Page 24 of West Bound

He snorts and stands tall after tucking the wound up cables in his belt. “If you say so, man. Just don’t forget I warned you.” He dips his chin then walks away, leaving me standing on the field by myself.

I’m not afraid of her fiery attitude. In fact, it excites me even more to think of making her mine, sooner than later. No matter the consequence.

CHAPTER EIGHT

PHOENIX

“Thing For You” - David Guetta & Martin Solveig

“There he is! The man of the hour!” Bishop throws his arms up and shouts as I come out of the press conference room having finished my interviews for the night. “Fucking amazing game, brotha.”

“Thanks, Bish.” I clasp his hand and we do the bro hug that’s reserved for just the two of us. The same one we established back in college and still use to greet each other as adults.

“Man. I thought for sure Rocky would let you close out the game.”

I shrug and adjust my duffle hanging on my shoulder. “I could’ve closed but he wanted me to rest. He wasn’t worried with Stokes as the closer and neither was I.”

We walk towards his truck and I spot two other guys standing there.

“Nix, I don’t think you’ve met Vaughan and his brother, Hayes.”

“Hey man. Nice to meet ya. That was one helluva game.” I shake the hand of the man Bishop pointed out as Vaughan.

“Nice to meet you, and thanks. It felt good out there on the mound. Kinda like I’ve belonged here all along.” I turn to the other guy and shake his hand. “Phoenix West.”

“Hayes McCallan. This guy’s better lookin’ younger brother.” He jabs his elbow at Vaughan. “I hear you’re joining us tonight? You sure you’re up for meeting our girls? They can be a rowdy bunch.”

Bishop unlocks the doors and we all climb in, Vaughan and Hayes immediately claiming the backseat so I can sit up front.

“Pssh. He can handle them. You forget, Nix knew the girls back in the day. You were too young to remember, H. You still had training wheels on when Nix was killing keg stands and workin’ his way through the line of women he had waiting for him.” Bishop throws his truck into drive and pulls away from his parking spot.

“You’ve met them?” Vaughan asks, an obvious irritation to his voice.

No doubt he thinks I flirted with his girl. Little does he know, Bishop threatened every guy with castration if we so much as looked at her.

“Yeah. I used to tag along for breaks and a few holidays. They also followed us to a few away games. But up until yesterday, I hadn’t seen any of them in a decade.”

I look back at Vaughan and see him nod and chew on his lip. I can tell he wants to ask me about his girl…

“I think I met your girl, Cameron?”

“Camille,” he corrects.

“Right. Sorry. I met her a couple of times. She wasn’t around as much as the other two.”

“Don’t worry, Vaughan. Every guy in a hundred mile radius knew Camille was off-limits.” Bishop looks in his rearview and meets Vaughan’s eyes. “Besides. Nix was too busy chasing after then pissing off Viv to even look at Cam.”

“Ooo,” Hayes and Vaughan hiss from the backseat.

“Oh yeah. I’ve heard that story. Sorry, Phoenix. You picked the wrong one of the bunch to fuck with. Be lucky your balls are still attached.” Hayes chuckles and Vaughan points at me then taps his finger to his nose.

“What did you hear about me?”

The cab falls silent with the three guys exchanging looks amongst each other while I wait for somebody to fucking tell me what was said.

“Well, here’s the thing Nix,” Bish begins. “The girls are like our sisters. I don’t want to say we take ownership of them but…they’re ours.”

“We sorta make it our mission to protect them at all costs,” Vaughan says, leaning forward and sticking his head between Bishop and me. “I was away for awhile and only recently was clued in on what happened between you and Viv. And I gotta say…you’re still alive, so be thankful for that.”

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