CASE OF THE EX #2
“I just can’t believe she’s gone. Her family doesn’t want me at the funeral.
I tried to go pay my respects, and her mother and cousins almost made me tase their asses at the house.
I know they are going through it, though.
” Essence’s voice cracked, and she pressed her back against the wall beside the door to her brother’s room.
Choking on tears she didn’t want to shed, she held them back and lifted her gaze to the ceiling instead. Bull could see she was drowning in pain, and Essence wasn’t usually the type to wear her heart on her sleeve.
“Crazy shit is, I don’t blame them,” Essence whispered. “I told Eazy plenty of times to let this life go. You got out.”
“I had to leave town to do that shit. You know Eazy ain’t leaving Prospect,” Bull replied.
“Yeah, I know.” She tucked some of her straight, jet black bust down behind her ear. “You should go in and say hi. I had to make a few calls for work but was on my way to check on Oracle.”
“He’s still here?”
“The doctors are releasing him today. He’s paralyzed from the waist down. His family is supposed to come and get him to take him home. I just want to make sure he’s good.”
“Damn,” Bull muttered, shaking his head. “What room?”
“520, just around the corner,” she told him, chucking her chin in that direction.
“I’ll come check on him after I see Eazy.”
“Okay. I’ll let him know.” Essence gave him one last glimpse, loving all the grown man changes in him as she strut off.
“E.” Bull’s steady voice stopped her in her tracks.
“Yeah?” She paused and half turned to face him.
His eyes ran amok over her womanly figure before a teasing smile curved his lips.
She knew what he wanted, and she couldn’t front and say she wouldn’t be down for it.
Once upon a time, they couldn’t get enough of each other.
Bull took her virginity, and she hadn’t had a man fuck her like that since.
She even tried to train a nigga or two, and they always fell short.
There was no replicating a man like him.
“You look good,” Bull complimented, swiping his tongue across his bottom lip.
“Hmm, you too.” Her mouth curved into a radiant smile before she disappeared around the nearest corner.
Adjusting his dick, Bull pushed the door open to Eazy’s room and found his boy trying to sit up on the side of the little ass hospital bed.
The two of them looked absolutely nothing alike and, on the outside, appeared to be complete opposites.
Yet, somehow, they managed to become best friends in the seventh grade, and it stuck.
Where Bull was reserved and very mindful of his actions and how cause and effect worked, Eazy would read the room and just not give a fuck.
Finesse only worked with him to a certain extent.
He could only do the fake shit for so long.
Bull was the color of caramel taffy, Eazy was more like dark, decadent chocolate.
A few inches taller than his ace, with wide shoulders like a linebacker, he dared a motherfucker to try him.
The muscles flexed in his big arms as he positioned himself on the edge of the bed with his legs hanging over the side.
Holding his abdomen, nothing but a menacing scowl showed on his face when Bull stepped into the room.
He was expecting one of them annoying ass nurses to come bothering him for the thousandth fucking time that day.
At this point, he was ready to check himself out.
It was Niva’s funeral tomorrow anyway, and there was no way in hell he was missing his final goodbye to his girl.
The hardness in his glare wasn’t reserved for Bull, but he felt the heat as soon as they locked eyes.
“The fuck you been?” Eazy grunted.
This last week left him paranoid as fuck.
Being hit was one thing, but not having a motherfucker check on you was another.
Him and Bull were day one, and although they didn’t talk as much as they had since he jumped ship a couple of years ago, Eazy damn sure thought they were better than that.
Aside from a few phone conversations, they managed to keep up their Vegas rituals for their birthdays until the last two years.
The text thread they shared was sparked every other week, but Eazy figured Bull needed to go introvert after everything he’d been through.
Falling out with his pops after deciding to move to LA left them on bad terms. Bull didn’t know, but he wouldn’t even speak his name while he was gone.
In his eyes, his firstborn was supposed to want to fall in line and lead the family when Braxton eventually stepped down.
Problem was, he didn’t like change and would rather string Bull and Bronx along like they were going to run shit when he was still pulling all the strings.
He wasn’t about to sit around playing a diligent soldier.
Bull didn’t want to spend all his life taking orders and working under his father like some peon.
