𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ²

thirty nine.

But of course they ran into her.

"Jamal, what are you doing here?! Why are you not resting?!"

Jamal just said, "No rest for the wicked."

"So now you're wicked?"

"I must be if someone wanted me dead."

Cookie hit him. "Boy, stop it! The only wicked Lyon is your father, but he's been good lately."

Lucious flirted with her. "Yeah, thanks to your good lovin."

Nothing but disgust was etched on Jamal's face now. "Please stop. Don't nobody wanna hear that."

"Boy hush, and take your ass home! You need rest!" Cookie demanded.

He refused. "No, I need to get in the studio. The music will heal me faster than any amount of bed rest. Besides, the fans want Tiana and I to make a song together. I don't wanna let them down."

Lucious smirked at Cookie. "What did I tell you, baby? The boy doesn't play by the rules."

Cookie rolled her eyes hard. "Yeah whatever, Lucious. Just make sure this is something you want to do, Jamal. Don't let him force you."

"This is what I want to do."

So she allowed it. "Alright then. Tiana's already in the studio, so let's go tell her the news."

They went to the studio. Tiana was singing and Becky was listening to her. Then Becky gasped at Lucious. "Oh shit! Is it happening?!"

"It's happening."

Tiana was puzzled. "What's happening?"

Cookie filled her in. "The fans want you and Jamal to make a song together, Tiana. That's why he's here."

Jamal spoke to Tiana. "But if you don't want to-"

"Of course I want to! I've been trying to get us together on the same track for how long now? Get in here!"

"Yes, get in there!" Becky urged. "Oh wait, here are the lyrics!"

Becky handed Jamal two lyric sheets and he got in the booth with Tiana. He handed her the lyrics as Lucious said, "This is the instrumental. It's fire, right?"

Tiana bobbed her head to the music. "That's hot, Lucious! But how does the melody go?"

They demonstrated how the melody went, and Tiana was a quick learner, so she started singing.

TIANA :

We ain't like we used to be
We used to love each other
Time can change the history
What's left but to recover?

It was now the chorus part, and Jamal and Tiana had to sing it in unison throughout the song. Now Jamal understood why the fans wanted them on the same track. Their voices sounded amazing together.

JAMAL AND TIANA :

We could've been so beautiful
Loving in the night, so beautiful
Hop in the light, so beautiful
Tell me what you like, so beautiful
Time of your life, so beautiful
Give it to you right, so beautiful
Hugging you tight, so beautiful
We could've been so beautiful

Tiana got hype after that. "Damnnn, Jamal! We should've done this a long time ago!"

He laughed. "Honestly."

Cookie put her hand on her chin. "Yeah, it sounds fire, but I don't know. I feel like something's missing."

Becky agreed. "I feel that way too. We need a third person on this song."

Cookie and Becky had the same idea. "Hakeem."

"Oh boy," Tiana muttered.

"I mean, think about it. With Hakeem on the track, we'll get more streams because he has a large fan base. And with all three of you on the same track, this song will definitely hit number one on the charts. That's what Empire needs, right Lucious?"

"We sure do need that, so I'll go get Hakeem. Unless you two have any objections?" Lucious asked Jamal and Tiana.

"Hakeem and I aren't on the greatest terms right now, but we gotta do it for the fans, right?" Tiana said.

Lucious smiled at her. "That's what I like to hear. I'll be back."

Then he went to get Hakeem as Jamal questioned Tiana. "Why aren't you and Hakeem on good terms?"

"That new Empire artist is all up on him, and I can't stand it!"

"New Empire artist?"

"Yeah. Her name is Freda. You ain't meet her?"

Jamal shook his head. "No. I'll have to get acquainted."

"You're better off not going near her. She's so weird, and she threatened to shoot me in my chest," Tiana told him.

His eyes widened. "The fuck?"

"Yeah! So stay away from her, Jamal. You already got shot once."

Three times actually. He definitely didn't want to relive that night all over again, so he'd heed Tiana's warning and stay away from Freda. She sounded crazy anyway.