MMF BISEXUAL ROMANCE: Phoenix Running (26 page)

“I don’t think I will, Phoenix. I think for you and me, this is it.”

T
he interview was set
to start in ten minutes, and Phoenix paced the greenroom, nervous about putting this, the final piece into place. It was all for show now. Every inch of it. The emotions that had flourished between the three of them had waned, but he still had a campaign to head, and this interview was part of that campaign. So…

“Time to play politician,” Phoenix muttered to himself. He was turning into the kind of man he hated.

Once this live interview hit the airwaves, everyone would know Phoenix Briton proudly claimed friends from all walks of life and was a staunch ally to the QUILTBAG community. He had publicly dated Cee-Cee for long enough to dispel rumors about his own sexuality, and although the breakup put a damper on things, Gina’s parting shot had actually served to make him look all the more like a heterosexual playboy.

As he watched the stagehands make the show run smoothly, he couldn’t shake the image of Cee-Cee telling him she was ready to break things off. He tried to picture the fun times they had had during their last week together, but her face would always reappear, distressed and tear-streaked.

At nights, he was tormented with flashbacks of the passionate, raw sex they had had together. He would wake up reaching for Ashley, and he wouldn’t be there. It had been weeks since he had seen the rock star other than in his dreams. He followed him online but never made his presence known. It gave him some sense of connection with him.

Phoenix saw Cee-Cee often enough, as much as her job demanded it. But other than that, they were like strangers. The main reason he had busied himself with his campaign was because he didn’t have anything left to keep his mind off the heartbreak. Staying busy was keeping him from locking himself away in his condo with a few bottles and a bad chip on his shoulder.

It wasn’t until after they had made it back from the cruise that he had seen the newspaper write-up about Gina and him in the Yellow Lounge. Gina had set him up. She had to have known he would turn her down, and she had made sure her friends at the paper knew the couple would be out together so they could get a candid shot, but the headline spin was all her own. When he found out, Phoenix had tried to contact Cee-Cee. She didn’t want his explanations.

“Have you had hair and makeup?” One of the studio staff breezed over to him and checked his microphone.

Phoenix snapped out of his daze. “Hmm? Oh, yes. Can’t you tell? Hmph! I just got done with the MUA. Am I up yet?”

“Ten more minutes, Mayor Briton. Can I get you anything?”

He frowned when his cellphone rang and dug it out of his pocket, reminding himself to turn off the ringer before he went on set. No one had called his personal line recently, though. “No, I don’t need anything. Thank you.” He turned away and answered the call. “This is Phoenix.”

Wallace Briton’s blustery voice greeted him with a growled expletive. “You fucking bastard!”

“Hi, Dad. Last I checked, I’m legitimate, but please tell me you’re not my father so I can pop some champagne and celebrate the welcome news,” Phoenix replied dryly. By now Wallace had to have tuned in to Q-G TV and realized this wasn’t his step-down speech.

“How the fuck did you get into my house?” Wallace Briton asked. “I know you were here, and I know what you took!”

“What are you talking about?” asked Phoenix. He stepped outside for privacy and so that the patchy reception fading in and out would stabilize. “I haven’t been to your house, but now that I have you on the phone, it saves me a call later to tell you I’m not stepping down. I’m taking matters into my own hands. Stay tuned to Q-G TV to see for yourself.”

“I see what you’re trying to do, and it won’t work in your favor. You should’ve listened to me and stepped down when you had the chance. Now you’re just making a public spectacle of yourself.”

“Well, you’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?”

“When I get enough evidence to tell the cops that you broke into my house, you might as well hang your political career up, and I want those pictures back!” Wallace shouted.

“I don’t have—”

“Mayor Briton?”

Phoenix turned and saw the staff member hanging out the studio door, beckoning for him. “You’re up. Come on!”

Phoenix hung up the phone mid-call and hurried into the building to get ready to take the stage.

C
ee-Cee sat
in the lounge behind set with a few other members of PR-ISM staff. As usual, she had gotten there a little late after tearing out of class and driving like a speed demon, but the show hadn’t started yet, so she wasn’t late-late.

