CHAPTER FIFTY SEVEN
daddy's little girl
Jamal
Jamal had just finished talking to Tory, and was headed back home. He honestly wasn't stressing anything she had said.
Tory had tried to instill doubt into him about Warren, but that would never happen. Warren had been by Jamal's side since day one, always helping him and his family out, and he'd never done any shady shit, unlike Mateo and Tory. So since everyone wanted Jamal to choose so bad, he was choosing Warren. And he wasn't gonna regret it.
Where did that leave him and Tory? He didn't know. There was a lot of tension between them right now, and she clearly didn't like Warren, so Jamal guessed they couldn't be cool anymore.
Oh well. People come and go. He knew that all too well.
He arrived at his condo and Warren was standing on watch like always. There was tension between them too unfortunately, because Jamal had accused him of sabotaging his relationship with Mateo when he didn't.
Jamal put his key in the door, and Warren didn't even acknowledge his presence. Jamal opened the door and spoke to him. "You know you can come inside, right?"
"I think it's best if I stay out here."
Jamal wasn't allowing that. "Man, bring your ass inside."
He grabbed Warren's arm and forced him to come inside before closing the door behind them. Warren had an attitude. "Why am I in here, Jamal? I need to be on watch."
"No, you need to talk to me."
"Now you wanna talk?"
"I always wanna talk to you," Jamal told him softly. "I also just talked to Tory, and that didn't go too well."
"For real? Why?"
"I asked her if she liked me, and she said yeah. Then I rejected her."
Warren laughed. "Damn. I didn't know you were that cold."
He wasn't trying to be cold though. "I don't like women, and Tory knows that. I don't know why she grew feelings for me."
Warren fished for answers. "Who do you like then?"
He sounded flirty when he said that, so Jamal matched his energy. "I think you already know the answer to that."
Warren played coy. "I have a slight idea, but I wanna hear you say the words out loud."
So Jamal said the words out loud. "Look Warren, you've been loyal to me since the day we met, and I really appreciate that. So if I had to choose anyone to give my heart to, it would be you."
"And Tory's okay with that?"
"No, but who cares? She and I aren't cool anymore, and Mateo's out of my life, so there's nothing stopping us. So if you still wanna be with me, I'm down."
Warren was elated. "I have been waiting weeks to hear those words."
Jamal laughed and Warren kissed him. They didn't get to kiss for long because his baby brother interrupted. "Yo, Mal!"
Jamal and Warren quickly stopped kissing as Hakeem froze in shock. "Oh shit. My fault. I ain't know-"
"Shut up, Hakeem! And close the damn door!" Jamal quickly rushed to close the door before someone walked by and saw them.
Hakeem pointed between them awkwardly. "So, uh...what's going on?"
Hakeem
Hakeem had just barged in on his brother making out with his bodyguard, and he was mad confused. Warren liked men too?
Jamal huffed. "Don't ask dumb questions, Hakeem. You saw us kissing, you know what's going on."
"Warren's gay too?"
"I am. I'm not in the closet either," Warren told him.
"But Jamal is, so how's that gonna work?"
"I don't know, Hakeem. We'll figure it out." Then Jamal changed the topic. "Anyway, why are you here?"
"I wanted to come over yesterday, but you turned me down, remember?"
"Yeah, my bad. I was tired."
Hakeem wasn't believing that. He probably just wanted some alone time with Warren. "Mhm. Anyway, I have some shit to tell you, Jamal. That Freda is something else."
Jamal was already annoyed. "Please stop talking about that crazy girl."
"Trust me, I don't want to see her anymore. That's why I'm telling Pop to fire her ass."
"And then bullets will be fired at your chest," Jamal warned.
Hakeem flicked his wrist dismissively. "Man, I ain't scared of Freda, Blake, or nobody!"
Warren was looking at his phone. "I guess she isn't scared of you either."
Hakeem questioned him. "What are you talking about?"
"I don't know if you know this, but Freda just released a song."
He did know. "Yeah, I heard her recording it yesterday. It's called Turn Around, right?"
Warren shook his head. "No, it's called Daddy's Little Girl. A Hakeem Lyon diss."
"What the fuck?" He snatched Warren's phone and he wasn't lying. Freda really made a diss song about him, and she made a video for it.
"Play it. I need to hear this bullshit," Jamal demanded.
So did Hakeem. He played the song and the beginning was nothing but gunshot sounds. It made Jamal flinch. Then Freda spoke right to the camera.
FREDA :
Aye Lucious
I heard there was shots fired, huh?
