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thirty-three

. . .

“You’re up early,” Eden tiredly said, pulling herself from the mattress to find Maximus standing up in her bathroom, rubbing lotion on his arms. She squinted. “Is that my cashmere peach lotion?”

He nodded proudly. “Shit smells good as fuck.”

Eden scratched her bonnet-covered head and squinted. Maximus smirked in the mirror. “Do you know that that lotion has gold and silk in it, and they only make fifty bottles a year?”

“No wonder it smells so damn good. This is what you be rubbing between your thighs that has me losing my mind?”

“Yeah, but at this rate, there won’t be any more left,” Eden grumbled, slowly swinging her legs over the bed.

“You aware that one of these days we gon’ be sharing space every day, right?”

“That’s the plan?”

He nodded. “And I’m not driving across the damn city every night to get to you.”

Eden hummed and trekked over the floor into the bathroom. True to their routine, she used the bathroom, washed her hands, and turned on the shower. “Thank you for putting my hair up.”

“You passed out right after talking shit too,” Maximus laughed softly. “I got you all day?”

“You got me until three. There’s a night shoot Staysha booked me for. I’ll be there until midnight.”

“You can slide to the studio after? I’ll take us home.”

The mere fact of his calling his space her home was unknotting her fear. Eden answered as she got into the shower. “I can do that. Why, you want to lay up today?”

“Nah, you got a shoot. I won’t have you moving slow or all marked up. We got an appointment at the Galleria for curtains.”

“You made an appointment for curtains?”

“Window treatments,” he corrected. “And hell yeah. Someone stopped my truck in your parking garage, paps downstairs.”

“Oh, to be famous,” Eden hummed into the rushing water. “You know it’s just getting started.”

“I ain’t worried about them niggas. I just want you to move around freely without the bullshit.”

“I appreciate that, and I have to figure out how to show you.”

“You already givin’ me what I need,” Maximus stated. “I’ll be on your balcony.”

Close to thirty minutes passed before Eden appeared on the balcony.

Maximus was leaning on the railing, finishing his blunt, with his phone pressed to his ear.

He sensed her, turning slightly to find her in a pair of wide-legged pants and a crop top.

Her curls tamed into a high bun, minimal make-up on her face, and her eyes on him.

“What Daysha find?” Maximus questioned. She watched as he listened and then grunted. “Aight, heard you. Let me handle some shit with E, and I’ll be over there later. Not a word of this gets out.”

Eden assumed it was Keon as Maximus hung up and dropped his phone on a nearby seat.

“Two fuckin’ steps forward, three back,” he grumbled.

“What’s wrong?” Eden quizzed, making her way to him. One touch and his shoulders dropped. She dropped her purse and then wrapped her arms around his waist. “Talk to me.”

Maximus welcomed her comfort, still in awe that she knew just what to do to calm his brewing storm. “UVE got some bullshit happening. I didn’t think about it when I signed my contract, but now I’m locked in.”

“Can I know or no?”

“I can’t tell you what I don’t know. What I can tell you is that when I was with Lucci, he was pressing me about knowing what was really going on with the label.

So, we hit up his lady, and she did what she does.

Just feels like it’s always some bullshit.

I feel like I’m headed in the right direction, and here comes the devil hopping on my back. ”

“Don’t let him have that power, just keep moving forward. How many records did you record in La Bega?”

“Probably six.”

“Keep that to yourself, find out what’s happening, and then make a plan. I heard really good things about Daysha and Lucci. They know this industry and won’t lead you wrong.”

“What if I get stalled before I take off, E?”

She inhaled his scent and slowly exhaled. “You’ve been knocked down, but you always get back up. You get back up and navigate the waters like they’re yours and you get your shit back.”

He turned around and looked down at her, brushing his thumb over her chin in the process. “Spoken like Poppi’s girl.”

With a shrug, she said, “I am who I am. And you’re that nigga, so we’ll just be who we are and keep winning.

But don’t sweat the maybes. What’s in stone is that you have a contract and if it’s violated, then you take your shit and you keep popping your shit.

I don’t know who runs UVE, but I do know one thing, they release you or do some fuck shit, it’s a bidding war. You have the leverage, act like it.”

“That right there is going to have you locked up in the house,” he stated, kissing her face. “Speaking life into a nigga and shit.”

“You act like it’s something you haven’t heard,” she said, as she turned to grab her bag and head inside. Her exit was halted. “What?”

Maximus gazed at her with stars in his eyes. “Ain’t nobody ever spoke life into me before. You was doing that shit before you let a nigga hit. That’s why I handle you like this.”

Eden’s cheeks heated, and she nipped the corner of her lip. “Could you do us a favor and stop talking to us like that. We’re still recovering.”

Maximus smirked, licked his lips, and nodded his head. “I can’t kiss it and make it better?”

His question was assisted by a palm to her ass. Eden wiggled away from him, giggling in the process.

“Kissing it and making it better is what had me on my tip toes all night. No, don’t!”

Maximus reached out, scooped her up in his arms, and covered her face with kisses.

“Maxxxx,” she giggled. “We’re going to be late for an appointment you made.”

