3. Step to Me #3
“Nah, just something I thought I’d spin in my favor.
Keep muhfuckas guessing.” Oracle took another swig of his liquor.
“And Niva and I didn’t cross paths until after everything went down.
Her mama came to me the next day in the hospital.
Said she didn’t trust anybody else, and you were still in a coma.
” Oracle waved his glass to Eazy. “She said they found a pulse, but she believed Niva was still in danger, so she didn’t want anybody to know she was alive.
I made a few calls and arranged for her to be transported from the hospital and didn’t see her for at least two years. ”
Eazy listened, but it wasn’t healing shit in his chest. His dark gaze darted across the room, studying every inch of the woman he once loved.
“Why didn’t you reach out?” he finally demanded.
“Because I didn’t know who I could trust. My mama told me not to. Oracle gave her money, he helped me get a new identity—”
Scoffing, Eazy dragged his hand down his face.
“Un-fucking-believable right now. All this time, I been sitting here grieving you, driving myself fucking crazy about that night and what I missed, and the whole time, you was fucking alive!” he roared, aiming a finger at the ground.
Licking his blunt closed, Jewel remained on the couch in the midst of the chaos, eyes volleying off Eazy to Niva, and back again.
“I was scared, Eazy! Okay!” she screamed.
“And now what, y’all together? Is that what this is?” he questioned.
Silence echoed off the walls, and Jewel shook his head. Shit was getting heavy. Niva and Oracle looked at each other, but he stepped forward to speak. As Eazy’s homie, he felt the shit was his place.
“Look, like I said, we didn’t set out for this to happen, but this is what it is.”
Niva lowered her eyes to the ground, practically shrinking before them.
All Eazy could do was nod. He was still spiraling from all the information he’d had to absorb in the last few hours.
Knowing that Midas was back in the picture and seemingly moving against them, he also wanted to check on Essence and his grandparents.
His sister was moving funny lately as it was, rarely answering her phone or taking days to reply to text messages.
She’d been on some other shit since leaving Bull’s birthday party, come to think of it.
“Why the fuck should we trust either one of y’all?” Bull demanded.
“The way I see it, Midas made himself all our enemy when he killed Bronx. It wasn’t supposed to go down like that,” Oracle pointed out.
“So, what you want from the rest of us?” Eazy questioned. “You want everybody else to get dirty trying to help you clean up the mess you made?”
Thunder rumbled the ground underneath them. Jewel sparked his lighter against his blunt to dry it. Whole time, looking back and forth between everybody as shit unfolded.
“Shit was stupid. Reckless. All of us damn near died because of it, but we supposed to trust you got our best interest at heart now?” Eazy went on.
“E,” Bull cut his eyes at his partner in crime.
“I ain’t got the patience for this shit right now!” Eazy growled. “You do what the fuck you want to do with them. Anybody come for me and mine, shit is over!” He stormed out like a tornado.
Jewel brought the blunt between his lips.
After sparking the tip, he stood and took in the many familiar faces.
“Welp, y’all know I’m normally a team player, but Eazy ain’t wrong. Plus, the nigga got my sister pregnant, soooo family over everything.”
Niva’s stomach jolted from the news, and her arms fell to her side from the crossed position she held not long ago.
Pregnant? Eazy moved on? Bull caught the stricken expression on her face before deciding to tuck his pistol.
He understood the need to go against Braxton, and he couldn’t fault Bronx for it because he wasn’t there.
He couldn’t say how he would or wouldn’t move given the opportunity.
“It took me a long time to grasp and come to grips with all this. Bronx. Braxton. Knowing the truth after all this. I know he can push anybody past their limits, and if Bronx felt like that was his only choice, I ain’t the one to judge him for that.”
“I appreciate the grace, Bull.” Oracle set his glass on the center coffee table and extended a hand to his former partner in crime. For a moment, Bull only looked at him, then he slapped his palm against Oracle’s. He didn’t expect him to yank him into an embrace, and not exactly of the loving kind.
“Grace gets extended. You get a pass.” Bull put some muscle in the pat to his back before pushing away. “For now. You start stinking, I can’t spare you from Eazy any further.”
“I just don’t want it to be no static when we see each other.
Right now, Niva wants to remain lowkey and ease herself slowly back into her life.
I think we can all agree that none of this shit was our fault, so grace should be allowed from all sides.
As far as I’m concerned, we start with a clean slate. ”
Bull’s hooded eyes traveled from Oracle to Niva before nodding.
“Let’s make sure we all on the same page then. Midas don’t get a pass. That muhfucka is mine. I don’t care how long it takes. Anybody working with him is considered a traitor. No coming back from that.”
He finally tucked his gun away and turned toward the door. Oracle walked him out, and Niva slowly lowered herself onto the couch. This wasn’t how she wanted things to go. After Oracle spoke his peace, he closed the door and locked it behind them.
“You really think they’re going to let this go?”
“Right now, they gotter bigger problems dealing with that nigga Midas.” Oracle brushed it off. “How you feeling now that everything is out in the open?”
“I don’t know. Eazy was so mad.”
“He’ll be aight. As you can see, he’s moved on. So have you. We trying to start over, right?”
“Right,” Niva agreed.
“Besides, our main focus should be like everybody else’s.”
“What you mean?” Niva’s brow crumpled.
“I mean, those fucking paintings, Niv. Imagine if we found them shits. We hold all the cards baby. A muhfucka will pay for the rest of our lives for what’s in that shit.”