MARS - A GAY NOVEL

CHAPTER EIGHT - AMATURE NIGHT

MONDAY

Vehren rides through downtown Detroit listening to an explicit song about getting deep head and being fucked like a whore on the floor. He drives pass Cherryhill Records, parking across the street in front of the abandoned building. 'Yoga' by Only Fire and Brooke Candy is turned off as Vehren climbs out of the Challenger.

On his way to the studio, he halts in the cafeteria. An alpha black man with a shaved head sits at the far end. He's distracted by his Macbook, ears covered with Beats by Dre headphones. Vehren's lips curls. His head lifts as he approaches the guy. He waves to catch his attention. The alpha slides his headphones around his neck and squints his eyes. He doesn't say anything, prompting Vehren to ask, "Since when do you record at Cherryhill?"

"When my deal at Alpha Mafia ended." Reggie Streets falls back into his seat. "Why are you here, Vehren?"

I pop my shoulder. "I'm a ghostwriter."

His eyebrows rise. "You are?"

"I am. I'm meeting with Alivia right now. I got a song for her."

"You working with Alivia?" He smiles. "That's a good friend of mine."

"Shame. She seems really nice." I say bluntly.

Reggie rolls his eyes. "You miss me."

I scoff. "I do not!"

"Why did you come over here?" He grins. "Boy, you are not sneaky."

"I don't miss you. I didn't know you worked here. I specifically avoided Alpha Mafia for this reason."

"Please, Alpha Mafia wouldn't have accepted you."

"Another reason I avoided them. They're bigots."

"They are." He stands up. "I don't know why I feel like I need to apologize to you."

"You need to apologize to Tsioni."

Reggie nods. "I already have."

I raise my brows. "Did she accept it?"

He smirks. "Yes."

I squint. "You know I work with her right?"

"At Milky Way?"

"Yeah."

"Huh. Small world." He tilts his head. Reggie sits back down. "Don't wanna hold you up. Keep in touch?"

I blink. "Sure." I flip around and leave the cafeteria. Down the hall, I go into the recording studio where Alivia is already there with the omega male that lead me here.

"Yo, Vehren!" Alivia greets me.

"Hey, Vehren." Connor stood up. "We didn't get to properly meet last time. My name is Connor Summers, I'm a producer here."

"Nice to meet you. Are you Shannon's brother?"

"Yeah, that's my sis. Our dad co-owns Cherryhill Records."

"Nice."

Alivia stands from the couch coming over to me. "Whatchu got for me?"

I go in my purse to pull out my black notebook, flipping to the pages of Alivia's song. Handing her the book, I say, "It's called 'Honey Blood'. It's about being an attraction because your blood is so sweet."

"Oooh." She reads over the lyrics. "What's the melody?"

I take the notebook back and sing to her, "My blood is honey, you're attracted to my scent." My voice is smooth, I allow it to drag notes. "You'll hop like a bunny when you see this back bend. He loves every side of me, he can't wait till the end. They'll be making fun of me, then try to be my friend."