CHAPTER 5
SIERRA
If you told me I would be meeting Matthew fucking Evans in the middle of my living room with my hands inside my Cheetos bag, I would’ve said you needed to get your head checked.
But fucking dammit, it came true.
I just met my celebrity crush in the most embarrassing way you could meet anyone, let alone a famous rock star. I was already thinking of a few possible ways to murder my brother for not giving me the heads-up.
How could he do this to me?
As they talked, my eyes never strayed far from the man whose presence energized the room like a rapid current flow.
I thought Matty Evans was beautiful in the pictures, but he proved me wrong.
He was breathtaking in real life.
The sharp chisel of his jawline, his straight nose, and those smoldering blue-green eyes tingled a fire in me that left me breathless.
I sighed from my position in the corner. I could just stare at him all day long.
My spine jerked to attention when I heard the word guardian, and like clockwork, the gears in my head turned.
New York. Next month. The tournament.
The sixth national e-gaming tournament will be held in New York this year, and the qualifiers will start next week. I was thinking of a way to escape my mother’s grasp, and I couldn’t think of a better fucking way.
“I’ll go,” I snapped, and their eyes flew to me. Fuck, nervousness rattled my gut when his eyes landed on me. But my dream was on the line, and that mattered more . You can do this, Sierra.
“I’ll go.” I straightened my spine. “I’ll be his guardian.”
“Sierra.” My mother frowned. “What could you possibly do in New York?”
What could I possibly do? What could I possibly do?
“Summer class,” I blurted. “Terry said summer classes started at Columbia in a week. They are in person, and it would really help secure my grades and get a head start.” Terry was my fictional friend that I met in a study group, also going to Columbia this fall for pre-med.
“Have you applied?” Mother questioned, her frown fading.
Fuck, she believed me?
“Yes, I did. Just in case.” I flashed a sure smile. “Terry suggested I do.”
“But still, I don’t think it’s wise…”
“May I speak to my sister?” Raphy shot to his feet, interrupting Mother. “In private.” He didn’t wait as he stormed toward me with a determined face and dragged me to my bedroom. Through my side-eye, I could see Matt sitting there like this was the last place on earth he wanted to be.
“If this is one of your grand schemes as a crazy-ass fan, then the answer is no,” Raphy stated firmly, pinning me with his gaze.
“It’s not, okay?” I assured. “I didn’t even know this was going to happen, and yes, I still didn’t forget how you sprang him on me.” I pointed a finger before huffing out a breath. “But this is about the tournament. Qualifiers start in a week, and if I… no, when I get qualified, I have to be there every week for the match. I know I’m making it to the finals. Plus, the crew and I can practice in peace without Mother breathing down my neck.”
His gaze softened.
“Maybe… maybe if I win, I can show her I can do this. I can prove to her that gaming is not something stupid.”
“You don’t have to prove anything, Si. My sister is the most badass gamer in the world, and I know she’s gonna take home the prize,” he declared.
I smiled. “So does that mean I get to stay with you and…Matt?”
He folded his arms, staring at me. “Fine,” he said after a beat. “But seduce him in private, or else I’ll have to hurl my stomach out.”
“Fucker.” I blushed, swatting his arm. “There will be no such thing happening.”
He rolled his eyes. “Never say never. Fuck, let’s go. Big man’s probably having the biggest regret of his life.”
“I would be too if you’d introduced me to Victoria Chan on day one,” I mumbled, following him out.
Everyone looked up as we entered the living room.
“Sierra can be my guardian,” Raphael announced before anyone could say a thing.
My eyes darted to Matt, and he was staring at me with a look in his eyes that I didn’t recognize.
Heat crawled up my chest. Uh-oh, I was in big fucking trouble, wasn’t I?
“That’s probably for the best,” Dad said in a soft tone, focusing his attention on Matt. “I would feel better knowing Sierra is there with him, Mr. Evans.”
Aside from the slight clench in his jaw, his face gave nothing away. “Fine,” he said, bouncing to his feet. “It was nice meeting all of you, but I have to go now.” He didn’t wait for a reply as he hurried out the door in refined steps.
Silence crowded the Chan household, except for Abuela’s soap opera humming in the background.
Mother assessed me with her judging eyes as if she knew the real truth, and Dad beamed at both of us with pride in his smile.
Though the weight of her gaze was on me, excitement fired my veins.
Suddenly, I had a chance. Like a sole light brimming in my deep, dark tunnel.
I could see the path clearly now.
A path so close to my fingers that I only had to grasp it.
I’m going to give everything in me to this tournament.
Maybe with tangible proof in my hands, she could see I was made for this.
And maybe…
She would be proud of me for once.
MATT
“I’ve seen a princess sulk better than you,” Mikey, the other clown in my life, jeered out.
“Fucker,” I muttered, my eyes still focused on my phone. Among several open tabs were the possible names for the company or at least the possible names you could keep according to Google.
