12. Ghosts Leave Breadcrumbs #3
“Yo, Bull’s wife so fine. I see why he got two kids with her,” one of them said.
“Hell yeah. And Eazy put a baby in Lotus sexy ass, too,” another voiced.
Lotus stood next to her man with her arm over his shoulder, and he reached for her belly.
“You gon’ fuck around and get one of these young niggas shot!” He turned and grilled them all. They didn’t think they’d heard them.
You would have thought somebody lit a fire under them the way they got up and took off. Bull slammed a domino down on the table, and Jewel threw his head back in laughter.
“Twenty-five, muhfucka,” Bull declared, reaching for his beer and taking a swig.
Midas sat on the bench where the young boys just ran from and reached for a bottle of water in the nearby cooler.
“This nigga.” Jewel sucked his teeth.
“I’m going to get some of this cake.” Lotus pulled away from Eazy.
“I’ll come too.” Rhema hopped up.
“Me too.” Toni leaned in and kissed Bull’s lips. “You want some, baby?”
“Nah, I’m good.”
“Lo, one fucking slice,” Eazy warned.
“I’m eating for two,” she reminded him, holding up two fingers.
“Fuck outta here. You heard what I said.”
Once the ladies sauntered off, Eazy leaned toward Bull.
“We still on for this tonight?”
“Most definitely.” Bull examined the remaining dominoes positioned in his hand. “Jewel—”
“Ruby’s. Eleven o’clock,” he recited, rolling his eyes. “Y’all ain’t gon’ keep treating me like the irresponsible one.”
“Just make sure you on fucking time,” Bull warned.
“Twenty!” Jewel slammed his bone on the table.
Midas wasn’t slick, studying each man with a cocky grin thinking he had one up on them.
Eazy cut his eyes at him, and Jewel sipped from his Bud Light Platinum bottle.
Seeing those niggas all domesticated, soft, and distracted…
Midas didn’t envy that shit. These women and babies had they asses too comfortable.
In the same token, what he peeped was they were all carrying and ready to pop at any moment.
They could also turn their backs on each other.
Shit like loyalty couldn’t be bought. Bull could walk inside and leave his wife and kids safely with his boys, and vice versa.
Wasn’t nobody snaking the nex,t trying to get next to their significant other. Shit was solid.
Midas didn’t have that with anybody. He even saw how his own wife was starting to question them.
She loved him, that was for sure. She’d proven that in the time they’d been together.
He could even say that somewhere along the way, he started to see Essence for who she was.
Slept on. A real woman, about real shit.
She’d taught him things about financial literacy that he had no idea about.
Sometimes he sat back and thought about how they could even take over the world together.
Introducing him as her husband and trying to merge him with this family just wasn’t going to happen though, ever.
When the sun went down, it stopped nothing.
The music was still going, but now the ladies were in the house putting away food and packing plates.
The last little remnants of smoke from the grill were dying down, so the old men all sat around, talking shit and swapping war stories.
Whistler even had a joint in rotation. Most of the kids were inside now, begging for dessert before their parents packed them up to go.
A lot of people lived within walking distance anyway, so they didn’t have far to go.
Seated in the living room, Toni held Bijou against her chest, and Breeze lay with his head in her lap, both knocked out from the activities of their day.
Between the sun, the food, and playing with other kids, she was sure they’d sleep through the ride home and everything.
Essence wandered into the room, pausing in the doorway as Lotus came up beside her.
“You okay?” she asked, twisting the cap off a bottled water and taking a gulp.
“Yeah.” Essence perked up, studying Toni with her kids as Bull stepped in through the front door with Eazy behind him.
Eazy waved Lotus over with one finger, a slick smirk on his face that she was all too familiar with.
Since they’d made up, he couldn’t keep his hands off her.
Every chance he got, he was grabbing or squeezing something.
Her pregnant ass was able to keep up with his demands too because she wanted it as much as he did.
“Before you sneak off, please let me know if I can help with the baby shower. I want to be there,” Essence insisted.
“I will. Don’t be a stranger either. I know you and your brother are going through it, but that is temporary. Everything is going to work itself out.”
“I’m glad somebody believes it.” Essence watched Lotus walk off as Eazy grabbed her hand and pulled her outside onto the porch.
“Hey, baby.”