They want war?
I thought blood was thicker than water, but a lie don't care who telling it
Hakeem rolled his eyes as she started rapping.
FREDA :
Started from the bottom with a 8 ball
Always talking money, boy, I hate y'all
I was in the hood, tryna make that thang flip
Posted on the mail, got me watching from the bench
You don't wanna be the man, guess I'll be it for ya
I got you going off, I see the paranoia
Daddy's little son acting like a daughter
Then go and get it, get it, just like daddy taught ya
Hakeem and Warren exchanged a look after that because she was really being disrespectful. He wasn't no female. Meanwhile, Jamal was staring down at the phone, breathing heavily for some reason.
"You okay?" Warren asked with nothing but concern in his tone.
Hakeem answered for Jamal. "No, he's not okay! This bitch trippin!"
Jamal was really shaken up. "I-it's not that...She-"
Hakeem shushed him. "Not now, Jamal! Let me listen to the rest of this shit because she's buggin! She's doing this because I don't want to be her friend no more!"
Damn. He hurt her that bad? Wasn't she screaming up and down that she was his biggest fan though? She needed to stay in a fan's place.
But nope. She dissed him even harder.
FREDA :
The king of the jungle's a lion
But you ain't no king, boy, you lying
You cry to your mother, cause you ain't as good as your brother
Jamal was annoyed. "Why the hell is she bringing me in it? She doesn't even like me."
"And now she loves you?" Hakeem commented.
It was funny because wasn't she saying that she didn't fuck with Jamal or his music? She was switching up hard.
FREDA :
I come from the gutter
In my hood you a sucker
I'm knowing you softer than butter
Let's keep it a hunnid
If you look around, boy, I'm the son that your dad always wanted
Look at daddy's little girl
You just daddy's little girl
Look at daddy's little girl
You just daddy's little girl!
Hakeem fumed hard because he wasn't Lucious' little girl. He already had one and that was Royalty. She needed to shut that shit up.
FREDA :
You don't deserve to be boss, boy
I'm knowing you got a lot of it, but you just ain't got what it cost, boy
See, we can go round and round, homie
I'm knowing you ain't got these bars, boy
Leave that to the real, or pay up
I'm taking Empire, boy, way up
Freda's goons were in the video and she was threatening his life.
FREDA :
You run around with all that chit chat
Gone make me have the goons come get that
Leave your lil ass kidnapped
My bad, you already did that
"What is she talking about? I never had anyone kidnapped!" Hakeem said.
Jamal said, "She's talking about when you called the hit on me."
Hakeem sucked his teeth. "Man, that girl knows too much!"
"Well, you did go on Instagram..." Warren reminded him.
Hakeem glared at him as Freda continued dissing. Now Freda was singing the chorus, and this time, her and her goons were holding up a picture of his head photoshopped onto Royalty's body. Hakeem was really angry because why the fuck was she disrespecting his sister for? When she was in a coma?!
At the end of the song, Freda wasn't rapping. She was speaking directly to him now.
FREDA :
You know, a lot of us weren't born with that silver spoon in our mouth, man
A lot of us had to grind for everything we got
At the end of the day, all that talking?
Them female traits, boy
Don't take nothing for granted
There's always gonna be somebody that want what you got, and there's always gonna be somebody willing to take
And I'm here to take everything
The video ended and the first thing Hakeem did was look at the comments. Freda had some supporters, but most of the commenters were his fans. And his fans always had his back. So he didn't know what Freda thought she was doing with that diss, because it wasn't hurting his image at all. She was a nobody compared to him. No one cared about what she was saying.
His fans were always going to have his back like he said, and clearly, she was never a real fan if she was switching up all of a sudden.
Warren didn't even know what to say. "Well, damn. She went kinda hard on you."
"Man, fuck her! My fans are dragging her snake ass!"
Jamal swallowed hard, still shaken up. "Hakeem..."
He kept raging, ignoring him. "And she better pray I don't see her out on these streets because!-"
"Hakeem!" Jamal yelled.
Hakeem stopped raging and focused on him. "What, Jamal?!"
"Are you finally ready to listen to me?"
"What?!"
"Thank you," Jamal said dryly. "It's about Freda. Her voice sounds familiar to me."
That was a given. "Well duh, she's an Empire artist."
"You know I haven't been around Freda. And when I ran into her at the funeral, she refused to talk, remember? Now I know why."
"Why?"
And he just said, "If I told you Freda was the one who shot me, would you believe me?"