Page 56

thirty-nine

. . .

“Do we have everything we need?” Eden questioned.

She was standing in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips that were expanding in ways she attributed to her eating, sleeping, and not hitting the gym as often as she used to.

The freedom to gain a little bit of weight and not stress about being dropped from a contract added another layer of freedom to her cloak of independence.

Maximus, with a bookbag draped over his shoulder, a garment bag, and one suitcase, looked at the four large rolling suitcases Eden packed.

One for her shoes. One for her event looks.

One for accessories – hats, jewelry, and bags, and the last one for hair and makeup.

Excessive sure, but she had to look a certain way when she stepped out with cameras watching them.

“I think I need to take a commercial flight because all this shit is going to have the airplane burning in the woods,” Maximus replied.

“I ain’t trying to go down like Saliyah.

Her management knew that shit was too heavy.

Had Jesipi out here missing his rib. Yeah, that nigga got hit but he really died of a broken heart. You trying to go out like that?”

Eden smacked her lips and rolled her eyes. “You get on my nerves.”

“I know, that’s my job. Why you nervous, though?”

Eden hummed. “I’m nervous for whatever reason you buffed up security. Something I should know?”

He swayed his head. “Everything is cool right now.”

“Is there going to be a point where everything isn’t cool?” she quizzed. “You’d tell me right?”

“If I felt like shit was about to get sticky, I’d send you away until it was settled. Everything is cool right now. I don’t know what’s in Ocean City waiting on me, so I’d rather be moving with twelve niggas than one.”

Eden stared at him, detecting some untruths in the tone of his voice, but pressing him right now wouldn’t yield either of them anything but attitudes and tensions on a weekend that was supposed to be full of good energy. She put a pin in it, choosing to revisit it when they got back home.

“Okay.”

“E,” Maximus spoke, making her turn to face him full on. “You’re good. I'm good. Don’t worry about that shit this weekend.”

“You make it sound so easy when I can feel you. But I’m not pressing you about it. Let me just put this on the table. If you’re lying to me, you’ll be in here by yourself.”

He grunted. “Threatening to leave me when something don’t settle right with you ain’t how we finna move, baby.”

“You’re right. Being untruthful or telling me half-truths when I feel something is off isn’t how we’re going to move either. Let’s go before we hold up everyone.”

Maximus watched how she aligned her suitcases and started toward the stairs. “That attitude gon’ have us late for real because I’m going to fuck it out you.”

“You won’t because I’m not going to let you,” she sassed, switching out of the room only for him to catch her by the waist and pry her hands from the suitcases. “I got it.”

“You can be irritated as you want, you ain’t taking the suitcases down the stairs. Go ‘head with that.”

Eden rolled her eyes and sashayed away from him and down the stairs.

She didn’t say much from the house to the airport.

The team was loaded up on the JoyCloud jet and ready to conquer Ocean City.

Maximus, Keon, and Brody were toward the front of the jet, going over the plan one last time before touching down.

Staysha found herself settled by her sister, holding her hand out for Eden to take. “What’s wrong with you?”

Eden shrugged, taking Staysha’s hand. “Everything and nothing. You ever felt like a nigga was lying to you? I mean, looked you in your face and lied?”

Staysha groaned. “He wouldn’t lie to you.”

Eden raised her brows and pressed her lips together.

“But he did. Why do we need all this security? Why is everything so fuckin’ secretive?

Going in other rooms to answer the phone.

Talkin’ low and shit. He did that with his brother, I stayed out of it, but this is different.

This feels...like it’s going to wreck our world, Stay. ”

Staysha squeezed her hand. “I think if the man told you everything is alright, then there isn’t anything to worry about. When we need to worry, we will. Until then, we kick back and relax.”

“Mmm,” Eden grunted. “Do you know what’s going on?”

“Contrary to what you think, they don’t tell me everything. Enough of that,” Staysha commented. “What’s happening with this glow?”

“Recovery for a cold, I guess. Did Heavenly Linen reach out to you with the contract?”

“They did and you did that shit. And you were worried about not being able to do things without me.”

“I’m not going to lie to you, it’s scary as hell jumping off the porch. But it feels good to direct my future without someone hating in the background. Filming starts in a couple of months, so things are about to pick up.”

