Page 141 of Are You Going to Love Me

“That shit is your business to handle and this is mine. So what you gon’ do?”

Anzel nipped her lip and groaned. “Get the fuck out. But I swear.”

Maximus stood. “What? You swear what? Hm?”

“Nothing,” Anzel grumbled and rolled her eyes in defeat.

He smirked. “I see you learn a lot faster than your sister. Good for you.”

A double knock on the table was left as a warning. In the event Anzel wanted to get desperate and hold on to the hottest thing her label had. If she wanted to take Maximus down, he’d fight to the finish. And he’d win.

forty-five

. . .

“Haveyou 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.

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