“We can do that shit online now that I think about it. You know, so I won’t have to share you.”

“You’re going to have to learn to share. You can’t have me locked up in the house.”

“And why not?” he countered.

“Because I like to work,” Eden stated.

“You wouldn’t let me take care of you?”

“I wouldn’t allow myself to rely on anyone to feed me. The power to feed me is the power to starve me, too. Feel me?”

“Spoken just like Poppi. I feel you. I hear you. Ain’t a power I’ll use to control you. Just know you got a stand-up man, taking care of you is going to be something I do with ease.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, but you not my girl yet, so come on, let’s roll,” he joked, leading the way to the front door. “And before you say it, ‘ew, Max, you get on my nerves’ .”

“You do actually,” she chuckled, as she walked past him.

“Girl, come on, before your neighbor kidnaps me.”

“Oh, I thought you weren’t above snatching people off the street.”

“I do the snatching. I don’t get snatched, E.”

In the interior design boutique, her hands ran over the fabric of the curtain samples.

They almost missed their appointment battling the handful of paparazzi who swarmed his truck when they appeared off the private elevator.

How they got into the parking garage of a secure building was beyond them, but one thing was certain: Maximus didn’t like how easily accessible she was to outside sources.

As he inched through the showroom behind her, his mind danced with the what if’s when he wasn’t around.

“Why would you pin sheets over the windows?” Eden’s question broke him out of his thoughts.

“What else was I supposed to put up?” Maximus questioned in return, studying how she studied each sample. “What else we need for the house? Besides fancy ass window treatments.”

“Not fancy, necessary. You won’t be one of those rappers who have a box spring on the floor and one folding chair in the kitchen. The house needs life. Paintings for your walls, decor that matches. It needs personality like it’s yours,” Eden shared.

“Maybe ours,” Maximus stated. “Needs to look like ours.”

Eden briefly looked up at him in search of a joke on his face, but there wasn’t even a wiggle of goofiness. Returning to what she was doing, she queried, “So what am I supposed to do with my apartment?”

“When is that lease up?”

“I’m almost scared to tell you,” Eden hummed, feeling his warmth wrap around her. “You know, there are cameras everywhere.”

“Fuck them, if I wanna touch you, I’m touching you.”

“Oh, Trae Way MB ain’t scared of looking soft?” Eden toyed.

“I ain’t scared of shit for real. Maybe two things.”

“What are those?” Eden quizzed.

“Peace leaving me for real, now that I got it. My momma dying in the streets.”

Eden didn’t need him to expound on that. She knew what he meant. No one wanted to lose a parent or someone who stood in that role. For Eden, it was both, her father and Poppi. The weight of that pain would never leave her.

“Well, I can’t fully control your peace, but I can try.”

“Eden, you fully control my peace, baby,” he shared, smacking her hips. “The house needs to look like you run that muthaucka.”

“Stop it, you’re still leaking out of me,” she shared just above a whisper.

“There’s a room in the back, we can do it again.”

Eden shook him off of her with a soft giggle. “Cut it out. Limited time, and I’m going to see you when I’m done with this shoot. You cannot live in my skin all the time.”

He laughed. “I’m going to find a way.”

“Can you choose a sample, please, and stop playing?” Eden huffed through her own mix of laughter and anxiety.

He caught it. When he was around her, Maximus readied himself to be whatever she needed. To pick up on her needs, because even with encouragement, she wasn’t going to voice them.

“Hold on,” the seriousness in his voice halted her. “What’s going on in there?”

Eden shrugged. “It’s no-”

“It’s something. Tell me.”

She moved over to the artwork and pulled in a deep sigh before releasing it. “This is my first brand shoot since being “cancelled” and I really don’t know how to feel. Do I celebrate because it’s work, and people see me? Do I go in with caution because it could be pulled?”

“Who’s it with?”

“BlkArtCo. They’re launching a new digital art platform and want me to be the face of it,” she shared for the first time.

“We’re going to work on that,” he noted.

Her brows fused. “On what?”

“You playing small and not talking about the new shit happening. That’s big shit, E. You deserve all the good shit coming to you. The hate don’t ever win, and the darkness can’t cancel your light. Now, tell me again, what you got going on?”

Eden allowed herself to lean into him, growing comfortable and used to him being inches away. “I am the official brand ambassador for BlkArtCo.”

“Big shit from a big bitch,” he rumbled, making her smile widen. “What else?”

“This deal is enough to settle any residual debt I had from MRA dropping me and what I owed past brands for the contract termination,” she shared.

He wrapped his arms around her shoulder. “You big, E. Like pressure. You think I’m about to take off, you’re already on the rocket.”

“You know what, I might keep you.”

“Like I’m gon’ let you get far.”

With the time they had left together, they finalized the pieces for the house and ate lunch before heading their separate ways. Staysha was certain to ensure everything Eden needed was on set, even if she wasn’t going to be present.

Stay: You deserve this! We got another brand back on the table, deets in email!

Eden: Love you

Max: Kill that shit like you supposed to do, baby

Eden: Send me my audios 3

Max: Heard you. Midnight Munchies?

Eden: Please!

Max: Got you