4. Midas Touch #3
There were no breakfast smells. The only aroma that toyed with Bull’s nose as they descended the stairs was liquor and tobacco smoke.
Sprawled out across the sofa in the living room, a half empty bottle of Jack Daniel's still in her hand, Brenda’s arm dangled off the couch onto the floor.
The ashtray was nearby, filled with cigarette butts from her black cigarettes.
Shaking his head, Bull paused in the doorway.
“Is she always like this?” Toni asked.
“For most of my life.” Bull sighed. “Take the kids to the kitchen.”
“Come on, y’all. Mommy will make you pancakes,” Toni encouraged.
“Yay!” Breeze pumped his fist and took off running down the hall.
Toni lowered Jou Jou to the ground, and she gave chase right after her brother in the museum of a house.
For a minute or two she hovered as Bull took slow strides into the room toward his mother.
She could relate as he knelt and reach out to nudge her back.
It took her a minute to come to. Lifting her head off the couch, she squinted through the slight rays of sun poking through the curtains.
“Bull?” Brenda rested her hand against her forehead and licked her dry lips.
She tasted the liquor on her tongue and wanted to gag. Instead, she released a painful groan and rolled onto her side.
“What are you doing here? Wh—what time is it?”
“Almost 9:30,” he told her.
“Shit!” Brenda shot up and threw herself back onto the couch. “I don’t remember coming down here,” she said, head spinning.
A slight frown carved into her face, and she brought her eyes up.
Reading the melancholy behind his gaze, she knew she hadn’t dreamt last night.
She killed her husband. After he admitted he was the reason their son was dead, with no remorse.
Remembering the shock that displayed over his face, Brenda’s stomach turned.
She was angry, and in the heat of the moment.
Never in all these years did she ever think she would be the reason her husband was no longer walking this earth.
Bull took position on the edge of the coffee table in front of her.
“You okay?”
She nodded, forcing a smile on her lips.
“Yeah. I mean… I will be, right?”
“I’m here if you need to talk,” he offered.
“You trying to be there for me like I never was for you?” She tittered. “Don’t worry about me, baby. I’m going to survive this.”
“Not with all this shit.” Bull picked up the tray of coke she’d left out and the bottle of liquor. “And if you want to be in my kids’ lives, this has to stop.”
Panic flitted across her face. Once upon a time, Braxton threatened to remove her from Bull and Bronx’s life if she didn’t do what he told her.
It was one of the worst times of her life.
Wondering if her husband was going to bring harm her way if she didn’t fall in line as the dutiful wife and mother he’d picked her to be.
She’d made herself so small for so long to accommodate that man.
“I understand.”
“Do you?” Bull hiked his brows.
“Yes, Bull. I get it, okay!” Brenda shot to her feet, reaching for what was left of the pack of cigarettes and digging one out.
She tucked it between her lips and reached for the lighter beside it.
“I need to go check in with Eazy. I’m taking Toni and the kids with me. We’re going to grab some things from the house and come back here for a few days. Does that work for you?”
“Why would you do that?” Brenda lit her cigarette and took a puff.
“Because I don’t want you to be alone,” he answered, watching her eyes soften.
“Bull, I can take care of myself.”
“Well, this time, I’m not about to let you. We family, right? Andrews? This gives us a clean slate, but only if you willing to put the work in. We can’t be how we were.”
“When did you become this logical?”
“I always had my own mind. That’s why Pop couldn’t stand me.
” Bull rose from the table. “I just don’t want you to slip even further behind this.
You did what you felt you needed to do in that moment, and what you did inevitably saved my wife and children.
So, yeah, I want to make sure you’re good.
You get a chance with them that you didn’t have with me or Bronx, and they don’t have much family to begin with. ”
Brenda fought tears. Lip quivering, hand shaking with the cigarette, she exhaled and put it out in the ashtray.
“You’re not playing fair. Those kids are beautiful, and I want nothing more than to get to know them and be for them what I never could be for you and your brother.”
“Then when I come back tonight, we can strategize. Go over all of Braxton’s financials, whatever you have access to. I know people, so we can hack into records if we need to.”
Brenda looked around the living room, catching a chill and hugging herself.
“I’m not so sure about this house anymore.”
Bull nodded.
“I can see that. After a while, you can sell it and find something for you. We just need to give it some time. If you start moving like Braxton is dead, it’s going to cast suspicion we don’t need.”
She nodded, a veteran already in what he was telling her. Brenda knew she had a role to play. Only a handful of people really knew Braxton’s fate, and she wasn’t willing to risk what was left of her family. Bull was right. Clean slate.