𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐲, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ¹

four.

CHAPTER FOUR
she's back

Jamal

next day

Jamal was on FaceTime with Mateo since he couldn't bring him anywhere near the mansion anymore. He wasn't trying to get my dick chopped off, because Lucious would really do that. He'd probably feed it to Jamal afterwards and everything.

Just vicious.

"So, what's up? We didn't talk at all yesterday," Mateo said.

Jamal stared down at the phone sadly. He might as well fill him in. "Lucious found out about us, Mateo."

Mateo's face fell flat. "What do you mean he found out about us?"

"He knows I've been sneaking you in."

"Your sister snitched?!"

Jamal shook his head. "Nope. The security did."

Mateo facepalmed while shaking his head furiously. "Of course they did. What were we thinking? Did we really think we'd get away with that?"

"Well, we didn't. I can't sneak you in anymore because I don't want my dick to get chopped off."

Mateo agreed. "I definitely don't want that either. I love your—"

Jamal cut him off and laughed. "Okay, you're nasty. But I'm serious. You can't come here anymore."

Mateo wasn't happy about that. "Man, I don't understand why you being gay is such a problem to Lucious."

"It'll mess up his image and his money." Lucious didn't play about his money. "And you know people still have a hard time accepting gay men. It also doesn't help that I'm black."

"So you're going to stay in the closet for the rest of your life?"

"I don't have a choice."

"Well, just because you stay in the closet, doesn't mean I have to, right?"

Jamal gave him a serious look. "Uh, yes you do. We don't want people talking."

Mateo sucked his teeth. "Jamal, come on. I'm sick of hiding from the world. If they can't accept me, that's fine. I couldn't care less about their opinion."

"I understand that, but I'm always seen with you. People can see how close we are, Mateo, and they think we're best friends, but if you come out as gay, they're gonna put two and two together."

"Who cares?! You need to stop giving a shit about what they're going to think. Also, stop listening to Lucious. You're 23, Jamal. How long are you going to let him control you?"

"As long as he lives under this roof, and as long as he's an Empire artist! That's how long!" Lucious yelled as he entered the room.

Jamal glared at Lucious like no tomorrow. Did he really just do that? He huffed and ended the call. "I gotta go, Mateo."

"Yeah, I bet you do." Mateo hung up angrily.

Jamal slammed his phone down and scolded Lucious. "Really? You can't barge in here like that!"

"This is my house. I can do what ever I want. And you better not FaceTime him in my house ever again!"

Jamal scoffed. "Wow. First I can't invite him over, and now I can't FaceTime him? I can't do shit, huh?"

Lucious rolled his eyes. "Here you go getting emotional. You know, you weren't acting this feminine before Mayo came around."

Here he goes with the immature name calling. "His name is Mateo. Respect it."