I Hate That I Love You: Episode 2 – Wes
WES
I stepped into the restaurant, Union, lifting my head long enough to greet the hostess in front.
“They’re already back there waiting for you, Mr. Bishop,” she told me as soon as our eyes met.
I nodded my acknowledgment and made my way to the back, like I always did.
It was after 8 p.m., and I’d just arrived at a meeting at Union, a restaurant spot where my label rented space in the back. That space served as our label’s private dining space in the city. It was our usual meet-up ground, outside of the office, where we held internal label events and high-level meetings.
Kai had sent me an email that day letting me know about the impromptu gathering.
I didn’t have any other plans, so I confirmed I would be there. The restaurant was bustling with energy, especially near the bar as always. Even as the Senior A&R at Dope, and even with the space we paid out the ass to rent for meet-ups like what was happening tonight, it was always a struggle trying to get a drink at the bar… even for me.
As soon as I turned the corner to enter our private dining space, I lifted my attention out of my phone and did a double take.
The space had more people than usual, and the faces were not the faces I thought I’d ever see in our private area.
My eyes immediately went to hers. Jasmine Reeves, who everyone called Jazzy. I just called her the pain in my ass.
“The fuck,” I whispered.
She was rolling her eyes away from mine when I moved my eyes away from her to notice she wasn’t the only person who shouldn’t have been there present.
Kai rose from his seat on the other end of the table and lifted an arm to greet me.
I gestured at the Voltage Records execs, my face all the way screwed up, I’m sure.
“Aight, aight,” Kai said, eyes still on mine before they were off me to address the room. “Our most important guy has finally arrived so we can get started.”
I was expecting to walk into a strategy session tonight, not this.
What the hell was this anyway? Because Kai had only told me he needed to meet with me tonight on some label shit and for me not to be late. I didn’t ask anything because I always knew what time it was when the plan was to meet at Union, but shit, maybe I should’ve asked his ass what this was all about before walking into what felt like an ambush.
I made my way to an empty seat near the head of the table. A&Rs Jakob and Nat held out their hands for me to dap, which I did before taking my seat.
Every Voltage higher-up was in the building. People I had only seen from afar were now only feet away. All except for Jazzy, unfortunately. I saw her ass way too often, if I could be honest. But why the hell were her and her people here tonight?
As soon as I took my seat, Nat and Jakob started speaking in hush tones.
“Gahdamn, she finer than a motherfucker,” Nat started. “God. Pretty ass lips, big ass hair.”
“I just know she’s just as wild where that shit matters.” Jakob held out his hand to Nat to dap. “Feel me?”
Nat hollered a laugh. “I feel you.”
“Can you two shut the fuck up,” I hissed, looking between them. “She’s not here for your locker room bullshit and neither am I. Grow the hell up.”
They both kissed their teeth and waved a hand at me.
Nat whispered to Jakob, “He just mad he can’t hit.”
Jakob snickered. “Or maybe he did and can’t again.”
I turned my head slowly at them, and they quickly looked away.
“I wanna start by thanking you all for coming tonight,” Kai said at the head of the table, a chair away from me. “I’m glad you could be here… even if some of you weren’t warned.”
I angled a death stare up at him, really wishing in that moment that looks could kill.
Out of all the people present tonight, I should’ve been told what the hell was happening before it was happening. I felt blindsided. And my ass couldn’t say or do anything about it because I was the Senior A&R. It would just look bad.
I moved my attention around the table, watching as one by one, the execs who were staring at me when I wasn’t looking, looked away quickly… all except one.
Jazzy.
She held her stare with me, her top lip hiking on the right as she took on a look of disgust.
I sucked my teeth before breaking eye contact.
Couldn’t stand her ass at all, and it was just my fucking luck she was best friends with my little sister.
“I’ve already met with some of the execs at Voltage who are here tonight,” Kai added, “and they have agreed to this plan I have that I really want to carry out.”
I blinked in response.
“I got some bad news a few weeks back regarding the Brooklyn School of Music & Media,” Kai continued.
I jerked my head back. He had my attention.
“The school is on the verge of shutting down, y’all.”
Like a wave, shock moved throughout the room, mine expressed without words but a hard blink.
