2. Head Shots
HEAD SHOTS
“Eazy, this isn’t what you think.” She brought her arm up to stop him from strangling Oracle to death.
“You really want to stand there and tell me what the fuck I think right now?” Gritting his teeth, he averted his glare in her direction as their eyes locked for the first time.
There was no denying it was her. He’d spent a lot of time gazing into those cinnamon eyes to know. Defeat flickered there for a moment before she sighed. Eazy turned his attention to Oracle, who remained smug as he pushed off him.
“Damn, E. I see that goon still in you.” Oracle rubbed his sore throat and adjusted his jacket with a lopsided grin.
“The fuck is going on?”
“I’d love to tell you all about it. Not here,” Oracle responded. “Meet me over off Danbury. You know the way, right?”
“I need to talk to Bull first.”
“Please do. I’m sure he’ll want to be privy to the information I have. Tell him he might want to check on the wife and kids too. We living in a dangerous world. You never know what can happen,” he insinuated with a low chuckle.
“One hour,” Eazy growled, backing away from them both and digging his cell from his pocket.
He called Bull but got no answer as he sped back to Lotus’s place. He wanted to make sure she was good before he went and did something he couldn’t take back. He arrived back at her place with Jewel on his line as he used his key to let himself back into her apartment.
“What’s up, bro?”
“Where you at?”
“Chilling with Rhema and the girls at her spot tonight. Why?” Jewel’s curiosity was piqued.
“Just stay put until you hear from me or Bull. Some shit going down, and I don’t know what’s what yet. I’m checking on Lotus now. I wanted to make sure you was straight.”
“Yo, the fuck you checking on my sister for?” Jewel queried.
“Now ain’t the time, bro—”
“The fuck, Eazy.”
“I’ll hit you in a few, Jewel.” Disconnecting the call, he shoved his phone into his pocket, and his dark eyes skimmed Lotus’s apartment.
The living room and kitchen were dark other than the light above her stove.
Padding through her apartment, he paused in the doorway of her bedroom.
She’d showered and slipped into a big t-shirt.
Now, she was curled up with a pillow with syndicated episodes of Everybody Hates Chris playing in the background.
Sighing, Eazy took the moment to acknowledge that she was okay.
That was the most important thing. He didn’t want to bring any trouble her way, especially now that he knew she was pregnant.
Lotus meant more to him than she could ever know, despite all the other bullshit he’d encountered in his life. Seeing Niva tonight damn sure spun his head, but it left him with more questions about her than anything. As far as Lotus was concerned, he had no reservations.
He set the pretzels on her bedside table and reached down to stroke some of her hair from her face.
She was knocked. The pregnancy was indeed kicking her ass.
She didn’t even budge when he touched her.
Dragging his hand down his beard, Eazy backed up and let himself out of her apartment.
He hit Bull again on his way to his car, and still he didn’t pick up.
It was almost 6:00 p.m. now, so Eazy shot right across town to the Black Key office to track his boy.
Most of the cars had cleared the lot when he arrived, parking beside the black Audi he knew Bull drove on a regular.
Shutting his car off, he approached the building and let himself inside.
Security gave him a nod, and Eazy trudged to the back where Bull’s office was located.
The door was slightly ajar, so tapped a couple of times, then pushed it open.
His boy sat behind his desk with his office phone against his ear, eyes on his laptop while going over transcripts and footage with a client.
He spotted Eazy and held up a finger to put him on pause as he wrapped up the call.
“Yeah. I’ll get everything in a PDF and send it to the email you provided. Give me twenty-four hours.” Bull nodded with his client before hanging up the phone.
He shuffled some papers together and tried to catch his breath.
Since he walked through the doors early that afternoon, he’d been on one call after another, setting up consultations and the whole nine.
He realized after clocking the time that he hadn’t eaten since around noon that day.
Now his stomach rumbled, and his mind drifted to Toni.
One of the reasons he fell for her before he even knew it was because she was naturally able to create a home for him and the kids.
Little did she know, it wasn’t even some shit Bull was used to.
Brenda never cooked a damn thing. For as long as he could remember, they always had a chef.
The only thing his mother could do right was order in.
So, he appreciated Toni for creating a real home for him and his children despite how it all came together.
“What’s up, bro? I saw you called. Been on the phone all damn day.”
“We got problems.”
