Page 68 of Are You Going to Love Me

The shoot wrapped as the sun was beginning to set. Maximus and Eden were prepping to head back to the wardrobe trailers when a woman caught his eye. Eden’s chest tightened watching Maximus stand up from the hood of the car and start toward the woman. Over his shoulder, he found Keon and Staysha marveling over the photos.

“Ke!” Maximus shouted. "Get her home."

“You okay?” Eden asked, watching Maximus stride further away from her. “Max...”

“Ay, Eden,” Keon called, moving over to her. “Let him handle that. He'll call you.”

“Who is that?" Eden asked out of true concern.

“His moms.”

twenty-five

. . .

The closer Maximusgot to his mother wandering around aimlessly through the street, the more it felt like his heart was going to explode in his chest. Distractions and the stench of betrayal kept him from returning to check in on his mother. As much as he wanted to be done with her and her poor choices, there would never be a world that he didn’t long for her to be whole and happy. She deserved that at least.

“Ma," Maximus called, praying that she wasn’t so high that she didn’t recognize his voice.

She stopped briefly to look at him. He was still clad in the bronze designer suit from the final look.

A drowsy smirk crossed her face. She staggered. The odor of liquor seeping through her pores met him before he could close in on her.

“You’re my son. Where you been?” she asked, looking up at him with glossy eyes.

Maximus took in her dirty attire. Things had gotten worse since he put his brother through the porch. The weight of it felt like it could kill him. Never mind all the things she’d done to him throughout his life.

“Around. Where you headed?” he questioned.

“Gus been throwing parties. I-I wanted to get some air.”

She had no sense of the days that passed. That was clear in her appearance.

“You hungry? Need something to eat?”

She smiled. “Yeah, you got some money?”

Maximus swayed his head. “Nah, not on me. Let me get you some food, get you some clean clothes. A hot shower.”

“I knew you loved your momma,” she hummed, attempting to reach up and touch his face, but he slightly dodged it. He wouldn’t let her touch break him – not out here. “What you been doing?”

Maximus guided her back down the block, opposite of where she came from. By the time he’d gotten her back to where his truck was parked, most of the crew was gone. Keon, Staysha, and Eden were gone too. Lifting his dirty mother into his truck, he felt something in him crack.

True to his word, he got her something hot to eat, which she scarfed down like she hadn’t eaten in days.

“Where you get this big ass truck? Mama moved you up in rank?”

“I’m not movin’ with Mama no more. I’ve been working."

“Doing what?”

“Rapping,” Maximus shared. “Did some acting, too. But mainly rapping.”

“You still banging on tables calling it music, huh? Big dreams like your daddy. At least you got some dreams, Gus don’t have shit but drugs, parties, and bullshit. It be fun, though,” she spoke, clapping her hands. “Ayyy. Ain’t partied this much since I had him. You know I gave up my life for y’all.”

Maximus had heard some version of this story throughout his years of life. The only time he didn’t hear it was when his mother was clear-headed and not addicted to anything but a man, the bottle, or whatever drug Augustus introduced to her. It was her addictive personality that always had them in some shit.

“Yeah, we never denied that, Ma,” Maximus stated, pushing the truck toward the outskirts of the city.

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