𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ²

thirty seven.

CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
clingy and crazy

Hakeem

next day

Andre had been on Hakeem's mind nonstop. When Cookie and Lucious told them about his bipolar disorder, Hakeem didn't care too much because he was still angry about his snake behavior. But now it was starting to hit him.

His biggest concern was, what if Andre didn't get fixed? What if he never got to come home because of it? If that happened, Hakeem was going to be angry because he wanted to see his brother again, despite what he did.

Hakeem thought about getting in contact with Andre and apologizing to him. He was going to tell him that he forgave him, and he was going to make sure Andre knew they were waiting for him to come home. Maybe that'd motivate him to get better.

The problem was that Hakeem didn't know where he had checked into. He did a bunch of google searches and called a bunch of numbers, but they all kept saying they couldn't tell him if Andre was there. One place cooperated and told him Andre was indeed there, and Hakeem was so relieved.

He asked if he could talk to him, and now he was on hold. And guess who had just walked up to him? Freda.

"Yo, Hakeem! You gotta hear these new bars!"

He waved her away. "Not right now, Freda."

"Come on! You ain't doing shit else!"

"I'm on the phone."

"But your mouth wasn't moving, so I'mma assume you're on hold."

He just huffed. She wasn't going to leave him alone, was she? She hadn't left him alone ever since she got signed. She really was his biggest fan.

He gave in. "Alright, let me hear it." She started free-styling, and she was literally dissing the shit out of Hakeem. "What the fuck?!"

Freda died laughing. "Don't take it so serious, man! You know I wouldn't diss you like that! I'm your biggest fan!"

He was tired of hearing that. "I heard you the first time."

Then she sat down next to him. "What are you doing?"

"Calling my brother."

"Jamal again, huh? You must really love him."

"Why wouldn't I? He's family."

"He wasn't family when you put a hit out on him," Freda recalled.

Hakeem regretted that. "I shouldn't have done that. I shouldn't have involved the world."

"Well, you did. And someone listened to you I guess, because he got shot."

"Do you care?" Hakeem asked her.

Freda answered honestly. "I'm not gonna act like I care about Jamal because I don't. The only Lyon I care about is you." He was getting the feeling she cared about him a little too much. "But hey, if Jamal messes with you again, I got your back."

Hakeem shut her down. "I don't need you to have my back. I can fight my own battles."

"At least you know there's gonna be a battle. Because Jamal doesn't seem that loyal to me," Freda commented.

Now he was annoyed. "Are you gonna talk about something else?"

Freda put her hands up. "Hey, if I'm pissing you off, just let me know."

"You're pissing me off!"

"Okay, my bad. I won't talk about Jamal anymore. I wish him a speedy recovery."

But Hakeem knew she didn't mean that shit at all.

Tiana

Tiana was released from the hospital yesterday. Thank god. She hated being in hospitals. She should be resting, but nope. She had came straight back to work.

She had a run in with Cookie earlier, and Cookie had told her she was crazy for being back at Empire so soon. Tiana had to be there because if she wasn't, people would say she was weak and hiding. That was the last thing she wanted. Plus, her head didn't feel that sore anymore. She was good.

She was looking for Hakeem right now, but couldn't find him anywhere. She spotted Becky and asked her for his whereabouts because Becky knew everyone's whereabouts.

"Hey Becky, have you seen Hakeem?"

"Yup. He's right over there."

Tiana followed her finger and saw Hakeem in the conference room with some chick that was all up on him. "Who the hell is that?"

"That's Freda. New Empire rapper."

Tiana looked at Becky now. "Why do we need a new rapper? A female at that?"

"To replace Gram. Hakeem's supposed to be guiding her."

"It had to be my man left with that job?"

Becky shrugged. "Lucious' orders."

Tiana rolled her eyes and stormed into the conference room, demanding answers. "Who's your friend, babe?"

The girl stood up. "I'm Freda. Who are you?"

"I'm his girl. And don't act like you don't know who I am. Everyone knows who I am."

Freda snorted. "Okay shorty, you can chill with your threatening demeanor. I don't want your man. I like chicks."

Tiana argued back. "Doesn't seem that way because you're all up on him."

Hakeem walked up to them now. "Bae, chill. Lucious wants me to guide Freda, so that's what I'm doing."

Tiana scoffed. "Wow. That's real funny to me."

"How?"

"It was a problem for me to be cool with Gram, but you can turn around and be cool with this new bitch?"

"New bitch?" Freda got in her face. "Do you wanna say that again? Because I won't hesitate to send your ass back to the hospital."

"You can try!"

Hakeem got in between them. "Can y'all chill?! You're fighting over nothing!"

"You better tell your girl to chill before I shoot right where her chest is. Let's see if she makes it out of the hospital after that!" Freda threatened.

Tiana and Hakeem gave her a started look. What the hell was wrong with her?

Tiana was gonna go. "You know what? I'm not gonna sit here and have my life be threatened, so I'm out."

She really left too, but Hakeem chased after her. "Tiana, wait!"

They were outside of the room now. "No I'm out, Hakeem! That bitch is clingy and crazy, and I don't like it!"

Hakeem sighed. "I literally can't do anything about it. Lucious-"

Tiana cut him off. "Tell Lucious to have her follow someone else around because she needs to be dropped, Hakeem. If you don't drop her, then you'll be the one getting dropped. Make your choice."

Hakeem scowled. "Yo, you deadass?"

Oh, she was too deadass.