Healing Melody by Priya Grey, Ozlo Grey Page A

say Denny’s?” I ask, not sure I heard her correctly.
    “Yes. On Santa Monica and Highland. Can you be there by 8 am?”
    “Um, sure, but I’m not going to have sex with you there, right?” The last thing I need is to get busted for having sex in a public place.
    “Of course not,” she replies, sounding flustered. “Just meet me there. I’ll be at one of the booths in the back.”
    “Okay. What do you look like?”
    “Don’t worry about it. I’ll spot you when you walk in.”
    She hangs up on me.
    I sigh. I’m not in the mood for a session, especially this early. Maybe this woman wants to spend two thousand dollars eating breakfast with me? As long as I get paid, that’s fine by me.  
    Plus, I’m hungry.  
    An hour later, I step into Denny’s. I’m surprised to see the woman I bumped into yesterday – the one carrying groceries – wave at me from a table. Her name’s Suzie, if I remember correctly.
    “You?” I say with a smirk as I approach her.
    She looks around the restaurant, nervous. She’s wearing large sunglasses and a Dodgers baseball cap. If she’s trying to look inconspicuous, she’s not doing a very good job.
    “Sit down,” she whispers.
    I take a seat across from her.  
    “Does your friend know you called me?” I ask.  
    “Of course she does,” Suzie replies, like it’s the dumbest question on earth. “She’s the reason I’m here.”
    I look at her confused. I lean in and whisper, “You guys want to do a threesome?”  
    Embarrassed, Suzie lowers her head. She tries to hide her face by pulling down her baseball cap as a waitress approaches. I order French toast. The waitress pours me some coffee. When the waitress leaves, Suzie leans forward.  
    “No,” she whispers, her voice flat. “We do not want to have a threesome. Melody wants me to propose something to you.”
    “Okay,” I say, slightly relieved. Don’t get me wrong, threesomes are fun, but it’s really early in the morning. “What’s the proposal?” I ask.
    Suzie looks around cautiously. She leans in closer to make sure nobody overhears us. “She wants to enlist your services again.”
    I’m confused. “Then why doesn’t she use the website, like last time?”
    Suzie leans back in her chair and takes a sip from her coffee. “Well, that’s the thing. What happened the other night was a mistake. She shouldn’t have used a website like that. She had a few too many to drink and wasn’t thinking clearly. You see, Melody has a reputation to protect. She needs to be more discreet moving forward. If we could just deal with you directly, without going through a website, that would be preferable.”
    “Alright,” I reply. I don’t see how that will be much of a problem. As long as I get paid, and Shane gets his money, that’s all that matters.
    “There’s something else I would like to discuss,” says Suzie. “Melody wants you exclusively.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “That you engage in your um… activities with her, and only her. You lose all your other clients.”
    I shake my head. “Nah. That can’t happen.”
    Suzie moves forward and whispers, “She’s willing to pay handsomely for the privilege of being your only client.”  
    “Really?” I say somewhat surprised.
    Suzie nods and continues to speak in a hushed tone. “It appears you’ve made quite an impression on her. You see, Mr?”
    “Kade.”
    “Well, Mr. Kade – ”
    “Not Mr. Kade. Just Kade.”
    “What?” She looks at me confused.
    “My name is Kade.”
    “Well, Kade, whatever you did to her the other night really made an impact. That song she was writing, while you were leaving…”
    “Yeah. It was good,” I say.
    “Very good.” Suzie agrees with a nod and smile. She leans back in her chair and takes another sip of coffee. She eyes me and says, “Melody hasn’t written a song in over a year. And she’s convinced that you had something to do with her breakthrough.”
    “Me?” I say, surprised.
    “I tried