Page 17 of West Bound

“Thanks, Nix. That’d be awesome. I mean, C gets us into plenty of games with her passes, but I feel like I take advantage of her. We tend to pay for more than she comps. But since my bro is now a member of our beloved Wranglers, I will happily accept whatever freebies you want to throw my way.” He gives me a crooked smile that is so Bishop just as the waitress approaches our table to refill our glasses.

“I’ll take the check when you have a chance,” I tell her.

“Of course. Is there anything else I can help you with?” She says, emphasizing the word help, an obvious twinkle in her eye.

“Nope. Just the check. Thanks, sweetheart.” I effectively end any further discussion by turning my attention back to Bish. “Cool. I’ll set aside three.”

“Nice. I’ll bring Vaughan and Hayes. Do you remember Vaughan? You met him years ago.”

I think back to all of Bishop’s friends whom I’d met over the years, recalling primarily the females. Camille. CeCe. Vivian.

“Is he the one who was dating your hot friend Camille?” I give him a smirk and a waggle of my brow.

“Yeah. That’s him. And be sure to shut that shit down. He and Camille are back together and Vaughan’ll kill you if you so much as smile at her.” The waitress returns and sets the check down in between the two of us.

Bish is quick, but I’m quicker and I snatch the tab away before he can. “I got this. In case you didn’t hear, I just signed a record breaking contract.”

“I heard, asshole. How is it,” he begins, adjusting himself so that he sits back against the booth and drapes his arms over the back. “That you come off from a year of rehab after major surgery, and you’re throwing hotter and faster than ever. They fit you with bionic parts when they opened you up?”

I slip my wallet from my pocket and pull out more than enough cash to cover the bill and a nice tip for our waitress, not wanting to give her my name on my card if I can help it.

“I’m just that good.” I chuckle and stand from the booth, pocketing my wallet. “How did Vaughan and Camille get back together? I thought he did her dirty by knocking up another chick while they were together?”

Bishop grips my shoulder with his mit of a hand and speaks into my ear as we walk out of the restaurant.

“Long story but basically, what Camille thought happened really didn’t, and once she found out the truth they had a very happy reunion. We’re all very excited for the two of them. And I’m sure Vaughan will give you more details when we have a few drinks after what I know will be your first win as a Wrangler tomorrow night.”

“Sounds good to me. You pick the place and I’ll be there,” I tell him and open the passenger door of his truck.

“There’s this one bar that’s always crawling with chicks after the home games. We’re sure to find you someone to celebrate with.”

He starts the engine and pulls out of the parking lot and into traffic and back towards the stadium where my new team is waiting to meet me.

“Nah. I’d rather find a chill place where we can have some beers and talk. I’m not really looking to hook up.” The truck jerks and I notice Bishop coming to a hard stop at the red light.

“Come again,” he says, cupping his ear like he didn’t hear the first time.

“I said I’m not up for any cleat chasers. I just really want to focus on my game and my new team.”

The light turns green and he slowly–like a grandma who can barely see over the dashboard–accelerates through the intersection.

Bishop stays quiet for another few seconds, only the sound of old school Snoop fills the truck's cabin.

“You got a girl you haven’t told me about?” he finally asks.

“No.”

“You decide to go celibate?”

“Again, no.”

“You…you gay? No biggie if you are, it’d just be a surprise.”

“What the fuck. No, I’m not gay. Why would you think I’m gay? You’ve seen the number of women I’ve hooked up with over the years.”

“Exactly!” He barks. “So if you’re not gay, and you’re not celibate and you don’t have a girl, why the hell wouldn’t you want to take advantage of all that new pussy that’s going to be coming at you like fastballs down the lane?”

I shrug, nervous to tell him the truth about my self discovery over the last year but figure if I can’t tell my closest friend, who can I tell?

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