MMF BISEXUAL ROMANCE: Phoenix Running (6 page)

There it was again, that odd chemistry. Cee-Cee felt off-balance with this man, the same way she felt around Ashley, but for different reasons. Ashley Terrence was a grenade. Phoenix Briton was a gun in the hand of a sniper. It was dangerous messing with men like these.

“I know there will be time for something serious when I can squeeze that in. For now, I’m not interested in one-night stands, no matter how tempting they sound, even if the invitation is coming from a sexy Aussie rock star.”

“We’re on the same page again. Excellent.”

They were nearly to her house, and Cee-Cee felt the way she had felt at the hotel. She didn’t want things to end, but she had to get home and read to Baby Joe. She stared out the dark window at the residential neighborhood and relaxed against the leather seat.

“I had a good time with you tonight. See you next week at PR-ISM?”

“I’m looking forward to it,” said Phoenix. “Hey, are you really going to keep in touch with that guy?”

She lifted a shoulder casually. “Yeah. Why not?”

“Can we be real friends, Cee-Cee?”

She looked surprise. “Of course we can.”

Phoenix didn’t say anything else. Then they were at her house, and there was nothing else that needed to be said.

C
ee-Cee put
the mug of tea on the desk next to her monitors and powered up the computer she had built from spare parts. The powerful machine was customized to her gaming and coding needs. Despite the fact it was almost midnight, and she had just gotten in from her dinner date with Phoenix, she was intending on doing some homework.

But when she checked her Twitter, she saw Ashley was already following her. Damn, he worked fast. About thirty minutes ago he had sent her a message:

Smiling, she quickly responded back:

There was a tap at her bedroom door, and Cee-Cee glanced over when her mom entered her room. “Baby Joe fought sleep as long as he could, waiting for you. He just couldn’t hold out. Josey got him tuckered out and put him to bed. How did the meeting go?” Winny asked. Cee-Cee shook her head.

“Eh, I’m not getting my hopes up. Mayor Briton was noncommittal about using NowIn. He said he’d think about it,” she sighed. Cee-Cee knew a “no” when she heard one. “But I still had a blast. You know that four-star restaurant downtown? He took me there, and then we went to the Yellow Lounge where we met this singer from Australia, Ashley Terrence. He was a sweetheart.” She took a sip of tea and caught her mother’s eye.

Winny brightened. “Oh, really? Sounds like this business dinner turned into a date after all.”

“Ha! Will you ever give up on that? Call it what you like. I’m pleased Uncle Bryan put me on the case as lead, though. I think I can connect with Phoenix in a way some of the other agents might not be able to. He trusts me.” She was proud she had built a rapport with the client so quickly.
Take that, Gina, with your stupid quips about my lack of experience.

She thought about the conversation with the mayor on the car ride home. Phoenix had unloaded a lot of personal details, as well as making it clear he was interested in getting to know her better. She wouldn’t dare tell her mother about the unnerving chemistry that had flourished between them the entire night. Winny would swear Cee-Cee was en route to a relationship. That wasn’t the case. Phoenix had asked Cee-Cee to be his friend, and that’s all she would be.

“Well, don’t stay up too late with homework. I know you. You’ll work twenty-four/seven if I let you. It’s the weekend. Take the opportunity to get some rest while you can.” Winny slipped out soundlessly, and Cee-Cee whispered goodnight to her before turning back to what she was doing.

She hit Follow to join the many thousands of other Asher fans, which made her feel like the groupie she told Ashley she wasn’t. She scrolled through his Twitter page and looked at the content he had published over the prior weeks. It was mostly superficial. There were pictures of his wardrobe and pictures from his shows. However, there were also insightful comments on social justice that occasionally punctuated the otherwise predictable stream of celebrity posing.

Ashley Terrence wasn’t afraid to be provocative. It took no time for her to realize that. He spoke his mind and was vocal about a number of different topics. Cee-Cee thought it was kind of cool. Soon, she found herself disappearing down the rabbit hole of the Internet, searching out his music videos, interviews and anything else she could dig up.

