Page 48 of Are You Going to Love Me

“And the merch I texted you about?”

“Mhmm, got some mockups coming in a few days. Everything from now until your album release needs to bestrategic. We’ll take advantage of the hype and show people that you're the real deal. You finished that song for the show?”

“Yeah, it’s being mastered and mixed.”

“Alright. Invite Eden out. She ain’t doing shit. I’ll be calling later so we can go over some wardrobe looks for the halftime show.”

Maximus frowned. “Something wrong with the clothes I got?”

“Absolutely, they scream 3Way. Like it’s cool if you were still corner serving, but that’s not the case. This is a family event, so don’t scare the people, MB,” Staysha stated. “I'll send someone, you’ll take it. You’ll like it. You’ll look nice in it and maybe you’ll be fly enough to match my sister’s fly.”

Maximus smirked. “Send her then.”

Staysha laughed and shook her head. “No, she won’t go for it. You have her...”

Maximus rose a thick brow. “I have her what?”

Staysha smized, finished her text, and looked over him. “You’ll have to figure that out on your own. In the meantime, Get Richer wants to shoot the music video in a couple of weeks, so you should think about what you want that to look like. Is there anything else you need me to do?”

“Actually yeah, look into some weed, like some real shit. I might need to add that to my portfolio or whatever the fuck you were talking about the other day.”

“Mama’s bud ain’t good enough?” Staysha sassed, only earning her a flat expression. “When you need them?”

Maximus shrugged his shoulders and picked up his keys. “Send some by the studio.”

“I got you,” Staysha confirmed. “Sydette will be here to style you-”

“That Sassy Sydnee chick?” Maximus asked, halting his stride toward the garage.

“Yeah, she was at the kickback the other night.”

“Find someone else. I don’t want her nowhere near me or my shit.”

Staysha perked up, expecting to hear some tea, but Maximus crushed her expectations.

“Your ass is nosey. You the specialist, find someone else and lock the front door behind you.”

"You sure you don’t want nothing else?” Staysha posed, making Maximus knit his brows. “Like you know a phone number? I know you don’t have it. She uses that email like she’s seventy. Playing smooth and shit.”

“Slide it over,” Maximus stated cooly.

“Say less. Don’t be on no bullshit either.”

twenty

. . .

Bonnet covered coils,blue mud pore eraser mask slathered over her face, oversized t-shirt, and her feet rubbing together as she watched Real Wives of Los Oceania. Now that she wasn’t actively working on a million projects, she had time to catch up on reality TV. Simply put, Eden was bored out of her mind. Since the show wrapped, she’d reorganized her closets, rearranged her room, and living space. Staysha was too busy to lie around and do nothing with her, so this is what she was reduced to. A lonely, bored, has been. The thought was as depressing as it was irritating.

“Meg is so dumb,” Eden huffed. “Of course, she’s sleeping with your husband. Why else would they have her on the show?”

Eden grabbed her phone and huffed to herself. “I'm so damn bored, I’m talking to the TV expecting it to talk back.”

Navigating through various social media apps, she scrolled, reading rumors about herself man hopping from Rico to Maximus, and whatever other lies they spewed about her and her body count. Now, she’d been with every man she shook hands with.

“And this shit,” she huffed again. “These people need to get lives and stay out of my business. I don’t even have any business for them to even be in.”

Just as she navigated from screen to screen, an unknown number sent her a text.

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