God Don't Like Haters (3 page)

Coras Bane added a photo

Coras Bane:
 In the studio with the Texas
legend Slim Eight. I know you see him in the booth behind me,
tearing it up. You should've been here. #SwopeRecords
#AreYouInOrAreYouFaking

CHAPTER 3

Kirbie Amor Capelton

I didn't pull over and I hadn't planned to. But it
wasn't officially a high-speed chase yet because I hadn't slammed
my foot down on the gas. I had actually slowed down to the legal
speed limit.

Woop! Woop!

The cop hit its warning sirens again. Archie
was still looking at the .380 in my lap like it was on fire. He had
really been acting like a bitch lately.

"Don't do it," Archie pleaded. "Not this
time, Kirbie. These ain't Kansas City cops. That's highway
patrol."

He knew me long enough to know that I never
backed down.

"Just pull over. He won't search the trunk as
long as we don't give him a reason to."

"You don't know that."

"Just pull the fuck over! If you take off and
we get caught, I'm blaming the pills on you!"

I cut my eyes at him. "What?!"

"You heard me."

I knew Archie was lying. He loved me too much
to do that to me. I'd been his partner in crime forever, and he
treated me like a partner. He just wanted me to listen to him. And
I would have listened if I wasn't in such a hurry.

On my door, I tapped the automatic unlock
button. All four door locks popped up.

I said to my bae, "If you don't think I can
lose this cop, then when I slow down just hop out."

"You're crazy, Kirbie. All this just to rap
with some nigga in the studio? Fuck, Kirbie, you don't have to be
in the damn booth with him. You can add yo verse to the track
later. Even I know that much."

"I said I would be there so I have to be
there. I promised I would step up. It's a business, Archie."

"It's not a fuckin' business! It's bullshit!
What we have in the trunk is business. Serious business!"

I looked in the rearview mirror. The officer
was being patient with us—his sirens hadn't went wild yet—so I had
a good feeling this wasn't going to turn into a drug bust. And as
bad as I hated to admit it, Archie was right about me being
irrational. Slim Eight was just a rapper. It was just one song. And
I probably wouldn't make it to the studio in time even if I did
take this cop on a chase and get away.

Sighing, I hit my blinker and pulled
over.

"Bruh," Archie said in relief.

I didn't laugh.

Archie put my gun up before the cop came to
my window. Officer Slawson was the black cop's name. He made a joke
about me not pulling over in a timely manner; he said he thought I
was planning to keep going. I told him I was just trying to find a
good place to pull over so he wouldn't get hit by highway
traffic.

"I can't believe you grabbed the .380,"
Archie said after the cop went back to his car with my paperwork.
"Is that music shit that important to you?"

"Yes."

"That's not good, Kirbie. You know how many
people it is that think they're gonna be rich and famous in the
music industry?"

"I have real talent though."

"That's what everybody says."

"Hater."

"Realist," he replied.

My phone made a twinkle sound. It was the
sound I had set for Coras Bane's profile page on The Site. Whenever
he made a post, I would get notified with a twinkle. Coras rarely
ever made status updates so I knew it was something special or
important.

I picked my phone up out of the cupholder,
swiping my thumb across the screen to unlock it.

"Is this really a time to be on The Site?"
Archie asked me.

For some reason I wasn't even thinking about
the cop behind us anymore. I wanted to see what Coras posted. And
when I got to his page and saw the selfie he uploaded, I even
stopped hearing Archie telling me why I shouldn't be on my phone
right now.

Up close, Coras's handsome
brown face—
did I just use the word
handsome?
—was looking into the camera as
if he was trying to intimidate it. And by the caption he wrote
about me not being there in the studio, I knew his intimidation was
directed at me. He had Slim Eight in the background rapping in the
booth, and in the lower right-hand corner was Gee Beats's unfailing
non-brushed head. I smiled at that, wishing I was there, then I
clicked on the comments.

Jaron Cooks:
Is that Slim Eight I see in the
background?

