Page 59 of A Hood Wife And A Rich Goon

“I know. He almost died. My parents been preaching to him to get his life together since.” Lotus huffed.

“That same night, me and my girl was hit. I spent a few days in a coma because of that, and she died,” Eazy confessed.

Standing beside the pool, he gazed into the water reflecting off his glossy eyes. Lotus took in his sudden melancholy demeanor. He reached into his pocket for his blunt pack and dug a freshly rolled one out to spark up. She stumbled over her tongue for words when she read the pain there. Now, she understood why he handled her the way he did.

“I didn’t realize… I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Nah. I mean, I’m dealing with it.” He half shrugged before glancing her way. “I just didn’t want you to think it was your fault. Shit is all in my head, shorty.” He shook his head and exhaled a cloud. “The last time, when you came home with me, shit kind of fucked with me. So, when I left… I went to her grave to talk to her about it. About you.” His dark eyes focused on her.

Lotus’s misting eyes fell away from his and landed on the crystal-like water in front of them.

“For the first time since she died, I connected with somebody else, and it wasn’t just physical. I didn’t know how to deal with that. I still don’t.” He took another drag from the blunt in his hand and held the smoke in his lungs.

It made sense to her. His words somehow became a comfort. It meant she hadn’t imagined what she thought was between them either. She’d never suffered that kind of loss, but clearly it wasn’t something Eazy had dealt with himself. Essentially, she would still be a rebound for him. She already felt like an option because the women he really wanted was gone. It sounded worse than being a side chick.

“I’m not holding you to anything but respect.”

“I respect the fuck out of you,” Eazy assured her, the evocative resonance of his tone making her middle tingle. “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have made sure you woke up in the gallery before it opened, and I damn sure wouldn’t have left you sleeping in my bed in my grandparents’ house,” he reasoned, giving her something to chew on.

“Whatever. It doesn’t matter.” She turned to walk away and nearly ran over Bull in the process. She didn’t bother speaking as she stomped off, but he glanced after her before turning to Eazy.

He was stuck on Lotus until she vanished inside the house. Shaking his head, he gripped the blunt tighter between his fingers and brought it to his lips. There he was, trying to let her in, and she was still on some bullshit.

“What’s wrong with her?” Bull queried.

Eazy blew out a harsh breath, which rattled his lips, before shaking his head.

“Me,” he answered, passing the blunt to Bull.

“And you talking about me.” Bull tittered and moved the blunt to his lips. “Jewel know?”

“Nah. I ain’t said nothing to him about it. I don’t even know what the fuck I’m doing. Shit just happened.” Eazy went to sit on an iron chair with a matching table and umbrella a couple of feet from the pool.

It was getting late, so the air was a lot crisper and cooler than earlier. The deep blue water from the pool reflected in his dark eyes when he peered into it.

“So, what’s the problem?” Bull followed him and took the empty chair across from him.

“Nigga, she fine, her pussy good, she talk shit, and⁠—”

“Now you feeling her?” Bull surmised, smoke still in his lungs when he nodded along.

Eazy didn’t have brothers. So, meeting Bull, Bronx, and Oracle in school was one thing. He was among his tribe when he was with them. Nobody knew him better. Jewel came along after high school, but he quickly proved himself to be one of them and fit right in with their antics. Although he was the youngest of the crew, Eazy took him under his wing and saw right away that he had heart. His crew was elite. When it came to heists, they were a myth to begin with. Nobody ever really believed they existed with the kind of stunts they pulled, but the fame wasn’t something that mattered to any of them.

“The fucking irony.” Eazy accepted the blunt when Bull rotated it back to him. “She ain’t the first chick I been with since Niva. Shit just different with her. She ain’t got her hand out, expecting a nigga to take care of her like most chicks, for one, and we really be on some chill shit when we around each other. Ain’t gotta force what’s already there.”

“Is that what it is? You can’t let her in because of Niva’s ghost?” Bull queried, causing Eazy’s head to swivel in his direction.

“She might be gone physically, but I been carrying that girl everywhere with me for almost four years. Being with Lotus makes me forget that shit. Shorty bring a nigga back to life. Like I been in a cell, breathing in stale air, and then she comes in like fresh oxygen. Got me wondering about the future and shit again when I been stuck in this loop since my girl took her last breath in my arms.”

Bull’s own thoughts started to take over, wondering if the same was true for Toni. Was she only opening up to him because Bronx wasn’t around? Was anything she felt for him because of him, or because she couldn’t have who she really wanted?

“I know what Niva meant to you. It took a long time for y’all to get your shit together, too, and unfortunately, she ain’t here no more. You can’t stop living your life because of that, though.”

Eazy took his words to heart and finished smoking before leaning forward and resting an elbow on the table.

“Have you had this conversation with your wife?” he pried, watching Bull stare off and shake his head.

He didn’t answer, and Eazy could only nod as the back sliding door opened, and Jewel stepped out.