“The first of many. TV roles are great, but I can’t wait to see your silver screen debut.

As the main character, not the walk-on character that people overinflate.

That’s going to be some amazing shit. That girl from Trae Way is taking everything that belongs to her.

Let Mama eat her words and let those bitches you left in the club choke, too. Her sister, too,” Staysha said.

“You know, I was thinking about how everything has played out since the last time we saw her, and I’m forever okay with never seeing her again. Like if I see her on the street, I’ll walk past her like she’s dust.”

“I hear you. She is essentially. I would talk to her just so she could see that she didn’t win.”

“And that’s where we differ. You want people to watch you win, while I want them to lose their sight when it comes to me and anything I have going on.

Her and her sister can both go to hell,” Eden huffed.

“Anyway, tell me what’s happening with you.

I’m over talking about them. They don’t deserve the attention. ”

“I’m fine. Keon is launching a management company. Brody has twelve new bodies to manage, and he has no idea how to do it. Maximus is a handful. When were you going to tell me that he beat Pusha Peezy’s ass and then took his studio?”

“I wasn’t,” Eden said with a smirk. “I didn’t see anything.”

Staysha giggled, allowing herself to sink further into Eden’s side. “True Trae Way shit. Like that time Poppi beat them niggas in broad day and when the police came by to question us we just looked at them and blinked like we were mute.”

“The shit we did was wild. Like that time the corner store got raided when Poppi was trying to teach us a lesson about money management, and they were asking us if we saw anyone, and we started signing,” Eden spoke with a snicker.

“And then she marched her crazy ass up to the station and pressed them about talking to us.”

“Poppi was built different.”

“Poppi is the reason police don’t hit the avenue anymore. They said if you were getting your ass beat, don’t call us.”

The sisters shared a laugh before Staysha squeezed her hand again.

“Eden, I’m proud of you. I know I don’t say it all the time, but you keep proving why you’re unstoppable.

Don’t let anything live in your head for free, okay?

Charge all that shit and if it can’t pay what it owes you don’t pay it attention. ”

Eden grunted. “I hear you. I do. I’m just feeling that something is coming, and when it does, how am I going to shield myself from it?”

“You want to know the most beautiful thing about having someone who cares about you?”

“I suppose you’re about to tell me,” Eden sassed with a slight roll of her eyes.

“Relax, it’s my first real relationship, I’m learning new things,” Staysha replied with a giggle.

“Thank God for that because you sure do know how to pick ‘em.”

“I was just trying to fuck on something, and he said uh uh. So here we are. Anyway, those type of men up there are going to stand in front of us right, wrong, or indifferent. If some shit goes down, this time you’re protected.

Now get out your head and get a nap, we got a lot of shit to do, and I need you smiling and rubbing elbows.

Lucci is tied to some big people in the industry. This can be big for you and MB.”

“All of us. It could be big for all of us.”

“Exactly. Look at this damn jet!” Staysha hummed as the stewardess passed with champagne flutes and a personal charcuterie board. “Thank you.”

“Thanks,” Eden hummed slightly, taking her complimentary snack and beverage. Her eyes floated toward the front of the jet, where Maximus’s brows were pinned together as he studied his phone screen. As if he knew she was taking him in with her own pensive expression, he didn’t look up.

After a two-and-a-half-hour flight, they were back on land, in a Maybach Sprinter on the way to the JoyBed Rolani set aside for the group.

The mansion, nestled off a private road, had three stories, each floor holding a view of the crystal-clear ocean and a terrace overlooking the infinity pool.

Custom artwork, valuing well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars range, strategically lined the walls around the house.

Immaculate didn’t touch how beautiful this home was.

“We have maybe two hours before the Sprinter is back for the dinner party at Lucci’s.

A chef will be here in the morning. I have wardrobe coming tomorrow, around noon, for final fittings before sound check for MB.

Dinner is still up in the air, whether we’re doing something here or going out.

And then the big day,” Staysha called off the list of events as the group listened in the foyer.

“Brody, you have the first floor bedroom because no one wants to come in contact with whatever woman you pick up this weekend. Second floor MB and Eden. Keon and I are on the third.”

Brody smirked. “I’m glad you know. The minute I’m off, I’m getting off.”