The team from PR-ISM stared at the live feed on the large TV mounted on the wall before them. Gina Lafitte was conspicuously absent because she had been fired after it was discovered she had manufactured that article about her date with Phoenix. And as pleased as she was with Gina getting what she deserved, Cee-Cee still couldn’t get over the fact Phoenix had gone out with Gina without telling her.

Uncle Bryan gave her a confident smile, and she nervously smiled back. “We’ve got this in the bag,” he whispered. This interview was her swan song. After they got Phoenix past this hump, she’d be wrapping up her brief stint as a social media liaison for PR-ISM Public Relations and moving on to developing more apps. She had more money than she knew what to do with after the sale of NowIn. She could afford to take time off to create something new.

A bittersweet nostalgia washed over her as she watched Phoenix glide onto the stage and wave at the audience before Five Parker ushered him over to a big purple couch and told him have a seat. Cee-Cee pulled out of her daydreams about her future and focused on the show. He looked so handsome, it hurt.

When she had pieced together the truth about Gina, Cee-Cee had reconsidered the break up, understanding that Gina had manipulated Phoenix, but in the end it was for the best. There was merit to Phoenix’s assumption that she didn’t want the messy relationship running interference with her career goals. More than that, though, she was afraid of the depth of pain she’d felt. Maybe her assumptions had been wrong this time…but she could never be sure of him. Not of anyone but herself. If she wasn’t willing to deal with that level of pain—and she wasn’t—maybe she wasn’t cut out for love. Not yet anyway. But despite having broken up with them, she still wasn’t her normal self. She hadn’t even pushed forward with buying her house.

It had been two weeks since the cruise, and she mostly spent her time holed up in her room with her tech toys and favorite music playlist (which coincidentally featured half of Ashley’s album.) It’s just a phase, she told herself.
I’ll get past it and be stronger than ever.

“Alright, here goes. He’s going up,” Bryan announced. The quiet chatter at the table hushed as the opening title music for Five Parker Live on Q-G TV began to play. The host of the show sat at an oversized desk in front of a cityscape backdrop.

Five spoke to the camera. “Welcome back to Five Parker at Five. Make some noise! Have I got a line up for you today! We’re going to be talking to key political figures for some of America’s most conservative towns, asking them, ‘What do you plan to do to make your town more inclusive?’ So, don’t go anywhere. This is your host, Five Parker, and I’m here for the gangbang!”

The audience cheered raucously and a jazz ensemble played a jaunty tune to send them to commercial break. Cee-Cee scrunched up her face in a half-smile and pointed at the screen. “Who is this guy?”

Bryan chuckled at her facial expression. “Someone Gina lined up. I had heard of him before she mentioned him, but I never paid much attention to his show.”

“He’s pretty flamboyant,” Cee-Cee said nervously. Bryan shook his head and told her not to worry about it.

“I vetted Gina’s questions. They were solid.” Cee-Cee whistled low. Based on the question of the day, she had a feeling things might not go according to the script.

“This feels like a hot seat. Got any plans for how to get him out of there if this guy brings the heat?” she whispered.

Bryan nodded. “Yep. We send you out there.”

“Wait, what?!”

“You’re his ex-girlfriend. Credibility in the flesh.”

Cee-Cee groaned and dropped her head. “I should’ve known you were insisting I be here for a reason.”

“I’m just kidding, Cora-Lynn,” Bryan laughed at her appalled look. “Phoenix Briton is a big boy, and this ain’t his first rodeo. But the way you’re worried about him, I’d say you still care.”

“You know better. Phoenix and I only dated because he felt having a serious relationship would help his campaign.”

“That’s not exactly what I saw. I saw two young people sparking at each other from the moment they met.”

She giggled. “Well, you should get your eyes checked. Phoenix and I were just friends.”

“I guess that’s why when you fake broke up, you stopped talking to him for real, then.”

A
cross town
at his hotel room, Ashley was tuned in to the interview, too. After a long day sitting with his dad at the hospital, he needed to unwind, and the TV buzzing softly in the background helped him sleep. He had flipped to the Five Parker at Five Show on a whim only to discover Phoenix was part of the lineup for the night.

He muttered to himself, “Just my luck. I get to watch him tell the world what great buds we are.” His cellphone rang just as Phoenix introduced himself and started chatting with Five. “Hello?” Ashley answered the phone.

“Tell me you’re watching that interview.”

