ALONE WITH YOU
The following evening….
“Summit, that’s not how you do it,” Taci argued with her husband about how to play some game on the tablet that Cyn and Clover brought over with them for Sunday dinner. “You gotta go take the order then take it over to the cook and hurry up and bring it back to the table. You moving too slow.”
Seated in their living room, she and her husband had argued for the last twenty minutes.
“Woman, you’ll get your turn. Leave me the hell alone and let me play in peace,” he complained.
The girls sang karaoke songs from the TV together, not in the least bit worried about their two old, arguing asses.
In the kitchen, Kissa made sure they had enough food to feed everyone while her husband, Javon, assured her that they did.
He even grilled a few slabs of ribs at home before coming by.
In the dining room, Lotus examined old family photos on the walls of the Campbell home while setting the table.
It was almost 5:00 p.m. when Essence stepped through the back door, slinging her purse over her shoulder and taking everyone in.
Work pretty much consumed her life, so Kissa did a great job of making sure her grandparents were okay.
She hadn’t expected a full house when she arrived, though.
“I didn’t realize we were having a party.”
“Oh, well, Taci insisted we have dinner tonight,” Kissa chimed in with a smile. “I hope that’s okay. We should be done by eight. I’ll clean up everything and make sure we’re out of here. I just didn’t want to shut her down. She seemed happy about it.”
“No. That’s fine.” Essence forced a tight smile on her face. “I’m going to change and get comfortable.”
“Dinner should be in the next twenty minutes,” Kissa told her.
“Table is set. I am going to take a smoke break.” Lotus started toward the door in her Ed Hardy Hoodie and letterman jacket slung over it.
“I have told you time and again, Lotus Bailey, it is unladylike to smoke,” Kissa warned.
“It’s also unladylike to cuss a mothafucka out or beat them until they are black and blue, Ma. You really gotta choose your battles in this life. I choose peace, so it’s best for everyone if I blaze up every once in a while,” Lotus volunteered.
Her parents shrugged off her pessimism and let her do her thing.
Nobody was going to convince her that weed was a bad thing.
Lotus took a seat on the stoop outside the Campbell’s back door and brought her joint to her lips.
After she lit the tip, she took a deep pull and held the smoke in her lungs before lifting her head and exhaling into the sky.
When her phone went off in the pocket of her hoodie, she reached inside to check it.
For the last couple of days, Evren wouldn’t let up.
She blocked him, but he kept finding a way through on different numbers.
Sighing, she decided to pick up. All she wanted to do was get this nigga to fall back and leave her alone.
“What!” she snapped, bringing the phone to her ear.
“Lotus. Baby, what’s going on? Why you doing me like this?”
“Evren, seek help. Why the fuck are you still calling me?”
“I love you,” he whispered.
“You’re crazy! You have a whole wife. You have children. There is no way in the world you could possibly love me. You lust for me. There is a difference.”
“How can you say that to me after all the shit I did for you!”
“Look, just run me my last paycheck, and we’re good. You can go back to Michelle and the kids. Hey, you can find a new side chick. Just leave me the fuck alone. We’re done. How else can I say this?”
“This wasn’t just some random shit for me.”
“Well, that’s too fucking bad, because that’s all it was for me,” she clarified. “Do us both a favor and forget about it. Move on. I’m sure there’s some other poor, desperate little bitch out there waiting to be next in line.” She snatched the phone from her ear.
“Lotus!” she heard him yell before she hung up and blocked him yet again.
“Clown,” she muttered.
Sitting there on the stoop, she continued to toot off her joint until she heard the beat rumbling the street from down the block.
Something told her the rattling belonged to none other than Eazy.
Sure enough, a few minutes later, he parked on the curb outside his grandparent’s home and shut his car off.
He wasn’t alone. Jewel was with him, and they strolled toward the house, chopping it up about their day.
“Why you sitting out here?” Jewel questioned.
“Minding my business like you need to do.” She blew weed smoke toward him.
“Always with the smart-ass mouth. The girls here?”
“In there with Summit and Taci.” Lotus tossed her head over her shoulder.
“It smells good. A nigga hungry. Rhema didn’t come over?” Jewel asked, thinking about his baby mama.
He’d had his fill of bitches with no substance the last couple of months, but he was missing the shit out of her.
