ALONE WITH YOU #3
She envied the connection between Kissa and Lotus.
Her own mother blew out of town without a second thought to either of her children.
Instead of sticking around to do what was hard, she chose the easy route.
Essence and Eazy ended up with a bitter taste on their tongue because of that.
He was at least able to find love and acceptance from Niva, then it was snatched from him.
Essence thought Bull was going to be her ticket to happiness, but their time together was fleeting as fuck.
From the time she was seventeen, she got little stolen moments with him sprinkled over the years, and that was it.
She’d been hanging onto a fantasy in between time.
“I need to detach for a minute. You want to come with me to Grady’s?” Lotus suggested, watching Essence hike a brow.
“Girl, you ain’t said nothing but a word. Let me go freshen up.” She rose quickly, brushing past Jewel and Eazy strolling in from the living room.
“Freshen up for what?” Eazy’s lip curled in distaste.
“Me and Lotus are going to have a few drinks.” Essence started up the steps.
“Where?” Eazy demanded.
“Grady’s,” Lotus answered, hand on her hip.
Checking over his shoulder to gauge Jewel’s reaction, Eazy caught him shaking his head.
“Please don’t argue with her, bro,” Jewel grumbled.
“If they going to Grady’s, nigga we going to Grady’s. Fuck that.”
Javon turned his back but smiled at Eazy’s words.
He wasn’t slow. Eazy couldn’t take his eyes off Lotus during dinner.
He recognized the familiar glint lingering when they observed his baby girl.
She was gorgeous, just like her mama, so men were always ogling her.
Lotus never had to go above and beyond to draw attention either. Her aura was irresistible.
“We are taking the girls home. You just make sure you’re there to get them to school and daycare in the morning,” Kissa announced. “Have fun and be safe.”
“And call if you need bail money,” Javon added, reaching for a slice of pound cake off the table.
“Come on.” Eazy slapped Jewel’s chest with the back of his hand. “We can roll up in the car.”
“Lo, here’s your plate to take with you. Call or text when you get home safely, please.” Kissa nudged a paper plate covered in foil and wrapped in a plastic bag into her hands.
“I will. I promise. Goodnight, Daddy.” She embraced both parents and kissed her father’s cheek before heading to the door.
Eazy hopped into the driver’s seat of his whip.
Since he backed in, he was facing the street where Lotus’s little Honda sat parked on the curb near the driveway.
Jewel propped the passenger door open but leaned against the side while calling Rhema.
With one arm over his chest, he propped his other up and held the phone against his ear, waiting for her to pick up.
Grabbing a piece of junk mail off the seat, Eazy dug his stash out of his pocket so he could twist a couple of blunts.
He broke the weed down, using his grinder, and proceeded to roll the pack of Backwoods from his pocket.
Lotus got out of her car and went to lift her trunk open.
Peeping Essence rushing out of the house in a little ass black dress, he shook his head. All she had was an even smaller fur coat, and her ass was still shivering when she strut past in some high ass heels. She walked up to Lotus rifling through her duffle in the trunk for something to wear.
“Girl, you keep your life in your trunk?”
“Nah. Just my clothes.” Lotus snickered. “I mean, you never know when a turn up might come about. I like to be prepared.” She located a tight black halter dress with sheer sides and snatched up a pair of heels, making sure to set them close, so she didn’t lose track of them.
Lotus pulled her jacket off but left her hoodie on. Sliding the dress over her jeans, she slipped the halter over her neck underneath her hoodie. After she shimmied out of her pants, she lifted the hood over her head, leaving her in nothing but the dress clinging to her curves.
Eazy licked his blunt closed, watching her the entire time with a stiff one between his legs. In thirty seconds, she’d transformed from basic, chill Lotus, to a motherfucking problem. After using his BIC to dry his blunt, he squeezed the tip between his fingers and lifted it to his lips.
“Okay, what are you, a fucking Power Ranger?” Essence tittered.
Lotus slipped into her shoes and Eazy blew the horn and sparked the blunt. Jewel ducked into the car with his phone still against his ear.
“The girls good, Rhema. My parents got ’em tonight, and I’m taking them to school in the morning. Just… meet up with me for a little bit. I need to see you.” Nigga was damn near begging.
Eazy shook his head watching Essence and Lotus strut to the car together.
