Sierra
Chapter thirty
My body is still in shock that Cyrus is here, in my house, and he’s seeing me in this shape. I know by the piercing look in his eyes, he’s not going to just let this go. He’s going to want to know my secrets.
His touch is so gentle as he goes about cleaning the blood from my foot, then taking bandaids and covering the small cut on the bottom.
“I spoke with Rico. I’m staying here with you and taking care of you.
He’s sending someone over with some pain medication for you that's stronger than the Tylenol you’ve been taking since you won’t go to the doctor. Do you need something to drink or eat?”
“No, I’m fine,” I whisper, my eyes cast down, not wanting to look at him.
“This wasn’t how I planned to spend our first date,” he says with an awkward laugh, leaning back on the couch and raking his fingers through his charcoal hair. His pouty lips allow a long breath of air to pass through them.
“I’m sorry…” I’m not sure what else to say. Maybe it’s for the best. Life's weird punishment for accepting a date with a man who I lied to, not intentionally, but a lie nonetheless.
“Why? This is better. Now I get to spend even more time with you and have you all to myself. Better yet, I get to be your own personal nurse. I’ll count it as a win-win situation.
” I give him an odd look before he winces.
“Sorry, totally didn’t mean I was happy you aren’t…
” he pauses as if he’s looking for the right words to say. “Not feeling well.”
“It’s okay,” I tell him as we sit there, a calm silence filling the room. You’d think it would be uncomfortable, but it’s not. It’s eerily soothing. A sense of security, and safeness, that if my aunt and James were to return, he’d be my protector, keeping them from hurting me any further.
“Do you have a television?” he asks as he looks around my living room, noticing the absence of one in here.
“Yes, but it’s in my sister's room. It’s the only one we have, and she has the VCR hooked up to it.” His eyes go wide at the word VCR. When you don’t have cable or internet, that's what you watch.
“No problem. I’ll be right back,” he says as he stands and heads toward the door.
When he steps out into the hallway, shutting the door behind him, I assume the infamous "I’ll be back" was just a gentle way of him getting the hell out of dodge without hurting my feelings. But to my surprise, less than ten minutes later, he’s walking back into the apartment with his laptop bag slung over his shoulder.
“Can we bring your sister's television out here? I can hook my laptop up to it and stream a movie off of my hotspot.”
“Umm… sure… let me get up and get it.”
“No, I got it. Just tell me what room.” He holds out his hands, stopping my struggle to stand up, my body fighting every move I make.
“First room on the left, right across from the bathroom.” My head falls back on the pillow as a wave of nausea hits me from the sudden movement.
He rushes about the house, getting the television and setting everything up, while I just sit and ogle him.
Really Sierra? You’re covered in bruises and can barely move, but you’re thinking about acting on your silly crush on this man.
Get it together. I know he said he wanted me, but I still can’t help but think he just feels sorry for me.
He all but said Rico told him to stay. Which, in and of itself, has me curious as hell.
“You don’t have to stay. If Rico asks, I will say you did. Plus, I don’t understand why he wanted you to.” I’m giving Cyrus an out to leave without feeling bad. But if I’m honest, a small part, who am I kidding, a huge part of me, hopes he stays.
“No, I’m right where I want to be. We can watch some television and when you sleep, which you will if I have anything to do with it, I’ll work on my homework.”
God help me, can this man be any more amazing?
“Plus, it gets me out of my dorm. I’ll be so glad when I can move out of there and into my own place.
By the way, is it always this hot in here?
” He’s using his hand to fan himself, as sweat runs down his face, while the other pulls his shirt away from his body like he’s trying to get some air under it.
“We only have one air conditioner that works, and it’s in Sam’s room as well. I just make do with fans or we hang out in her room. That’s why the television is in there.” Fuck, I sound so pathetic.
“The landlord only provided one air conditioner?” He raises his eyebrow in question.
“No, there were three. One broke and the other one I don’t have,” I say, not wanting to tell him my aunt took that with her when she left the first time. What she needed it for, I’ll never know.
“So, why didn’t you contact your landlord? It’s his responsibility to pay for it.”
“Because I can’t. Are you done with your interrogation? If it’s uncomfortable for you, I can take care of myself. You really don’t need to stay.” I huff in annoyance at his questions and myself. I long for the day I can just tell someone the truth.
“I didn’t mean it like that, Lilac. But for now, I won’t ask you any more questions. Well, one more. What do you want to watch?” He gives me those delicious puppy dog eyes and a pout that makes the cupid’s bow on his lips look even more kissable. What the hell is wrong with me?
He starts scrolling through the options, and my eyes land on the Avengers.
I remember watching it with Wesley and immediately know I absolutely don’t want to watch that or any other Marvel film.
Then I see Big Bang Theory and point at the screen, choosing it to watch.
It’s perfect; a comedy and the episodes are short. Nothing about it mirrors my life.
He starts it on season one, adjusts the volume, and places the remote on the coffee table before relaxing back into the couch.
Lifting my feet, he gently places them in his lap and starts stroking them, starting at my shins.
The feeling is soothing. The more I watch as he runs his hands across my legs, the heavier my eyes become.
It’s not long before I can barely keep them open.
I catch him out of the corner of one, not watching the television but me.
His eyes are full of compassion, need, anger, and desire, all rolled up into one.
He has me questioning everything. Do I tell him?
Would he turn me in? Be angry I lied? There are too many what-ifs for me to say anything, so I just pretend I don’t notice until there’s a knock at the door that makes me jump out of my skin.