“Enrollment is the lowest it’s been in years,” Kai added. “And funding has been getting less and less. The board has proposed a shutdown unless something changes… and I want to be that change. I want us to facilitate that change.”
Why the hell would he not tell me this before tonight?
BSMM was the school a lot of us got our start. Although I attended college after graduation, a lot of the execs didn’t. Armed with the knowledge given to us at BSMM, a lot of them got internships straight out of high school and worked their way to the top. Like Jazzy.
“So, like me, I’m sure you want to know what you can do about this situation.” Kai pressed his hand to his chest. “And I got the answer.”
The room was whisper quiet, all of us listening now.
“We create a one-night-only, high-impact live event.” He smirked. “A musical face-off. Your best versus our best. No judges, no voting. Just talent, baby.”
I sat back in my seat.
“The people have been talking for years, constantly pitting y’all up against us.” He gestured at the side of the table where Jazzy and the rest of her execs sat. “Let’s give them what they want. A battle of the artists. Let’s give them something to talk about. But most importantly,” he held up a finger, “let’s give them something to invest in.”
“How exactly do you plan to make this work?” Jazzy asked, her voice cutting through the room like always.
The woman commanded a room on all fronts. Physically, emotionally, vocally. She didn’t have to say much to get a room’s attention. One of the things I couldn’t stand about her.
She lifted a hand, and the glint of light overhead bounced on the red gel on her nails. “We take part in an on-air battle just to get people talking?”
“Yes and no,” Kai replied. “We’re going to rely on sponsorships, donations, and press coverage. All proceeds will go to BSMM.”
I made a shrugging impression with the corners of my mouth, sincerely impressed.
“Come on.” Kai laughed. “Everybody and their mama believes Dope and Voltage got beef.”
“Because we do,” Jazzy affirmed, making the whole room erupt in laughter.
“I don’t got beef with you, Jazzy,” Nat said beside me. “At all.”
She smiled, licking her lips as she refocused on Kai again.
“Mmm,” Nat moaned low. “Just over there killin’ me softly.”
“Please just shut the fuck up,” I said through my teeth.
“Well,” Kai continued. “I want to bank on that. Just as an idea, I can tell it’s gonna be a success. I got my homie Journee Jacobs—who you all know produced One Mic—and she’s ready to get this going like yesterday. The sooner we can begin putting this show together, the quicker we can be of aid to BSMM before it’s too late. But don’t get it twisted… this is not just charity. It’s legacy.”
My eyes drifted over to Jazzy again to see her tapping her long nails on the table, looking as focused and fierce as always. Tattoos only visible from her wrist to the cuticle tats, as the hoodie she wore covered her sleeve of tats. The woman always kept a hoodie on hand—even in the damn summer.
God, she was so damn annoying to me.
“This is more than an opportunity to save the school we all know and love,” Kai added. “It’s an opportunity to promote our artists, increase those streams, build a buzz, by using the drama in our favor. The ultimate mic drop, which is the name we’re going with for this. Mic Drop.”
I liked it. Although I didn’t like the idea of having to work with Voltage on any damn thing, given their penchant for signing artists I felt they scoured the sewage in New York City for, having a show where our artists battle could definitely work to get buzz. And if there was one thing I loved for my artists, it was buzz.
“So, to start, I would like my best and your best….” Kai pointed at Voltage’s side of the table. “… to pair up on this. I want Wes and Jazzy to co-lead the production.”
“Ha!” Jazzy shouted before bursting into loud laughter.
“You buggin’,” I added, looking Kai dead in the eyes.
“Absolutely not,” Jazzy said through her humor.
I shook my head, my eyes not leaving Kai’s. “No.”
The room fell silent.
“She is way too reckless,” I added, not giving a fuck about the silence. “All heart, no damn structure.”
“And he’s colder than a New York City sidewalk after a blizzard,” Jazzy spat. “He has no love for the music, just for the money. Like a gold-digging hoe.”
Someone coughed, and others snorted laughs.
“Money pays the bills,” I added, turning my focus completely on her. “But I guess y’all wouldn’t know that, right? Being so damn low on the charts, your artists are only mentioned as an afterthought. An honorable mention. How fucking sad.”
