4. Midas Touch
MIDAS TOUCH
After dropping Bull and Jewel off at their cars, Eazy shot a quick text to Lotus, letting her know he’d be there shortly.
He steered his car along, taking in the Prospect Pointe sights before arriving in his grandparents’ driveway.
When he pulled in behind his grandfather’s car, he’d already spotted the Genesis parked on the curb and got curious.
Eazy yanked his key from the ignition. Climbing out, he let his boots crush the gravel beneath his feet and tossed his keys.
He took one last look at the car and strolled toward the back door.
The door was closed, so he used his key to let himself inside, but he heard the laughter.
Turning his key in the lock, he pushed the door open, and the blood in his veins quickly turned to ice.
“Oh, Eazy!” Essence hopped up from the table where Summit and Taci sat with none other than Midas fucking St. James.
Food was on the table, and he’d just finished eating fried chicken, mac and cheese, and a plate of greens. He used a napkin to wipe his mouth, and immediately, a grin stretched across his lips.
Essence stopped in front of Eazy, recognizing the glower embedded on his face.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, rearing her neck.
“The fuck he doing here?” Eazy nodded to Midas as he leaned back in his chair.
“Wh-what are you talking about?” Essence glanced over at Midas then turned back to her brother.
Eazy went behind his back for his gun and immediately cocked it then rushed the table.
“Oh, Lord.” Taci huffed, and Summit immediately stood.
Midas didn’t blink. Amused, he rocked on the back two legs of the chair, leaving himself wide open for Eazy to pop off.
“Ezekiel,” Summit warned, holding an arm out to stop whatever he was about to do.
“Give me a reason not to blow your fucking head off,” Eazy growled, the barrel of his gun aimed at Midas’s head.
“I’ll give you one,” Essence spoke up. “He’s my husband.”
Eazy almost popped a vessel and caught whiplash when he pivoted to look at his sister coming up behind him.
“What is wrong with you? Put that gun down, Eazy! You’re losing it!”
“Fuck that! Why is this bitch ass nigga in this house?”
“I already told you—”
“How the fuck you marry a muhfucka you don’t even know, E?” he demanded.
“That’s none of your business! You don’t control my life.”
“I know you can be impulsive and not think shit through, but this the stupidest shit you ever did! This muhfucka is a snake! He the reason Bull did a five-year bid, why Bronx is dead, and why me and Jewel almost died that night! So, miss me with some control shit!” Eazy barked, leaving part of Midas’ rap sheet on the table.
With wide eyes, she faced the man she’d married as he leaned forward and dropped an arm against the table.
“Baby, is this true?” Essence queried.
“Partially.” Midas shrugged.
“Eazy, put the fucking gun down!” Summit ordered.
“Did you hear what I just said?” Eazy asked, a deep sneer crowding his face.
“I heard you. What you gon’ do, blow his head off in front of all of us?”
“I just came from seeing Oracle and Niva.”
Midas was damn sure thrown by that statement before he stared off, like he was thinking about something.
“Damn, so Niva made it out too? Look at God,” he mocked, chuckling and shaking his head. “I guess He does spare fools.”
“Fuck you! Get the fuck out!”
“Eazy! You can’t just come up in here raising hell!” Essence hissed.
“Did you hear what the fuck I said?” Brows bridging together over his rage filled eyes, Eazy got in his sister’s face.
“Did you hear what I said?” she held up her hand, displaying a fat diamond with a wedding band. “Marchonne, is my husband.”
“I don’t give a fuck if that nigga cured world hunger! You know what the fuck he did! What he took from me!” Eazy belted.
“But you said Niva was alive.” Midas slowly brought himself to his feet. “Sounds like you received an unexpected blessing.” He sneered callously.
The minute he strutted over and was within reach, Eazy swung on him. Fist connecting with nothing but flesh, he knocked blood from Midas’s mouth, sending his entire body shifting in the direction of the punch.
“Oh, my God! Eazy!” Essence rushed to defend her man.
“Nah. I’m good, baby.” Midas, always a glutton for fucking pain, licked the blood inside his mouth and grinned.
He stood his ground against Eazy, who was ready to lay him down with the next punch. Essence spun on her brother, using both hands to knock him back, which it barely did.
“You need to calm the fuck down! How is this helping anything? You said it yourself, Niva is back. I’m sorry about what happened to Bronx—”
“That’s all the fuck you got? For real, E? You letting this nigga get a pass after he been lying to you about who the fuck he is in the first place?”
“It’s more than that. I’m not stupid.” Hurt broke out across her face, and her eyes glistened. “How can you even stand there and say that to me?”
