Page 42 of West Bound

“Uh, sure. What is it?”

“How did my gum taste in your mouth? Did you enjoy it?” The way I soften the word gum makes it sound like cum and her nostrils flare.

“You asshole,” she fumes. “We’ll edit that last bit out,” she says into the phone's speakers. With a flip of her hair she spins to walk out but stops. “Oh Phoenix?”

“Yeah, Peaches?”

She reaches inside her mouth and extracts the chewed up wad of gum. “Thanks for sharing but,” she drops the gum into my palm. “You can have it back. I wasn’t impressed. Pretty bland and dull, if you ask me.”

She saunters off, her pert peachy ass swaying as she walks out of the door.

“Damn that girl is fine.” I look over my shoulder and see Manny standing behind me. “I wonder if the carpet matches the drapes. Maybe she waxes her floors. Perfect for me to slide right into that tight, little pu–”

I don’t know what comes over me, but in a flash I’ve got him pinned to the divider that separates the lockers with my forearm resting against his jugular.

“Say that shit again and the only ball you’ll be seeing is your own when the doctors remove it from where I shoved it down your throat.”

His eyes are wide and I feel him trying to swallow against my arm.

“Woah, woah, woah. Let go, Nix. Back off.” Tuck grabs my shoulders and tries to pull me off of him, while Rami pries my forearm from Manny’s neck.

The two of them finally wrestle me away from him and I shrug them off.

“What the fuck man,” Manny shouts. “I’m gonna kick your ass.”

“Talk about her like that one more time and I’ll bury you.”

I yank my jacket from the hanger and shove it into my duffle. Snatching my phone and watch from the shelf and shoving them into my pocket, I don’t bother with the buttons of my shirt and stomp out of the room and into the corridor.

Reporters are there, taking pictures and asking more questions. I hold up my hand apologetically and move quickly through the crowd, searching for which direction Vivian walked off. I run towards where the buses wait for us to load into and see her talking to a female trainer pack up her equipment.

My shoes clip against the pavement causing her to search for the sound. When she spots me her back stiffens and she ignores my presence, returning to talking and pretending I don’t exist.

“Vivian, can I speak with you?” I ask but she doesn’t respond. “Please?”

She exhales a long breath then says goodbye to the trainer.

“What do you want, Phoenix?” She sounds exhausted and so unlike her fiery self.

“I’m sorry I said that. I shouldn’t have.”

“Then why did you?” Her hands prop up on her hips and she tilts her head, trying to figure me out.

“Because it riles you up, Peaches, and I love it when you’re all feisty.”

“Phoenix,” she says with an exasperated sigh.

“Go out with me.’

“What? No. You’re crazy. Did a ball hit you in the head when I wasn’t looking?” She pretends to examine me by looking from one side of my head to the other.

“Go out with me. Tonight. Right now.”

“Can you ask me nicely?”

I swallow and give her a small smile. “Will you go out with me, Peaches?”

Her face lights up and my heart feels like it's skipping rope inside my chest. She raises her hand and rests it on my cheek, her fingertips pressing into my stubble. Those perfect teeth of hers dig into her bottom lip and she rises up on her tiptoes. She’s nowhere near reaching my ear, so I bend down for her.

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