Page 173 of Are You Going to Love Me

Eden bit her lip. “Mhmm. I’m teetering somewhere between sick in the mornings and wanting you all night. Trying to outrun the tiredness.”

“Let me clean you up.” Maximus kissed her chest before standing with her body wrapped around his. With softness and precise strokes of the hot towel across her body, Maximus wiped her clean, kissed her face, neck, growing belly and then her ass.He caressed her until she fell asleep, and then pulled himself to the basement.

Like always, Eden sensed he was gone. Tonight, she was okay. He was close, his spirit was lightening its load. Meanwhile, she needed answers. Outside on the veranda, in the same seat she met Maximus in, she dialed Mac'Roy’s number. Her gut turned with anxiousness as the line trilled, and then his voice flowed through.

“Eden. I didn’t think I’d get this call.”

“Never thought I’d have a reason to call once you dropped my ass like a hot topic.”

Mac'Roy sighed before admitting, “I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to leave you with the burden either, but it needed to be done.”

“For you and your liability?”

He groaned. “No. Eden, you were never supposed to be as big as you were. As you are. You were never-”

Mac'Roy stopped himself.

“You might as well continue. At this point, nothing is going to shake my core.”

“How much do you know about your father?”

“Enough.”

“He and I were…business partners. Moving girls from one point to another.”

“Traffickers.”

“Back then, that’s not what it was called. Back then there were women gladly giving themselves to niggas with big pockets. We know how he met his fate. What you don’t know is that the trafficking didn’t stop. Mama handed you over with your mother’s nod. You weren’t supposed to be the one that made it. Neither was your sister. Sacrificial lambs for more power.

“After having daughters of my own, I couldn’t do you how we’d done the other girls that came through the industry orthrough Midnight. Your father would’ve climbed out of his grave and killed me. So, I tried to protect you and your sister. Take you out of that hell.”

“Sounds noble enough. A fraction. So, let’s fast-forward this story and tell me how I ended up in cuffs today?”

Mac'Roy took a beat. “The detective, Staysha, attempted to trick out his pockets was dirty. Dirty then, dirty now. Mama and Anzel are going away, probably for the rest of their lives, they’re going to take everyone they were tied with down. What happened today was a move to silence them. Unfortunately for you and Staysha, your family is fucked up. The only good thing y’all had was a woman who was a terror. But you got more of her than you know. More of her good parts. Eden, you are good. I always said that. And maybe my speaking so highly of you put a target on your back, and I’m sorry for that. I hope this gave you what you needed.”

“The pieces to my origin story have always been unknown. And it’s all coming full circle, but it’s touching people I love.”

“Let me offer you one final piece of advice before I turn myself in – you and everything you cover are untouchable. That is something I know firsthand. You, being a part of MRA – your light – made the darkness stir. Your mother and Mama chose their fate. Me, Natavia, and Rico chose ours. You go forward and don’t ever look back. I’ll be watching, and whether you want me to or not, I’ll be rooting for you. Goodbye, Eden.”

Mac'Roy didn’t wait for Eden to reply before hanging up and closing all the chapters of her life that had been left open. She never needed to speak to Mama or see her mother again. Now everything was about tomorrow, there were no more yesterdays.

fifty-eight

. . .

“What we got coming, Stay?”Eden asked, riding shotgun with Maximus’ hand on her thigh.

“Few brands are coming back to the table – including Vibrance. They still want you on the cover. I’m not sure how we feel about that yet. Maria&Marie for sure want back in. Heavenly Linen is sending over an outline for creative direction. BlkArtCo. wants to do a Trae Way collection with you and Max from the first photoshoot y’all did together. Fatima invited us out to her restaurant opening in uptown, that’s tomorrow night. And I wanted to run one more thing by you.”

“What’s that?” Eden buzzed, drinking the water Maximus all but forced down her throat.

“Now that Mac'Roy has been indicted and MRA is no more, how do you feel about an agency of our own. You know, without the orgies and the trafficking. It’s going to get to a point you’re not going to be able to do all of these.”

“How are we going to go about talent and funding?”

“We have two investors we can reach out to. Rolani being one. He mentioned it when I was in GH. He also introduced me to Indigo Sims. He and his family relocated from LA to LO with a magazine, and they need fresh models. I’m not saying we need to hop on it right now, I just say we should think about it. Diversifying our portfolio so that at any time you want to be a full-time mom or take a break, we have streams of revenue.”

“I like that. Let me get through this appointment and first show, and we’ll come back to the table and talk about it. Cool?”

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