“The same way you standing here with my fucking enemy, talking about you fucking married like that’s supposed to wash away all the shit he did!
It ain’t just me that’s out for this nigga’s head either.
Bull, Jewel, Oracle. You think any of them ’bout to give a fuck you married this nigga?
Fuck no! And they don’t have to accept the shit, E! ”
“You done being emotional?” Midas mocked.
Eazy inched forward, ready to knock his head off his shoulders this time.
“You done being a coward ass bitch?” Eazy challenged.
“I thought we might be able to do this like adults, but you want to keep acting like a kid—”
“Fuck you, Midas! You wouldn’t have shit if it wasn’t for us bringing you in. Bull took a chance on you, and what you do? Leave him holding the bag so you could get away. Then you fucking disappeared! Now, we find out you went against Bronx to Braxton and killed him! Nigga, the fuck I look like?”
“You look smart,” Midas voiced. “So, before you start trying to figure out where to bury me, maybe you should listen. I might have an offer you don’t want to refuse.”
“Fuck yo’ offer!” Eazy spat. “Ain’t enough money in the fucking world!”
“Listen, Sudan is putting an offer on the table. He will pay handsomely whoever finds those last four pieces. I’m guessing enough to take care of you and your girl, what’s her name?
Jewel’s big sister.” Midas snapped his fingers like he was trying to recall before recognition flickered through his eyes, and they landed on Eazy. “Lotus.”
He rushed Midas, crushing the nigga into the nearest wall, knocking some of Taci’s kitchen decor on the ground in the process. With the barrel of his pistol, he brought it to Midas chin and leaned in close enough for him to smell the weed on his breath.
“Keep her fucking name out your mouth!”
“Eazy!” Taci jumped up from her chair. “Essence, get this man out of my house!”
“But, Gran—”
“I said now! I have heard enough!” Taci grabbed the back of the chair for support, suddenly weak.
Summit inched closer to his wife, grabbing her arm to help hold her up.
“What you want to do, E?” Midas questioned. “Better to work with me than against me, right?”
“Fuck nah.” Eazy flung him away from him.
He shot knives at his sister, who looked defeated, searching her grandparents’ faces for some kind of empathy. Summit was already helping Taci over to the stairs.
“Don’t bring him back around here,” he warned.
“What about me? Y’all turning your back on me too?”
“When you can make any of this make sense, we’ll be here,” Summit told her, helping Taci up the steps.
Essence snatched her purse and jacket up near the door, and Midas flung it open for her.
Flashing one last somber expression in her brother’s direction, she thought he might be ready to concede, but he only stepped forward to make sure to close and lock the door behind her. Now, he was officially blown.
Easy went around the rest of the house to make sure all the other doors and windows were secure before taking a seat in the living room on the sofa and steepling his hands over his face.
Staring ahead, his dark thoughts got the best of him for at least twenty minutes before he heard Summit shuffling into the room.
Dropping his hands to his lap, Eazy turned to his grandfather, gripping a glass of whiskey.
“You got anything else you need to get off your chest?” He took position on the love seat across from Eazy and leaned back.
“Nah.” He shook his head.
“So, your ex is back from the dead, and you don’t feel anything about that?” Summit questioned.
“Don’t matter what I feel. Ain’t shit I can do about it,” Eazy replied.
“You saw her, talked to her?”
“All that. Not much to say to a muhfucka who allowed me to think they was dead for four years. Coming with some bullshit ass excuse about being scared and not knowing who to trust but allowed Oracle to take care of her like I ain’t the nigga that was always there for her! ” He roared, jumping off the couch.
Summit remained unreactive, bringing his glass to his lips and taking a sip. He nodded, but it was brief while watching Eazy pace the living room. He knew his grandson like the back of his hand.
“Then to come over here and find E here… with him? The fuck she thinking? She don’t know this nigga.”
“Well, she been talking to Taci about him for over a month.” Summit rested his glass on the arm of the sofa and twirled it. “He been flying her places, taking her on shopping sprees, upgraded her car and her townhouse. Nigga been love bombing the shit out of her nonstop.”
“And she fell for the shit because she’s fucking lonely.” Eazy took a breath and sighed, resting his hands on his waist.
“What’s this about you and Lotus?” Summit pried.
Eazy’s heart swelled naturally now when he thought about her.
He loved the idea that she was at her spot, waiting for him to be there.
He wanted to strangle Midas for implying anything about their relationship.
Dropping his hands at his side, he moved back toward the couch, positioning himself on the arm.