Phoenix: The Risen ✔️

X a n

Penelope turned her head to the right at the sound of the car door opening.

She looked down at Phoenix who had opened her door and was standing outside of the truck.

Phoenix sighed when Penelope still refused to meet his eyes and went to help her out of the vehicle.

He unbuckled her seatbelt and placed his hands on her hips, resting them there briefly before lifting her out of the seat and placing her on the ground.

"Thanks" Penelope murmured, her hand caressing his bicep before pulling away.

Her eyes took in her surroundings while Phoenix locked up and she had to suppress the slight feeling of discomfort at what she saw.

She knew that Phoenix had to live close to her considering the amount of times he's walked back from her house but she didn't realize where specifically.

She didn't want to say the "bad part of town" but essentially, that's where they were.

"Baby don't go far please" Phoenix said, interrupting her thoughts.

"Oh, sorry." She apologized, his voice startling her a bit. She didn't realize that she was slowly drifting away from the car.

"It's fine." He said, walking over to grab her hand. "This way"

He gently tugged her in the direction of the entrance of the apartment building, occasionally glancing at her to catch her reactions.

So far, he couldn't tell what she was thinking.

Penelope remained quiet although her mind ran wild. Was this why Phoenix never invited me over? Was he embarrassed about where he lived?

"What floor?" She asked as they got in the elevator.

"Four."

Penelope pressed the button and the doors of the elevator started to close. However, just as the doors were about to touch a foot slid in and bumped them back open.

"I thought I saw you Phoenix"

Penelope suddenly found herself backed against the corner of the elevator with a view of Phoenix's back.

Penelope tried to crane her neck to catch a glimpse of the guy but she was too small to see around him.

The two men did some kind of weird guy handshake before he spoke.

"What's been going on? I didn't hear from you Friday, or Wednesday, or the day before that—"

"Yeah, well I've been busy." Phoenix snapped, running a hand of frustration through his hair.

"Shit," Xan laughed with his hands raised in defence, "No need to get worked up about it, I just wanted to know why you ghosted me after out last run. I thought we made a decent fucking team!"

Phoenix rolled his eyes at the man's dramatics; he would hardly call them a team. Sure, they fucked around a bit earlier in the month, but he was getting bored of that now. He wasn't even actively avoiding Xan, he just happened to be spending more time with someone more important. And he certainly did not want this someone to find out what he did during his free time.

It was then that Xan did a double take and squinted his eyes in the direction Penelope was standing.

"Who are you trying to hide over there?" He laughed taking a step closer.

Phoenix immediately placed a hand on his chest.

"Don't." He warned lowly. "And why aren't we fucking moving?"

Xan chuckled and pressed the red stop button to resume the elevators movements.

It dinged at floor 2 and he gave Phoenix a nod.

"I expect to be hearing from you."

"Well you fucking won't." Phoenix replied back.

Xan let out an amused breath and walked out of the elevator, although not before locking eyes with Penelope.

"Pretty eyes." He murmured before the doors closed completely.

Penelope's heart felt like it was beating out of her chest. What just happened.

She blinked and before she knew it the elevator dinged again and they were on the fourth floor.

"Phoenix, who was that?" She asked shakily as they left the elevator.

"No one." He mumbled, raking a hand through his hair as they walked down the hall to his room.

"Stop." Penelope demanded. "Please." She added.

Phoenix sighed and turned around to see Penelope standing a few steps behind him.

"How do you know him and why were you hiding me from him?" She asked, her arms coming to cross over her chest. "I'm so confused Nix, I just want- I need you to talk to me."

Phoenix's jaw clenched and he dragged a hand down his face.

"Look, just come inside please. I promise to talk to you about everything."

Penelope took a hesitant step forward and nibbled on her bottom lip in uncertainty.

"Please baby."

Penelope's eyes softened at the tone of his voice and her arms dropped from their crossed position.

"Okay."