Page 6 of Phoenix

“You ready to hit the road?” Rebel asked.

Before she could answer, Vixen grabbed Phoenix’s hand into her own and started tugging her to the front door. “She’s ready,” Vixen insisted.

“Hold up, I need to say goodnight to my daughter,” Phoenix said.

“We met her,” Juno chimed in, “and she’s super cute.”

“Thanks,” Phoenix said, “I think she’s super cute too. Where is she, Aggie?” she asked her grandmother.

“I hate to tell you this, but she’s already down for the night,” Aggie said. Phoenix checked the clock on the wall and realized that it was an hour past Lydia’s bedtime. She had missed saying goodnight to her baby because she was busy staring at a half-naked man who didn’t seem to want anything to do with her.

“Ugg, I feel awful that I missed kissing her goodnight,” Phoenix groaned.

“Don’t worry about it, honey,” her grandmother insisted. “You will be here to kiss her good morning.”

“With any luck, she won’t be here in the morning,” Juno teased, giving them all an exaggerated wink.

“I’ll be here,” Phoenix insisted, “but don’t wait up for me Aggie. I might get home late.”

“Don’t worry about me, dear,” her grandmother said. “I can still stay up late and party with the best of them. You just go have fun.” Phoenix wanted to point out that Lydia was not a partier yet, and that Aggie should get some rest, but she knew not to waste her breath on her grandmother.

“Don’t worry, Mrs. Aggie,” Vixen said, “we’ll make sure Phoenix has a good time. And the next time we go to Savage Hell,hopefully, we’ll see you there too.” Her grandmother winked and smiled at them and Phoenix wanted to protest that Aggie shouldn’t be going to biker bars. She should be staying home and knitting or something, not chasing after bikers at a bar.

“Let’s go,” Rebel ordered. “I told the girls that we would be there at eight and it's quarter after. You know that I hate being late.” Rebel was always a little rough around the edges except for when it came to her appearance and punctuality. That was the thing that Phoenix remembered most about her friend.

“Dear Lord, if you start lecturing us about how important it is to be on time, I’m going to scream bloody murder,” Vixen grumbled.

“Go ahead and scream to your heart’s content,” Rebel said. “If you are late to meet someone, that just shows that—”

“You think you are more important than they are,” Vixen and Juno finished for her, making Phoenix giggle. They all got into Juno’s car since she was the only one who had an actual car with room for the four of them. Rebel only had a bike, and Vixen had a pickup truck, like Phoenix. Juno offered to drive, saying that she was pretty sure that two of them having to sit in the truck bed wasn’t going to fly with any of them.

Rebel slid into the backseat, next to Phoenix and leaned over to her. “I’d love to tell you that Juno is a good driver, but I can’t. She’s just the only one of us with an actual car.”

“Hey,” Juno shouted from the driver’s seat. “I’m not that bad of a driver.”

“From what I remember about you driving us all to school every morning, you were a pretty crazy driver. Has it gotten any better?” Phoenix asked. Every morning before school, Rebel would make the rounds and pick them all up. Phoenix was the youngest of the group by two years, and at just fourteen years old, she learned a lot from her three older friends—maybe too much.

“If the two backseat drivers don’t pipe down, I’m going to pull the school bus over and you two can walk,” Juno said. She used to say that every morning on their way to high school after they each criticized her driving. They all giggled at Juno and Phoenix had to admit, it felt good to be a part of their group again.

After she took off, she never really found a group of friends. She was too busy trying to survive on the streets and after Lydia came along, she knew that her days and nights would belong to her daughter, so she never even tried to make friends with anyone.

“I’ve missed you weirdos,” Phoenix almost whispered. She wasn’t sure if any of them had even heard her until they all stopped laughing and gave her an “Aww”.

“Okay, enough mushy stuff,” Rebel insisted. “Tell us what you’ve been doing for the past few weeks since you got back to town. Were you just too busy to call and let the three of us know that you were living at Aggie’s? Hearing it from her hurt our feelings.” Rebel was always a shoot-from-the-hip kind of girl, and honestly, she had no explanation for why she had been hiding away from the rest of the world once she got to Aggie’s. Maybe she hid because she didn’t want to run into Riggs after he turned her down and she made a fool of herself by running over to his house.

“I’ve just been sleeping a lot and catching up with Aggie,” she said. That was the truth, even if it felt as though she was lying to them. “Plus, Lydia takes up most of my time. I’ve also been looking for a job,” she quickly added. Both of those things were also true, even though she was unsuccessful at even landing an interview. She couldn’t put down any of her prior job experience on an application, so she just left that part blank.

“They are hiring waitresses at Savage Hell,” Vixen offered. “I’m friends with Savage’s wife, Dallas, and can get you an interview if you want.”

“Hey, that would be a good birthday present,” Juno chimed in. She was right, it would be a sweet birthday present, being able to tell Aggie that she had found a job and was going to be able to pay for herself and her daughter.

“Um, as long as you don’t think he’d mind talking to me, I’m game,” Phoenix said.

“Do you have any experience at waitressing?” Vixen asked. She did, but how did she explain to her friends or Savage that it was at a strip club that she also danced at? Would he even give her a chance if she did admit it?

“Yes,” she said, although she didn’t sound convincing even to her own ears.

“Okay, I’m sure that you’ll fit right in. The only thing is, you’ll be waitressing for the Royal Bastards and not the Harlots,” Vixen said.

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