"Ma-"
"I said what I said, boy!"
Jamal sucked his teeth because this bullshit just had to happen. He had the worst fucking luck.
Hakeem and Lucious walked up to them. "There you guys are! We were looking for you!"
Lucious noted Jamal's pain. "Damn, son. You look worse than me, and I'm the one that's dying."
Cookie hit him. "He's in pain, Lucious. The boy can barely stand."
"He better get it together because he's going on stage soon."
"No he's not. He's going to watch the performance from his seat."
Lucious argued with her. "No the hell he ain't. The fans wanna see him."
"He can't stand, Lucious! His wound is acting up, so how the hell do you expect him to sing and dance?"
Hakeem spoke now. "So it's gonna be me and Tiana?"
Cookie nodded. "Yes."
"But how is that gonna work? Tiana relies on Jamal for some parts."
That was true. "He's right. Tiana's depending on me, so I gotta perform, Ma."
She wasn't budging. "No. Hakeem and Tiana can handle it on their own. They're performers. Right, Hakeem?"
"I guess I can fill in for him. I actually memorized his choreography."
Jamal gave him a surprised look. "You did?"
"We rehearsed a lot of times, so yeah."
Cookie was pleased. "Well, there you have it. Everything is settled, Lucious. The show will still be amazing."
"It better be, or it's all of your asses!"
Royalty said, "Well, I'm gonna tell Tiana the news."
"She's backstage," Hakeem told her.
"Okay." And then she left.
Hakeem was ready to leave too. "I should probably get ready too. Get better, Mal."
"Thanks."
But that probably wouldn't happen. Because knowing his luck, things were about to get worse.
Royalty
Royalty headed backstage to talk to Tiana. She needed to know Jamal wasn't going to be performing with her. Royalty hoped she wouldn't get angry.
She saw Tiana sitting down and she really did look stunning. She spotted Royalty too and gasped. "Ro!"
She rushed up to Royalty and engulfed her into a heartfelt hug. Then she pulled away. "What are you doing here? I thought-"
Royalty already knew what she was about to say. "My parents let me come because they don't want me out of their sight. I'm not safe at home. I'm not safe anywhere." She sighed. "If Blake wants me, he's gonna get me, I guess."
Tiana swallowed hard and rubbed her arm sheepishly. "Can I ask you something? How many people are out there?"
"It's a full house."
"What?!" Tiana shrieked before taking a peek at the audience. She saw that Royalty was telling the truth and started fretting. "Oh, this isn't good!"
Tiana paced back and forth frantically and Royalty didn't understand why. "Why are you freaking out? Don't tell me you have stage fright."
"I do!"
"Why? You're never scared to perform."
"Things are different tonight. Freda pointed a gun at my chest, remember? She wants me dead. What if she shows up and shoots me?"
"My dad handled her. She's not going to bother you anymore," Ro assured her.
"He didn't handle Blake though. He's still running around with an assault rifle. What if he targets this club tonight? He wants you, like you said."
That was always a possibility. "If Blake shows up, he's gonna be after me, not you. You have nothing to be worried about."
That didn't make her feel better at all. "That makes me even more nervous! I don't want anything to happen to you, Ro! You're my best friend and-"
Royalty grabbed Tiana's hands and spoke gently, cutting her off. "-And as your best friend, I want you to go out there and perform your ass off, okay? Take your mind off this Freda and Blake stuff. Focus on you and Hakeem."
"And Jamal," Tiana added.
"No. Jamal isn't performing."
Her eyes shot open. "What? Why?!"
"His wound is acting up. He can't stand."
Tiana sat down and covered her face. "Oh, this is so bad. What am I gonna do now? I have to dance with Jamal!"
"The performance will still be a success, Tiana. Hakeem will do Jamal's parts for him."
She scoffed. "I doubt that. There's no way Hakeem learned all that choreography."
"Have faith in your man. He's more dedicated than you know," Ro asserted. "So just go out there and try to focus, okay?"
They heard Warren talking to the audience, which meant Tiana and Hakeem needed to get into position. Ro smiled at her. "Well, it's showtime."
And Tiana was gonna do great.
YOU ARE READING
𝐟𝐚𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐲 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠, 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐞 ²
Fanfiction𝗘𝗠𝗣𝗜𝗥𝗘 | ❝ 𝙁𝙞𝙧𝙨𝙩 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙛𝙖𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙮, 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙙𝙤𝙢 ❞ 𝐁𝐎𝐎𝐊 𝐓𝐖𝐎 With Lucious' family competition out of the way, the Lyons had more pressing matters to worry about. Some of t...
forty nine.
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