𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐲, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ¹

forty.

CHAPTER FORTY
last chance

Jamal

next day

It was Saturday night, which meant Mateo was coming over for dinner. Jamal wasn't ready for this at all. He hadn't talked to Mateo since before he went public with Tory, and he knew Mateo wasn't happy with him right now. He couldn't be. Jamal wouldn't be surprised if Mateo cursed him out.

Jamal was all dressed up tonight, and so was the rest of the family. They had to leave a good impression on Mateo, and Jamal hoped everyone would act right because this was his last chance to win him back. But with Lucious there...Jamal didn't know how this was going to go.

Cookie walked up to him and put her hand on his back. "You ready?"

"Not really. I know Mateo has a lot to say to me."

"He better not get too disrespectful, or I'mma handle that ass!"

Jamal chuckled, but the doorbell went off and he quickly stopped chuckling. Now he was nervous all over again.

"Well, that's him. Get the door, baby."

Jamal got the door and Mateo stood on the other side of it, looking as good as ever. He was all dressed up too. "Mateo, hi. Come in."

Mateo stepped in without saying a word to him. Jamal closed the door and spoke again. "Did you see the press conference I had?"

"I did," he said dryly.

"I'm really sorry for telling everyone I only see you as my best friend. It's not true, and-"

Mateo put his hand up. "I don't wanna talk about it, Jamal. You made your choice."

"It wasn't a choice though. It had to be done."

"You didn't have to have a press conference and rub your fake girlfriend in my face. You didn't have to lie to everyone about what we are. So like I said, you made your choice."

Cookie quickly intervened before things got staticky. "Alright, how about we go to the dining room? The food is waiting!"

They went to the dining room and the rest of the family was there. There was nothing but tension in the air because Mateo and Lucious were glaring at each other like there was no tomorrow.

Mateo said, "Hello, Lucious."

"I hope you know this is the last time you're stepping foot in this house," Lucious spat.

"Oh trust me, I don't plan on coming back." Mateo glared at Jamal.

Cookie hit Lucious. "You need to be nice, Lucious. I brought Mateo over here so that we could all apologize to him."

They all sat down as Hakeem spoke. "I honestly have the most apologizing to do. I'm sorry, Mateo. I wasn't thinking when I blurted out what I said. But I did try to fix my mistake, so I hope that counts for something."

Mateo just said, "You're a dumbass."

Royalty almost choked on her food. "Woah."

Hakeem automatically got defensive. "What'd you just say?"

Mateo repeated what he said. "I said you're a dumbass. And based off the things Jamal told me while we were together, you've always been a dumbass. You really proved it these last couple of days."

"You better watch your damn mouth when talking to my son!" Lucious shouted.

"Your son is the one who needs to watch his mouth! All of this happened because of him!"

"I didn't purposely want to ruin your relationship, so you can chill with all that disrespect!" Hakeem said.

"You deserve disrespect. You're immature, nosy-"

"You don't know me!" Hakeem raged while hitting the table and standing up.

"I know more than enough. And I always end up with the same conclusion: you're a dumbass," Mateo dissed.

Now Lucious stood up. "Didn't I tell you to watch your mouth when talking to my son?!"

Mateo just snorted. "You should sit back down before your muscle weakness kicks in, Lucious."

Jamal rubbed his forehead in frustration because there goes Mateo mentioning his ALS again. And of course Lucious got offended and started arguing with Mateo. He called him Mayo and everything.

Hakeem jumped into the argument to defend Lucious, and now all three of them were arguing while Royalty and Cookie tried to shut them up. Jamal couldn't deal with this. There was nothing but chaos and toxicity when the family got together and he'd had enough.

He groaned in annoyance. "Oh my god! Fight, fight, fight! All we do is fight in this god damn family!"

Hakeem argued with him. "We wouldn't be fighting if your bitter ass boyfriend knew how to stay in his place."

"Say it louder, Hakeem!" Lucious said.

Jamal laughed angrily with a roll of his eyes. "You're such a bitch, Hakeem."

"The only bitches here are you and Mateo!"

Royalty hit him. "Stop talking like that!"

"Na, Jamal's been acting all types of emotional lately. Maybe that's the gay in him."

Jamal stood up because he was tired of this shit. "Yes, I'm the gay Lyon! Who the fuck cares?! If you have a problem with it, do something about it!"

Hakeem was ready to fight. "Oh, you standing up?"

"Yeah, I'm standing up. You want me to be straight so bad? Come make me straight then!"

Hakeem looked at Lucious. "Pop, you hear this?"

Lucious cut his food with no care whatsoever. "Yes I do, and you better beat his ass, or I'mma beat yours."

Hakeem looked at Jamal again. "I'mma beat his ass alright, because I'm tired of the ungrateful shit!"

"Come on then!"

"No, stop it! Sit down!" Cookie yelled. But Hakeem dashed up to Jamal and took the first swing, hitting him dead in the face. Jamal punched him back and they were going at it like crazy in front of the family. And in front of Mateo.

Jamal definitely wasn't getting him back now.

Hakeem pushed Jamal into the table. Now they were fighting all over the food. Jamal punched him in his jaw with so much force, he fell to the floor. Then Jamal got on top of him and kept punching him some more.

Lucious wasn't happy that Jamal was winning. "You better get your ass up Hakeem, or I'mma do ten times worse!"

Cookie scolded him. "Are you serious right now? Stop egging them on, Lucious!" Then she spoke to Andre. "Andre, get your brothers off each other please!"

But Andre was having an inner battle with himself for some reason, so Cookie had to break the fight up. "Stop! Stop! What is wrong with you two? Acting like lunatics in front of our company?!"

"I'm acting like a lunatic because Hakeem and Lucious swear up and down that I'm too gay to fight. I bet you won't try me again."

Hakeem sucked his teeth. "Man, whatever. I'm out."

"Yeah, go fix your face!"

"Go fix your sexuality!" Hakeem fired back.

"Hakeem!" Cookie scolded.

Hakeem just stormed out. Lucious was just as pissed. "Get the hell out of my house, Mateo!"

Mateo stood up. "I will. This family is fucking crazy."

Jamal called after him for some reason. "Mateo!"

Cookie touched his back. "Let him go, baby."

Yup. Jamal had no choice but to let him go.