Midas deep, rugged tone rocked her from her thoughts as she watched Bull kneel and kiss his wife like it was the most natural thing in the world.
She still felt a little twinge that she hated herself for.
“Hey.” Essence half turned to view him over her shoulder.
“I gotta head out. Some business shit.”
“Really, Marchonne?”
“Baby, you know I’m trying to give you the world. Shit don’t move if I ain’t out there.” He rested his hands on her waist and spun her to face him. Essence pressed her back against the doorway.
“Fine. This isn’t the last family event either. There’s always more. I just want you to be comfortable.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever be comfortable around here, E. Real shit. I get where you coming from, though, and I know how to be cordial. I ain’t trying to start shit.” He leaned in and stole a quick kiss. “I love you.”
“Love you too.” Essence grabbed him. This time, her lips smothered his in a low, slow, teasing kiss that he fell into. His semi hard dick poked her in the thigh too.
“Mmm, damn, like that?” he asked, brow lifting as a sexy grin lifted the corners of his mouth.
“Just want you to remember what you coming home to.” She fingered his long locs and stared into his slanted brown eyes.
“Keep that shit tight for me then.” He knelt to kiss her neck, causing her to giggle before parting.
Midas marched right past Bull and Toni gathering their kids to walk out the front door.
“Come on, T. Let’s load them up so we can get them in bed.” Bull picked up Breeze off the couch first, and Essence approached.
“Hi.” She cleared her throat, addressing Toni moreso than Bull. “Heading out?”
“Been a long day, E,” Bull concluded.
“Well, can I talk to you for a minute?” Essence asked, looking Toni in the eye.
Curiosity filled her face before she glanced at her husband then back at Essence. Lifting herself and Bijou from the couch, she handed her over to Bull too.
“You can handle them, right?”
“Like two little fucking boulders.” Bull grunted, carrying both kids to the door.
Toni and Essence looked after them until the door closed.
“What’s this about?” Toni queried, studying how antsy Essence seemed, wringing her hands together.
“I just wanted to apologize. I might have come off a little territorial and indifferent when it came to you and Bull. For my own reasons.”
“I’m fully aware of those reasons.” Toni tucked her arms across her chest, and Essence paused, lips slightly parted.
“You are?”
“Yes. My husband and I do our best not to keep things from each other. So, I know all about you and him. My question is, are you keeping the past in the past, or you trying to keep it present for a possible future?”
Essence’s brows rose in surprise. She didn’t expect Toni to have so much bite or be so forward.
“I’m married,” Essence reminded her.
“Yes, well that’s neither here nor there when it comes to that sociopathic husband of yours—”
“You don’t know anything about Marchonne.”
“I know he had no problem kidnapping me and my kids. So, we can keep it cute for the family, but the fact that you can even choose sides with a nigga like that over your own brother and Bull is all I need to know. We don’t ever have to be friends.
Just make sure you show some fucking respect when I’m around.
” Toni snatched up her purse off the couch and marched to the door.
She wanted to be pleasant and calm for Taci, so she wasn’t going to go there and raise hell in her house against her granddaughter, but she meant every word she said, and Essence could choke on it.
Later that night…
The old Miss Ruby’s Chicken and Fish sign was worn out.
It still smelled like old oil and dust. Grease stains splattered the walls in the kitchen, and all the chairs were upside down on tables, accompanied by cobwebs.
There were still menus on the counter. It was like the place was just frozen in time.
Midas used a crowbar on the back door to let himself inside.
He walked through cobwebs and swung his arm in front of him to avoid more as he stepped into the space.
His heavy footsteps echoed against the tile, and he stopped to take in his surroundings.
He knew he was in the right place. He’d arrived early enough to avoid Bull, Eazy, and Jewel too.
Using a flashlight, he aimed it at the ceiling, the floor, the floorboards, anything, searching for something.
He didn’t know exactly what he was looking for until he paused near the old refrigerator.
Something caught his eye. A sealed wall.
Someone had cut part of it out and patched it up.
It wasn’t recent, but he calculated at least in the last few years, judging from the state of the rest of the restaurant.
Using his upper body strength, Midas moved the freezer until he had a full view of the wall behind it.
At least twenty inches of space was carved out.
Going into his bag of tricks, he retrieved the sledgehammer he’d brought along with him.