her running water and went to grab her pajamas to change into and finish her plate of fruit while it ran. Deciding to sleep in an oversized t-shirt of Eazy’s that she stole, she left it on the bed and put her phone on the charger.

Lotus soaked for at least ten minutes, releasing the tension of the day and keeping her back pressed against the porcelain claw tub with her head back, hair pulled into a messy bun. When Michael Jackson’s “Heaven Can Wait” stopped playing, her head immediately popped up and turned toward the door.

“Alexa?”

After no response, she rolled her eyes, assuming the speaker died or disconnected. Then she heard it. She’d left the bedroom door open, and someone closed the refrigerator door downstairs. Eazy? Anxious and excited at the thought, she hopped out of the tub. She grabbed a towel to pat herself dry first then her fluffy rube from the back of the door to slip into. Halfway down the winding staircase, she spotted a figure rounding the doorway from the kitchen. The blood in her veins turned to ice when Evren strolled out, sipping a bottled water and smiling like this was normal. Hands gripping the thick wooden bannister, Lotus froze.

“You changed your number.”

Although she didn’t see it coming, somehow she expected Evren to appear in her life again. Like a wrecking ball, ready to destroy anything good because he wasn’t a part of it.

“Get out of my house.” Lotus told him in an ice cold tone.

Evren’s eyes traveled around the foyer before nodding.

“Nice place. He buy this?”