She learned he had been born and raised in Australia and was homeschooled. He was an only child. He was single after an ugly break-up a year ago from supermodel Gretchen Holiday. Cee-Cee shivered at the sheer volume of gossip that existed on the man. It had to be horrible being a celebrity.

She tabbed to another screen and did some work until she heard the ping of a response back to her message on Twitter. Ashley had finally gotten back to her:

She saved his number in her cell, and she sent him a text so he could save hers. Cee-Cee got to work on her homework, a task made harder by the fact she couldn’t stop thinking about the two sexy men she had spent the evening with. She fell asleep remembering Phoenix’s unexpected kiss and Ashley’s lips against the back of her neck.

The next day Ashley sent her a good morning text, and Cee-Cee rolled out of bed and stared at her phone in wonder. Something to wrap her head around—a man with thousands of followers was sending her a good morning text. Maybe he sent stuff like that to every girl he talked to. She shrugged and texted him good morning back, showered and got dressed to start her day.

When she came out of the bathroom, she checked the phone hidden in the rumpled sheets of her unmade bed and saw she had another message, this time from Phoenix Briton. Her breath caught in her chest as she picked up the device and read the text:

She reread it with mixed feelings. On the one hand, Cee-Cee had her life worked out in her head. School would be finished in a matter of months. She had a great job already, sooner than she had expected, and her career could only soar to greater heights with the invention of the NowIn app. Dating the mayor didn’t fit into any of her well-laid plans. Besides…wasn’t he into Ashley? On the other hand, that kiss. The way he looked at her. His sincerity in the car on the way home. He understood her focus on her career, which not many people did. And he, too, was lonely and feeling some regret about what he might be missing. But wasn’t that a dangerous thing to have in common?

P
hoenix was
at home in his condo where he usually spent his nights. He rarely stayed at the official mayoral house, and after the week he’d had preparing for this campaign, he wanted to be alone for a while. He knew he should be studying up on his opponents, but he wasn’t in the mood for it. There was jazz music playing softly from Bose speakers, and he was at ease, stretched out on the orange rug in his living room, flipping through a glossy magazine.

A calico cat, a neighborhood stray Phoenix regularly fed, arched its back and stretched on the windowsill outside before hopping down and running off. That’s when he heard the engine dying out front. Phoenix glanced at the front door and saw the shadow of feet. When the knock came, he was already up putting away the magazine. He opened the door with a smile that slowly dropped from his face when he saw who was standing there. His father swept into the condo.

“Hello, Wallace. What do you need this time?” Phoenix muttered. He closed the door behind the man who had breezed in like this was his place. Phoenix popped his knuckles as Wallace Briton took a seat on his white suede couch without a word, helping himself to a handful of nuts from a bowl perched on a nearby end table. Bristling, Phoenix sat in a chair across from his father. “Can I help you with something?” He kept his voice cordial.

The key with his mooching old man was to avoid arguments, give him what he wanted and get him out of his hair. Of course, there had been a time when the roles were reversed. Phoenix hadn’t been the easiest teen to raise, and he guessed he was getting payback for being a brat back when his father was truly a part of his life.

Wallace shrugged with an easy grin. “Can’t I pay you a visit without you thinking I have ulterior motives? I hear you’re thinking about running for reelection. I’m proud of you, son. Congratulations.”

Phoenix studied the older Briton munching on the honey-roasted cashews. Middle age was being kind to Wallace Briton. His silvering hair made him look more refined. He was stylishly dressed. At a glance, one would assume he was well off, but Phoenix knew the truth. His father only visited him when he needed money.

“Wallace, I’m not playing twenty questions to get to the truth of why you’re here today. How about we skip the usual back-and-forth and you just tell me a dollar amount?”

