𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐲, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ¹

thirty three.

CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
hakeem vs jamal

Hakeem

Hakeem and Tiana were chilling in the studio. She was sitting down on her phone while he was in the booth freestyling. Then she said, "Aye, Hakeem. When are we making another song together?"

"Why you asking that?"

Tiana looked at her phone again. "That's what the fans are asking. And someone posted our fake engagement on YouTube, and it's trending."

"But we deaded the rumors."

"Yeah, but you said we're getting married one day. It got everyone's hopes up."

"Well, I meant what I said. One day." He smirked at her.

Tiana smiled and he was gonna freestyle again, but Jamal came barging in. "Get out of the booth, Hakeem!"

Hakeem waved him away. "Not right now, Jamal. I'm-"

"Get out of the god damn booth!" Jamal yelled at the top of his lungs, scaring Tiana and everything. Jamal's chest was rising up and down rapidly, and he had his hands balled up. Hakeem stepped out of the booth and stared at him warily. What the hell was his problem?

"What do you want?" Hakeem asked him.

Jamal spoke to Tiana. "Tiana, I think you should step out."

Tiana slowly stood up. "Or maybe I should stay to make sure you two don't kill each other."

Hakeem sucked his teeth at that. "Man, he ain't killing nothing. I'll be straight."

"Okay..." Then she kissed him and left.

Hakeem questioned Jamal once again. "What do you want, Jamal?"

"You were talking shit about my sexuality?"

He couldn't be serious. "So you're telling me you came in here to talk about your gayness?"

"Were you talking shit about my sexuality, yes or no?!"

"I don't care if you're gay, Jamal! If you wanna love on Mateo, go ahead!"

"Then why am I hearing that you were talking shit?"

"From who?!"

But Jamal didn't tell him. "It doesn't matter from who! Just be honest!"

"If I was talking shit? What are you gonna do, Jamal? Like, really?" Hakeem challenged.

Jamal pushed him into the equipment forcefully. "Do you wanna see?"

Hakeem gave Jamal a shocked look before pushing him back. Now they were shoving each other and Andre ran in to break it up. "Woah! Calm down, brothers! Let's not do this here!"

"Dre, get him out because he's wasting my time!" Hakeem demanded.

"I wouldn't be here if you knew how to keep your mouth shut!" Jamal argued.

"I haven't been worried about you, Mal! I've been worrying about Tiana and that's it! So how about you go see a doctor because you're delusional. You need to get some damn medication," Hakeem spat.

"And you need to stop talking shit about your family!"

"I never said anything!"

But of course he wasn't believing Hakeem. "Yeah okay, Hakeem. At least be a man and admit it."

That was ironic coming from him. "What do you know about being a man? Weren't you running around in heels?"

That pissed Jamal off so bad, he lunged at Hakeem, but Andre held him back. "No! Just leave, Jamal! Let me handle this!"

Jamal glared at Hakeem. "Yeah, handle it before someone gets hurt."

"Yeah, you! You might break a nail!" Hakeem fired back.

"Hakeem!" Andre scolded.

Jamal just shook his head. "The things you're saying proves you were talking shit. But it's cool, Hakeem. You'll get what's coming to you."

"Yeah, whatever!"

And then Jamal stormed out and slammed the door behind him. Andre got in Hakeem's face. "You need to stop."

"Oh whatever. He came in here starting with me, accusing me of talking shit about his sexuality when I never did that."

"You just did!" Andre said.

"Because he pissed me off! That's why! So whoever's lying on my name needs to stop."

"I'mma find out who's lying on you," Andre promised.

"Don't bother. I can handle it."

"No. This is my chance to prove I'm not a snake, and I'm going to do it." Then Andre put his hand on Hakeem's shoulder and smiled. "I got your back, baby brother."

He hugged Hakeem and left the studio, and Hakeem could've sworn he saw him smirking on his way out...

Blake

Blake sat in the conference room because he needed some peace and quiet. He still hadn't heard from Royalty, and he didn't know if he ever would. He hadn't even seen her at Empire today, and it was worrying.

Did she quit or something? Maybe she was avoiding him now? She was probably disgusted by his behavior and never wanted to see him again. He really fucked up.

"Hey."

Blake looked towards the door and saw Royalty standing there awkwardly. His heart raced like crazy. She actually came back to him!

"Don't look so shocked," Ro joked.

He chuckled a little. "I wasn't expecting to hear from you again."

"You weren't going to, but Hakeem said we should talk things out, and I'm down for that."

"Okay...but I don't know what to say."

"Maybe start by apologizing for getting mad at me over the littlest things?" Ro suggested.

He apologized. "I'm sorry if I'm coming across as crazy or something. It's just...I ain't really had that many girlfriends before either, so this whole thing is new to me. The way I feel about you is new to me, and I don't know how to control myself."

Royalty nodded and slowly sat on his lap. Now he was real excited. In that way.

She said, "I understand that, but you gotta tone it down a little bit, Blake. You're suffocating me."

"How?"

She explained. "You never give me space, and you expect me to give you my full attention 24/7. I can't do that."

"So...you don't want me to text you all the time or something?"

"You can text me, but don't get mad when I don't answer right away. And don't start spamming me. And also, don't disrespect me when you're mad. Don't call me a liar because I'm not lying to you, Blake. I do feel something for you."

Blake felt so ashamed now. "Wow. I've been fucking up, huh?"

"Severely."

He looked into her eyes and made her a promise. "I'mma fix myself for you. You're worth that much."

She was happy to hear that. "Okay. Then we can give this a shot."

Blake's heart was really racing now. "Wait, like...you wanna be together?"

"If you still want that."

"Hell yeah I do!" he exclaimed.

Royalty giggled. "Okay, then I guess I'm now your girlfriend."

He smirked hard. "I like the sound of that." He kissed her, and she kissed him back. They were still in the conference room, so he knew everyone could see them right now, but he didn't care at all. He didn't care about anything but his princess.

He finally got her.