Empire State of mind

Chapter Forty: New impressions

Tay's POV

I dance with Tiana and the girls as Cookie watches us, we decided to come and show support and maybe "reconsider" leaving Empire which were not actually doing

But this was the only way to get me an in with Andre who I have yet to see, I wind my hips with the direction of Cookie helping us

I see Hakeem enter the room causing me to smile to myself but I ignore his looks, I see his eyes go to Tiana as she sings to the music, I see Tiana giving him looks and i laugh a little

He feelin her still but I gotta be honest, Tiana and Shelby were cute just toxic so I can't support, got too much love for daddy S

We finish our set and take five as Tiana starts talking to Hakeem, I put my water bottle down and smile as this is my shot to look around

"Hey Miss Cookie, where the bathroom" I ask politely, she smiles towards me

"Oh it's down the hallways to the left baby" She says and I thank her before giving Tiana a look that she returns as I walk out

I look around and quickly as I try and find this man, he's tall so he's hard to miss

"Are you lost miss" I hear a deep voice say behind me, I smile to myself before turning around and seeing the man himself

"Oh I was looking for the dance studio, your Andre right?" I say smoothly and Andre smiles at me a little as I see his eyes wonder down over my body then back to my eyes

"Yea uh I am...and the dance studio is just down the hallway and to the right...your with Tiana and her dancers I'm guessing" He says and I bite my lip a little as I look him over

"Yea...I'm Tay by the way" I say and he smiles charmingly

"Nice to meet you Tay, i hope that you and Tiana stay for a while" Andre says as he again looks at my chest but I ain't no better as I look down at his lower areas

"Well thank you...such a gentleman....you wanna get a drink some time" I ask and he smiles but

"I'm married sorry" He says and I tilt my head slightly and as innocently as possible

"It's not a date...just find you interesting...plus I'm not looking to date anytime soon" I say and he nods

"Cool well I'll need to contact you anyway since you and Tiana as well as her dancers are planning to join us here" Andre says and I nod before giving him my already unlocked phone

He gives me his and I put my number in and hand it back

"Hope to see you for that drink Andre" I say before brushing past him, making sure my scent gets left on him and making my way back to the dance studio with the girls

This is just the beginning

Hakeem's POV

I chill with my girl in the bubble filled jacuzzi as I tell her about joining empire again, I want he to come with and I got a feeling about her I can't describe to be honest

Like she got something I've been wanting for a while even though Tiana still on my mind a bit

"What you think I'm about" Valentina says as she rubs the back of my neck

"You....us....empire" I say and she smiles before pulling me into a kiss, I deepen in as she starts moving on my lap but soon I hear the loud ratchet voices of some of my friends

"Yo...oh...my bad man...hello pretty lady" One of my friends says causing me to groan and Valentina laughs a little as she covers up a bit

"Y'all annoying I swear" I say annoyed, as I feel the blue ball coming up now, I see a new guy looking around confused causing me to frown

"Who you bring in my house man" I say causing the new guy to look at me and he goes to speak but one of my friends pulls him over to me

"This Damon.....he's cool and he may wanna join you and your moms company" One of my friends explains and I look to Damon who I see looking at Valentina a certain way

"Aye...you got a voice man" I say aggressively causing the guy to look at me and laugh

"Yea I do....so...you think you can help me....I ain't finna be no freeloader plus I hear y'all need people" Damon says and I look him up and down

"Maybe...but don't be looking at my girl like that" I say and he nod and puts his hands up in defense, I look to Val who looks slightly uncomfortable in the presence and I immediately pull her close

"Y'all get out...I wanna have time with my girl" I say and they all groan but leave, my eyes linger on Damon who smirks at me causing me to glare at him but my eyes go to Valentina as she cups my face and pulls me into a deep kiss

Shelby's POV

I walk down the hallway with the cop as he leads my father and i to a door, my father opens it without stepping in to see recording equipment and the guys sitting there

"You ready to record this brother...and my surrogate niece" Guy says causing me to smile as my father and I walk in

"Hell yea" I say as we dap everyone up and we turn to the cop

"How much time we got" My father asks

"You guys got 65 minutes till my shift change, gotta work fast or someone gon get y'all and me for y'all bein put of bounds" He says and we nod

"Then we gon get this on one take" I say as my father and I put the headphones on, Guy puts the beat on that he says he got and i smile as I bump my head to it

"Oh I like the police cars" My father says as he and I listen to the track, I look to my father as he starts free-styling

I smile as I watch him work like I once dreamed of as I kid, watching him rap and all his videos as well as some interviews he did talking about his process

Seeing it in action has me star struck almost, I know the song is about cookie but still

I can't help but admire him a bit right now

A/n this is a far cry from what Shelby used to think of her father, I mean the admiration was always there but now she's seeing why she felt that way

Enjoy:)