“You know I hate to have to do this.” Wallace affected a pained expression. In fact, Phoenix knew his dad got a kick out of being able to turn to him whenever he needed something. He knew Phoenix would never turn him down. Wallace had something on him that would keep Phoenix in his pocket for life.

Phoenix grumbled as he moved over to the desk and dug out a checkbook. “Not as much as I hate it. How much this time? Five thousand? Ten?”

“I feel like I’m depleting your savings.”

“You are.”

Wallace’s lips turned up in distaste. “But your mom will give it right back to you. I still can’t believe she cut me off from the company I helped create.’

“Don’t you dare!” Phoenix pointed a shaking finger in his father’s face with the warning. No, Wallace Briton was not allowed to walk into his home and disparage his mother, especially not after everything he had done to her.

Wallace clamped his lips shut and nodded apologetically, hands up. “A few hundred will do. Sally’s birthday is coming up.”

“I know.”

“You…uh…. coming to your little sister’s birthday party?”

Phoenix flexed his fingers and looked away. “I’ll send something over for her, but this campaign requires my full attention. I won’t be able to come by.”

Wallace pocketed the money but didn’t immediately get up to leave. This was Phoenix’s least favorite thing about visits from his father. The small talk. “How have things been with you?” asked Wallace, arranging his features into a fatherly mask.

Phoenix blew out a breath. “Favorability is high. Likelihood of me being reelected is good. Oh, and I met a girl.”

Wallace’s bushy brows flew up. “Ah! Finally ready to settle down, son? I’m surprised at you. You saw how my relationship with your mother turned out. Take my advice. Fuck ‘em, but don’t keep ‘em.”

“I am nothing like you.”

“Careful now.” Wallace looked down his nose. “We both have our secrets.”

Phoenix looked away. After a beat, he murmured, “Let’s make sure it stays that way.” His secret was safe with his father…so long as he was paid. Wallace dropped a wallet-sized photograph on the table. It was an image of the child he had had with his mistress while still married to Phoenix's mother. Phoenix picked it up and smiled at the picture of Sally. She had the same chocolate brown eyes he did, though her hair was blond.

He had made sure over the years that her mother lived comfortably and his little sister wanted for nothing. He was the mayor, but he was also a shareholder in his mother’s growing lumber business, and he had the money to live how he chose. He was thankful to be able to be financially supportive, but he had yet to meet his only sibling in person. It was by choice, though he felt a twinge of regret whenever he saw a picture.

Phoenix didn’t want to hurt his mother.

“What do twelve-year-olds like to play with? I need to know what to send her.”

“Tech everything,” Wallace answered. “I can’t keep up with her. She’s almost a woman. How does time pass so fast?”

“Yeah, it has a tendency to feel that way when you’re not around to watch them grow up. Showing up for birthday parties doesn’t count. You need to spend more time with her.”

“Such integrity! I wonder where you get it from,” Wallace wryly responded. He rose to his feet and stretched with a groan, grabbing another handful of cashews. Phoenix breathed a sigh of relief as his father moved toward the door. “Well, I’ve gotta get going. An old friend wants to meet with me, and I don’t want to keep him waiting. Don’t look down on your old man, son. Remember, I’ve been everywhere you’re trying to go. It was nice talking to you.”

Wallace made his exit, leaving Phoenix to think about the things that had transpired in years past.

His broken family had suffered mightily for his father’s scandal, which was exactly why he couldn’t follow in Wallace’s footsteps and live selfishly. His father hadn’t been everywhere he was trying to go because Phoenix was taking the high road. But in his mind’s eye, Ashley’s smiling face appeared. Phoenix had slept restlessly, aroused beyond belief, and had eventually gotten up and jerked off to take the sexual frustration down a notch; still, he thought about the man.

He thought about Cee-Cee, too. She was different—so driven and passionate behind her app. She was smart, but she wasn’t an egghead. She was fun. He had only mentioned meeting a woman to shock his father; however, that was the way last night stuck in his head. He had met someone he was interested in getting to know strictly for the pleasure of knowing her.