Read Exposed (The Alpha Stranger) Book 2 for Free Online Page A

heard a song quite like that in a long, long time.”
     
    I can’t believe this. Just three days ago, my keyboard was collecting dust under my bed. Now, this guy wants to record and produce my song. “I totally want to do it.”
     
    “Great. What time is good for you?”
     
    “Let’s do it in the late afternoon like 5:00,” I offer.
     
    “Sounds good.”
     
    I hug my anonymous lover. Jonathan is bemused by my outward show of affection. “So I take it the song is about him?” Jonathan says as he looks at my anonymous lover.
     
    “Yeah.”
     
    “And you seriously don’t know his name?!” Jonathan asks.
     
    “Nope.”
     
    The music producer laughs. “Well, it looks like the best songs are truly based on real life.”
     
    My lover and I spend a few more minutes at the bar. Then we decide to go for a walk outside.
     
     
    Every day, we seem to draw closer and closer though I do not know much more about my anonymous lover.
     
    “I know we aren’t supposed to reveal that much about each other but, I’d like to ask you one question,” I say.
    “I can’t promise that I will answer but, feel free to ask,” my anonymous lover responds.
     
    “Have you ever done this anonymous relationship stuff before?”
     
    “Yeah.”
     
    “How do those relationships end?”
    
“The girl always tries to find out about me.”
     
    “Am I close to losing you?”

    “I don’t know,” my anonymous lover says as he looks at me. “I want to see you every night. But I can’t get too close to anyone. If I feel the relationship is getting too personal, I’ll break away.”
     
    Boy, I think this relationship could spark a new song every single night!
     
    ****
     
    It’s 8:30 a.m. I am sitting at the edge of my bed. It’s already too late for me to leave for work. For the past hour, I have been staring at the clock. I don’t want to go to that job. I don’t want to drive to downtown LA, fight traffic and sit at that reception desk for another day. Like my anonymous lover says, “Life is too short.” I pick up my cell phone and call my boss.
     
    “This is Carol.”
     
    “Hi Carol. It’s Carrie.”
     
    “Don’t tell me you are taking another day off.”
     
    “I’m quitting.”
     
    “Why?”
     
    “I’m um, found a new job.”
     
    “Alright, well, you’ll have to do an exit interview when you pick up your final paycheck.”
     
    “Alright.”
     
    “So, tell me. What kind of great new job did you find?”
     
    What am I supposed to tell her. I’m leaving a perfectly good receptionist job to play piano at a bar in Santa Monica. “I found a place to work closer to home.”
    “Alright, well. Good luck at your new job.”
     
    The second after I hang up with my boss, panic sets in. This is real. I have given up my only stable form of income. And I still have to come up with my half of the rent and utilities for this apartment. That’s about seven hundred bucks a month. I quickly begin to calculate how much in tips I’d have to earn each night. Even if I worked 30 nights a month, I would have to get at least 30 bucks to cover living expenses. Well, I better learn to become a better singer-songwriter pretty quick.
     
    I pick up my keyboard and begin to play. To start things off, I play the songs that are already familiar with me. Then I try my hand at composing something new. Two hours go by and I don’t have much. I guess I can’t come up with a lightning bolt of inspiration every day. I continue to practice until about four in the afternoon. Then I get into my car and head over to Jonathan Ellis’ production house in Santa Monica.
     
    The production house, named Ellis Arts, is located about five blocks down from the bar. Funny, I have walked past this two story concrete and glass building thousands of times and never knew what they did in there. I go up to the intercom and mention my name. The door buzzes. I open the door and head up a flight of stairs to the reception area. A wave