Things ended with her when their daughter, Clover, turned four.
That was almost two years ago, and Rhema was sticking to her fucking guns.
He didn’t hear about her in the streets fucking around, though.
She’d always been a good girl. He was the closest to the streets that she’d ever been in her life.
As wifey and the mother to his children, she was perfect, but Rhema wasn’t going to be that dummy to keep going back and forth with him.
Bitches got reckless and possessive over him.
He didn’t let the disrespect fly for Rhema when he was present, but that didn’t stop bitches for coming for her when he wasn’t around.
She wasn’t hood like that, and she didn’t deserve to have to constantly defend her relationship or who she was to him.
“She said she had plans.” Lotus put her joint out gently on the concrete.
“What kind of plans?” Jewel’s brows bunched together.
“I don’t know, Jewel. I’m not her fucking keeper. Does it matter?”
“Better not be another nigga,” he murmured.
“And what if it is? She’s single, and you’re fucking anything not nailed down,” Lotus jested. “Let her live her life.”
Jewel muttered some shit under his breath but stepped past her to go inside.
He was such a big baby when shit wasn’t going his way.
Eazy stepped up, and Lotus skimmed him carefully in his jeans, black button-up shirt, and black Air Forces.
She assumed the leather jacket was part of his signature look.
It sat perfectly on his broad shoulders, and all she smelled was genuine leather and the faint scent of his cologne mixed with weed.
The diamond link chain across his chest sparkled against the night light.
“What’s up, mean ass?” Eazy greeted her.
“Living the dream.” Lotus rolled her eyes and stretched her arms in front of her with her fingers locked together.
“You straight?” he asked, tilting his head, which oddly enough caused her to do the same.
He didn’t know her like that, but something was going on behind those bright, almond shaped eyes of hers. When her tongue swiped across her lower lip, his dick jerked, remembering how it felt when she did that against his lips and chest.
Lotus lowered her arms and her gaze.
“You don’t have to check on me. I can take care of myself.”
“That ain’t what I asked.” Eazy inched closer.
“Well, that’s all I got.” She stood and yanked the back door open.
She couldn’t let herself stay around him alone for too long.
He was charming as fuck, and she couldn’t stop thinking about their encounter when she closed her eyes the last few nights.
The type of feels Eazy gave her were different.
She knew with a single glance he could fuck up her life.
He let her step inside ahead of him, smirking candidly because he knew he’d rattled Lotus.
She seemed to be able to keep up, though, which was rare.
He usually ran across them ditzy bitches ready to submit for a shopping spree or two.
Normally, he was cool with keeping people at arm’s length, but there was something about her that tugged on the need for intimacy he thought was dormant in him.
Kissa and Javon prepared the serving dishes to take into the dining room.
Lotus’s father leaned against the counter, bringing a hot Hawaiian roll to his lips when he spotted his daughter walk in with Eazy.
She tightened up like she did when she was hiding something or didn’t want him to ask her about something and shoved her hands in her jacket pockets.
He could tell from her low eyes that she was buzzed and caught on to Eazy pausing behind her.
“Hello, Ezekiel! I hope you’re hungry,” Kissa greeted him. “Take that in there.” She shoved the dish with the mac and cheese into Lotus’s empty hands.
“Always.” Eazy rubbed his stomach and smiled.
Javon was the same complexion as Lotus, and she shared his nose shape too.
“Nice to meet you, Ezekiel. I’m Javon Bailey. Kissa’s husband and Lotus and Jewel’s father.” He nodded to his daughter escaping the room.
She didn’t have time for him or his line of questioning.
Eazy extended his hand, giving him a firm shake and nod.
“Nice to meet you, OG. Let me go wash my hands, and I’ll be back down.” He started toward the stairs.
When he reached the top, he found Essence coming out of what used to be her bedroom when she lived here.
Much like his, she still had her entire childhood behind that door and slept over all the time.
Their grandparents made it clear when they took them in all those years ago that this would always be their home, and they could come back to it at any time.
All either of them wanted to do was get out of there and get their own shit, though.
“I can’t believe you showed up for this.” Essence stopped near the door to his room as he pushed it open and stepped inside.
“Shit, nigga gotta eat.” Eazy took his shirt off and tossed it in the laundry basket in the corner.