MARS Ch. 05

FRIDAY

Cigarettes often gives Vehren somber memories from his childhood. The smell of its toxins are soothing to him, as his mother and grandmother use to smoke. Vehren lifted the cigarette to his mouth and softly inhales nicotine. A brace wrapped in cheetah bandaging covers his left wrist. He sits on his porch touching the ground listening to nearby nature. The Rochester Club is surrounded by dense forestry, tress cover the carport where his Challenger is parked. A red Dodge Avenger rolls around the corner, circling the other apartments and using the straighter road to speed.

The Dodge Avenger parks in front of Vehren's apartment and two men get out, Jack Schaefer and a stranger. They stroll up the sidewalk having a loud conversation. The dark skinned male alpha in an orange jumpsuit spoke the loudest. "I fuck with Shannon, but she has a problem."

"What's that?" Jack asks. His eyes land on the omega sitting on his porch. They connect eyes for a brief moment. The other alpha looks in Vehren's direction too, barely lingering on the stare.

"Molly. She's constantly strung out."

"Isn't that baby meth?" Jack opens the door.

"You're not entirely wrong." They enter the building, cutting the conversation. Vehren flicks out the cigarette and smoked again. He was aiming to go inside, until the door opened. Jack came back out, stopping halfway down the sidewalk to swing around to Vehren's apartment.

"Vehren."

I stop, looking back at Jack. "Hey."

"How are you?"

I bite my lower lip. "Good. About to pick up Eris. I see you have company too."

"His name is Richie. He's my best friend."

"Does he know?"

"I rather he didn't."

I shake my head. "Good luck with that."

"What do you mean?"

"You should surround yourself with people who love you for who you are."

"Like you?" Jack smiles.

I smile with him. My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I knew who it was. "I gotta go."

"So do I. I told him I had to get some paper from the car." Jack heads to his dodge, waving goodbye to me. Apart of me wished he kissed me.

"Bye." I wave, going inside and shutting the patio door.

♂

E

ris was playing in the yard when I arrived to Sariyah's house. I park in the driveway, stepping out of Coachella with my eyes on Moeko. She stood on the porch with her arms folded, Eris' backpack on her shoulder. Eris runs to me upon stepping out, wrapping her arms around my legs. I brush her hair with my fingertips. "Ready to go, sweetie?"

"Yeah!" Eris nods fast.

Moeko comes down from the porch, handing me her backpack. "What happened to your wrist?"

I look down as if I didn't know the cast was there. "I slipped off the pole and hit the ground hard."

"Ouch. Are you able to dance?"

"No, not for three weeks. I have enough in savings to keep me and y'all afloat."

"Geez, I'm really sorry."

I shrug. "Is what it is." My eyes jet down to Eris. "Are you sure you wanna go to the zoo? It might be too much fun."

"Yes!" Eris jumps around. "Zoo! Zoo!"

"Alright." I open the door and lift the seat. "Hop on aboard." Eris gives Moeko another hug and kiss before climbing in the Challenger. I push the seat back and give Moeko another look. "I'll see you on Sunday."

She tilts her head. "You good on paying me?"

"Of course. I always have money for Eris." I buckle her in her booster seat. Climbing inside, I roll the window down to say, "Love you, Mommy!"

"I love you, Mommy!" Eris shouts from the back.

"Love you." Moeko blows a kiss and heads back inside.

I turn on dubstep as I back out of the driveway. Eris asks from the back, "Daddy, are we going to the zoo now?"

"Sure. I don't see why not." I grin as she cheers.

♂

Eris screeched with joy upon entering the zoo. Sunglasses cover my eyes, a smile stretches across my face. We go across the lot under the blazing sun. I picked a good day as the usual Michigan weather can vary from nice warmness to pouring rain or even worse... snow during spring. Luckily, I caught a good day and Eris is going to have fun. I brought her a stroller, though she insisted on walking herself.

Our first big stop was the butterfly exhibit. Eris loved being able to touch the insects, even though it freaked her out. I personally learned a lot from butterflies, such as they sense for the perfect leaf with their feet, determining if it's enough to lay eggs on and feed their caterpillars. It was too bad we didn't get to learn more, but Eris wanted to move on.

"Where are the penguins, Daddy?"

"It's a pretty far walk."

"Let's go!" She ran ahead of me.

I left the stroller with my purse on top behind to grab her hand. "No running away from me, or else you'll be stroller'd." I head back to my purse, looking around before moving along.

We made it to a picnic area where the otters were and took a rest. I took a couple of selfies with Eris in the field. She's so adorable, a miniature me after all. We continued on, reaching the Boardwalk Station and the tip of the African Wildlife Exhibit. "We're close." I said to Eris. "About halfway there."

"Can we take the train?" Eris squints her eyes.

