Page 46

thirty-two

. . .

“Did you hear that song?” Staysha gushed as she walked into the apartment. “I know he wants Heavy Is the Head to be the first video, but I feel like Go Figga needs to drop the minute they’re approved.”

Eden laughed at Staysha’s enthusiasm as she finished uploading her video to her JoyTube page.

“You’re really enjoying this branding specialist job?” Eden prompted.

“I’m loving it!” Staysha shrieked. “Legit, my favorite thing to do is market y’all separately and together. Like Trae Way is a brand, Garden of Eden is a brand; you two together are pure magic. And now that you’re together for real, yessss.”

Eden shook her head at Staysha’s two-step and snap of the fingers. “You don’t think that makes us seem fake? Like what we’re doing in private isn’t real?”

“Ohh, what we’re doing in private,” Staysha cooed.

Eden waved her off and took inventory of her kitchen.

The ring light was still up, and the pound cake she was working on was baking in the oven.

According to the text, she got a couple of hours from Maximus, and he was coming straight to her when he finished getting Brody set up.

The text also instructed that he wanted to eat, sleep, and then hit The Galleria.

Two days away from him, and every inch of her body craved him.

His touch, his hold, the trill of his raspiness in her ear that turned her on as much as it settled her.

She thought about running again, blocking him, cutting this off at the knees before both legs slipped from under her and she fell with no recovery.

Then she remembered rule number one – ain't no running. After that thought faded, she thought about running just so he’d chase her and drag her back by the ankles and fuck her into submission.

“Are you listening to me?” Staysha questioned, snapping Eden out of her daydream.

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she clenched her thighs and cleared her throat. “What’d you say?”

“Ahhh shit,” Staysha hummed, studying Eden. “That dick got you daydreaming.”

Eden feigned annoyance, rolling her eyes and waving her off. “You’re tripping. It’s just dick.”

“Uh huh. Is that Poppi’s pound cake in the oven?”

“I was craving something sweet.”

Staysha squinted before bursting out into laughter again. “One thing you could never do was lie easily. Dickdreaming, what a wonderful problem to have.”

“I’m going to assume you’re really here because there’s a script?” Eden posed, happy to get her mind off of Maximus and the glorious dick he carried around. The dick she gladly took round for round, allowing him to fold her up and flip her around all while talking that talk.

She shivered before refocusing on her sister.

“Actually,” Staysha said with a grin. “Yeah, I forwarded it to you, and they want you to send in a video. They’re still casting the male lead and trying to make sure you two match well. I offered up MB, but they want a clean, WSU-type of lead.”

“Girl, we can’t do every damn show together.” Eden navigated her screen from the confirmation that her video was live with over a thousand views and counting. She moved to her email and opened the attachment. “What scene do they want to test?”

“The opening scene is your character and the client.”

Eden scrolled through and grunted. “Oh shit. It’s a sex scene that opens the show.”

“No. It’s an almost-sex scene, keep scrolling.”

Eden did and sighed with relief.

“Girl, I know you’re not tripping. You kissed MB on screen past the cut call,” Staysha sassed.

“That was different.”

“Mmhmm, you liked that nigga and was acting like you didn’t,” Staysha huffed. “Can you get that recorded tonight and send it to me. Just turn the camera off before y’all start fucking.”

“What are you talking about?” Eden huffed. “I have self-control.”

“Yeah, whatever. Do me one favor, try not to get knocked up while I'm shopping you around for deals.”

“Bitch, why can’t you take your own advice?” Eden snipped.

Staysha laughed. “I’m on birth control. You know that little thing you refused to get because you weren’t fucking, and you didn’t want to gain weight under contract.”

“The contract literally had weight restrictions.”

“Mm,” Staysha grunted, giving her older sister a once over. “Don’t look like you give a damn about it now. All those late nights making your hips come in… finally. You’ve been walking around for years looking like a pole with ass and titties.”

“Get out of my house,” Eden said, muffling a laugh and tossing a spoon at her sister.

