𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐲, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ¹

thirty eight.

CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT
let the lies begin

Cookie

next day

Cookie walked down the stairs while listening to Jamal. He was crying on the phone because Mateo wanted nothing to do with him anymore. Because of the family. Cookie felt horrible about it.

"I really lost him this time, Ma! He's never coming back, I know it!" Jamal cried some more.

Cookie was so devastated. "Don't worry Jamal, I'mma handle it. Text me his number right now, and I will call him!"

She heard Jamal sniffle. "O-Okay." Jamal hung up and she stormed into Lucious' room. Yes she was in the mansion because she had moved back in like she said she would. Lucious couldn't keep her down.

"Now you got my baby crying, Lucious!"

Lucious focused on the tv. "I'mma assume you're talking about Jamal. He's the only emotional child I have."

Cookie rolled her eyes. "Yes, I'm talking about Jamal. Mateo doesn't want him anymore, and I know you're happy about that."

"Ecstatic," Lucious said dryly. "But no. Hakeem has him crying, not me. No one told Hakeem to out Jamal to the world."

"Well, I don't want my baby to be heartbroken, Lucious. I'm gonna fix this."

Right on cue, Jamal texted her Mateo's number and she dialed it. Lucious was curious. "Who you calling?"

"Mateo."

"Don't call that man in my house!"

"Shut up, Lucious!" Then Mateo answered the phone and she spoke sweetly. "Mateo, hi! This is Cookie! Jamal's mother!"

"Oh. Hello, Ms. Lyon."

"You know, I've been dying to meet you. But I heard you and Jamal aren't together anymore."

"Yeah. I cut things off with him yesterday."

"Why? I thought you two were happy together?"

Mateo said, "We were, before Lucious made him get a fake girlfriend."

Lucious heard that. "I-"

Cookie quickly covered his damn mouth. "Listen Mateo, it wasn't just Lucious. The entire family wants Jamal to pretend to be with Tory, but they have no feelings for each other whatsoever. I don't want this to put a strain on your relationship, so how about you come over to Lucious' place tomorrow night for dinner?"

"Are you crazy?!" Lucious yelled into her hand. His voice was muffled.

"May I ask why?" Mateo said.

"I feel like we have some explaining and apologizing to do as a family."

"And Lucious is okay with this?"

She lied. "He's 100% cool with it."

"Okay. I guess I'll stop by then."

She clapped. "Great! See you then!"

She hung up and uncovered Lucious' mouth. He was pissed. "Now, you have some explaining to do, woman!"

"There's nothing to explain. We messed up our son's relationship, and we need to fix it."

"Hakeem messed up Jamal's life. I'm trying to save it," Lucious argued.

She sighed. "Listen, I'm not saying the fake girlfriend idea was wrong. It was actually smart. But now our son is heartbroken because of it, and that's not okay. So Mateo's coming over, and you better play nice."

Lucious opened his mouth to argue, but Hakeem came rushing in. "Yo! Jamal's about to go public with Tory!"

That made Lucious quickly turn on the news. They saw a bunch of reporters on screen, and one lady was speaking to the camera. "We're standing outside of Empire Entertainment, waiting for Jamal Lyon to give an announcement." She continued. "Jamal's name has been quite the buzz lately when the internet started speculating that he may be gay. Maybe that's what his announcement will be about?"

That's exactly what the announcement was about. But Jamal wasn't going to confirm the rumors, he was going to deny them. That made Cookie sigh. "Well...let the lies begin."

Jamal

Jamal and Tory were at Empire, and there were a bunch of reporters waiting for him to speak. He had to introduce Tory as his girlfriend to the entire world, and he really didn't wanna do this.

He didn't like lying about who he was, but he didn't have a choice this time. His family was depending on him to keep Empire alive. He knew Mateo would be watching, and he would never forgive him for this.

Tory stood next to him. He looked at her. "Does my face look okay?"

"It looks like...you've been crying."

"I have been. Mateo doesn't want me anymore."

Tory frowned deeply. "Look Jamal, I'm sorry about this. I didn't want to mess up what you guys had."

He shook his head. "It's not your fault. It's my fucking brother's fault. Or maybe it's my fault for being gay in the first place."

Tory hit his arm. "Don't talk like that! You can love who you want."

"Yeah. I just wish the world would realize that."

Becky came out of Empire to address the reporters. She introduced Jamal to them, and now he was feeling nervous. Tory noticed. "Hey. You don't have to do this if you don't want to."

"I kinda do."

"Well...I guess we're going public then." She held his hand, and it felt weird because he had absolutely no attraction to her. That was why he was praying they didn't have to kiss or anything. He didn't know if he could do all of that.

They stood in front of the reporters and they gasped at them. One of them said, "Jamal! Just yesterday your brother Hakeem went on Instagram to tell the world you have a girlfriend. Now we see that you're holding hands with a woman. Are the rumors about you being gay false?"

Jamal lied his ass off, and he hated it. "The rumors are false. I'm not into men. I'm into Tory."

He smiled at her and she smiled back. "We are happily in love."

"How long have you two been together, and why are we just now finding out?"

"Tory and I have been together for..." Jamal paused as he thought of another lie. "...a couple of months. I like to keep my relationships private, so that's why we haven't went public."

Another reporter said, "Tell us the truth, Jamal. Who is Mateo to you?"

Jamal lied his ass off once again, and this lie hurt the most. "He's my best friend." Mateo was never going to forgive him for saying that. "So I'd appreciate it if everyone stopped with the rumors, and stopped digging up info about Mateo. He deserves privacy."

Tory spoke. "And so do we! So, there you have it! Now you know that we're a couple, so we'll be taking no further questions. Thank you!"

Tory rushed them away. The reporters tried to follow and ask questions, but the security kept them back.

Jamal thanked Tory. "Thanks for getting us out of that situation."

"Yeah. You looked like you were losing your mind."

He was. "I really hate lying, and I just told the world Mateo's nothing but a best friend to me. He's gonna be pissed."

Tory held his arm and spoke reassuringly. "Don't worry. All of this is going to blow over soon. You'll get your man back."

He really fucking hoped so.