Page 18

The few pictures she’d seen of him didn’t do any justice.

Trae Way MB. Lean but muscular physique proving that he passed his prison time on the yard lifting weights, his legs matched his upper body, which was impressive because most men focused on how broad and bulky the upper body was while leaving their toothpicks for legs struggling to hold them up.

“Why you out here and not in there with everyone else?” his raspy voice filled her ears just like the melodies of his raps – hypnotic. Each word he spoke pushed the flow of smoke through his tinted lips.

Eden rubbed the back of her neck and attempted to refocus on something else. Back on the pool to avoid the power of familiar presence. “I’m not really the most liked influencer here, so I’m just in my corner until it’s time to go.”

Trae Way MB took a seat next to her, observing how she attempted to play cool. He smirked softly and took another hit of his blunt before offering her a puff. “You smoke?”

Eden shook her head. “No, I’m good, thanks though. Why aren’t you enjoying your party?”

He adjusted his body in the seat, slouching down just a bit. “To be honest, I didn’t even want this shit. But my manager and some pushy chick named Staysha thought it would be a good idea to have a fresh out kickback.”

“Fresh out kickback, is a hell of a name.”

“Tell me about it. They’re trying to create some buzz, I guess, but it’s more like they fuckin’ and need a reason to sneak away.”

“Oh, I’ve witnessed the tension. They’re definitely doing something,” Eden shared, feeling his deep-set eyes on her. Eden offered him her eyes momentarily. “Staysha is my baby sister. And yes, she is pushy.”

“Ohh,” he mused, not looking away. “You’re @GardenofEden.”

“That would be me.”

He smiled. It was so damn charismatic that Eden forgot she was sitting for a moment.

How could a smile unleash a swarm of nerves in her stomach and make her feel like she was levitating at the same time?

Probably the same way his voice had her hearing colors and seeing sounds.

“I felt like I knew you from somewhere. I feel like a thank you is in order.”

“You don’t have to thank me. Your music is good. Not that stupid ass ‘I still want to be a gangsta all my life’ mumble rap. It’s real.”

“You don’t strike me as the type that knows gangsta rap,” he said, wanting to keep the conversation flowing as long as possible.

“I don’t know if I should be offended by that or not,” Eden stated with feigned shock. “What type do I strike you as?”

“You asking ‘cause you want to hear me compliment your ass or you really want to know how people see you through their lenses?”

“I don’t like compliments for real,” Eden softly shared. “The people who praise you in one breath, tear you down in the next. I’m interested in knowing how I’m seen in someone else’s lenses.”

Trae Way MB nodded ever-so-slightly as he licked his lips.

He grunted before turning away, hitting the black paper-wrapped blunt and blowing the smoke into the night air.

“You seem soft. Not like you pussy or nothing, just soft. Kept. Talked to a certain way. Definitely not like you know your way around Trae Way.”

“Would it surprise you to know that I am from Trae Way? 34 th to be exact.”

“Stop bullshittin’ with me,” he rumbled in laughter. “You not from the ‘hood.”

“I most definitely am.”

“You affiliated?”

Eden shook her head, keeping her father’s and her grandmother’s identities to herself. “Nope, just a regular degular girl from around the way.”

“That’s some wild shit. Whole time I was just thinkin’ you were a shorty with a pretty face that loved that gangsta shit. Turns out you know that gangsta shit.”

“I do. Speaking of which, and if I’m in your business, you can tell me to stop, but the mixtape…that’s all we get, or is there something else in the works?”

She watched as he fished his phone out of his pocket, not offering her an answer straight away. Eden quietly sat by and watched him navigate through a few icons before turning the music down to where only they could hear it.

“Workin’ on something,” he said as the music played.

Eden rested her elbow on the armrest nearest him and took in the lyrics and the beat. She offered him a look he couldn’t read, making him stop the track.

“You ain’t feeling it?”

“Not at all. But the question is, are you asking to get bullshit or the truth?”

“I require the whole truth. Tell me what you think.”

Eden rolled her glossed lips over one another. “I mean, it’ll get airplay, but it’s not genuine. It doesn’t feel like you mean it. Take Head of a G for instance, you were talking some real shit. What was that line?”

“Heavy, heavy is the head. Hold that shit steady. Niggas want my soul that don’t know I’m protected already. Swaggin’ through Trae Way target on my back. Head of a g gon’ cost them niggas more than a rack,” they rapped cooly in unison.

Eden snapped her fingers. “That shit. Your fans want that shit. Don’t get a record deal and sell out. Big talent barely makes it out of Trae Way. Your fans are watching you.”

“You a fan?”

Eden found herself getting lost in his eyes but quickly recovered. Any man this handsome and equally as gangster was dangerous, like either he had a girlfriend lurking in this house somewhere, could fuck and eat you off the bone, or both. She cleared her throat and looked away from him.

“I’m interested.”

“What I got to do to make you a fan?” he queried.

Eden rubbed the back of her neck again. “Make some real shit. Not whatever that was. It sounds like you don’t trust yourself.”

He leaned back in his seat, relit his blunt, and sat still in her silence for a moment.

“Maximus.”

Eden looked over. “Hm?”

“Don’t call me Trae Way MB. My name is Maximus.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Maximus,” Eden sweetly hummed.

“Nice to see you, Eden.”

She hummed and then sighed. It was loaded. “It’s nice to be seen.”

Just as he opened his mouth to ask her another question, not of importance but just to hear her voice, a fight broke out by the pool, making him shoot to his feet.

“I told Keon about having these niggas in my spot and fuckin’ shit up.” Safe on the terrace, he looked at Eden. “Stay here.”

She nodded and watched him hurry down the side stairs, bellowing at the violators in the process. “Ay, not in my fuckin’ spot!”

Eden: I’m gonna go

Staysha: It’s just a fight

Eden: I don’t need to be wrapped up in anymore shit

Eden navigated from her text screen to the JoyRide app and ordered a ride home.

Eden: You coming or not?

Staysha: I’ll leave after I see this through

Eden: Be safe

With that, Eden gathered her minimal amount of things and made herself scarce while Maximus defused whatever was happening by his pool.