“Love you! Do everything, I would,” Staysha called over her shoulder and walked out of the apartment.

Maximus: 30 minutes out, headed straight up

Never mind that she’d been naked and on display for him, Eden couldn’t open the door with a batter-splattered shirt and wild hair.

Only one would do. Giving the kitchen and the cake in the oven one last look, she trekked down the hall to shower, tame her hair, and put on a silk dress she had hanging in her closet that she’d never worn.

Covered enough to go out, comfortable enough to stay in.

A light layer of make-up and a soft spritz of perfume, and she was ready. Eager to fall into his arms. Longing to just feel him. Eden stopped at the mirror and huffed. “You cannot fall in love first or even before it makes sense. Relax.”

A rap of his knuckles against the door sparked the hairs on her body to stand on its ends.

Through the door, Eden could feel his nervous system begin to ease.

She stopped herself from rushing to the door, opening it, and jumping into his arms. Thirty seconds felt like minutes before she pulled the door open and took him in.

Back in his basic fit. Sweats, a white tee stretched over his chest, and fresh sneakers covered his feet.

His afro, free and in need of a detangle and some tender love and care.

Maximus leaned on the threshold, a bouquet of flowers barely hidden behind his back. “All this for me?”

“Uh, no, I was going to film some more content,” Eden quipped. “I’ve been like this all day.”

“Oh word? Considering that video with 15k views said otherwise,” Maximus smirked. “You can say yes.”

“Or you can make me,” Eden quipped, making Maximus look over his shoulder at Eden’s older neighbor, stopping at her door to eavesdrop.

“Girl, you got neighbors,” he buzzed, throwing his head over his shoulder. “Nosey ones.”

“Mm, baby, don’t mind me. I saw your fine ass get off the elevator. I would be requesting the same thing if these hips still worked,” the older woman quipped. “Girl, you better get that man inside before I take a risk.”

“Get in here.” Eden laughed and pulled Maximus inside. “That’s Mrs. Heyward, she’s as nasty as she is nosy. Her and Mr. Long from the 8 th floor got something going on.”

“Damn,” Maximus huffed at both the tea and Eden’s strength.

“Those are for me?”

He gazed down at her.

“I’ve never been the romantic type of nigga but you gettin’ flowers out of me and shit,” Maximus voice flowed from his body with a coat of happiness. “What else you want?”

“I like being missed and I don’t want nothing.”

“Uh uh,” he grunted. “You want me chasing your ass around the city too. Testin’ that dog in me.”

Eden took the flowers from his hands and placed them in a vase of water. “How much of that dog you got in you?”

“A lot of it. Different breed, baby.”

“The dog that likes to run around from yard to yard or that one that’s going to be up my ass?”

Maximus rose a thick brow and gave her a knowing look. “You already know. Right up your ass. In that muthafucka making sure my scent and shit still there. And you fuckin’ like it.”

Eden chuckled as she bit her lip. “I just wanted to know. You got layers.”

“Uh huh. You forgettin’ some shit aren’t you?”

Eden squinted. “Uhh. Thank you for my poppies?”

“Get your pretty ass over here and give me a kiss and a hug and tell me you missed me.”

"Ohh, you feeling yourself,” Eden crooned. “Only if you do something for me first...”

“What’s that?”

“I need to send in a video for the tester for this show. Immediately after that, I’ll kiss you and tell you I missed you.”

He smirked. “You gon’ have me pull that shit out of you?”

Eden nipped her lip. “I would like that. My rose died and I lost the charger soooo…”

“Imagine doing shit on purpose to get exactly what you want,” he grumbled in laughter. “Where you want me?”

“On the couch, I sent the lines to your phone.”

Maximus trekked behind her, pulling his phone from his pocket and navigating to their text thread. While he was looking at the lines, he smacked his teeth. “You got to fuck this nigga? Like on the show?”

“It’s eluded that my character is sleeping with her client, and then he gets caught up in a murder scandal, and subsequently, so does she. She can’t say he was with her because of her contract, but you know.”