I look at the map, seeing the tracks on the other side. "You really want to see penguins that bad, huh? We're gonna have to walk, girlie."

Eris takes my hand. "We'll never see the penguins, will we?"

"Yes, we will. Just gotta keep walking."

"But my legs feel like jelly." She stomps.

"Get in the stroller, baby." I command softly. Eris climbs in with sigh. I continue walking, sensing someone was staring at me. Looking around, I see mostly families walking about. I frown and continue pass Boardwalk Station where a crowd got their meals. Omega women with their alpha husbands and questionable children. It's in their air what subgender they'll be. Even our pointed ears don't develop until puberty.

It was a long walk to the Artic Ring of Life, but once we arrived, Eris climbed out of her stroller and burst into a run. "Eris!" I called picking up my pace. She lead the way to the penguin exhibit.

"Daddy! Look!" She pointed at the penguins and jumped in excitement. Eris mocked their waddles, putting her hands by her sides and raising them occasionally. I chuckle a little bit, leaning on the stroller as I watch her dance.

"You're going to be exhausted on the way back, so we'll take the train."

"Okay! Waddle, waddle." Eris staggers in a circle.

A scent snatches my attention. I've smelled it before, like rustic nails. I look around and land on a middle aged white man standing with his wife and three young children. I've seen him before, and he's seen all of me. I face Eris again, feeling the embarrassment climb up my throat.

They're right behind me. I go closer to the window and lean on the banister. As I read the tag, the scent grew stronger. He was right behind me. I turn around to face one of my regulars at Milky Way.

"I can't believe my eyes right now." He says shaking his head.

"Neither can I." I tilt mine.

"Do you know who I am?"

"Jim." I smile. "How could I forget you?" He showed me his genitals on our initial meeting. "It's interesting seeing you here."

"You're telling me. I told the misses you were a friend from work." Jim looks down at Eris, who then clung to my pant leg. "Whose this? A niece?"

I play with my jaw. "My daughter."

His eyes widen. "I didn't know you had a daughter. We talked so mu--"

"I don't like to talk about my personal life." I cut him off. "Outside of work, consider me a nobody."

"You're not a nobody, Mars."

"That's not my real name."

"What's your real name?"

I stare at him, breaking away to Eris for a brief moment before coming back to him. My hand holds hers as I said, "I'm not going to tell you. It's against the rules."

"We're outside of the club, baby."

I held Eris' hand a little too tight as she exclaims, "Ow!"

"Sorry. You wanna go inside more?"

"Can we go home now?" Eris stares at the man.

"Yes." I look at Jim and make a deep sigh. "Don't ever approach a dancer outside of work."

"My bad. I'll see you later." The regular went back to his family, as Eris lead me out of the exhibit.

"Are you tired, Eris?"

"Yeah." She looks back into the building.

"That was a long walk. Get into your stroller, we'll get out of here,"

Eris climbs in, flopping in place and getting comfortable. "I wanna see you dance, Daddy."

"I'll dance for you when we get home." I head over to the train station over in the African Exhibit. On board, Eris actually fell asleep in the seat next to me. I was able to watch the nature go by and think to myself. I stared at Eris as thoughts roll through my mind.

♂

Eris went to sleep as soon as we got home. She rests in her tiny bed as I linger in the living room. A notebook is in my hand and a pen is in my mouth. The Kardashians are on, Kylie is learning how to drive in Kendall's fancy car. My mind is drawing a blank, unable to create any new lyrics. A weed pen lays on my coffee table, I pick it up and take a hit, hoping the high will help me out.

Eventually, I got some lyrics down upon a quick smoke session with my pink wrappers. My throat burned and I coughed a little bit, but I continued to write down what exactly I wanted to say in the song. I titled it, 'Honey Blood', and chorus goes,

My blood is honey, you're attracted to my scent.

You hop like a bunny when this back bends.

I go over the lyrics in my head, saying and singing it out loud. I continue, adding more fluff to my lyrics.

I'm not sugar free, but there's no coating from me.

I don't give in easily, this treat can play tricky.

I sink into the couch, looking at the TV and anything around for inspiration. Alivia wants something smooth and sultry. Judging by her two previous songs, she has a Doja Cat vibe. Campy, fun, able to sing and rap. I realized I may have to write raps for her, which makes me a bit nervous. I'm no rapper, but I'm willing to learn.

After about two episodes of The Kardashians, my head started to feel swamped. I shook it away and finished the pink joint. Using Lysol, I spray down my living room and open my patio door. I walked to the back, peaking in to check on Eris. She's deep asleep in her mini bed. Shutting the door back, I go into the second bedroom where I kept all my extra clothes, completed and incomplete.

