5. Better than Good #2
“Who is Midas?” Lotus queried.
“A former friend turned fuck nigga,” Eazy clarified. “And now… the nigga is my fucking brother-in-law.” He slid off his stool with his plate in hand.
That statement made Bull lean forward.
“What you say?” he asked, tone even, hands clasped together in front of him.
Eazy paused and looked dead at him.
“Essence?” Bull queried.
“I only got one sister, B. I roll in that muhfucka, and they all sitting at the table, having dinner like shit sweet.”
“Yo’ sister really married this muhfucka?” Jewel raged.
“She didn’t know who he was. He told her his name was Marchonne and didn’t mention having any ties to any of us.
From what Summit been saying, she been fucking with him for over a month.
Probably the nigga she left the club with that night.
He been tricking on her ever since. When I told her who he was and all the shit he’d done, she didn’t even care. ”
Bull didn’t say anything. Instead, he stroked his beard, pensive, jaw locking tightly, a sign that he was angry. Toni peeped it all. She’d be lying if she said she wasn’t a little jealous, given the fact that Bull admitted to having history with Essence.
“The fuck? So now what?” Jewel queried.
“This nigga don’t get a pass. Only reason he made it out of there alive last night was because of Summit and Taci.”
Clearing her throat, Toni scooted to the edge of the couch.
“Lotus, where is the bathroom?”
“Oh, over there to the right.” Lotus pointed behind her to the hallway leading to her bedroom and bathroom.
Bull watched after his wife, sensing a shift as she sauntered off.
“So, what we supposed to do with this?” Jewel moved to Lotus’s fridge searching for something to drink. “This nigga gets to walk around like shit good because he married to your sister?”
“Fuck nah.” Eazy scoffed, shaking his head. “We gotta be as strategic as this nigga was when he slimed us.”
Bull nodded, hands still steepled in front of him as he thought about his homie’s statement.
Eazy was typically the one who went off halfcocked.
Pulling triggers and asking questions later.
This situation was going to require more than that.
Midas was biding his time all along, moving against them, so they were going to be as calculated as he was.
“Enough has happened in the last forty-eight hours. I think we all need to regroup.”
“You right,” Bull agreed, swiping his pants leg and leaning back on the couch.
“I am?” Eazy replied, both brows raising.
Jewel tittered, pulling a carton of raspberry lemonade from the fridge and twisting the cap off.
Lotus shook her head, watching him drink right from the carton like he did when they were kids.
“Yeah. With Braxton out of the picture, it creates a leveled playing ground for all of us. Let’s let the dust settle. Don’t get comfortable. Stay on point.”
“You niggas saying we need to befriend this muhfucka again?” Jewel scowled, approaching the counter and standing across from Lotus and Eazy.
“I’m saying, let’s call a truce. For now. Midas is kept at arm’s length, but we need to keep an eye on this nigga. So, that means E, you gotta play nice with your sister. She don’t know no better.”
Eazy sucked his teeth. He wasn’t buying it.
Essence was too grown and too fucking smart.
Midas had brainwashed her. He could see it on her face.
She was in deep with him. He hated to compromise, but somehow, he knew right now, it was the best thing.
Moving recklessly was bound to cause some consequences that none of them were ready to face.
“The nigga ain’t about to be hanging out for Sunday dinner or no shit like that, but I’ll be cordial,” Eazy conveyed. “We need to come up with a plan though, and we need to make sure it doesn’t come back to us.”
“I already put in some calls to my team in LA. I got my boy Red sending some extra muscle. Braxton is out of the picture, but that doesn’t mean the threat is gone. I want somebody on Toni and the kids, Lotus, and Rhema and the girls. At all times.”
Eazy bowed his head in agreement.
“Fucking right. Me and Jewel cashing out at the gallery. I got a steady gig over there. Bitch Alyssa mad because the big dawg himself came in and promoted me over her. Ya boy on his way to becoming a private, very exclusive art dealer,” he boasted with a wide grin.
Inside Lotus’s mosaic and rose gold style bathroom, Toni studied her reflection in the mirror.
She never thought she was ugly, but after seeing Essence and Chai, both who had been with her husband, she couldn’t keep her insecurities from showing.
Neither of them seemed to be anything like her.
Sighing, she swept some hair from her face and ran the faucet to wash her hands.
When she was done, she exited and bumped right into Lotus heading to her room to get ready for her day.
“Hey! You okay?” she asked, noticing Toni seemed a bit taut when Essence was mentioned.