“Mm mm, this shit finna be fire,” Maximus spoke, taking a spot on the couch. “One of my favorite things is going to be watching you boss up.”

Eden bit her smile as she adjusted the camera just right. “You sure? No bullshit?”

“Not an ounce of bullshit in my blood, baby. Tell me when you’re ready.”

Eden made one last adjustment to the camera before switching over to the couch and pressing record on the remote to the device.

“You’re acting like I’ve told you something other than the truth,” Maximus read from his phone screen and balanced his attention on Eden. “I’m not leaving my wife, and I’m not letting you go.”

“Of course,” Eden scoffed, in full embodiment of her character. “I’m good enough to manage your career, hide your bullshit, let you in here every time you pop up.”

“Here you go.”

“You’re right. I’m tripping. I forgot my role. Maybe you should really consider letting me go. You can keep your wife, your pro baller career, your life, and I can keep mine.”

Maximus scoffed, pulling her closer to him. “Hell nah. What I tell you?”

“I heard what you said,” she replied, subtly fighting him off per the script. “Anthony, let me go.”

“Look at me, Sondee,” Maximus grunted, holding her still. “You are mine. I’m not letting you leave me.”

“But you’re still sleeping with your wife.”

“We don’t share shit but the business and a name.” Maximus gripped her chin and kissed her lips roughly. “Do you understand me?”

Following the script, he kissed her again, prompting him to abandon the notes and push his tongue into her mouth.

“Max,” Eden’s whine was muffled. “We’re not done.”

“We are. Turn it off,” he grunted, pushing her dress up and finding her panty-less. “Turn it off, E.”

Eden patted the cushions, trying to find the remote. Once she found it, she turned it off and placed her hands in his hair.

“Been wet since I told you I was on my way?” he grunted, swiping his fingers over her folds before pushing them inside.

“Since you left me in your bed,” she groaned, hips rotating only for a second before he pulled his digits out.

“Say it.”

Eden’s pants mixed with a series of seductive whines. “What? Say what?”

He gave her a look.

She kissed him. “I missed you.”

“How much?”

“A lot. I think you got me sprung or something.”

“It’s mutual.” Maximus nipped her chin. “Pretty self. Tell me what you want.”

“You, food, sleep. But before we get carried away, there’s a cake in the oven.”

“For me?”

“Mmhmm,” Eden groaned, pulling herself off his lap. “We get carried away and then it’s burnt, and all my hard work goes out the window.”

Maximus stood, his erection evident in his sweats. “I know how to handle that. How long you got left on it?”

Eden glanced at the timer as she attempted to fix her dress. Maximus was glued back to her body, bunching it up in one hand, setting the timer on his phone with the other. “Forty-five minutes.”

“Round one? Bet,” he grunted, pulling the dress off of her, hiking her over his shoulder and moving down the hall.

He didn’t waste any time, settling between her thighs and latching his mouth around her sensitive flesh.

Every time he pulled her to the edge, he stopped and pushed back up her body to suckle her breasts, kissing her lips.

“You won’t let me touch you,” Eden grumbled, trying to pull her hands free of his hold. “Let me, please.”

“Uh uh. I want my cake. You touch me, I’m not going to give a fuck about nothing but that sweet pussy squeezing me. You do that shit on purpose, huh? Wrapping that shit around me and making it vibrate and shit.”

Eden reveled in his kisses and touches. “Marking my territory. If you ever leave out this yard, you’ll be back begging.”

“Never leaving out this yard, baby.”

“Good.” Eden licked his face. “Lemme.”

Maximus released her hands. In a swift move he dropped to his back, placed her on his face, and smacked her ass.

Only he would pull her from doubt and place her in comfort and safety like this.

Eden leaned over and took him in her mouth.

Pleasing each other without losing track of time made everything intentional.

They erupted in tandem. His cream coating her lips, and her honey moisturizing his mustache and beard.

The cake was pulled from the oven, and their bodies were reconnected. Sweet melodies sounding off well into the night.