There's a crate of expensive fabrics underneath the table where the sewing machine is. Two racks diagonal to one another on opposite sides of the room each carry clothes I've completed for both regular wear and work. I primarily specify in costumes, girly or androgynous. On the left rack, Eris' five outfits for the pageant tomorrow take up the front space. I check each outfit, knowing there's nothing else to add. While Moeko took Eris to the pageant practice, I made her clothes. Took me six months to do so, sometimes I'd spend my weekends making them with her.

I zipped each outfit into clear bag to keep them from getting damaged and hung them back up. To the right are all my exotic outfits. They're in black bags so Eris won't ask questions. I unzip one, peaking at the hot pink straps dangling over a slim tight dress. A huff escapes my mouth as my eyes fall to the cheetah print wrapped around my wrist. I haven't been able to dance since Tyree shoved me to the ground. I don't think I'll be able to perform Sunday at all.

Back in the living room, I fell back on the couch and watched The Kardashians. Eventually, my eyes fell heavy. I allow them to fall, not realizing just how tired I was.

When I woke up, a hand was over my mouth. My eyes widen at Fontaine and I belted a scream. He squeezed harder, gripping his fingers around my jaw. With his other hand, he pinches my nose. I try to rip his fingers away, but my wrist are bound to my side by another man. Looking down, I see Derrick from the club climbing on top of me from below.

I can't breathe, tears fall down my hot cheeks. The pain starts to building from my chest not being able to get air. Flipping my head around did nothing, and I couldn't speak. The only thing I could do was cry.

"Stop being so loud. Do you want your daughter to hear?" Fontaine said, loosening his grip on my nose. I nearly gag, staring at him petrified. He releases, keeping his hand on my mouth. "I'm not going to kill you. I need you, Vehren." He dips down to stare deeper into my eyes. "Don't scream." He releases my mouth.

"Why?" I sniff, shivering in place.

"I already explained. I need money, you're fast money. I already have clients who know who you are and are ready to fuck you for a grand. You can get in on the bank, I'll keep thirty percent. The rest plus tip is yours."

"And if I say no? Are you going to kill me in front of my daughter?"

"Of course not." Fontaine looks toward the dining room. I join his stare seeing his brother, Dreezy, standing before the hallway. "Barricade the door, D." Dreezy nods and disappears down the hall. "Don't make me violent, please?"

"You're insane. Really fucking insane."

"I'll take that as a compliment. Will you do it? Are you going to say yes and make this easy for the both of us?"

I squirm under Derrick. "How long?"

Fontaine smiles. "Just until you pay me back."

"And you'll leave me alone?"

He nods. "Yeah. I'll be out of your life."

"You're lying, aren't you?"

"I'm not. I promise, after this I won't bother you again. I need this."

My eyebrows pinch. "Fine. I'll make your fucking money back, since you need it so badly."

Fontaine licks his lips, flashing his grill. "Good boy."

"Fuck off, Font! And get off of me!" I stare at Derrick. He looks at Fontaine, who gives him the go ahead. The alpha climbed off of me and stood back by the opened patio door. Fontaine lifts up and sits at my feet. I look back, trying to peek down the hallway.

"You start tomorrow."

I roll my eyes. "I have my daughter until Sunday. You can have me then."

"Deal." Fontaine rests back. "You gave up your weekends for your daughter?"

"Yeah, I did. I can make just about the same amount during the week in a single night on the weekend."

"And your night is Sunday."

I hold my sprained wrist up. "Not for a while thanks to you."

Fontaine tilts his head. "My bad. I needed to get through to you somehow. And I did."

"Screw you, Font! You didn't get through to me, you forced your way in quite literally. Now that I agree, will you and your fucking goons please leave?"

The lead alpha nods once and stands. "Baby bro, we out." He looks down on me, grinning brightly. "I'll see you Sunday." I stare at him, only breaking away to see Dreezy come down the hall.

"Don't worry. She didn't make a sound so I assume she's been sleep the whole time." Dreezy strolls pass my living room, meeting his brother and friend and the sliding door.

"Bye, baby." Fontaine is the last to leave, shutting the door behind him and disappearing into the night. I gasp for air, finally able to breathe at the rate I truly wanted. My hands fall over my mouth and I let out a holler with my eyes shut.

"Fuck!" I shout, punching the couch.

"Daddy?"

My heart sinks. I wipe away the tears and stand up straight. Eris appears from the hall, clutching a pink stuffed bear in her arms. She looks scared, turns out she wasn't sleep at all. I go to her and kneel, holding her hands tightly. "Everything is okay."

"Why are you crying?" She touches my red face.

"I just got some bad news is all. Adult business. It's no place for a child."

"Who were they?"

I scratch my jaw. "Old friends. Again, nothing you need to worry about."

"Can I sleep with you tonight?"

"Yes. I'd prefer you to."