Chosen (The Rap Superstar Series #1) (3 page)

She didn’t
sound terrible, did she?

She couldn’t
see. Cora didn’t realize what was happening until the warmth
crossed her cheeks. Sometime during the song, she started to cry.
It must have been all the emotions she was going through lately,
all of the pressure, it had all been set free.

Now she
couldn’t stop crying. She turned away, sobbing, knowing that she
screwed up her one chance at singing. Underneath that fear were
others; losing her apartment, not having money, getting fired, her
loneliness…and then, crying in front of Tyrell. That was not only
sad, but embarrassing.

She wiped a
tear. Before she could muster her courage, anger coursed through
her. How could she embarass herself life that? A hand fell on her
shoulder.

“
Are
you OK?”

Tyrell.

He pulled her
into his arms. His hug was strong. Comforting. She could fall
asleep on that chest. Nuzzling against him, she stopped crying,
instead, she tried to fight the need to stay in those arms, wrapped
so tightly around her. His hand swerved over her back.

It felt too
good.

She didn’t want
it to abandon her, so she broke off first. Wiping a tear, she
looked up at Tyrell.

“
Sorry, I haven’t sang in such a long time. I got emotional.”
It was a partial lie. Singing had brought out all those fears, but
the true cause of her tears were much deeper.

“
That was…”

Terrible? The worst thing he ever heard?
Get the fuck out of here, what was I
thinking, I was obviously drunk that night, kind of
terrible?

“
Unbelievable. I knew I made the right choice bringing you
here.”

He hugged her
again.

This time, the
hug wasn’t for her, this time, he hugged her because he was so
happy.

“
I
knew it,” he said, and then she noticed the two other producers in
the background, smiling wide and popping a bottle of
wine.

Was it time to
celebrate already?

She stood
there, shocked, trembling, realizing what this meant. She had just
impressed one of the richest rappers in the world. It was not a
joke. This was truly happening.

Jumping and
clapping, she hopped back into his arms. He lifted her up, and she
screamed in happiness. He brought her back down, her world
spinning.

“
I
think I need to sit down,” she said.

“
Sit, do whatever you need to do. We’re going to keep recording
though. We’re going to keep going for a long time.”

Cora could
hardly contain her happiness. It seemed unreal that she was crying
not moments ago.

She couldn’t
wait to keep singing. She would keep singing until she couldn’t
sing any longer, or until they told her to stop. She expected the
former.

***

He walked her,
still excited, to the front doors of his studio. After working on
one song together, Tyrell told her that they would start work on a
brand new track tomorrow. She still thought there might be a catch
to all of it, but as he led her out to the street, and took her
hand in hers, she only thought, how could I be so lucky?

“
Thank you,” she told him, looking at him lovingly. “I hope you
can understand why I was skeptical, but really, this has been so
great. Thank you so much.”

He looked
happy, but there was a sadness in there was well. He didn’t want to
see her leave.

“
We’ll work on the next track tomorrow?”

She nodded.
Then Cora looked out into the parking lot, into the darkness of the
city. It was still bustling, but only with traffic. Everyone else
was asleep in Atlanta.

“
It’s late. I didn’t even notice I was having all that
fun.”

“
Hey, that’s a good thing. I see great things happening in our
future.”

“
Really?”

“
No
doubt.”

She looked out
into the parking lot again, this time, a sense of dread
overwhelming her. She pulled her hand away from his.

Cora had no
place to go.

“
I
better go,” she said, “It’s late.”

If Tyrell
didn’t turn around and leave, he would know that she intended to
sleep in her car for the night. What would he think of her then?
Would he still want her, if he knew what a failure she
was?

Besides, the
feelings he gave her, how he made her feel special, that had been a
long time coming for Cora. She didn’t want to mess that up. Even
though they just met, she knew the potential was there.

“
All
right, have a good night. Be ready for tomorrow.”

“
Oh,
I will be.”

Cora strutted
away. She felt sexy and fly as she did, until Tyrell locked up his
studio and then headed toward his car. He took off, giving her a
wave.

She headed into
her car, then reclining in the seat, she tried to sleep.

There was a lot
to look forward to.

Cora hoped they
weren’t impossible dreams. If she could hang in there long enough,
she could make something of herself.

She tossed over
to the side, trying to get comfortable.

In the mean
time, she would need to face the harsh reality. She was sleeping in
her car. Things had gotten worse than she ever imagined they could
be, and yet, there was still that glimmer of hope.

Cora tried to
sleep, but not even exhaustion could take her away from the fear
and excitement.

***

Samantha had
always been there for her. She trusted her with anything. Yet Cora
still couldn’t tell her the truth.

It would crush
her.

It would make
her feel even worse if she had to ask Samantha for a place to stay.
She recently moved in with a wonderful guy from Atlanta. They were
always best friends, except work had gotten in the way of them
hanging out, then Samantha ended up moving to Atlanta, and she
hadn’t seen her in a year.

Walking up to
her apartment complex, Samantha swung open the door to greet her.
She hugged her tight. It reminded her of how great Tyrell’s hug had
been. This hug, though warm, only reminded her of that. It made her
realize how hollow she still felt.

“
I’m
so glad to see you.”

Cora smiled at
her. It was good to see her. Her smile should’ve been a lot more
sincere, the problem was, she was exhausted.

