ɴᴇᴡɴᴇss - ᴛʜᴇ ᴡᴇᴇᴋɴᴅ (18+)

Fourteen

/Abel/

****

[Amala]

Abel stepped to the side to let Amala in with a slight smile. As he closed his front door, she looked around visibly pleased with her surroundings.

They faced each other. "To what do I owe this pleasure?" She gestured moving her eyes along his relaxed face.

"I figured we'd talk about the contract face to face and not through Monte's shiesty ass," he walked around her, leading her into his home office.

Amala nodded, heading through the room when they came to a stop. "What's so bad about him? We get along well so far."

"Yeah, now" Abel sat behind his desk, resting his elbows on top of the wood. "He wasn't so bad when I started out in this industry, but as I started earning him money, he changed. He started getting greedy. He stole from me, and I couldn't say anything because I was still under contract." Amala frowned as she listened to his words. "Coming up in this industry, you gotta know the signs. Don't let your need for success cloud your judgement. As soon as they see that, they'll take advantage of that. Play it smart."

"How?"

"Sign with me." He leaned forward. "Sign with me and I promise you'll win."

Amala sat back against the chair catching his eyes trail down her body. She couldn't help but slyly bite her lip.

She's been lingering around in the music industry long before this current contract battle existed long enough to know the kind of person Abel is. At one point she couldn't escape the conversations about him if she wanted to. He was a star in his prime—you'd be crazy not to know him.

Now that the talk has died down, no one has heard from him since his split from his ex. He went into hiding for a few months, only now coming out with MDM and his plans to focus on finding new talent. Amala knew that he could take her places if she wanted him to, the problem was, she had already signed with Monte and Republic. It'd be impossible to back out of her contract so early on.

And she explained this to him for the next ten minutes. "I'm sure there's a way to reverse this, but I don't think that would be a good look on me," she finished with a slight smile.

Abel nodded. He felt his phone vibrating and ignored it. Standing up, he rounded his desk and held out his hand. "Are you busy? Let's go grab dinner."

She frowned in confusion before hesitantly taking his hand, pulling herself up from the seat. Abel lead her out of his home and into his car. From there on, they took a trip to a diner downtown, where they were quickly seated.

After taking orders, the waiter walked away leaving them in the booth alone. Abel looked around, taking note of the 'undercover' paparazzi sitting a few booths down from them, and in front of the bar.

"I figured you were hungry," he spoke after a second of silence.  

"Oh, well thank you." Amala chuckled. She awkwardly looked around, not feeling Abel's presence as he moved closer.

His soft voice made her jump. "What made you want to be an artist?"

Her eyes slowly doubled in size when she saw that he was right in her face. His eyes flickered to her lips and she blushed. Abel smirked.

"Um—uh.. my love for music I think."

"You think?" He was amused.

"I mean I know."

"So that's for sure your reason?" She nodded softly. "Hmm, the cameras don't excite you? The luxury?"

"It makes me nervous more than ever, but I'm sure I'll get used to it," she replied, looking down with a shy smile.

Abel took her chin, lifting her head to his gaze. She blushed softly batting her lashes.

"What if I told you there were paparazzi lingering around here?" The more he stayed in her presence, the more he felt his attraction for her grow. She wasn't who he'd usually go for but he couldn't deny her beauty.

"Well we're not supposed to be seen together," Amala said, slightly leaning into his touch.

His hand dropped to her bare thigh. "Says who?"

"Monte."

"Mmm, and why is that?" He teasingly rubbed her thigh.

Amala shivered slightly before scooting away. "Because it'd cause confusion, with the contract being public now and all."

He smirked. From the corner of his eye he could see one of the paparazzi moving to a table closer to them, thinking that he wouldn't be caught. Any other time, Abel wouldn't have stayed long enough for them to have a field day with his appearance, but nowadays he didn't care. They would never know the truth about anything, even if Abel blatantly shoved the truth in their faces.

Moving closer, Abel wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling Amala back against his chest. His lips touched the shell of her ear.

"Do you care about what he thinks?"

She dared to look over her shoulder. Abel smiled when she shook her head slightly.

"So what do you want to do, right now in this moment?" When she didn't answer, his smile deepened. "Kiss me."

"What?"

Amala quickly whipped around, looking at him as if he grew two heads. Abel only smirked.

"Kiss me."

She frowned. "But—"

"You don't care about what he thinks, right? So kiss me," he repeated, moving closer. Amala made no moves to stop him.

Just when he was inches away from her lips, he whispered, "Sign with me baby, and I promise you'll win."

*****

idk what significance this has to the plot (i'm lying 💀), but we'll wing it lmao.

hope you enjoyed! ✨

- nae 🥂