Page 101 of Without Bound
I cross the threshold and keep moving past him and straight into the kitchen where I don’t plan to eat. I’m here to ‘talk’ as he said, and nothing more.
“Hi Ana,” Vivian calls with a smile, really working on her happy housewife routine. “I’m glad you could come. Are you thirsty?I have tea and lemonade and so–”
“No, thank you. I'm fine.” I have a seat at their kitchen table and fold my hands and rest them on top. “What is it you wanted to talk about?”
I keep my tone flat and cold but it isn’t that hard since that’s all I feel for them at the moment.
For the last week, Cami, Vaughan, Hayes and Cat have called or texted Bishop and I daily to check in on us. If CeCe and Vivian have texted him, I wouldn’t know, and they surely haven’t bothered with me. Even Dagen has phoned her Uncle Bishop, worrying about him.
But Phoenix…not one. Damn. Word.
“How are you doing?” He asks me as if he didn’t just beat the shit out of his best friend.
“Good.” I glance at his knuckles that are scabbed and still bruised, then shoot daggers back at him.
“So, um, I want to apologize for how I spoke to you. I was angry and let that get the best of me.” He pauses waiting for me to accept his half-assed apology, but he should look elsewhere because he won’t get it from me. “Right. Well, how is school? You like your classes and everything?”
“They’re going well. I’m preparing for finals right after Thanksgiving. Is this what you called me all the way over here for? To ask me about school and give me a shitty apology? Because honestly, you could’ve done that over a text and saved me the time away from helping Francine with things around the house.”
Phoenix’s eyes burn red and his jaw hardens to stone. “Are you staying athishouse?”
“Hehas a name and yes, I have been staying there. In case you didn’t know, since you and yourfiancéedon’t seem to care much, he needs assistance with some things. His eye was swollen shut, Phoenix. Sore ribs, fractured cheekbone, broken nose, cuts and bruises. It was more than a fat lip,” I hiss at him with equal fire.
“Alright. I’m just going to come out and say it. I’d like for you to transfer to LSU. I’ve already spoken with a few people I still have connections with, and with your grades and current status with Rice, I think they would offer you a full scholarship. You’d be closer to home, and I really think–”
“Are you fucking kidding me right now? You want me to transfer to LSU? Why?” I wait to hear the words that I know are on the tip of his tongue, but they don’t fall. “Say it! Why?”
“Because I want you away from here and away from Bishop! He’s no good for you and you’ll see that once you’re away from him.”
I slam my hands on the table and stand, my chair falling to the floor with a loud crash. “You hate your best friend of almost fifteen years so much that you’d take away his happiness?Myhappiness? What is wrong with you? And you,” I say, directing my anger at Vivian. “You and CeCe talk about nothing but how you want Bishop to find someone to love and have a future with. Yet, when he finds it with me, it’s not good enough. Vivian, I thought I was being accepted by all of you. The women I have come to admire and look at as a group that I could hope to be a part of one day. I’ve dreamed of having friends like you. But now I understand you see me as nothing more than a child, relinquished to the kiddie table with Day.”
I reach down and yank my purse from where it lays tangled with the chair. I tug at it a few times before it comes free, then fling it over my shoulder and turn my back on people I thought were family. Tears sting my eyes, but I won’t dare let them see how much this is affecting me.
A strong hand squeezes my arm and spins me around. “You’re not going anywhere, Ana. Sit down, eat and listen to me. You’ll see that moving back to Louisiana is what’s best for your future.”
I tug on my arm, but his grip is iron clad. “Don’t touch me!” I screech and continue to try and free myself.
“Ana, please just listen to your Uncle. He knows what’s best,” Vivian rushes to our side just as I break away.
“Fuck you, Vivian. I don’t have an Uncle anymore.” She pulls back like I’ve hit her and I see her lip quiver.
“Hey! Don’t you–”
“Don’t what? Treat the person you love with such disrespect? Guess it runs in the family. Except, you’re no family of mine. Ihate you, Phoenix West, and I willneverforgive you. You may be able to order your little ‘Peaches’ around, but I’m not under your spell. Shame on both of you for treating Bishop this way. You’re no friends, you’re evil in disguise and you’ve broken his heart. Why don’t you go ahead and write me off the way you did to him because your treatment is harsher than any punch you could hit me with. I’ll have someone follow me over here one day to leave your car for you.”
“Ana, that is yours. I bought it as a gift.”
“And I want nothing from you! Not your gifts, not your apologies, and not your love. I’m finished with all of you. Bishop and I have one another and if that’s all we have, then I’ll live happy knowing someone loves and cherishes me without bounds.”
I quickly barge through the house and out to where my tainted car is parked.
“Ana. Please wait.” I unlock my door just as Vivian comes running out the front door. “Just wait. I’m sorry. We were only doing what we thought was best for you. Let me talk to him, okay. I’ll get him to come around. Maybe one day he’ll forgive Bishop but for now, I think you two should give the relationship a break.”
“Maybe one day Phoenix will forgive Bishop? You’re seriously delusional. You have it all wrong. Maybe one day Bishop will forgive the two of you for betraying him. You make me sick. Treating someone you’ve called family for decades like a perverse predator. Join your fiancée and forget you know me.”
I yank the door open and start up my car. I throw it in reverse and squeal out of the driveway without a second look back.
We don’t need them. We don’t need anyone. We’ve got each other and we’ll do this life together.
