Phoenix: The Risen ✔️

F or g i v e

"I hope you told her to fuck off"

"Phoenix!" Penelope exclaimed again, her brows furrowing in confusion. "No, actually I forgave her. Why are you being so mean?"

Phoenix bit his tongue, knowing that Penelope was an optimist and what he was saying would be difficult for her to hear. He couldn't be mad at that though, in fact, it was one of the things that he loved most about her. Her kind heart is probably what encouraged her to befriend him in the first place.

"I just want things to be normal again" Penelope whispered when he didn't answer. Her eyes flickered to his and she pouted. "Is that so wrong?"

Phoenix looked at her for a second and sighed before running a hand through his hair. Of course, it wasn't wrong but he wanted to protect her from getting hurt again. He was hesitant to tell her how he was truly feeling but he knew she wouldn't stop asking until he was being honest.

"Olivia isn't your friend"

Penelope's pout deepened and she crossed her arms in disdain.

"Let me finish.." He interjected, giving her a pointed look which made her reluctantly relax her tensed position.

"Olivia isn't your friend." He repeated. "A friend wouldn't have said any of that bullshit to you, Penelope. And now she wants to apologize?" Phoenix laughed in disbelief.

"But—"

"I don't like her. What she did was fucked up."

Penelope bit her lip, her nails pressing into the palms of her hands as she actually listened to what her boyfriend was saying. Her mind flashed back to the conversation she and Olivia had just over a week ago, and her heart twisted in pain at the cruel words that were thrown at her.

The girl shrunk into herself and pulled on the hood of her boyfriend's coat, wanting to disappear into the warmth and the comforting scent rather than face her current feelings.

"I wanna at least try to make things right." She mumbled reluctantly, not wanting to peek over her warm haven.

Phoenix ruined her plans though, using his hand to gently pull down her hood and push back the flyaways that rebelled against the secure hold of her ponytails.

"And you can. I just want you to remember what she did before you decide."

Penelope bit her lip and nodded before grabbing his wrist so that she could place a kiss on his knuckle. She used this opportunity to examine his hand, gently running her fingers over the healing injuries.

"Does it still hurt?"

"No"

Phoenix answered, quickly pulling his hand out of her grasp and away from her scrutinizing gaze.

"Phoenix..." She whined, giving him a pout as she reached over the middle console to recapture his warm palm.

A squeal passed her pink lips as her hips were grasped instead, and she was placed on her boyfriend's lap, straddling him.

"Why don't you let me take care of you." She pouted again, capturing his cheeks in her hands and squishing them together.

"Because you're the baby, not me." He mused, pulling her hands from his face and pressing a kiss on her nose instead, knowing that she would scrunch it up the way he liked—cute. "My baby."

Penelope giggled as he rained kisses on her face, her arms flailing as she tried to escape him but his lips were unrelenting. With all of her movement, her elbow accidentally pressed down onto the truck's horn, and she screamed at the sound before throwing herself into her boyfriend's chest.

"Graceful" Phoenix teased, and he laughed as Penelope slapped his chest lightly in embarrassment, once again attempting to hide her red face under her hood.

"I think they heard you." He spoke again, causing the small girl to flick her head up in alarm and look around the parking lot erratically.

Sure enough, there were a few students entering the parking lot but they were also followed by a small crowd that seemed to be getting bigger.

"No silly, I think the bell rang." Penelope proudly evaded his attempt to scare her and smiled up at him, her grin widening as he rolled his eyes playfully.

She gasped though when he opened the door suddenly, and her legs instinctually tightened around his waist as he exited the truck. She immediately jumped from his hold when they were out of the vehicle but she wanted to whine at how embarrassing it would be if anyone saw them like that.

"Why'd you do that?" She moaned, following behind him closely as he led the way back into school.

"Do what?"

Penelope grumbled at his ignorance but Phoenix had to bite his lip to stop himself from smiling.

They walked down the hallways, the two completely in their own world as they passed peers and students. The short brunette, adorned in pigtails and pink, laughing and hanging off the arm of a boy who had a pink bag slung over his shoulder, looking like he had no business being near someone as joyful as she.

Penelope was so caught up in telling Phoenix about a funny video she saw on youtube the otherday, that she missed a pair of eyes that were watching her closely—enviably.

The taller boy caught on though, and he wrapped an arm around the petit girl's waist, thanking himself for making her put on his coat—the reason for liking it brutish but he wanted everyone to know that he owned her.

Owen looked pathetic— both eyes almost swollen shut and a few littered bruises that he clearly tried to cover with some kind of concealer. He continued laughing with his friends, although Phoenix could tell he was just doing it to pretend that his attention wasn't truly on the girl that was tucked under his right shoulder.

Phoenix watched Owen harshly, challenging the boy to continue looking at what was his. He wouldn't hesitate in adding to the constellation of black and blue on his face if he refused to listen to what he was told the other day.

Surely enough though, the blonde caught onto the gaze that felt like a hot burn on the side of his face. His already pale skin blanched to a sickening white when he caught his aggressor watching him. Reluctantly, Owen tore his eyes away from the sweet face of the still blabbering girl and redirected his focus to his friends.

"What are you looking at?" Penelope asked, noticing that her boyfriend's attention was no longer on her. Actually, she noticed as soon as his mind seemed to wander elsewhere but she didn't want to seem clingy—or rather clingier than she already was.

Phoenix shook his head at her question and passed her, her bag.

"Nothing. Text me when you're done."

A/N

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Hey, guys LMAO um...

I'm sorry for being MIA, I was taking a short break from writing but now I'm back! I was, however, planning out the rest of this book and future books to come *wink*

Phoenix will probably have 5 chapters left 😭 Very Very sad, but I'm actually impressed with how long it ended up being.

I've already written quite a few chapters for a new book after this and I'm excited to share it with you soon! It's going to have a similar relationship dynamic that I like in my books but the characters are going to have more depth and it's gonna be darker. It's not going to be a part of the Dominant Series but I might start a new series with it, I'm not sure yet.

I'm debating if I should publish a chapter in the next couple of days, just to hook you guys in but I don't know...

Anyway, thanks for reading as always! And for those of you who came here from Damien, it has 3 million reads what???!

Fun fact about me, I haven't read Damien since I finished it a year ago🤠 I also can't read any of my chapters after I've published them because they suddenly become 10x worse after they're made public LOL

I think that's all the news for now.....

love y'all ❤️