Pheonix Rising 2

Pheonix

I’ve been watching her.  She comes to this bar every night after sitting in the book store or coffee shop all night. She always had a lap top that she transformed into some kind of note pad with a what looked like a magic incantation. The way she waved her hands around that thing was so fast that if you just weren’t looking closely, you’d swear she never actually touched it before it was flat. Add to the fact that the collection of little pens she used to write on it were designed to look like old fashioned writing quills and casting wands.

she had an expensive looking camera slug haphazardly over her shoulder. The lens on the thing was short and stubby and probably cost more than I’d make in a month working behind this bar.  I’ve never seen that accompany her in here.  Of course I Looked her up online. I know all the important stuff, Like that she’d sold her first novel fifteen years ago and that she’d been a highly sought after photographer for years prior. And that she’d left her long term fiancé and disappeared for nearly a year.

Sightings of her were online fodder. Gossips reporting that she had cancer or a drug problems or had just plan lost her mind. When she’d shown up in town her hair was longer and softly curling.

The storm was strange that night. I’ve never felt a wind like that in my 40 years. And running this bar on the back side of the mountain, I’ve seen some things. Mi Abuelita would say that it was witch’s wind. Now, most of my life I thought Abuelita was just a little crazy, you know how they say “daft”. But if any night ever made me think she might not be so “special” it was that one.  It had been completely clear before the wind screamed down main street , whipping the poplar trees into a frenzy and setting off car alarms. More than one person said the windows on they old abandoned storefronts, the ones that haven’t been bought and renovated, had been blown out. I was inclined to think it was just a few of the miscreants . That was until she steppe out of the alley and scared the dog shit out of me.

She hadn’t made a sound or if she had it was buried in the thunder, lighting and rain.

It was like a shadow had come to life. She’d been dressed in all black from the soft soled thigh high boots to the over sized  hooded cape that had to be meant for someone  three times her size.

The  light from the  lantern shown off her smooth skin when she’d stopped in front of me and pushed her hood back a bit from her face. Her full lips broke into a  smile and I didn’t hear a damn word she said over the storm, but I was entranced. Her brow furrowed and she repeated herself.  I shook off my stupor and leaned close, to anyone driving by we’d look like lovers about to embrace.

“I’m sorry, I can’t hear you”

Her giggle was like windchimes and not those tiny annoying tinkling things. Melodic and deep. Soothing and sexy as hell. The hair on my neck and arms stood up and my jeans felt significantly tighter.

She placed her hand on my arm and repeat her self, her full lips grazing the shell of my ear as she spoke, but she no longer needed to talk over the storm its as if she had calmed it with her laughter.

“is the bar still open, I need a drink.”

I straightened up and studied her face. I didn’t know where she’d come from, and behind the first glint of approachableness in her eyes lay something that told me she had a story. Even if I didn’t hear it all tonight, It was one I wanted to here.

Leading her into the bar I learned that her name was Alex, not short for anything and she was from California.  A year later I’m still trying to convince myself that she ain’t bruja as fuck. Something about this woman is going to wreck me. I keep my distance, she keeps her’s but its pulling me and I don’t know how much longer I can resist it.

I made my way over to her table and spun a chair around backwards while before sitting and waiting for her to acknowledge me.

“ You know, most people wait until they are invited before they interrupt someone.” She said smoothly with out ever looking up from her work.

“Told you darlin’  no soy  may—”

She cut off my Spanish with a smirk. “ I know, I know” She adapted a bad  Ricky Ricardo accent “ you aren’t most people.” 

I smiled and gave her a shrug and my best puppy dog eyes.

“ Okay okay!” she feigned exasperation before putting her work down and focusing on me. “ What do you want Pheonix?”

“Your undivided attention and undying devotion.” I whispered truthfully, but quickly covered it the quip with an invitation to dinner when I saw the emotion flash in her eyes.  It was true that I wanted her, but something her past made sure that wasn’t going to happen easily. And the least indication that I was pressing for more always sent her to laying bricks faster than anything I’d ever seen in my life.

“You cooking or did you bring stuff from your mom’s?”

“I’m cooking, but Mama  envió tortillas frescas”  I say. I know she can’t resist my mom’s tortillas.

“mmmmm,” she licked her lips and moaned “ Tortillas. Sigh your mom wrecks my diet. I was there yesterday and she force fed me like fifty sopapillas.”

We laughed at the lie. My mom never had to force feed anyone let alone Alex. She just sat back and watched people commit a deadly sin with a smile.

“So that’s a yes.” I confirmed. I waited as she packed up her gear.  The phone she’d left sitting on the table vibrated and flashed a text.

“your just mad that he is with me now. You couldn’t give him…”  I couldn’t see the rest of the text before the alert drew her attention. I had to look toward the door before she caught me staring at the screen. What the fuck was that about? The phone buzzed again, its face lighting up. It was a call this time. She picked it up and answered. The person didn’t even wait for her to say hello.

Her face changed, hardened.  I raised an eyebrow in askance and she lifted a single finger telling me silently to wait. She listened intently.

“Milla, I don’t understand why you’re calling me. Isn’t he what you wanted? It’s been a year. You have everything that was mine. The house  the man what is it that I can do for you?” She listened a while longer as the person on the end ranted in hysterics.

“So that’s my problem how? Let me tell you how this is going to go down, because obviously while you were fucking my man you didn’t  take time to consult those fucking tarot cards you carry around in your purse. Me, HIM, You… we are over. We were over the moment the two of you betrayed me. What he does or doesn’t have is no longer my concern. I don’t owe you forgiveness and I damn sure ain’t about to absolve you to ease your guilt. You want forgiveness, get your ass to church. Find a priest. Because If it were up to me you’d be roasting on a spit over the coals in hell. We aren’t family. We weren’t family when you left your panties in my bed. This…all of this is on you and I hope you suffer. I hope your clit falls the fuck off and your vagina festers with cum like a rotting corpse in the sun.”

I’ve never heard a curse go down so smooth. There was more but my heart stopped and my spirit absconded when she told the caller- Milla—that she’d rip off her head and shit down her neck. My body was there , but the rest of me checked the fuck out and ran for the hills. She might not be bruja, but the look in her face told me she ment every fucking word and she was damn ready to deliver.

What scared me more was the way she shifted gears.  She ended the call and hung her head. Eyes closed and deep breath. Then she squared her shoulders opened her eyes and gave me the sweetest smile. “I am sorry you had to hear that Nix”

“ Hey, we all have issues right?” I whispered calmly before standing and looping my arm over her shoulders and giving her a squeeze “ Just tell me what I have to do to NOT be on the receiving end of that violence”

“Your undying devotion and undivided attention” she threw my words back at me.

She didn't know yet, but she'd never need to ask where my loyalties lie.