My heart rate and breathing increase as sweat beads up on my forehead and my hands become clammy. My body is screaming in agony from the sudden movement, but I shut it out. If it’s Sarah or James, I need to protect myself, protect Cyrus. Shit, shit, he’s going to get hurt.
“Calm down, baby. I won’t get hurt. I’m going to go answer the door,” he tells me softly and calmly, as if he can read my thoughts, before lifting himself from the couch.
I’m clutching my legs to my chest… wait… what? Did I say that out loud?
“Yes, you did,” he chuckles, “And that too.”
Fuck me! New rule; I can no longer think about anything since my stupid mouth wants to say it out loud. Cyrus opens the door, but not wide enough so that I can see past his large frame to see who’s on the other side. The only thing I know for sure is that it’s a man with a deep voice.
“Hey man, this is from Rico. It’s strong, so one pill every four to six hours as needed. The normal dose is two, but he said she’s small, so only one. She has enough here for like a week. If you need more, just let Rico know,” the mysterious voice says.
Why is Rico doing all this for me? I’m just a stripper at his club… Why does he care so much?
Cyrus shuts the door and walks back across the room toward me. “Been asking myself the same question,” he mutters, opening the bag. He pulls out a pill and then picks up the glass of water from the table. “Here, take this, then stretch back out.”
I do as he says, the need to obey his every word pulsating through my body, like an itch that needs to be scratched.
It doesn’t take long with Cyrus rubbing my legs and the effects of the pain pill before my eyes become too heavy to keep open any longer and I drift off to sleep.
Cyrus
I can’t help but watch as she sleeps, yet the only downfall is that I can tell it’s a restless one.
She keeps twitching and mumbling incoherently.
Carefully, I lift her legs off of me and place them on the couch, standing up.
I know I shouldn’t, but the need to look around her home and learn more about her is riding me hard.
Her phone is lying on the coffee table and I debate on looking at it or not. Finally, my curiosity wins out and I pick it up, only to see it’s turned off. Not wanting her to wake up and see me snooping, I put it back down, making sure to place it just the way I found it.
Not seeing anything to tell me about my girl, I make my way toward the hallway.
I’ve seen her sister's room. There were dolls and stuffed animals all over her bed and in the corner on top of a chest. The television was on top of an old dresser that had seen better days, missing knobs and a whole drawer. There were hand-drawn pictures taped up all over the wall and in one window was an air conditioner. Sierra doesn’t know it, but I immediately texted Rico and told him about the AC situation.
He promptly replied he was taking care of it.
Since there are only two other doors and I know one of them is the bathroom, I head to the one room I haven’t seen yet. Taking hold of the handle, I open the creaking door and immediately the aroma of vanilla and cherry blossoms hits me. Fuck, it smells just like her in here.
Inhaling deeply, I take in the delicious scent and move further into the room. Compared to her sister’s, her room is bare. One dresser, with a photo of a beautiful woman, a younger Sierra, and a little girl, who I know is her sister.
Glancing down, I see a bookbag on the floor.
I squat down and open it up, shocked when I see textbooks.
Not ones you’d see in college, but high school.
What the hell is going on? How fucking old is she?
I need to find her identification. Opening the drawers, I look for something to tell me, a birth certificate, an ID, anything, but I come up empty-handed.
When I open the one that contains her underwear, my dick grows hard, pressing against my jeans.
The urge to take a pair raged within me, while thoughts of using them to jack off run rampant in my mind.
Before I can act on my desires, I slam the drawer shut and leave the room. Stepping back into the living room, she’s still asleep, none the wiser of what I’ve done.
My eyes catch on the bag she carries to work and I head to it, ready to snoop some more, just as the door opens.
“Sierra, sweetie. I brought you back some food. I told Sam she could call you tonight before she went to bed, so how is eight-thirty?” the older woman from earlier asks, before jumping in fright when she sees me.
“Who the hell are you? Haven’t you and Sarah done enough to her?
If it was up to me, both of you would be in jail and the girls in foster care. ”
“Firstly, I have no idea who Sarah is. I work at the club with Sierra and when I came to take her to work and saw her like this, I called our boss and he said to stay with her. Secondly, what do you mean by foster care? Sierra is too old for that and she takes care of her sister already. Why would she need to go into the system?”
Nothing is making sense…
“Sierra, Sierra,” she calls out loudly, causing the sleeping angel to wake with a startle.
“Mrs. Butler, is everything okay? Is something wrong with Sam?” she panics, her voice groggy from sleep.
“She is fine, but who is this man in your apartment?” She points at me and I look at Sierra.
Sierra’s head whips over to me, her eyes wide with fear. But from what, I don’t know. “He-he-he works with me at the club.” She stumbles over her words like she’s trying to not say too much.
“I told her that, but I don’t think she believed me,” I say with a shrug.
“Okay, I was just concerned. Here, I brought some food for you and I’m going to let Sam call you around eight-thirty.
I’m going to call the place and handle that other thing in the morning.
” I laugh inside a little at the code this woman is trying to use, to keep whatever secret Sierra has from slipping.
“Call me if you need me and I’ll be back down with my gun.
I’m old, but I can kill someone and no one will want to convict a grandma.
” She sets the food down on the table before turning to leave.
She gives me one last glare before stepping out the door, and damn if it doesn’t about make me shit my pants.
I wait for her to close the door before looking at Sierra. “It’s time to tell me everything. No more secrets, Lilac.”