Page 58 of A Hood Wife And A Rich Goon

“That is an understatement,” Toni countered. “And Bull is in there having what looks to be an intense conversation with Eazy’s sister.”

“Essence?” Lotus checked with her.

“Yes. Do you know what that’s about?”

“I’m new to the crew. Sorry.” She shrugged.

Toni noticed that Jou Jou was falling asleep against Lotus, and Breeze had also started to nod off. It was past their bedtime, but they were both trying to hang, thinking they were going to miss something.

“I better get them to bed.”

“I got him.” Bull’s strong voice drew Toni’s attention over her shoulder where he and Eazy ambled over together. “Come on, son.” He pulled Breeze from his mama’s arms and let him settle his sleepy head on his shoulder.

“Goodnight, Breeze. It was nice meeting you!” Lotus waved to him, and Toni stood to grab Jou Jou from her. “And you, Princess Jou Jou, sleep tight.” She kissed her little cheek before handing her over.

“Thank you for keeping them company tonight, Lotus.” Toni positioned her daughter on her hip and carried her into the house behind Bull and Breeze.

Now that she was alone with Eazy, Lotus’s chest tightened, and her stomach fluttered involuntarily. He looked damn good in his black suit and green Tom Ford shirt. The diamonds in his ears and against his chest sparkled against the moon glowing over them. She’d been ducking everyone for weeks, and he hadn’t laid eyes on her since the last time he took her to bed. She blocked him on her phone, and he wasn’t the kind to be dehydrated behind a female, so he let her be. It didn’t stop her from invading his mind every other minute, though. When he asked Jewel about her, he didn’t seem to know what was going on with her either.

Lotus stood without a word. When she tried to step past him, Eazy held his arm up and pressed a firm hand against her stomach. Inching closer, he watched her breathing hitch before her somber eyes drifted up into his. She despised how his touch instantly made her body react. Heart stuttering. Mind going blank. Pussy pulsing and leaking.

“Slow up.”

“We don’t have shit to talk about, Ezekiel.” Her words were sharp, stabbing him like knives.

“So, don’t talk. Why don’t you try listening withcho stubborn ass?”

“I don’t have to listen to you either,” she snarled. “You’re a fucking liar, and I don’t trust a word you say.”

“I ain’t lied to you about shit, aight.” He took offense to that when he got in her face.

“You have fucked me twice now and left me by myself like some damn escort, though,” Lotus sneered. “Your actions speak a hell of a lot more than your fucking words.”

“All that mouth gon’ get you fucked up,” he threatened, towering over her and looking into her core when his dark eyes pierced hers.

Even though she detested him, she couldn’t shake the way he made her heart soar without her consent or the flutters in her stomach when he spoke to her. Something was between them, that was for sure. She just so happened to think it wasn’t worth it.

“Go to hell!” She bumped into him purposely when she passed, but Eazy wasn’t letting her walk away that easily.

Snaking an arm around her waist, he rested a warm hand on the other side of her hip and drew her effortlessly into his space. She smelled good. Looked good, and felt even better in his arms. Heart palpitating, denouncing whatever his head tried to argue with, Eazy took a moment.

“Look, I’m trying to apologize, and I don’t do that shit.”

“Then save your fucking breath,” Lotus replied.

“I want to, aight.” His tone was softer, less aggressive.

She read the shift behind his eyes, so she relaxed and turned off her rah rah shit.

“It’s not you. It’s me.”

“That’s original,” she muttered, crossing her arms over her aching breasts and giving an eyeroll.

Swiping his beard, Eazy nodded and released her. He’d been with women since Niva, but he hadn’t felt anything. It was a bunch of one-night stands that didn’t come to much in his eyes at the end of the day. Lotus brought out a side that he thought died with Niva, and he wasn’t prepared to deal with it. She stole his thoughts, made him second guess things, and when it came to making decisions about his life, somehow, she wasn’t far from those thoughts either. Reading the frustration in his eyes, Lotus decided she wasn’t there to give him grace after he shitted on her more than once.

“Look, you don’t need to feed me some bullshit, okay.”

“I don’t know how much Jewel told you about me, him, or none of that. He got fucked up a few years ago in an accident.”