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“Oh my God, that’s so cute on you,” Natavia gushed, as she sat on the low couch of the private dressing room.

Eden stared at herself in the mirror. The black dress hugged her curves.

Years ago, she wouldn’t be able to afford to even window shop on this side of town.

My, how four years could make a difference.

She was days away from walking the red carpet for the premiere of a movie Natavia was starring in.

Staysha had transformed from a city girl to talent management guru and had been doing a hell of a job.

“You don’t like it?” Natavia asked, interrupting Eden’s silence. “Maybe the white one? I mean it doesn’t coordinate with the overall theme, but it’ll look good against your skin.”

“No,” Eden softly spoke up. “I love it actually. I was just thinking. Like four years ago, I couldn’t afford to think about this. Now I’m standing in Harlem’s, in a dress the cost of my rent, and I won’t break a sweat about buying it.”

“And to think, when I made my daddy stalk you in the trenches of Trae Way, you were about to pass over the Mac’Roy Agency,” Natavia shared with a slight laugh. “Now look at us, best friends and amazing business partners.”

Eden smiled at her through the mirror. “Who would have thought. Speaking of which, Staysha texted me earlier about a photoshoot for Vibrance. I know there was some turbulence with them, so I told her I would run it by you before giving them an answer.”

Natavia stood and scoffed. “They’re really trying me. Funny how they copy an idea I ran by them, and they took it and launched a whole publication. And then they ask the biggest model outside of me to cover their magazine? Tuh. No. We’re not doing it.”

Eden never thought anything of Natavia’s opposition to her doing anything outside of the MRA stamp of approval.

She understood that her brand was exclusive to them, and everyone had bought into Eden, her content, and her truth.

They ate it up. In a world full of people creating alternative lives on social media, Eden was herself, going live with a fresh face, making content with her and her sister baking, ruining popular meals –because neither of them could cook – or having sister days full of hair and maintenance.

There were even times when Natavia featured her on her blog and live streams. Mostly to talk and complain about being the daughter of Mac’Roy and living life with all the cameras, and Eden always offered a humble beginnings standpoint.

“Then we’ll tell them no,” Eden stated with a shrug. Her blind loyalty would lead to a world of trouble if she didn’t check it soon. “What shoes should I get with these?”

Natavia picked a pair of designer heels. “I’m wearing Dior, so maybe Jimmy Choo?”

“Oh, the mules are a great touch,” Eden gushed as Rico Johnson walked into their space.

Rico was the all-star basketball player for the Waynesville Waves that Natavia had wrapped around her finger. He was nice, but there was something underlying with him. Always a vibe that he wasn’t to be fully trusted. But if Natavia loved him, she was all for it.

“Hey, baby,” Natavia gushed, sauntering over to kiss him and hug his waist. “What are you doing here?”

“I saw your location on the Joy360 app and decided to pull up on you. I didn’t realize y’all were having a thing.”

Natavia waved it off as she let him go. “Just trying to get her together for the premiere next week. How’s her dress?”

Eden hated that. She didn’t need Rico’s eyes on her, nor did she like the way he peered over her as if the sight of her was turning him on. She might’ve done a lot of things in her life, but slipping and dipping with a friend's man wasn’t her thing.

“It’s cool, plain but cool,” Rico stated, looking at her with lust in his eyes.

Natavia turned and studied it. “I mean, you could show some more body. Your body is tea.”

Eden’s body was tea but showing it to everyone wasn’t her ministry. She wasn’t even a good stripper, being that she made no money during the weeks she did it. Men in Midnight wanted raw coochie in their faces and Eden couldn’t get behind that.

“I think I’m going to stick with this one,” Eden spoke as she walked back into the section split by a heavy curtain.

Closing it, she removed the dress and slid her body back into her comfort set that she’d gotten through a brand deal.

When she walked out into the space with the dress, Natavia and Rico were engrossed in a sloppy kiss and groping one another.

Sure, she wasn’t supposed to watch this repulsive display, she turned away.

The image didn’t leave her easily. Eden couldn’t recall the last time she had someone else besides her sister.

Seeing Natavia with Rico made her consider dividing her attention to forming a romantic relationship, but the thought quickly left her mind when Staysha called.

Slipping out of the private dressing room, she answered.

“What’s going on, Stay?”

“Let’s talk about next week,” Staysha started. “Maria she trusted her guidance, but red flags were popping up left and right as of late.

It was either ignore them or sacrifice everything, and landing back on the other side of the tracks was something she just couldn’t do.

For now, she tucked her worry and went home to record and send her video to her editor.

With nothing but silence to keep her company, she scrolled through social media, a song catching her attention.

“Get Right Back by Trae Way MB,” she muttered, as she left the app to go to her JoyMusic to hear the song in its entirety. “Oh, I like this.”

Sharing the song with her editor with a note to add it to the video, Eden let the album play through her surround sound while she ate her take-out.

She could hear the loneliness in the rapper’s voice because it mirrored her own.

His raspiness, his accent, and his words all seemed like he knew her life. Like they orbited around one another.

“I got a chip on my shoulder, a muthafuckin’ boulder. Trynna make somethin’ out of nothin’, but it keeps getting’ colder.”