Page 37 of West Bound

“Hi. Vivian,” I tell her and shake her hand. “I’m the on field reporter for KTHU.

“And my best friend,” Cami chimes in.

“Peaches,” Phoenix steps close to me and throws an arm over my shoulders. “Anais is my niece. She’s visiting for a few days.”

Niece? Suddenly my eye stops twitching and I immediately quit planning ways to bury her body after I claw her eyes out.

“Oh. Hi,” I squeak. “Wow. I didn’t know Phoenix had a niece. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you, too, Vivian.”

Now that I look closer at her, she has a very lovely smile. And she’s cute. Probably not a hussy like I assumed.

“Where are you visiting from, Anais?” I ask her, my smile less strained.

“Louisiana. Slidell, to be exact. But I’m thinking of convincing Uncle Nix to let me move here with him.” She bats her eyelashes at him and gives him a look that must be difficult to turn down.

“Nice try, Tippy. There isn’t a chance in hell your mother would let you finish your senior year here. You’ll be back in Slidell by Monday.”

“Senior year? Of college?”

“No. High school,” she replies, glumly.

My jaw drops. This girl looks like a hot college co-ed. There is no way she’s in high school. And from the way Bishop’s eyes trail up and down her body, I’m guessing he wishes she was of legal drinking age.

“But that doesn’t mean I can’t attend college here. Bishop took me on a tour of Rice and I absolutely love the campus. I’ve already decided I’m going to meet with my counselor the second I’m back home and see if it’s too late to get my application in. Luckily I’m like, the top in my class, so hopefully my academics are good enough to get in.”

“That’s great,” I tell her. “I’m sure Bishop will have no problem writing you a letter of recommendation. An endorsement from the school's hot shot baseball coach has to carry some weight with admissions.”

Bishop clears his throat and tears his eyes away from Anais’ legs. “Yeah. For sure. Whatever she needs…to help her get in.”

Phoenix squeezes his shoulder and passes him a thankful smile.

“Are we done yapping? I’m starving,” Phoenix groans and holds his stomach like he hasn’t eaten in days when in reality, he probably ate a snack the minute he walked into the locker room.

“Let’s roll, regulators. Anais and I drove my bike, but I’m assuming she’ll ride with you, Nix?” Bishop motions for Anais to pass in front of him and the rest of us ladies follow.

“You put my niece on the back of your fucking motorcycle? What the hell, Bishop?”

“Uncle Nix. Relax. It wasn’t a far ride and Bishop was a very cautious driver.” Anais lifts her chin and I see a little sparkle in her eyes when she says Bishop’s name.

Uh-oh. This could be trouble.

“Does it matter? Damn y’all. I need to eat. Cam didn’t let me eat a hot dog ‘cause she said we were havin’ dinner with y’all. And my stomach is literally trying to eat itself.” Vaughan whines.

Cami hugs him around his waist and looks up into his eyes. “Poor baby,” she coos. He sticks out his lip like he’s pouting and she kisses him.

We follow Phoenix out into the players lot and everyone but he and I start walking towards the gate.

“Anais,” he barks, stopping her mid step. “Over here. You’re coming with me.”

She rolls her eyes then turns to Bishop, giving him a smile and hug. I watch as Bishop hugs her back, but his hands are in fists and his jaw is clenched tight. Phoenix is too busy throwing his duffle bag in the backseat of his truck to see what is as obvious as the fucking chip on his shoulder.

I turn to walk to my car when I feel a hand wrap around my elbow. I look over my shoulder to see Phoenix giving me a look that’s somewhere between a glower and a smolder. It’s a glowder. A smolwer? Whatever. He’s giving me a look that I can’t quite decipher.

“Are you going out with Rami?” he asks and this time I can say with certainty that he is glowering.

“That is really none of your business, now is it?” I try tugging my arm free–not all that hard because the rough calluses of his fingers feel unwelcomingly good against my smooth skin–but stay locked in his grip.

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