“Yeah.” She nodded. “It’s been a rough couple of days. I’m still tired.”
“Girl, tell me about it. This pregnancy is kicking my ass. Please tell me it gets better,” Lotus whined.
Toni leaned against the wall and snickered.
“It should. Both of my pregnancies were different. With Breeze, I was an emotional mess. I mean, I cried about any and everything. Surprised that boy ain’t a clingy little crybaby.
Bijou was a walk in the park. I had nausea in the beginning, but once that second trimester hit, I was good. Take it one day at a time.”
“Hmm. Easier said than done when you got a nigga who has an ex back from the dead.” Lotus tucked her arms across her chest.
“Yeah, Bull told me about Niva. How about I raise you an old lover now married to the opps?”
“Essence?” Lotus’s brow dipped. “And Bull?”
“Apparently. I don’t have the details. I just know it happened. Did he seem a little bothered to you by the news?” Toni pried.
“Don’t do that.” Lotus shook her head. “I damn sure get the notion to have doubts, but Bull obviously is crazy about you and those kids.”
“Yeah,” Toni said, her gaze dropping to the floor. “I just wonder sometimes, after everything we’ve been through and how we ended up together. He was with my stepsister, of all people, and Essence too. Two women who are nothing like me.”
“Exactly,” Lotus pointed out. “You’re his wife. That holds weight. Don’t ever let another bitch make you question your position. I’ve seen him look at you, Toni. Trust me. He’s exactly where he wants to be.”
“Thank you for that, Lo.” She smiled and pushed herself off the wall so they could embrace.
“Of course. I have to get dressed so I can head to the library. I can’t be pregnant and broke. I want to update my resume and put some applications in. I’m even willing to sub for a while at my niece’s school. I heard they were kind of short staffed.”
“Speaking of, how do you feel about being a nanny? Is that something you’d consider again?”
“That depends.” Lotus eyed her with suspicion.
“Well, I also want to start working on some things career wise, and Bull and I were talking about needing someone to watch the kids. I could really use the help. Breeze has pre-school, but Jou Jou is busy, and she makes it hard to work sometimes because she’s so temperamental and needy.”
“Are you asking me to be a nanny for your two beautiful babies?” Lotus gushed.
“I mean, would you consider it?”
“Girl, I would love it! They’re perfect!”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Toni muttered, rolling her eyes. “They can be a handful, but they like you.”
“Well, when do you want me to start? I told the school I’d sub for two weeks until they got the replacement for this third-grade class, but if you need me sooner—”
“Two weeks is perfect!” Toni clapped her hands together. “I’ll talk to Bull and get all the paperwork together for your official hire, salary, all that. You can look it over and then we can go from there.”
“Wow, you are amazing, Toni. Thank you so much.” Lotus pulled her into another hug.
“Girl, you helping me out. Hopefully working will keep me distracted, and I won’t have to think about my husband with other women.”
Bull cleared his throat nearby, and Toni’s head jerked in his direction. Eyes wide like a deer caught in headlights, suddenly her face flushed with embarrassment.
“How long have you been standing there?” Toni asked as Lotus slipped down the hall to her room and closed the door behind her. “Long enough to hear my wife still doubting me,” Bull answered, hands slipping into the pocket of his jeans.
“I don’t doubt you.”
“What you call it then, T? Questioning my feelings and loyalty to you and our fucking family.” He sneered, shaking his head and allowing his locs to swing.
“Can you blame me? I saw how you reacted to what Eazy said about his sister.”
“It was a natural fucking reaction!” he argued. “She went and married the enemy on some spur of the moment shit. That ain’t even like Essence. Yeah, I’m concerned, for several reasons. None of what you think, though.” Bull inched closer to his wife and placed a hand on her hip.
“How do you know what I’m thinking?” Toni whispered, folding her arms across her chest.
“Because I know my wife.” He pulled her into him and stole a kiss off her soft lips.
“I love you too, and I’m more in tune with you than you think.
I know I created the situation with Chai and everything, and I take accountability for that.
I was wrong, and I knew it when I was doing it.
Chai was the opposite of what I wanted. She was easy—”
“She always has been,” Toni mumbled, looking off to the side.
Bull grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him.
“And she don’t mean shit to me,” he assured her.
“Okay, Bezai—”
“Nah, it ain’t just okay, Antonia.” His tone left her middle quivering and a puddle forming in her panties. “You gon’ feel me one way or another.” He slapped her ass, then gave it a squeeze. “I want you to have all that mouth ready after we put the kids down tonight.”