He had his own vision, and the life they led was bound to lead to death or jail.
It wasn’t how he wanted to live. Bronx had no problem with it, and now he was a victim of his own fucking circumstance.
Bull knew it was only a matter of time before Prospect Pointe pulled the relentless goon out of him again.
Behind Bronx, he was ready to go to war if needed.
“Just touched down today,” Bull admitted.
“How the fuck that happen?”
“Ask Braxton.” Bull bit his inner jaw.
He never wanted to fuck anybody up the way he did his own father.
Having an issue with Bull for leaving was one thing, but to keep something like this from him for over a week was fucked up.
Padding over to the row of windows beside the bed, Bull’s hands eased into his pockets as he viewed the parking lot below.
“He told you what happened though, right?” Eazy queried.
“He did. I’m sorry about Niva.” Bull turned to him with sympathy.
He knew what that girl meant to him, and he meant what he said. Darkness swirled in his boy’s eyes, with a familiar hard glare. There was only one thing on Eazy’s mind. With his big hands gripping the side of the bed, he tried to stand. Although slow and weak, he managed to do it.
“I gotta get the fuck out of here. Tell Braxton I appreciate him looking out, but I can take care of myself.”
“Where you going?” Bull asked, watching him slide toward a chair where a duffel bag sat full of his change of clothes and a few other hygiene items that Essence brought over for him.
“Getting the fuck out of here. What you think?” Eazy snarled, unzipping the bag and sifting through until he had everything he needed.
“I saw Essence in the hall. She said she talked to Niva’s people about the funeral.”
“You think I give a fuck if they don’t want me there?
” Eazy glared at his boy, holding his fresh clothes close.
“Her mama and that bitch Melinda should be glad I helped keep they fucking bills paid. They can’t keep me from seeing her off.
I’m the fucking reason she had life insurance, and they ain’t gotta do a fucking go-fund me to pay for a funeral. ”
“I hear you. I just wanted to be sure—”
“I’m going. Fuck that.”
“E, I’m not yo’ enemy, bro.” Bull held his hands up and pressed his back against the windowsill.
“Right now, the whole fucking world my enemy. They took the only thing that meant something to me outside of my fucking family. The streets ’bout to hear from me.” He disappeared into the small bathroom, closing the door behind him and leaving Bull alone.
It took about fifteen minutes for Eazy to get himself together, but when he emerged in black sweats, a Givenchy t-shirt, and fresh socks, he looked a lot better than when Bull stepped inside.
“Did you already talk to the doctors about discharging you?” Bull asked.
Snatching up his bag off the chair, he walked it over to the bed and dropped it so he could arrange his products in the little pockets.
His blank stare when Bull came up beside him told him everything he needed to know as the door to his room swung open.
The nurse was a short, thick little pretty brown woman with locs styled in a high ponytail.
When she found Eazy out of bed, surprise flitted across her face.
“Mr. Campbell, what are you doing?”
“The fuck it look like?” Eazy responded gruffly. “I’m leaving.”
“But, has the doctor been in to speak with you?” she questioned.
“The fuck I need the doctor to tell me I can leave for?” Eazy demanded.
“I don’t think—”
“I don’t give a fuck what you think! How about you go talk to the doctor? ’Cause I’m walking out that door in twenty minutes whether he signs me out or not.” Eazy sat on the bed and bent over to retrieve his shoes.
Wincing in pain, he fought through it, slipping his feet into the Givenchy sneakers one at a time. He had to take a breath before tying them. The nurse appeared flustered as she rushed out of the room, nearly running Essence over.
“Damn, bro. What did you do to the girl?”
“Bitch coming in here acting like I ain’t a grown ass man. If I want to get the fuck out of here, that’s what it is,” he complained.
“You can’t just leave. You were shot multiple times. You almost died. I sat here for two days, waiting for you to wake up!” Essence yelled, tears building in her eyes. “Can you assist me, please?” She turned to Bull for help, but all he did was shrug.
“Ain’t no talking me out of this, E. I got shit to do. I gotta get my suit together and make sure everything is straight for this funeral tomorrow.”
“I thought we agreed—”