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forty-five

. . .

“Have you slept since you got back?” Staysha asked, observing her sister’s less-than-stellar state.

Eden, leaning on the counter, shook her head. “No Max, no sleep. My bed doesn’t even feel the same. My stomach doesn’t even like me.”

She scrolled through social media and toggled screens between her and Maximus’ text thread.

All the read texts and no response. He hadn’t called, hadn't anything. While she understood that he had to handle things, since they’d made this thing between them official, there hadn’t been a night they hadn’t spent together.

Staysha groaned. “I’ve barely heard from Keon, too. Whatever has been going on is intense.”

“Mmhmm,” Eden hummed, hitting the notification that popped up at the top of her screen.

She squinted, reading the blog post from Word on the Street.

“Trae Way MB has been dropped by UVE. Anzel Ellis claims the rapper breached the contract by being involved with gang activity. News breaks after Rico Johnson alleges that Trae Way MB and a mob of Trae Way Gangstas jumped him and stole his jewelry in Ocean City...”

“Eden...” Staysha voiced cautiously after taking a deep breath.

Eden offered her sister an underhanded look. “How long have you known about this?”

“About UVE or mom....”

“Please don’t play stupid with me. Please.”

“For a minute. We all knew. Maximus wanted to tell you, but I told him-”

“We all-” Eden snipped her own words. “I need a minute.”

Eden grabbed her keys.

“Eden, let me just tell you how-”

“No. Mm mm. You had a minute to tell me. Matter of fact, you should have told me the second you found out that bitch was one person away from me.”

“I don’t understand what the big problem is. She runs UVE. That’s it.”

Eden pinched the bridge of her nose and groaned, attempting to school her rising anger.

“Are you not getting it? She stole Poppi, she stole her money, and I am very sure she killed her to get it. In return, I get extorted for a debt that wasn’t even fuckin’ mine.

Do you see all the fuckin’ security around us because Mama is playing fuckin’ games?

I’ve said it time after time after time, I don’t want that bitch nowhere around me and what I got going on.

All you had to say was, E, our bitch ass mother is lurking.

That’s it. Put me on notice. Don’t leave me out here blind, Staysha! ”

“I just don’t think it’s a big deal for you to be this upset.”

Eden’s lip twitched with pain. Pain she never spoke. Pain she never wanted Staysha to know. This hate for Anzel ran deeper than Poppi. It went back brutal, tormented years to their father and memories Eden repressed for the sake of surviving.

“Alright,” Eden hummed, as she grabbed her keys and purse and headed toward the door. “Do me a favor and lock up.”

“Eden, don’t do that.”

“She doesn’t owe me shit, not anymore, but there are two people who are supposed to protect me. Especially you, Stay! Especially you!”

Eden walked out the door, slamming it behind her.

She traveled downstairs to her car, anger flooding through her being the further she moved away from her apartment and her sister.

Hot tears clouded her vision as she slammed the car door.

For thirty minutes, she drove aimlessly until the Joy360 app pinged Maximus’ location in Trae Way.

“Big Rod’s. Okay,” she grumbled, taking the next exit to the neighborhood spot.

She no longer cared that he was handling business. She’d told him about half-truths and holding things back from her. She’d told him about the trauma her mother caused her. He knew and didn’t say a word about it to her. It was causing her overthinking to spin a web of false narratives.

Forget the security he had tailing her. Forget Trae Way being hot and Mama’s pending threats of putting her back on the pole if she didn’t pay up. Hurt fueled her, and anger ignited the flame. In record time, she pulled up to Big Rod’s and double-parked beside his truck. Her SUV still running.

Anyone watching could see her fuming as she stomped into the building. “This is what we doing now?”

Very rarely did her voice raise, but the heightened state she was in both emotionally and physically had her out of character. Ready to fight, she waited for Maximus to turn around. Brody turned first.

“Oh, she mad as fuck,” he grumbled, walking away and finding a booth to slide into.

“You can feel that shit radiate,” Keon huffed, moving away.

Maximus looked down, pinning her with a warning glare. “Not here.”

He attempted to lead her to the back, but she snatched away.

“I don’t give a fuck about where we are.

You knew! I told you how I felt about that bitch, and you knew!

You didn’t say shit to me?! I got to find out on a blog post that not only were you signed to that bitch, but she’s been around all this time! ”

“Eden,” Maximus gritted. “Stop.”

Eden’s emotional state didn’t even allow her to realize that she’d walked into the middle of some shit he was trying to keep far away from her.

“You can’t be here. Go home and we’ll talk about it when I get there.”