“I picked you two for a reason,” Kai cut in, his eyes bouncing between Jazzy and me.
My chest was rising and falling as I tried like hell to maintain a calm exterior. But deep down inside, my blood was boiling so much you could broil a steak off Union’s menu in it.
One look at Jazzy showed me she was just as hot, as she balled her lips while she shook her head slowly.
“And because I picked you two for a reason…” Kai focused squarely on me. “The lineup? It’s final, my guy.”
I inhaled a deep breath and let it out real slow. And that did very little to keep me from losing my shit. But still… I kept my cool. Like always.
Once Kai wrapped up the meeting, scheduling a new time for us to meet up again real soon, I got up from my seat, needing the reprieve. I was heading for the private dining space’s exit when Kai caught up to me, stopping me.
“Wes—”
“Kai,” I cut in. “I cannot speak to you right now because I love my job with all my fucking heart, and what I’ll say might make me lose that job, man.”
Kai snickered. “Would you relax.”
“Why the fuc—” I stopped to clear my throat and to run my hand down my beard. I slammed my hand into my open hand. “Kai, my man, you couldn’t have paired me with anyone else on this?”
“Nah.” He shook his head. “You two are the best Senior A&Rs in the business. Why the hell would I pair you two with anyone other than you two?”
“Why would you not tell me what the hell was gonna happen tonight before tonight?”
“Because you wouldn’t have showed up.” Kai looked away to bid farewell to one of Voltage’s execs. “Look, I’m sorry.”
I scoffed. “You’re sorry.”
“But this is genius, man. You gotta admit that.”
I pressed my hands to my face and groaned into my palms.
“What’s the deal with you and Jazmine Reeves, anyway?”
I dropped my hands to focus on him again, a little irritated he was even asking. Because yes, besides the fact that Kai had this idea to do this and didn’t tell me about it first, I really didn’t want to work closely with that woman.
“It’s nothing,” I said, trying to sound unbothered but not pulling it off well enough. “Just some stupid shit.”
Kai arched a brow. “Must be more than just some stupid shit—”
“It’s about Saint, aight?” I said. “My first—”
“Major artist,” Kai finished. “Okay, yeah, I remember.”
Saint was an artist that was great as an underground artist, but the moment I signed him to Dope and we started working with him, I made the choice to switch up his style, and his fans were not happy. They didn’t support his debut album the way I thought they would, and he was dropped after that one album failure. Unbeknownst to anyone, he was my biggest regret. And Jazzy didn’t miss an opportunity to remind me of that every time I looked at her.
She hated me for it. He was her favorite artist, which was honestly the reason I even signed him. She had a good ear for music, even as a teenager. So I trusted her. She trusted me.
And that shit did not work out well.
“That was so long ago—”
“She blames me,” I told him. “And I get it. Fine. It wasn’t the best call to switch up Saint’s style when he had fans who loved and supported that style. But shit, she’s been holding onto that grudge like it’s her religion.”
“You’ve changed,” Kai said, lifting his arm to wave goodbye to another Voltage exec. “You’ve grown.” He refocused on me. “And maybe it’s time she saw that.”
“Even if she did see that,” I started. “We’d still be oil and water. I don’t like her and she don’t like me. Our styles are too different to be functional. She’s chaos. I’m clarity. And I can’t work with her ass.”
“Well, man.” Kai cupped his hand to my shoulder. “The time has come to stir that pot, and I’m willing to stand back and endure that oil and water popping at me. Because we’re doing this, and you’re working with her. From start to finish.”
After speaking with Kai a little longer—getting nowhere with convincing him that Jazzy and I shouldn’t be working together—I made my way to the restaurant’s bar, really needing a drink.
I usually didn’t. The bar was the most crowded place in Union. But after that meeting, I needed something with an alcohol proof strong enough to knock out a choir.
I took my seat and stretched my neck, trying like hell to get the bartender’s attention, but he just kept servicing people at the far end of the bar.
I sighed, pinching the innermost corners of my eyes, trying to get a grip.
