𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ²

two.

CHAPTER TWO
inseparable

Jamal

next day

Jamal was at Lucious' house this morning, and he couldn't get Andre off his mind. What he did was unspeakable. Jamal expected that kind of behavior from Hakeem, not Andre. But Hakeem had been way more mature about the CEO competition than Andre, and that was a shame.

Andre was the oldest, which meant he should be the most level headed and responsible. But what he did proved he was no different than the rest of them. And Andre wanted Jamal and Hakeem to look immature? Na, he was the real immature one, and Jamal wanted nothing to do with him anymore.

He only had one brother, as far as he knew. And he was a pain in the ass, but he was far better than Andre.

Just then, Cookie entered the living room. "Boy, when I tell you your brother won't leave me alone."

"Who? Hakeem?"

"Andre!"

"Doesn't ring a bell," Jamal said.

Cookie sighed. "I know we're all mad at him right now, but he's still your brother, Jamal."

"Na, I'm good."

Then Hakeem came in. "Yo, Mal! Check this out! People are on Twitter, debating on which one of us had the better performance."

"Probably Ro. She embarrassed the hell out of Blake."

"As she should with his cheating ass!" Cookie exclaimed.

Hakeem said, "Well, between you and I? People are saying I won."

Jamal wasn't surprised. "Well, duh, you got the crowd hype. My song was more sentimental."

"Don't make excuses. I'm just better."

"Shut up, boy!" Cookie hit him. "Don't listen to him, Jamal. You did amazing. And Hakeem, that's the type of music I wanna hear from you, baby. Not that killing shit."

Hakeem shook his head. "Na, those days are over. It's the start of a new era."

Jamal praised him. "Keep it up and you'll be bigger than your girlfriend."

Hakeem appreciated that. "Yeah, you too."

Cookie gushed. "Aww. Look at you two finally getting along!"

"Because Andre's snake ass isn't here to instigate anything," Hakeem said angrily.

"Well, I think there's some apologizing you two need to do, so I'mma go check on your father to make sure he's not dying on me."

"On you?" Jamal repeated.

"I mean...on us!" Then she quickly left.

"Okay, I'm not the only one who's getting the vibe that Ma still loves dad, right?" Jamal asked Hakeem.

"Nope. I think he loves her too, because he gave her the company."

"Are you mad about Ro getting chosen?"

"I'm more mad at Andre for jeopardizing us."

"Yeah, same. But hey, I'm sorry for attacking you. I didn't know Andre was lying."

Hakeem nodded angrily. "I always said he was the snake of the family. He proved me right."

Jamal shook his head. "I just don't get what he gained by doing this."

"He wanted to be CEO, but in the end, he fucked himself over. Karma's a bitch."

"Karma's a real bitch," Jamal agreed.

Hakeem questioned him now. "So, you're gonna hate Dre forever?"

"I meant it when I said he's dead to me, because he was really okay with ruining my life over a stupid position." Jamal added on to that. "You told the world about Mateo and I, and it's because of Andre. Because he instigated our beef. Now I supposedly have a target on my back because he made us hate each other. So yeah, I'mma hate him forever."

"Well, since we cool now, we should hop on live and let the people know."

Jamal was hesitant. "I don't know. I don't wanna provoke your obsessed fan."

"That's true. But fuck it!" Hakeem pulled out his phone and went live. He spoke to all of his fans. "Wassup y'all! As y'all can see, I got my brother Jamal with me because we're cool now. We squashed the beef. Who knows? We might even make a song together. Would y'all like that?"

Everyone said yeah, so Jamal guessed he and Hakeem had to make a song together now. Jamal kept reading comments and Hakeem did too, but he looked startled for some reason. The chat was going really fast, so Hakeem scrolled up as if he was trying to find a specific comment.

"What's wrong?" Jamal asked him.

"N-Nothing."

But Jamal knew it was something.

Lucious

Cookie entered Lucious' room. "You okay in here?"

He glanced over at her. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"Well, your sons are downstairs getting along for once."

"That's good. That beef was artificial anyway."

Cookie shook her head and sighed. "I can't believe that Andre. I thought you raised him better than that?"

Lucious faced her. "Andre knows I don't like snakes, so I don't know what he was trying to achieve. And the fact that he thought he could pull a fast one over me has me even angrier. Because even if Rhonda didn't confess, I still had my suspicions."

Cookie nodded. "Yeah, it all makes sense now. That's why he said it was all his fault."

"Yeah, but it's cool. He's not being CEO. You and Ro are, and you're going to do a good job."

Cookie smiled a little. "I actually wanted to thank you for that. I wasn't expecting it."

"You deserve it. Your money did help build the company, after all."

"Is that the only reason?"

Lucious knew she was talking about the still loving her situation. Thirsty had convinced him to be honest with Cookie, and to himself, so he would. "No, that's not the only reason. The other reason is because I want the woman I love to run things when I'm gone. I don't even need to say I love you because you already know I do."

Cookie smirked a little. "Yes I do, but what I don't know is why you didn't tell me this days ago."

"Because I'm dying, Cookie. Did you forget I only have three years left on this earth?"

"Then shouldn't we make the most of it, Lucious?"

Lucious guessed they should. "I just thought it'd be selfish of me to go all in with you, knowing I'm not gonna be here for a long time."

That made Cookie's jaw drop. "Wow. Look at you not wanting to be selfish for once. You must really love me."

Lucious chuckled. "You make me better. I'm not afraid to admit that anymore."

Cookie stepped closer and looked into his eyes, and he looked back into hers. "Well, you know how I feel about you, Lucious. I also understand the circumstances, and I'm still willing to give you my heart again for these last three years. Just please don't break it."

"I would never." He planted a kiss on her hand and Cookie blushed and kissed him. He kissed her back, and it felt damn good because he hadn't kissed her in seventeen years.

Then they heard Hakeem talk from the doorway. "Damn. We were right on the money, Mal."

Jamal spoke. "Yup. They definitely still love each other."

Yes they did.