Page 2 of Are You Going to Love Me

“Uh - that’s not how this works. I got to come in, set it up, and sign off. Heard me?”

She curled her lip. “You for real? Since when did Mama actually start running real businesses?”

It was rhetorical. The woman and him both knew this was a front. He just so happened to learn how to set up oxygen tanks from JoyTube. If he was going to be fronting like he knew what he was doing, he was going to at least know something.

“Something tells me you’re full of shit, but come on, make it quick,” she stated, stepping back allowing Maximus to get through the door with enough space for the equipment. “How does this work, Mama sends you back here every week with a new tank, or?”

Maximus shrugged. “Every few days or so, as needed. What? You don’t want that to happen?”

“Whatever she’s doing for my grandmother, I’ll allow it,” she grumbled. “Though it ain’t much.”

Maximus looked around the small apartment, noticing how tidy it was. He was almost amazed at how she and whoever else lived here could make it look like a palace, even though they were in the heart of Trae Way.

“You want to see how this is set up or...” Maximus started, hands in his pockets as he motioned her over.

She stood at a safe distance, no longer making eye contact. “Show me, she’s sleep, and I only got a small window of time before she’s up.”

Maximus demonstrated how to set up the tank, turn it on, and place the tube on.

“I think I got it,” she stated, taking the tube from his hold. “Anything else?”

“Heard you,” Maximus stated, before shaking his head. “Nah, if you need anything, just hit up Mama, she’ll send me or someone else back out.”

“Not on nothing funny, I don’t want you Trae Way niggas in and out of here, so drop it off in front of the door and keep it pushing,” she shared bluntly.

He could see her distrust for people, but didn’t have the time nor the space to dive into that. One, he was on a time crunch, and two, he had a girlfriend, and staring at the woman before him wasn’t going to pan out well for anyone. Priya would want to fight and make it a thing, and the woman before him didn’t seem like the type who fought. With that, he acknowledged her with a head nod and stepped back. He saw himself out and attempted to rid his mind of the encounter altogether.

Back in the van with Keon, he made his rounds before being dropped off at his apartment. All he wanted to do before hittingthe night shift was make himself a sandwich, catch a nap, and maybe record something, but the raucous laughter pouring out of the apartment proved that neither of those things was going to happen.

Priya and two of her friends were in the messy living room, twerking to some trash ass music while the camera recorded. Purposely, he ducked it, not wanting to be caught in the video. Sure, he released music, but his JoyCloud didn’t have any photos of himself, nor had he made a public appearance yet. He liked staying lowkey. He figured that when the right time came, he’d pop out and things would go up from there.

After what seemed to be the longest sixty seconds of his life, the recording and the extra noise came to an end.

“Damn you not going to speak to me, baby?” Priya asked, almost out of breath.

“You were busy,” Maximus said, not offering her a glance as he tried to find what he needed in the disorganized kitchen. Crazy how he’d only been home for a week and had managed to clean the apartment top to bottom, only for it to look like he’d never touched it. “You headed to the club?”

“Yeah, you comin’ through? Paying for a dance?”

The look he gave her was loaded. “I’ll see you around.”

“Alright, bring me that money you made today,” Priya purred, putting on a show for her girls. Maximus hadn’t even touched her since he’d been home. His spirit just wouldn’t allow it.

“Heard you,” he grumbled as she exited the apartment. Once the door closed, he abandoned finding something to eat and opted to lie down instead.

Sleep hadn’t come. His mind ran on a loop. Music, his mother, his life, and what it had shaped out to be. A product of Trae Way wasn’t a legacy he wanted, but he felt stuck.

His phone chimed, alerting him to a text message from his brother.

Gus: get your ass up we got shit to do

Maximus huffed and pulled himself off the worn mattress and shuffled into the bathroom.

“What the fuck is this?” his voice rumbled, glaring down at the pregnancy test on the countertop of the bathroom. The used test was surrounded by a mess of other things. Used wash cloths, bobby pins, eye lash glue, smeared toothpaste and ashes, and roaches of a blunt. Considering he’d been in lockup for six months, this pregnancy test was out of place in the array of mess Priya left behind before she went to the club.

No way she was six months pregnant or further along, and he didn’t know. The way she’d overshared shit, surely, she would of have told him something. And she wouldn’t be smoking or drinking the way she was. The longer he stared at the bullshit on the counter, the more anger sloshed through his veins.

“Ayo!” his brother, Augustus, called out, grabbing his attention. Augustus popping up at his spot unannounced wasn’t anything new.

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