Coras Bane:
Yep, that’s him. He’s gonna be on
Swope Park Gritter Vol. 2
#comingsoon

Toras InaExplorer:
I need a song from you
Coras. Inbox me yo info.

Mista Thraxx:
why isn't kirbie amor in the
picture? I thought she was the queen of Swope Records

Coras Bane
: @MistaThraxx yo guess is as good
as mine

Marissa Divine:
I love Slim Eight! One of the
sexiest underground rappers out!

Mitch tiredofballin Walker:
I can’t wait to
hear what yall working on. tag me when you post the song

The comments only made me feel worse. I was
missing the chemistry going on in the booth.

Then Officer Slawson tapped on my window. I
rolled it down again.

"Ma'am, I'm going to need you to step out of
the car for me, please," he said.

CHAPTER 4

Andre "
Coras Bane
"
McDougald 

After Slim Eight finished with his verse, he bought
a couple pounds of
OG Tahoe
from me. I walked him outside to
his Maserati Ghibli to make sure he made it out of the neighborhood
safely. It was a noticeable car—a rare luxury car not often seen in
Kansas City—and this was a high-crime area. I'd be damned if I let
some niggas rob somebody I had done business with.

I had a 9mm in my pocket. Fully loaded, one
in the head. That's how I rolled.

Slim Eight started up his car with the push
of a button, then shook my hand through the window. "I would've
loved to meet Kirbie."

"Next time I promise you she'll be here," I
said. "Thanks for coming through and blessing us."

"My pleasure. And I'ma need some more of this
Tahoe next time too. You might see me again sooner than you
think."

After he drove off, I started walking
back up to the house to make sure Gee Beats was still fine-tuning
Slim Eight's sound and hadn't nodded off yet. Gee was known for
falling asleep during a session. But before I got to the front
door, a Volkswagen Passat stopped at the curb. It was a stop so
sudden, the body of the car was still rocking back and forth when
the driver's side door flung open.

I put my hand on my gun handle.

"Coras, you better not shoot me," Kirbie
said, as she got out of the Volkswagen and slammed the door and
stormed up to me.

Actually, she
stormed 
past
 me—she just gave me a little one-arm hug on her way up
to the house.

I went and grabbed her arm, stopping her.
"Where you think you going?"

"I know I'm late, Coras. But it wasn't my
fault."

"It's never yo fault."

"I got pulled over with pills in the trunk.
But I got lucky. The cop knew who I was. He listens to our music.
He wanted an autograph from me. Can you let me go, please?"

"Slim Eight is gone," I told her.

"What?!"

"That's what happens when you don't show up
on time. You miss opportunities." I finally let her go. She tried
to walk in the house again and I had to snatch her up once more.
"You're not allowed in the studio tonight. Go home."

"Let me sing my verse and I’ll leave."

"You can do it tomorrow."

"Why?!"

"Because I said so!"

Every now and then I had to get loud with
Kirbie. She always thought she was entitled to get her way, and
even though I thought that was sexy, sometimes she needed to hear
my He-Man voice to keep her humble and focused.

She was beautiful tonight, like always. Her
hair was flipped up to one side in a style that was meant to look
adventurous. It was working for her too, brought out her slender
face. She had a complexion that was a few shades lighter than mine.
I was dark coffee, and she had a couple more tablespoons of milk
than me. Together, we would make one hellavuh expresso.

Then the passenger side door of the
Volkswagen popped open and Archie stepped out.

"Get'cho hands off of my girl, bro," Archie
said, and he had his hand under his shirt like he was holding a
weapon.

I let her go, put my hand on my own gun
handle. Unlike him, he actually saw what I was holding.

"Archie, get back in the car," Kirbie said to
him.

"Why'd you bring that nigga over here?" I
asked her angrily.

"I told you we got pulled over. If I would've
dropped him off first I would've been here even later. He was
supposed to stay in the car."

"You know I don't fuck wit' that fool,
Kirbie. Get that nigga outta here."