“I’m driving. Get in,” he ordered, and they both sucked their teeth.
Still caking with his baby mama, Jewel sat forward and pulled his seat against his back so they could hop in the rear seat.
Essence sat behind her brother, giving him a view of Lotus when he turned to look over his shoulder.
She crossed her legs, and all he could picture was himself between them.
Now she was cutting up, and he was trying to figure out a way to be in her guts by the end of the night.
“It ain’t even just me, though. Lo is with me, so is Eazy and his sister. We just chilling for a little bit after dinner. So, you coming through or what?” he asked, laying that shit on thick like butter.
He really wanted to know if he should expect her or if he needed to prepare himself to spit game at some random tonight to get his shit off. Eazy pulled off down the driveway, and Jewel hung up.
“Aight, she said she’ll meet us there.” Jewel took the blunt from Eazy when he passed it.
About fifteen minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot of Grady’s Tavern, a staple in Prospect Pointe.
Now, all the children and grandchildren of the former patrons were regulars, and the former owner passed it down to his grandson.
It sat on the corner, with plenty of parking in the rear.
Eazy whipped his car onto the gravel, his engine revving as thunder rolled around them.
It didn’t stop scattered groups from posting up out front, smoking cigarettes, talking shit, and trying to stay warm.
In the back of the lot, two food trucks were parked, one serving chicken and the other tacos.
He parked, and they finished smoking the second blunt while the girls fixed their makeup before piling out to go inside.
Latto’s “There She Go” thundered through the speakers as they neared the doors.
Essence shook her ass and rapped along the whole time.
Jewel led them inside, but Eazy kept the door open, letting both ladies pass.
“Don’t be looking at my ass.” Lotus glimpsed him over her shoulder.
“It’s a natural reflex, shorty. Shouldn’t have that mothafucka out like that anyway.” Eazy followed her, and their group went straight to the bar.
Ready to throw it back, already lit from the weed, Essence was hoping to find a distraction from her current problems. Eazy got them all a round of tequila, and they took shots.
Lotus decided on a tequila sunrise as well while Essence requested a lemon drop, and to keep them coming.
Grady’s wasn’t a large club. It had more of a lounge vibe.
There was a dance floor with mirrors and LED lights flickering around it.
The rest was sectioned off between booths and tables for two or four arranged beside them.
Tonight, it was packed, not an open spot available.
Women gyrated and popped their shit in front of the mirrors, and men ogled them from the sidelines.
Lotus eased onto a bar stool, and Eazy lingered at her side but didn’t sit down.
Protective, he was prepared to drop any motherfucker looking a little too hard.
Glancing over his shoulder, he scoped the crowd and waited for his other shots to be delivered.
Lotus brought her straw to her lips and sipped, rocking a little to the beat and sensing his eyes all over her.
He fought the urge to grab a handful of that ass she had hanging off the bar stool.
“Stop looking at me like that.”
“You ugly anyway.” Eazy nodded to the bartender when he set his three shots in front of him.
“Boy, you wish.” She sipped her drink.
“Damn sure shouldn’t be up in this mothafucka in that little ass shit,” he griped, making her titter and bat those spellbinding ass eyes.
Eazy tossed back his shot, and Lotus sipped the rest of her drink.
When the DJ spun “Like That” by Future, Metro Boomin, and Kendrick Lamar, she slid off her seat and bounced, hips swinging from side to side, hands in the air, waving her glass.
She moved like water, and Eazy thirstily ate that shit up.
On the dance floor, Essence drew the attention of more than one man while swaying to the beat.
Jewel spotted Rhema at the entrance. Simplicity was something shorty had mastered.
In tight, ripped, stonewash jeans, she rocked a black leather halter top and three-inch stiletto boots that stopped at her calves.
Since fall was on the horizon, she also sported a black and white letterman jacket.
Her jet-black lace front was slicked back into a high ponytail, with her edges laid as her hooded eyes scanned the room for her baby daddy.
“How you walk in here all fine and shit but couldn’t slide through for dinner?” Jewel looked her up and down when she joined him at the bar.
“Dinner is intimate. I didn’t want to give the wrong impression to the girls.” Rhema pulled out a stool and sat down.
“You look fucking good, Rhem.”
“What is this about, Jasiel?” she asked, batting the full mink lashes she’d applied.