Page 170 of Are You Going to Love Me

“You spoiled,” Maximus muttered, as he took her hand in his.

“You did it. Every time I turn around, it’s a new bag, shoes, and you keep leaving stacks of money around in my stuff. I’m not complaining, I’m just saying.”

“I’m taking care of my lady. This is what happens when you give me full access to you and I’m not driving across the city to get to you,” Maximus shared, leading Eden downstairs to the cluster of rooms where the studio and two other unfinished rooms were located. Maximus went to the room at the far end of the hall and released her hand. “Open the door, baby.”

Eden squinted at him and opened the door. The unfinished room was completely finished. A desk, state-of-the-art cameras, special lighting, and a quiet corner for her to study her scripts. Eden nipped her lip, attempting to stop it from quivering.

She whimpered. “Max. You did this for me?”

“You don’t know by now I’d do anything for you?”

Eden groaned and turned around to hug him. She sniffled. “I know you will. You do so much, and I love you for it.”

“Listen, if you can hold my big ass and rock me like a baby, I can carry you and the weight of healing. We in this shit together. Me, you, and our growing family.” He wiped her face after lifting her chin. “And if you need to cry, cry.”

“I’m over crying, I’m just looking forward to what’s next. It’s these hormones. I love all of this. Thank you. Kiss me.”

Obliging her, he slowly kissed her lips. Peck for peck, purposely slipping his tongue in and pulling her closer as if he was trying to fuse them together. Cupping her face, rubbing the tip of his nose against hers, and nipping her lip.

“You starting something,” Eden muttered. The doorbell chimed throughout the house.

“Nah. I got to get that.”

“Brody is up there, let him,” Eden groaned, tugging at him.

Maximus chuckled, nipping her lip and pulling away. “I ain’t going nowhere. I got to get that. Then, when I get back, you can take what you want.”

Eden sucked her bottom lip, soothing the sting his nip left behind. “Hurry up.”

“Your little freaky ass trying to turn one of them cameras on?”

“Maybe, you’re about to leave me for three months.”

Maximus groaned, pulling himself away from her. “Five minutes.”

“Alright.”

He rushed out the room and up the stairs. What he anticipated was the breeder showing up with Eden’s protection while everyone was away. A Formentino Cane Carso trained and chipped. The last thing he wanted was for her to be home alone without front-line protection. Sure, she had security, but a dog would always hear, see, and smell what a human couldn’t.

What he got was Brody, Staysha, and Keon face down and cuffed. The Waynesville Sheriff Deputies had AR-15s drawn, each aimed at a head. Even the breeder was outside on the ground. Maximus, without a fight, held his hands up in the air and lowered himself to his knees. He knew why they were here.

“My lady is downstairs. She’s pregnant. She’s expecting me. Don’t rough her up. She’ll come up willingly,” Maximus’s tone was easy and nonthreatening as he was forced to the floor. He found Keon’s eyes that spoke volumes. If Keon had never had his back before, he had it now.

Moments later, Eden was marched up the stairs, her wrists tightly cuffed as a show of power. They wanted Maximus to know that they knew his weakness and that he would comply. Though Eden had tears in her eyes, worry resting on her brows, she looked at him with such tenderness and shook her head.

“Don’t give them a reason,” she mouthed as she was forced to sit on the stairs instead of face down on the ground.

No rights read, no notifications of charges, just the team being marched out and the news filming the ordeal as if they were hardened gangsters. Each was placed in a separate car and taken to the county jail. Eden and Staysha processed on one side, and the trio processed on the other.

Maximus’s one call was to Daysha, who had all the info for the lawyers on speed dial. Eden’s call was to Big Rod. While Maximus wanted her out and back at home, she wanted ears to the streets and her family home, too.

It felt like hours of Maximus in a cell before being escorted to a cold interrogation room.

“You had time to cool off?” the lead detective questioned.

Maximus scoffed and glared at him in the face. He asked for his lawyer hours ago. “Oh, this is the game we’re playing. Everyone is quiet, like we don’t know you’re running Mama’s operation. You and your brother, who has conveniently disappeared.”

Maximus smirked, a chuckle rumbling behind his lips. He wasn’t saying shit until his lawyer arrived. Before, all he could afford was Randall, now there was a team of criminal, tax, and business lawyers behind him. Whatever the feds, along withWaynesville County, thought they were going to pull out of their asses and charge him with was going to be laughable.

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