“Home? I’m not doing that shit. I’m not waiting around for y’all to keep fuckin’ lying to me.”

“For the record, E, I've never lied to you,” Brody spoke up, peeping the scene. “Let’s circle back to this.”

Eden was zeroed in on Maximus. She couldn’t care less what Brody was saying.

“Eden!” Maximus groaned. “Not fuckin’ here, not fuckin’ now.”

“Then when?”

“When I get home. Take your ass back to the car and go.” He pointed over her head.

Her walking out the front door was no longer an option.

If Eden had been paying attention, she would’ve noticed that Big Rod’s was too empty for the middle of the day.

None of his staff was present, and Trae Way Gangstas were posted on every corner.

She was in the middle of hood politics with an attitude that had to take a back seat.

Maximus, with no time to soothe this, grabbed her by the arm and nudged her to the back hall. “I don’t have the fuckin’ time to do this shit with you right now. Don’t say shit and get in the fuckin’ office. Don’t come out until I come get you.”

“Maximus. What’s up, nigga,” Augustus’ voice sounded off.

Both Keon and Brody popped to their feet.

“I heard you were looking for me,” Augustus continued, his mocking accompanied by three wayward shots.

One bullet shot through the tile next to Eden’s head, one through Maximus’ shoulder as he turned to shield Eden, and the other grazing the side of Brody’s face as he jumped in front of Maximus and fired back.

Augustus, realizing Maximus came prepared to take him out, fled the scene. Before he arrived, Maximus had made it clear that Gus was his to take out if he so chose.

“Max!” Eden screamed, holding on to him as he grunted.

“Fuuuck!”

“5-O!” Keon shouted. “We got to get the fuck out of here.”

“You’re hit, Max. You’re hit,” Eden scrambled to put pressure on his bleeding shoulder.

“Eden, get him to the hospital. It was a drive by, and you don’t know shit, you understand me?” Keon shouted, moving them toward the door in the chaos of armed gang members fleeing the scene.

Keon fishtailed out of the parking lot behind Brody, who was speeding off with Maximus bleeding in the back seat. Eden had her sweatshirt off, pressing it against his shoulder. Tears streamed down her face as she peered down at Maximus with regret. It was quickly zapped by his gnash of frustration.

He took sharp, pained breaths. “The next time I tell you to fuckin’ go, fuckin’ go!”

Eden’s body was overwhelmed, her ears rung, but she still held on to the anger while fright tried to cripple her.

“So I’m supposed to fuckin’ know you’re in the middle of some gang shit?”

“All you got to do is listen. That’s it! He could’ve taken your fuckin’ head off, E!”

“Again, how was I supposed to fuckin’ know!” she shouted back.

Maximus roared in a mix of anger and pain. “Stop! Just stop, E!”

Eden’s eyes shot to his, meeting his fiery glare.

“Drop me off and go the fuck home.”

That was the last set of words he spoke to her before Brody pulled up to the emergency entrance of Waynesville Memorial Hospital.

Maximus slid his body out of the car and stalked inside, blood trailing his steps.

Regardless of how angry she was, that was still her man, and she wouldn’t just leave him here alone.

She let Brody find a parking spot and roamed inside to the appropriate floor, the women in the ER directed her to.

In the hallway, she waited in a corner away from Staysha and Keon.

Her leg bounced while she tried to calm herself from the brink of passing out.

She refused medical attention, refused to speak to either Keon or Staysha.

Once she knew Max was fine, she’d go lock herself inside her apartment until she was ready to hear what all of this was about. If she ever got to that point.

“Where are my daughters?” Anzel’s voice rang out with concern, hitting Eden’s ringing ears like nails on a chalkboard.

“Ma’am, it’s a private hall, you can’t-” the nurse attempted to stop her, but Anzel barreled past her. She stopped at Staysha first, examining her.

Shooing her hand away, Staysha huffed. “I’m fine, I wasn’t even there.”

Anzel’s eyes drifted from Staysha to Eden, visibly shaken up and on edge. As she rushed over to her, Eden pulled in a deep breath, fearing that any further explosion would send her to a place she couldn’t recover from.

“Do not come near me,” Eden growled, holding her blood-stained hands up and standing to her feet. “Do not.”

“Eden,” Anzel said with a sigh, “You need to get checked out.”

Eden’s graphic tee was stained with Maximus’ blood and smeared makeup from her tears. “I don’t need you to care about me. I don’t want you near me.”

Anzel swept her eyes over her, seeing what Eden didn’t know. “I just want to know that you’re okay.”