Page 112 of Are You Going to Love Me

“Hell yeah, you’re wearing my ass out.”

Eden smacked her teeth and waved him off. “You get on my nerves, Max.”

He followed her, picked her up before they got back to the public eye, and kissed her face. “That’s my job.”

thirty-six

. . .

No Church playedthrough the speakers of the club. In front of Maximus, Eden was winding her hips against him subtly. True to his protocol, his arm was draped over Eden’s left shoulder, taking in the vibe. His mind recalled the nights he laid on the thin, worn, dirty mattress of the prison cell. His legs dangling off the edge while letting his mind dance with possibilities. He couldn’t sleep, so if imagining took him away from the hellhole he ended up in, he would.

Sold out arenas off rap. Millions off rap. Businesses, turning Trae Way into something more than the ghetto, off rap. What he didn’t take into account was that he’d be hoisted into the VIP section of the nightclub, in love and feeling like he could conquer the world.

As if she could feel a shift in him, she turned around, her arm held on to his waist. Looking up at him from behind the sunglasses, he purchased along with her outfit after their day on the boardwalk. An outfit that she tried to buy along with his. A smack of her hand and hips, along with a subtle nudge out of the way, led to Eden retracting her card and letting him have his way. For now.

“You good?”

Despite the music blasting and vibrating through their bodies, he heard her.

Maximus pulled in a deep breath and nodded. “I’m good.”

Eden smiled. “I’m proud of you.”

Maximus smiled, showing all of his teeth. “Don’t have me out here looking like a sucka.”

She mirrored him. If Maximus ever had to check his mood, he could look in front or to the side of him and find the outer expression of himself. Finding that in a woman, for him, was rare, and he’d hold on to her with his life.

“Nah, you look happy. You feel full. Enjoy this. It’s yours and it’s just the beginning.”

“You gon’ be right here to watch it, right?”

“You wouldn’t have it any other way,” Eden hummed, squeezing him and turning back around. “Drink, smoke, enjoy yourself. It’s your night, and they’re loving every song.”

As the night went on and the bottles flowed, Maximus took in everything. So did his team. Staysha and Eden enjoyed the vibes from the club to an after-hours diner. When Brody dropped Maximus and Eden off at her building, in a haze, they made it to her apartment. Sexed on the balcony in the rain and passed out in the middle of the bed, half-dressed.

When noon floated through her blinds, he grunted bitterly. Slightly hungover, body aching from whatever they did to each hours before, and a headache reminded him of why he wasn’t much of a drinker.

Eden eased out of the bathroom, feeling the effects the same way he did. On her face was a blue clay mask, her hair was wrapped in a towel, and there were fuzzy socks on her feet.

“Eww, you look like me,” she hummed playfully. “Listen, I don’t know what kind of sex we had last night, but we shouldn’t do that shit again.”

Maximus grunted as he moved over, making space for her to lie by him and not travel around the bed. “I hurt you?”

“Wild enough to knock my period on, so there’s that. No fun for you.” Eden attempted to make a face underneath the tightening of her mask. “I hurt you, too. Your back is all scratched up.”

He received her and hummed. “I’ll be cool. I think my dick needs a minute to grow another layer of skin back or something. What the fuck did we do?”

“If I remember, I’ll tell you. My throat’s a little sore, so my bad.”

They shared a tired laugh before muttering in unison, “We’re not getting out the bed today.”

“And before you get to puffing your chest out, I’ve already ordered food and a gang of tea and honey for you, too.”

“What you get for you?” he grumbled. “What you need? Heating pad, snacks?”

“I have a heating pad, but it’s not that bad, I won’t get graphic.”

“E, I’ve literally splattered niggas brains and whatever else on concrete, knowing about your period isn’t going to kill me. If anything, you being in pain is going to hurt me,” he shared, rubbing her waist.

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