Not many people knew Jazzy and my history. They just figured we hated each other because she was Voltage and I was Dope, and our labels had been rumored to be at war with each other from the start. Both labels were founded in 1997, started by former friends who knew each other well but went their separate ways when they realized they wanted something the other didn’t want in their labels. Jazzy and I simply inherited the beefs. I joined Dope before she joined Voltage, and my bad call with her favorite artist only fueled her hate for Dope and inevitably, me.
I focused my attention down the bar again, lifted my arm once again, hoping to get the bartender’s attention, only for him to continue to be preoccupied by everyone else.
“In your own restaurant spot and can’t even get a drink when you want it, damn,” I heard Jazzy say over my shoulder before sliding onto the stool beside mine. “Tough life.”
As soon as she entered my space, her sweet fragrance engulfed me.
Jazzy was a spotlight in human form. Her eyes were bright, the apples of her cheeks glowed, and she was just so damn magnetic it frustrated me. She was the type that seemed to have the world in her hand and men on puppet strings. And no woman should ever have that much power. Not to me, at least.
I spent my whole career maintaining control, especially when it came to women. They understood the game of life better than most men, so I always tried to keep myself a few steps ahead, physically and mentally, so I didn’t fall under their spell. Most specifically, Jazzy’s spell.
She lifted her arm when the bartender focused our way, and all he did was acknowledge her, but still continued to service the other patrons.
“Well,” she said, dropping her bag on the counter. “I tried it the boring way like you, and that clearly didn’t work.”
“Please don’t start with me right now,” I growled.
I heard her unzipping her hoodie before my eyes were moving to the hissing sound… and I wish they didn’t.
Her breasts seemed to burst through the lowered zipper, pressed against her white cami. I was looking so hard, I noticed her nipples straining against the fabric. She slipped her arms out of the hoodie’s sleeves. First the arm with no tattoos, then her right arm, which was covered from her shoulder blade to her wrist with tats, including around her fingernail cuticles on her right hand.
I watched her shake out her hair, comb her fingers through her curls, before adjusting her large breasts in her bra.
I scoffed a laugh while shaking my head.
Jazzy blew through her fingers before shouting up the bar, “Bartender!” She leaned in just in time for the bartender to glance her way, his eyes instinctively lowering to her cleavage from a distance.
Not missing a beat, he turned on his sneakers and made his way to us.
“Unbelievable,” I muttered to myself.
“Good evening,” the bartender said to her breasts before lifting his attention to her eyes.
“Good evening, handsome.” She grinned. “Can I get a shot of Jack and…” She gestured at me. “Get him whatever he wants too. On me.”
His eyes moved to me. “What can I get for you, boss?”
I unclenched my teeth to say, “Cask-strength bourbon. Neat. Thanks.”
It almost pained me to say anything, but it’s like I said… I needed the damn drink.
The bartender was quick, pouring up our drinks and sliding them over to us. Before I could say anything, Jazzy had slapped a twenty on the counter, telling the bartender to keep the change.
He was off a second later, leaving us once again.
I shook my head, gritting my teeth as I lifted my bourbon to sip. “So, is this your strategy? Flash your way to efficiency?”
“The words you should be saying to me,” she started, “is thank you, you brute.”
I scoffed.
“And no, it’s not my strategy.” She paused to make an annoyed expression. “But you do what you have to do to get ahead. Leave it to you—your ass would still be sitting here trying to get his attention.” She moved in closer, pushing her breasts closer to my face. “You should show some gratitude to my girls.”
I elbowed her gently out of my way.
I remembered a time her girls were never even there.
She giggled, lifting her glass of Jack Daniels and tossing it back, swallowing it in one gulp. She was off the stool, grabbing her bag then her hoodie. “See you later, Wes Da Grouch.”
“Fuck off, Jazzy.”
She hollered a laugh that receded as she walked off.
God, I couldn’t stand that woman.
I grabbed my drink and instead of sipping it this time, I tossed it all back. My cheeks bulged as I swallowed it all down with a gulp, feeling the burn roll down my throat and into my gut.
How the hell was I supposed to work with her? Because yet again, she irritated me and got under my skin. And I had no way of escaping it this time.
A New Episode of I Hate That I Love You Will Be Sent And Posted, Monday, April 14th!