Fuck, I sucked at this.
I wanted my sister to do it, but she denied, asking me to put on my big boy pants.
But something else added to my edginess.
The reason was a loud, obnoxious kid, but more so a pair of hazel eyes I couldn’t stop thinking about.
It’s been two fucking days since I saw them, yet I couldn’t stop.
Why the fuck was I even thinking about it?
It was just fucking eyes, right?
I’ve fucking seen eyes before.
But they weren’t just eyes.
They were gilded specks of amber shining on a warm, sunny day.
It swaddled my heart in a sensation I couldn’t explain.
Yet there was another inkling in me. Was it because of the eyes, or was it because of the owner who looked at me through them?
Why was a girl from the middle of nowhere fucking with my head like this?
“You still can’t be searching for the name. Emmie, I suggest we hire someone to help out our man,” Mikey drawled, pulling me out of my thoughts.
I sighed, setting my phone aside. This wasn’t going to work. I still had five more fucking days to get this done. I was the kind of person who submitted their assignment weeks prior to the deadline, so this was uncharted territory for me, and I certainly didn’t like it.
“Do you want someone, Matty?” Emmie asked, his soft eyes trained on his girl, Evy, splayed over his lap while she looked at something intently on her laptop.
We were all sprawled out on his TV room floor, which was our usual hangout spot. It was as big as a modest living room with soft carpet, plush couches, and dark walls with the perfect lighting.
“No,” I answered him. “I can do this,” I mumbled more to myself than to him.
He nodded, his blue eyes still on her while he softly tucked her hair behind her ear, to which she gave him a sweet smile.
Even in a room full of a hundred people, those two were always in their own bubble like they didn’t have a care for the rest of the world.
I’ve had my fair share of relationships in the past. But it didn’t consume me. It didn’t become my whole living purpose like Emmie explained Evy was to him.
It was a kind of love I didn’t understand, and I don’t think I ever would. It defied all logic and practicality. And I craved logic and practicality. I didn’t understand love without it.
“Or maybe you’re thinking about a certain someone who is going to be living with you.” Mikey grinned, stretching his hands behind his neck, the motion ruffling his long blond hair.
“Someones,” I corrected.
“One is a girl.” He smirked. “I thought I’d never see the day Matty boy would be living with a girl. Much less babysitting a teenager. This is going to get so fucking interesting.”
“And the other is a boy,” I added. “Her brother, no less. And he is my employee. It’s strictly business.”
“How sure are you about this boy?” Emmie questioned, finally landing his gaze on us.
“Very,” I said with confidence because I was. There was no question about Raphael’s talent, but his antics were debatable. “Only problem is that he is a cocky-ass motherfucker.”
“Did you run a check?”
I nodded. “Everything’s clean. Even the contract’s signed.”
“Good,” Emmie agreed. “We can’t take many chances.”
“So the girl,” Mikey started, his eyes shining with amusement. “How old did you say she was?”
I narrowed my eyes. “Almost nineteen.”
“Oh, so I have a shot then?” He sat up straight, smiling smugly. “She is going to be my neighbor and all.”
“No,” I said, which came out as more of an icy warning than I intended, as an unfamiliar ripple surged in my gut.
“Someone’s jealous.” Mikey grinned wider, rubbing his hands together.
I leveled him with a sharp glare but didn’t say a word.
I couldn’t possibly be jealous, could I?
How could I be jealous of someone I knew nothing about? The thought of him anywhere near her brought out an insistent need to rearrange his face, but I dialed it down, knowing that fucker was only pulling my leg. As much as he liked to hide it, Mikey had been in love with Emmie’s sister, Lily, his whole life, but he did everything in his power to act against it. And it certainly wasn’t because of the fact that she was his best friend’s sister; there was much more to that. It wasn’t a can of worms I was willing to open.
“Jay, I’m hungry,” Evy groaned, putting her laptop aside. “Can we eat now?” she asked, her wide brown eyes volleying over to us.
“Yes, sweetheart.” Emmie, or her Jay, placed a kiss on her forehead.
They were so icky sweet that they even had their own nicknames for each other.
Thankfully, Evy saved me from that asshole’s persistent interrogation.
It was well past nine o’clock when I climbed downstairs to my apartment. We all lived in the same building. Emmie took the top-floor penthouse, while Mikey, Lily, and I shared the floor below with our own apartment and a smaller one we used as a makeshift studio for the label.
The familiar ping crackled through the air as I punched in my code and the doors opened. Silence ensued as I entered the room, bathed in the low light that the twinkling city cast from the floor-to-ceiling windows which took up the entire living room. My apartment wasn’t as big as the penthouse, but it was still larger than most homes in New York City.
I padded straight to my room—done for the day. I was depleted from all the restless energy swirling in me. But somehow in the back of my mind, I knew it would only get so much worse.
Somehow, there was a feeling that life was never going to be the same again.