Archie was shorter than me but he outweighed
me by at least twenty pounds. That didn't mean shit, though. I'd
still knock him out and dust him off when I was done. As far as his
background, he was a solid nigga. He had been hustling longer than
me because he was older than me and Kirbie both by four years plus.
I was 22, Kirbie was 18, and he was 26. I never liked Archie
because he'd been dating Kirbie since she was 14. But he did teach
her how to hustle, how to get money against the odds out here in
these crazy Kansas City streets. That's more than I could say for a
lot of older niggas who only wanted to fuck and mislead these
younger bitches.

Even still, I was prepared to shoot Archie
dead right now. He wouldn't be the first.

"Can I at least get a copy of the song so I
can hear it overnight?" Kirbie asked me. "I have a flash drive on
my key ring."

"C'mon, Kirbie!" Archie yelled.

"Yo boyfriend is calling you," I said to her.
"You better go before he gets shot."

She gave me a look as if I was dead wrong
for taking my stance. Then she stalked off, and she and Archie got
back in the Passat. I didn't take my hand off of my gun handle
until they drove off.

Kirbie Amor > Slim TexasBorn
Eight:
 Sorry I didn't get to meet up with you. You know
how it is in these streets. Nothing goes as planned. But as soon as
you hear my verse you're gonna be pleased! —
with
Coras Bane
and
Gee
Beats

CHAPTER 5

Kirbie Amor Capelton

The next morning I didn't even bother with Coras. I
didn't want to hear his mouth. So I called Gee Beats and told him
to e-mail me the track so I'd be prepared when Coras finally let me
back in the studio.

I was laying in bed with Archie when I got
the e-mail on my laptop. I liked my music blaring loud and Archie
was sleep so I got up and took the laptop downstairs.

Eagerly, I pushed play.

The R&B track came on and sounded
incredible! Even though I'd heard this instrumental a thousand
times, it still gave me an adrenaline rush, that tingling feeling
every artist gets when inspiration hits. I listened, bobbing my
head, as Slim Eight came in with his flow:

I don't love her but she made me come close/ I got
more than one but she gets the dick the most/ sucked me so good I
thought I seen a ghost/ sucked me so good I stayed for eggs and
toast

I liked how Slim put his words together.
Simple but effective. The beat changed up a little after his verse
was over, something Gee Beats was known for. This was where I was
supposed to lay the chorus. I listened closely to the sounds,
getting my thoughts together, vibing, when the next verse suddenly
came on. It was Coras rapping. I knew he was going to be on the
song—it was his mixtape we were working on—but I thought I was
supposed lay a verse second.

As I listened, my jaw dropped from shock.
This verse was about me! He must have recorded it after I saw him
yesterday. Quickly, I put my finger back on the touchpad and
skipped back to the beginning of his verse.

You're with the wrong nigga, I think you know it
too/ but what you don't realize is the shit I'm going through/
tried to play it cool and almost shot yo man over you/ Ain’t even
fucked you yet, Imagine when I do

I was speechless. The rest
of his verse talked about how he wished I felt the same way about
him. What he didn't know was that I did love him back. But he had a
girlfriend 
and 
a side chick. His
girlfriend was a jealous female named Monifa Chavis. She was cute
and made sure she let social media know it, but she had a habit of
exuding negativity and it rubbed off in her status updates. He had
been with her for as long as he'd been hustling.

Coras's other chick was also his manager. Her
name was Ashleigh Hedgman. Sad thing was she was my manager too.
They'd been sleeping together since the business relationship
started. 

So why did Coras write this verse?

Did he expect me to be girlfriend number
three?

I plugged a set of big headphones in the
laptop, put them on and turned the volume up. I wanted to hear his
verse again, clearly. For some reason his rhymes always put me in a
sexual mood, and this particular song singled me out so I was extra
turned on. I closed my eyes, picturing him next to me.

No one knew, but Coras was the inspiration
behind all of my love ballads. His voice was everything to me.