“What you mean?” Bull picked up his phone from his desk and saw that he had other notifications. A few messages from an unknown number that he tapped on to address.
“The fuck?” His expression crippled into something concerning as Bull stepped forward.
“What is it?”
“Somebody got Toni and my kids.” Bull squeezed the phone tight in his hand and gritted his teeth.
“That’s what I was coming to tell you. You want to hear some more shit?” Eazy pressed the palms of his hands against Bull’s desk and leaned toward him. “I just ran into Oracle… and Niva. That nigga mentioned you too, and Toni and the kids.”
Bull’s head immediately snapped in his direction.
“The fuck you talking about?”
“That nigga walking around like me and you. Niva switched up her look, but it was her. I saw her with my own two eyes. Heard her voice.”
“The fuck you saying, E? This got something to do with what happened with Toni and my kids?”
“My guess, more than likely. Oracle wants me to meet him in about thirty minutes at our old spot.”
Bull immediately pushed himself from his desk and stood tall.
Toni and his kids being in danger ignited a panic in his chest that he wasn’t familiar with.
In four years, he’d managed to keep them out of harm’s way.
If anything happened to any of them, he didn’t know what he was liable to do.
The thought alone crippled him with rage as he grabbed his blazer off the back of his chair and slipped into it.
“I been thinking. The whole drive I couldn’t get this shit out of my mind.” Eazy motioned with his hand beside his head. “Only the five of us got that fucking tattoo.”
“Six,” Bull reminded him, giving Eazy pause. Silence passed between them for a minute before Eazy palmed his fist in his hand and nodded.
“You think that’s what this is?”
“We can’t rule shit out at this point.” Bull stepped around his desk.
“Why now?”
“Good fucking question,” he countered on his way to the door with his boy right behind him.
Stepping off the elevator to Black Key, Bull and Eazy strolled to the main entrance together to leave.
Bull’s phone went off the minute they hit the sidewalk, and he reached into his pocket to retrieve it.
His mother’s number wasn’t saved, but he knew it by heart.
Frowning, he swiped to pick up and mushed the phone against his ear.
“Hello.”
“Bezai, I need you to listen to me.” Her voice was firm but still slightly shaken. He knew Brenda well enough to know that. “I’ve never stepped in or tried to steer you wrong, but if you ever decide to trust me, now would be the time.”
“Where’s Toni and my kids?”
Brenda sighed. “Come to the estate. You remember the bunker entrance?”
“Say less. I’m on my way.” Hanging up, he turned to Eazy.
“What’s up?”
“We need to load up.”
“Let’s go,” Eazy encouraged, approaching Bull’s car with him.
Security was surprisingly light when Bull and Eazy arrived.
Bull was surprised when he arrived at the Andrew’s estate and security was light.
He was let in and cruised right up the driveway to the double doors.
There wasn’t anyone at the entrance to greet them.
Both in bulletproof vests with automatic weapons gripped in both hands, they cautiously approached the doors while taking in the rest of their surroundings.
Taking position on opposite sides of the double door entrance, Bull nodded to Eazy as he stepped forward and kicked one of the doors in.
His boy trailed him inside, making sure to sweep the top level with his aim as Bull moved through the bottom like a soldier in battle.
Nearing the ajar door of his father’s office, Bull paused and lowered his gun to his side.
Pushing the door open, the warm glow from the fireplace is what he noticed first, followed by the strong aroma of gin and his mother’s signature Ja’Dore perfume.
When he emerged in the doorway, Brenda turned, mid-sip in her glass of gin, as her glossy eyes locked on his.
Something was off. Bull walked inside with Eazy not far behind him, taking in the setting.
Brenda never budged from in front of the fire she’d started.
Rounding his father’s desk, Bull stopped. Braxton lay lifeless in his own blood with his eyes still open.
“What happened?” Bull asked, turning to his mother.
“You want the truth, or the story everyone in Prospect Pointe will become familiar with?” Brenda finished the last of her gin and tossed her glass into the fire.
It shattered and crackled against the flames as she tucked her lip between her teeth and thought about her actions tonight. She’d been sitting there waiting for the guilt or remorse to come, but it never did. Somehow, that didn’t make her feel better.
“Your father is the reason Bronx is dead. He might not have ordered it, or pulled the trigger, but he sat back, set it in motion, and allowed it to happen.”
“Where are Toni and my kids?”