||Pretenders||☄️

(146).

"The Past"

        Maxwell stayed up on his bed after the date, speaking to Ryan on phone. "You haven't seen this?" Ryan asked. Shelby was taking a bath in the bathroom and the sounds of the water dropping echoed in the room. "She didn't tell you?"

"She didn't."

"This explains it because I knew you didn't want people to have any ideas about your family and now they do. Someone commented she knows you from school and you did bad things. Why didn't you tell her not to go ahead with this? The internet is a scary place Maxwell and it has your name all over. Very soon, people will find out about your past. Already, people are saying they know you and your family owns half of the city. What are you going to do about it?"

"I don't know Ryan. Let me call you back." Maxwell ended the call and grabbed on the duvet beside him. He breathed out through his mouth and clicked on Shelby's social media page. She had posted pictures of them, letting the world know he was her boyfriend. And as expected, people didn't fail to bring his family into this.

      Shelby came out of the bathroom naked, smiling at him and he was in a frown. "Hey babe,"

"Put something on and let's talk." He scornfully said. Her smile faded and she put on a T-shirt. "You posted pictures of me?" He asked.

      "Of us." She corrected with a smile. "Have you seen it? It's nice right?"

"Can you take it off?"

      She chortled. "Why?" She asked. "I think they're nice."

"I know they are. Just take them off." He said calmly and her frown started kicking back in. "Have you read through the comments?"

"I don't read comments. It ruins my day."

       Maxwell was trying to keep his calm composure. "Okay that's cool. I don't like it when people talk about me so please take it off. Don't ever post pictures of me without my concern." He said and got off the bed.

"You're doing this because of Alicia, right?"

"It has nothing to fucking do with her okay!" He yelled. "You know the kind of life I lived. You know how hard I've been trying not to let all this go. Do you think I'm ready to answer questions about my past life because my girlfriend can't keep our private life to herself? What the fuck are you trying to prove to people? That you bagged yourself the Ross's stupid son?"

"I thought you'll..."

"I don't! Take that shit off." He eyed at her. His phone rung on the bed and he walked to pick it up. He answered the call and sighed. "Who's this?" He asked.

"This is Active Media. Am I speaking to Maxwell Ross?" The man on the phone asked and he turned to Shelby.

"Yes. Do you need something?"

"I would to grant you an interview with Shelby, your girlfriend..."

"I'm not interested." Maxwell hanged up on the phone and frowned at her. "This is what I was fucking talking about! I don't want to have any fucking thing to do with your business. Leave me out of it Shelby. If you don't take those pictures down in the next minute, consider this relationship done." He bursted on her and walked to the hall. His phone rung again and it was Alia calling. "Fuck," he cussed and answered the call. "Hey,"

"Hey? Why do I have people calling me and asking if I'm your baby mama? Who the fuck sent my daughter's pictures to these people?"

"They called you too?"