7. Old Threats #2
“Nah, it’s your world.” His lips found hers again in a soft kiss this time. “And you know I eat as much as you now.”
“And do.” Lotus frowned. “Shit, I gotta use the bathroom.”
“We passed it on the way in.” Eazy adjusted his dick and pulled his pants up.
Lotus hopped off the counter, pulling her dress down and skipping off toward the front of the house where they came from.
She had to wipe herself clean before getting back in the car.
It was hot, so she’d opted for no panties with this dress.
While she was gone, Eazy went over to the counter to wash his hands and wait for her so they could go.
Minutes later, she returned, and he met up with her at the counter.
“Eazy, this house is big. What are we going to do with all these rooms?”
“Shit, as good as that pussy is, Lo, I’m keeping you pregnant. I’m thinking five—”
“Five! Oh, I know you fucking lying. Keep your penis away from me, Ezekiel.”
He fell over laughing and embraced her. With an arm draped over her shoulders, he led her to the front door so they could leave.
“You fine as shit pregnant, Lo. You ain’t trying to give me no more babies?”
“Three, max. Talking about some five.” She sucked her teeth and talked shit the rest of the way to their destination.
Prospect Pointe Night Market & Main Street After Dark happened once, sometimes twice a year.
In the Spring, and in the fall. Several blocks would shut down from early evening until midnight.
Local businesses stayed open late, restaurants put out special menus and had food trucks lined up on the streets as well.
Boutiques did sidewalk displays, vendors would set up to sell art, candles, jewelry, and clothing.
Live jazz and R&B would play while a DJ spun hits further down the strip where the lounges and rooftop parties took place.
Street performers did magic tricks under lights strung everywhere and other little skits like comedy or role playing.
Most of the older people sat outside listening to the live music and talking shit.
“Yo, that line to Mama Lila’s is ridiculous!” Jewel complained.
He and Rhema approached Bull and Toni at the table they’d grabbed for themselves across from the Golden Dragon, their go to Asian grill, which was positioned not far from the Agave Crossing set up.
Agave was known for their authentic Mexican street food and margaritas.
The best in town. Bull allowed Brenda to take the kids to get their faces painted, leaving the parents alone to fill up on tacos and hibachi while enjoying a few adult beverages.
“A nigga just wanted some catfish and rice, for real.” Jewel tipped his head and bit into a carne asada taco as Rhema took a seat across from Toni and Bull at their picnic table.
“Where are the girls?” Toni tittered, picking up her own taco and taking a bite.
“Somewhere around here with my moms and pops.” Jewel checked around but focused back on his food, facing Rhema as he joined her on the bench to the picnic table. “Where E and Lo?”
“Probably christening that new house.” Toni grinned as she picked up her margarita from Agave and took a sip through her straw.
“Crazy. Long as I’ve known Eazy, nigga ain’t never been serious about shit. All of a sudden, he meet my fucking sister of all people, and the nigga becoming the poster for a perfect boyfriend.” Jewel scoffed resentfully.
“Shut up, Jewel. I think it’s cute. Maybe him and Bull can set an example for you,” Rhema noted.
“Pssh, I’m already ahead of the game. The nigga got the idea to buy a house from me.” Jewel picked up the strawberry punch drink he’d picked up from Agave and took a sip.
Something across the way caught his attention as he set his cup down. A slim-thick brown skinned woman with rich brown hair and golden highlights waved and smiled in his direction. Jewel chucked his chin at her in greeting, and Rhema witnessed the whole thing.
“Who the fuck is that?”
“My dental hygienist,” Jewel answered, picking up his second taco and bringing it to his mouth.
“Jewel, I will knock all your fucking teeth out!” Rhema hissed.
“You bugging.” He chewed slowly and shook his head. “The girl was just saying hi.”
“You ain’t gon’ be saying shit when I cut your tongue out.”
“Shit, I ain’t worried about it. This muhfucka damn near dipped in gold, and you know it. You only depriving yourself, shorty.” He winked at her, and Rhema flung an onion at him off her taco.
Bull and Toni could only laugh at their banter.
They’d closed on their house about a month and a half ago and were living together.
Separate rooms, for now, but still. Rhema was in denial because she did love Jewel, and he’d been on his shit lately.
Not just with the girls but showing up for her too.
Nursing school was kicking her ass. She didn’t even have time to work now with clinicals, so she was allowing Jewel to take care of everything financially.
He’d been coming through, too. Originally she’d just wanted to go for her ADN, but she’d been considering going for her BSN, which meant at least another thousand clinical hours.