“
I’m
glad you picked up. I didn’t think I’d be able to see you. How are
you doing?”

“
Great, you?”

“
Doing well, just exhausted.”

“
Come on in,” Samantha said, and the look she gave her told her
that she
looked
exhausted too. Cora spent the whole night in the car, and it
wouldn’t even be fair to say that the two hours she spent with her
eyes closed had been sleep.

Her apartment
looked gorgeous. It already looked like a home. She had it well
furnished. It went from kitchen to dining room to two bedrooms.
There was someone else in the living room watching TV. He sat up,
waved to her, and then put his arm around Samantha.

“
Nice to meet you, I’m Dave.”

“
Nice to meet you. I’ve heard so many good things about
you.”

“
I’m
sure they’re all true,” he said to Samantha with a
smirk.

I
need to collapse. I need to shut my eyes and
disappear
.

Cora was happy
for Samantha, but seeing her apartment, and her happy relationship,
made it harder for her to adjust to her life
of...nothing.

“
You
said you were in town for a job?” Samantha asked.

“
Yeah, sorry. Just got in town. It was a sudden call. I didn’t
have enough time to get a hotel room. I hope you
understand.”

“
It’s no problem. What’s the special occasion?”

“
Have you heard of Tyrell?’

“
Tyrell?” They both asked. They looked to one another, trying
to understand. “You mean, Tyrell, the rapper?”

“
Yeah, that’s what I mean. I have a chance to record on his new
album.”

Samantha held
her scream in. Dave nodded, said, “damn”, and then turned to
Samantha, waiting for her to burst. She screamed, letting loose an
obnoxious wail. She looked happier than Cora, which was
understandable at the moment.

“
Are
you serious? So you met him?”

“
Yeah, I met him in a bar a couple days ago. I might have a
chance, if I don’t mess it up. He hasn’t said anything specific
yet.”

“
Oh
my God,” Samantha said, over and over. She looked at her
differently now, a look that Cora wasn’t used to seeing. It was a
look of envy. It was a look of admiration. “What time is your
meeting?”

“
Not
long now.”

“
Did
you get any sleep?”

“
None.”

“
You
can have whatever you’d like. Take the extra room. Get a good
sleep, and then we’ll do you up. You gotta look your best if you’re
going to meet Tyrell.”

Cora nodded,
said, “thanks,” and then headed into the extra room.

She collapsed
onto the bed. It took her away much sooner than she
expected.

I
can’t do this forever
, she thought. If she did get the chance to sing backup
vocals, she couldn’t keep showing up at Samantha’s.

I’m
screwed
, she
thought, but sleep was too promising for her to care at the
moment.

***

Cora forgot how
dressing up could make her feel.

She felt sexy.
She felt hot. Samantha had done her over like she said she
would.

Cora wasn’t
expecting all the makeup, and her hair getting done, to set her
off, but it did. She strutted into the recording studio offices
much more confidently. She was there to impress, and she wouldn’t
hold anything back.

This was her
dream.

And besides,
Tyrell would be there.

Or
T.

She liked
calling him that. It made her feel like she was already part of
their crew.

He opened up to
her rather quickly, didn’t he? And the way he held her hand at the
end of the night, that was more than being friendly. Of course, he
might’ve been excited over the record he was producing. Tyrell was
known to spend countless hours in the studio, every album coming
out a masterpiece. He took as long as he needed. Only until he was
satisfied did he come out from hiding…

And Tyrell was
a hard man to satisfy.

She headed up
to the top floor, wondering what his reaction would be when he saw
her. Cora wore a tight skirt over her curvy frame. She wore a top
that showed off her cleavage, perfect to entice him as she sang,
leaning over into the microphone. Her high heels would bring her up
to his level, at least she hoped.

Staring off
into the glass offices, she spotted him right away. He locked on.
She hurried inside, brushing her worries away.

“
You
came prepared,” he said, eying her up.

“
Thought I should get dressed up for my debut.”

“
Already going for style over substance, huh?”

“
No,
never. I’ve got both.”

He nodded,
liking her answer, then led her into the recording
booth.

“
I
did catch you looking gorgeous, singing by yourself the first time
I met you. I already knew you had both, otherwise, you wouldn’t be
here.”

He handed her a
pair of headphones.

“
Now
let’s get started.”

***

The others
needed to take breaks, but Tyrell and Cora were on fire. When it
was time to leave, they couldn’t. More needed to be
done.

For Cora, it
was because he was right next to her. He rapped, coming in with
brilliant lyrics, bringing together the song that she practiced the
day before.

She tried her
best to impress. When she thought she hit a note at her highest,
she tried to do it even better. A vocal coach stood by, and he had
very little to say. When he heard her at first, he asked Tyrell
where he found her, then scolded him for not finding her
sooner.

For some
reason, she already felt like she was Tyrell’s. He was good at
keeping her close, comforting her, welcoming her into his scene. No
one would touch her when he was around. They didn’t dare say a bad
word about her.

Even though she
was dressed up, and felt sexy, she knew that she wasn’t a Hollywood
superstar. She wasn’t like all the skinny girls that were on top of
the pop charts. She was older, and she was bigger. She wasn’t a
teen princess. They could’ve knocked her down for that if they
wanted to.

Of course,
Tyrell would never stand for that.

Cora wouldn’t
stand for it either, but in the back of her mind, she kept
wondering about it.