“Tegan?” He hadn’t talked to his former manager since he had tricked her into introducing him to her photographer and gotten the original pictures from him. Ashley sat forward on the bed with a nervous rush of butterflies. Why was she calling and what did she know about this interview?

“Tell me you’re watching. I want you to see this. We’re about to skewer your boy!”

“What are you talking about?” A cold finger of dread inched down his spine. He swallowed and shifted the phone to the other ear. Ashley watched Phoenix on television channeling his trademark charm to win over the studio audience and even getting Five Parker laughing.

Five was notorious for being a hardass who put people on the spot with uncomfortable questions. That was part of the reason Ashley hadn’t accepted his request for an interview. He’d be back on the circuit soon enough, though. His father was in hospice care now. Reginald Harold didn’t have much time left, and Ashley would start touring again as soon as he saw his father laid to rest.

“I’m talking about ruining Phoenix Briton and fixing your career. You were dragging your feet on getting those pictures out there, so I decided to talk to Five Parker about our friend Mayor Phoenix Briton to let him know exactly what sort of questions to ask.” Tegan laughed softly over the phone, but Ashley was anything but amused.

“Tegan. What did you do?”

At the menacing growl that edged his voice, Tegan paused. “I did what you wanted me to do. I created a scandal for you.”

“Oh, god.” Ashley squeezed the bridge of his nose and dropped his head back. “Please tell me you didn’t leak any information about my relationship with Phoenix to Five Parker.”

“I told him everything. About you and Cee-Cee and Phoenix. You know what a hot topic polyamorous relationships are right now? You’ll be a trendsetter after this! It’s the quickest, easiest way to get the information out to as many people as possible. This is what you wanted.”

“No. No, it’s not. Damn it, Tegan! I told you I would handle this! You don’t even work for me anymore.”

Tegan snapped back, “What about the pictures? You asked me to get them for you, and I did. I assumed you wanted my help.”

“I destroyed those fucking pictures! You should have never had someone spying on me in the firsts place! I have half a mind to press charges, but that would be a waste of my time!”

“You did what?!”

“Look, don’t do me any more favors. If I don’t ask you to do it, just don’t do it. Pretend like you don’t even know me.”

“Don’t bother asking. This is the last time I’ll stick out my neck for you.”

“What exactly did you tell Five Parker to ask,” he ground out.

“See for yourself. I don’t have to answer to you. I no longer work for you.”

The dial tone quickly followed, and Ashley threw the phone onto the bed with a frustrated, muted scream. He couldn’t just sit there and watch the man he loved lose everything he had worked for. He had to get to Phoenix. Hopefully he could get to the studio before it was too late; but, barring that, he had to let him know that he hadn’t had a part in any of this. Ashley grabbed his keys to the rental car and jetted out the door.

Phoenix would never forgive him. Inadvertently, this was Ashley’s fault.

P
hoenix crossed
his ankle over his knee as he answered Five Parker’s question about his childhood growing up in a small town. “You know, in a small town everybody knows everybody. Usually on a first name basis.” He had his answers memorized. Five was to stick to a select set of questions vetted by Gina Lafitte and Bryan Friedman’s team. He was confident this uncomfortable mess would be over with soon. Phoenix was sweating bullets nevertheless. He hated live interviews.

“And what about your parents? Would you say they’re conservative? Liberal? Like, how would they take it if you came out of the closet?”

Phoenix tried not to show his shock at this incredible break with the script. “I, uh…Ha! Well, let’s see. I’ve never been in the closet, unless it’s to get out something to wear.”

“Yes, indeed! That’s a good one! And you were named Most Stylish last year, so I guess staying in the closet is working for you. But tell me this. Is it hard to be yourself when you’re in the spotlight all the time? I mean, I don’t imagine a man like you having difficulty picking up guys, but do you find you have to tread lightly?”

“No, I don’t-I don’t pick up guys.” Phoenix shifted in his chair with a tight smile planted on his face, but his eyes fired daggers at Five Parker.

The loquacious talk show host looked unperturbed. “C’mon! What about Ashley Terrence? Rumor has it the two of you are inseparable. I hear he’s a good friend of yours, right?” Five glanced down at the cue cards in his hand, and Phoenix bit his bottom lip, wondering how the man had gotten his information.