𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ²

thirty nine.

CHAPTER THIRTY NINE
tiana and jamal

Jamal

next day

Jamal was playing the piano in his condo because if he had to lay down in that bed for another second, he was gonna go crazy. He was sick of the bed rest shit.

Warren opened his front door. "Uh, Jamal, we have a problem..."

Jamal huffed. "Don't tell me Mateo's back."

"No, but Lucious is on his way."

That made Jamal stop playing the piano. "Lucious? Why the hell is he coming here?"

"I don't know. He said he needs to talk to you."

Jamal walked to the door now. "Tell him to forget about it. I don't want to see him."

"Too bad. I'm already here," Lucious said when he arrived.

"You can turn back around because you're not coming in here."

"Oh, you must have forgotten who's paying for this place. It sure ain't you, so I don't need permission to step foot inside of what I'm paying for."

Jamal rolled his eyes and let him inside of the condo because he didn't feel like arguing. He was already in enough pain.

"Uh...I'll just stay out here," Warren said before closing the door.

Jamal immediately crossed his arms at Lucious. "Why are you here, Dad? To apologize?"

He shook his head. "I'm not here to make amends. I'm here to talk about the music."

"What about it?"

"The fans want you and Tiana back in the studio. You've never made a song together, and the fans are dying to hear you two on the same track," he informed Jamal.

Jamal was down for that. "I've always wanted to work with Tiana, so I don't mind. But wasn't she just in the hospital?"

"Yes. Blake broke into her house and attacked her."

"What the hell?!"

"Yeah. But she's back at Empire, ready to get back to business. All we need is you."

Jamal accepted his offer. "I'm down, but I don't know how I'mma go to Empire without Ma detecting me. You know she doesn't want me leaving my bed."

"Don't worry about what your mother wants. You're a grown ass man. If you feel like you're ready to get back into the studio, then do that."

Jamal nodded. "Alright. When do we start?"

"You wanna record the song now?"

Jamal was lost. "Don't we have to write it first?"

"It's already written."

"Oh. Let's go then."

-

Jamal and Lucious were at Empire. Of course Warren was there because he had to follow Jamal everywhere now. Jamal hoped they didn't run into Cookie because he didn't want to hear her mouth. She'd have a fit if she saw him back on his feet so soon.