“I really can’t stand you most of the time,” she declared.
“That’s alright. That little thirty percent means everything, baby.” Jewel winked, leaned in, and Rhema kissed him, then mushed his face away.
Their relationship in a nutshell. Jewel wasn’t the only one responsible for the back and forth.
She’d backslid more than once, telling herself it was the last time.
After two kids and a whole lot of work, she realized nobody could love or understand her like Jasiel Bailey.
The nigga owned a piece of her soul and she didn’t see ever getting that back.
“There is something wrong with you.”
“I might have dropped him once or twice.” Lotus snickered, but Jewel didn’t find it funny as he inhaled the last of his taco and mugged her.
“Fuck you, Lo. Don’t be coming over here all hugged up either. I still ain’t used to that shit.” He peeped Eazy’s arm around her waist. Her very pregnant waist, and Jewel shook his head.
“Jewel, grow up! You ain’t never liked change.”
“She ain’t told a lie,” Rhema co-signed.
“You know what? I’m finna go get in the Puff line before it gets stupid.” Jewel pulled himself to his feet.
“Good luck.” Lotus huffed. “That line looks like it’s about forty-five minutes long now.”
“So?” Jewel shrugged.
“I heard Liora say they was already running low on the original. She already put an order up for me, though.” Lotus gloated, flashing a petty smile at him.
“Move…” Jewel damn near knocked her over sprinting toward the Pointe Puff stand.
“Don’t forget my order of Puffs, Jewel! I want the original and strawberry cheesecake!” Rhema yelled after him, then jumped up in pursuit. “This nigga ain’t gon’ remember or he gon’ eat my shit, and Imma kill ’em.”
Decades ago, Liora Singer invented the Pointe Puff, and it became a staple at market nights.
It wasn’t a funnel cake. Not quite a beignet, but not a hand pie either.
Pillowy soft, with a golden-brown fried pastry pocket filled with warm brown-sugar cinnamon peaches and cream-cheese cobbler filling, it was like a bite of heaven.
Then she had the audacity to lightly toss them in vanilla-cinnamon sugar and finish them off with a warm butter-pecan praline drizzle.
Served three to a paper boat, usually piping hot with a tiny cup of vanilla bean cream for dipping.
Some next-level sorcery is what Jewel called it, and it was served only at the night market.
Over the years, she’d developed other flavors, strawberry shortcake, banana pudding, sweet potato praline, and after dark, which was a chocolate brownie filled with salted caramel and only sold after sunset.
“What you want first, Lo?” Eazy looked around and viewed his options.
After going to pound town with her at the house, he was starving, and he knew she was too.
“I don’t know. Those damn Puffs in the air over everything. I want Golden Dragon, though.”
“I think a nigga want some tacos.” He rubbed his stomach and paused before squinting at something near the entrance.
Sure enough, Essence sauntered in, holding Midas’s hand and laughing at something he said with a serious face. . She was in no way dressed for this kind of event in heels and a tight red dress, but she looked good. He hated to say, she actually looked fucking happy, which pissed him off even more.
“Ain’t this ’bout a bitch,” Eazy grumbled.
“What?” Lotus turned just in time to see what he saw right along with Toni and a suddenly taut Bull.
When Niva walked up to his sister and threw her arms around her in a hug then spoke to Midas, Eazy’s jaw tightened. When the fuck did that happen?
“Come on, let’s go grab our food.” Eazy nudged Lotus along by the small of her back as soon as Essence spotted the familiar group posted up together.
Deciding to avoid the inevitable, she looked up at her husband, and he encouraged her to walk with him. Bull wanted to go for the heat on his hip so bad in that moment. He knew this wasn’t the time nor place for it, though.
“What’s up, Bull? Hi, Toni, right?” Essence spoke with her arm around her husband’s waist and Niva hovering in the background.
“Right. Hello.” Toni put on a tight smile.
She understood that Essence was Eazy’s sister, but there was no way the two of them would ever be friends. Cordial was the best she could offer considering who she was standing next to. Toni’s eyes lingered on Midas, standing there all smug with his hands locked together in front of him.
“Bull already knows Marchonne, but I don’t think you know—”
“Oh, I’m very familiar with him.” Toni perked up, surprising Essence.
“You look nice and healthy, shorty. How are the babies?”
“Don’t ask about my kids,” Toni quipped, ready to turn up on him.
Bull reached under the table and grabbed her thigh, giving it a squeeze. In other words, telling her to ‘chill’.