Free MMF BISEXUAL ROMANCE: Phoenix Running by Nicole Stewart Page A

clamped his lips shut and nodded apologetically, hands up. “A few hundred will do. Sally’s birthday is coming up.”
    “I know.”
    “You…uh…. coming to your little sister’s birthday party?”
    Phoenix flexed his fingers and looked away. “I’ll send something over for her, but this campaign requires my full attention. I won’t be able to come by.”
    Wallace pocketed the money but didn’t immediately get up to leave. This was Phoenix’s least favorite thing about visits from his father. The small talk. “How have things been with you?” asked Wallace, arranging his features into a fatherly mask.
    Phoenix blew out a breath. “Favorability is high. Likelihood of me being reelected is good. Oh, and I met a girl.”
    Wallace’s bushy brows flew up. “Ah! Finally ready to settle down, son? I’m surprised at you. You saw how my relationship with your mother turned out. Take my advice. Fuck ‘em, but don’t keep ‘em.”
    “I am nothing like you.”
    “Careful now.” Wallace looked down his nose. “We both have our secrets.”
    Phoenix looked away. After a beat, he murmured, “Let’s make sure it stays that way.” His secret was safe with his father…so long as he was paid. Wallace dropped a wallet-sized photograph on the table. It was an image of the child he had had with his mistress while still married to Phoenix's mother. Phoenix picked it up and smiled at the picture of Sally. She had the same chocolate brown eyes he did, though her hair was blond.
    He had made sure over the years that her mother lived comfortably and his little sister wanted for nothing. He was the mayor, but he was also a shareholder in his mother’s growing lumber business, and he had the money to live how he chose. He was thankful to be able to be financially supportive, but he had yet to meet his only sibling in person. It was by choice, though he felt a twinge of regret whenever he saw a picture.
    Phoenix didn’t want to hurt his mother.
    “What do twelve-year-olds like to play with? I need to know what to send her.”
    “Tech everything,” Wallace answered. “I can’t keep up with her. She’s almost a woman. How does time pass so fast?”
    “Yeah, it has a tendency to feel that way when you’re not around to watch them grow up. Showing up for birthday parties doesn’t count. You need to spend more time with her.”
    “Such integrity! I wonder where you get it from,” Wallace wryly responded. He rose to his feet and stretched with a groan, grabbing another handful of cashews. Phoenix breathed a sigh of relief as his father moved toward the door. “Well, I’ve gotta get going. An old friend wants to meet with me, and I don’t want to keep him waiting. Don’t look down on your old man, son. Remember, I’ve been everywhere you’re trying to go. It was nice talking to you.”
    Wallace made his exit, leaving Phoenix to think about the things that had transpired in years past.
    His broken family had suffered mightily for his father’s scandal, which was exactly why he couldn’t follow in Wallace’s footsteps and live selfishly. His father hadn’t been everywhere he was trying to go because Phoenix was taking the high road. But in his mind’s eye, Ashley’s smiling face appeared. Phoenix had slept restlessly, aroused beyond belief, and had eventually gotten up and jerked off to take the sexual frustration down a notch; still, he thought about the man.
    He thought about Cee-Cee, too. She was different—so driven and passionate behind her app. She was smart, but she wasn’t an egghead. She was fun. He had only mentioned meeting a woman to shock his father; however, that was the way last night stuck in his head. He had met someone he was interested in getting to know strictly for the pleasure of knowing her.
    For a politician who favored networking as much as he did, that was out of the ordinary.
    Phoenix locked his door and ambled back to the sofa. His phone was charging on the end table next to the