Chapter thirty-four
Cyrus
One of the guys forwarded a link to me saying we need to meet up ASAP. After watching it, I felt gutted. My sweet girl, this is what happened that night she can’t remember.
Colton: It’s bad, man. It was a mass text sent to everyone at school.
Me: Has she seen it?
Colton: No, not yet. She wants to. But we’re not letting her until you’re with us.
Me: Go to her apartment. I’m on my way.
This is going to kill her. She had finally come to terms with not knowing what happened. Not to mention, someone sent this out as a mass text. I’m going to kill the fucker who did this to her.
Me: I need you to come to the apartment. It’s urgent.
Rico: Is Sierra okay?
Me: Just get to her fucking apartment now.
I toss my phone into the passenger seat and turn the ignition on, needing to get to Sierra.
Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
I knew shit was bad at that damn school, but sending out pornography to everyone’s phone is beyond horrific. I’m going to make sure we find out who did it and make them pay.
Then I’m going to find the bastard who raped her and kill him. That’s if Rico doesn’t beat me to it when he finds out who it is.
The only thing that sucks is that by now the video’s being shared around to everyone and their mother. This is going to follow my girl for the rest of her life.
Anger rises in me, and fuck, if I’m not getting every red light between campus and Sierra’s apartment. And on top of that, every grandma seems to be out for their Sunday drive.
I slam my hands on the steering wheel as I get stopped at yet another fucking light. “Come on!” I scream.
Any other time it would be clear sailing, but now when I need to be with my girl, it seems as if it’s taking an eternity and fate is tangling her web to keep us apart.
The light turns green and I press my foot down on the gas, my tires screeching as I take off, weaving my way through traffic until I’m finally pulling up in front of Sierra’s apartment.
I park the Jeep on the curb and rush inside, forgoing the elevator and heading straight for the stairs, taking them two at a time.
Just as I hit the landing, they’re stepping off the elevator.
“Let me see it. If it’s about me, I deserve to watch it,” Sierra’s raised voice demands.
“Please, just wait until Cyrus gets here and we promise we’ll show it to you.” Colton, of all people, tries to console her.
“But you don’t have to. It’s bad and we can tell you that way you don’t have to see it,” Zander tries to pacify her.
It’s then her eyes catch mine, and I cut the distance between us, taking long strides until I’m wrapping her up in my arms.
“What the hell is going on?” Her words are muffled from where I have her face pressed against my chest.
“Let’s go inside and we’ll tell you. Rico is on the way.”
She pulls away from me, stomping her foot as she crosses her arms over her chest.
“Why is he on the way? I’m not a child. Somebody better tell me what the hell was in that text or you can all go.” She turns and storms off to her apartment, rifling through her book bag before pulling out her keys and unlocking the door.
“She’s been trying to see it the whole ride here. I didn’t know how she’d react, and I wasn’t going to let her see it at school. They’d eat her alive the minute she reacted to it,” Zander says, as he steps up to me.
“Well, let’s go handle our girl. Otherwise, we’ll all be in the doghouse. Her uncle is on the way.” I can’t help but laugh when all the guys turn white at that piece of information. That’s right, the three of you are about to meet the parental.
“Shit.” Braxton’s voice is full of fear and dread, and just above a whisper. I doubt he realizes he’s said it out loud.
When we open the door to the apartment and step inside, Sierra is pacing the floor, mumbling something about men being the death of her.
I take a deep breath and make my way over to her, stepping in her path.
“Baby, sit down and I’ll show it to you.
But I want to tell you a few things first. It’s of you and a man having sex.
His voice is altered and you can’t see his face.
It’s the video of the night you can’t remember,” I tell her calmly as I lead her over to the couch and we sit down.
Braxton takes a seat on the chair and Zander sits down on the other side of her while Colton stands sentinel behind the couch.
Each of us here, ready to be her shoulder to lean on.
Pulling out my phone, I open the message strand with the video and hand it to her.
She takes the phone from me and presses play. The minute the sound comes on I cringe, knowing she’s about to see the worst night of her life play out in front of her.
Her hands shake as she holds the phone, but she never looks away. Her face goes white and her lip trembles as tears well up in her eyes, breaking free and rolling down her cheeks. Sierra doesn’t even attempt to wipe them away.
She doesn’t say anything and we don’t either.
Zander hesitantly reaches out several times to place his hand on her shoulder in comfort, but stops short each time. I know he’s wondering if she even wants to be touched after what she’s watching.
When she’s done, her hands fall to her lap and she sits there, not moving, not speaking, just staring into space.
I scoot closer to her, my arm grazing hers, and she doesn’t respond.
I can feel her body shaking against mine as she sobs softly.
My heart is aching for my girl. She should not be going through all this.
The front door flies open, slamming against the wall, causing us all to jump to action. But not Sierra. It’s as if she’s not phased, lost in her own world.
“What’s fucking wrong with her?” Rico’s angry voice questions when he catches sight of Sierra. “What happened?”
I nod for one of the guys to take my place as I stand and step over to Rico.
“Come with me,” I whisper. There’s no way I’m playing that video in front of her again, and I already know he’s not going to respond well to it.
“I asked a motherfuckin’ question. What’s wrong with Sierra?” Each word is louder than the next. His eyes are dark and jaw clenched as he stares at Sierra’s broken form.
I step closer into his space, standing toe to toe with him as I look sternly into his eyes. “I told you to come with me. There’s something I need to show you and Sierra doesn’t need to be subjected to it again. I’d also lower your voice and that tone.”
I stand firm, ready for his fist to come flying my way, but it doesn’t.
“Fine,” he growls through gritted teeth.
With a nod, I turn and head down the hallway toward Sierra’s room. Rico follows close behind, his heavy steps pounding on the floor.
Once we’re inside Sierra’s room, he pushes the door, but doesn’t let it close all the way.
“Who the hell are those boys in there and why are we so comfortable leaving them with her?”
“She’s fine with them,” I reply, my voice short.
“How the fuck do you know that? Do you not see how she fucking looks?”
“I do have eyes, Rico. She’s fine with them for many reasons.
Their dad is Sam’s foster father, they’re her classmates and most importantly, each one of them will soon be her boyfriend, along with me.
Now, can we get back to why you’re fucking here?
” I don’t know what comes over me. Normally, an infuriated Rico has me shaking in my boots.
“See you finally grew some balls when it comes to me. Now what the fuck is it? Then we’ll come back to this boyfriend shit.” Rico stands back, arms folded across his chest, with a smirk on his face.
“Before you fly off the chains, listen to everything I have to say. There was a video sent via a mass text this morning at Sierra’s school. The guys saw it, then got Sierra out of there as quickly as they could. She didn’t see the video until she got here,” I pause, knowing he’s about to hulk out.
“Okay. Keep going.” Rico motions for me to finish.
“The video was of Sierra.” God, I don’t want to say or show it to him. I can see the murder in his eyes already.
“What kind of video?”
“It’s of her and a man. You can’t see him, and his voice has some type of filter on it where it sounds more robotic. Someone edited it so we wouldn’t know who it was. He’s raping her in it.”
All the blood drains from his face. “Let me see it.” His voice is short and cold.
“Rico, I’m not sure you want to see your niece like this. It gutted me.”
“Let me see the fucking video. Now!” he shouts.
I pull up the messages and hand the phone over to him. He hits the screen and the video plays. I can see his eyes glass over as he watches, but he doesn’t let a single tear fall.
He types something on the phone just before I hear a buzzing. I know he sent himself a copy.
“You said this was sent to the whole school?” he asks.
“Yeah. The guys forwarded it to me.”
“Come on.” He storms out of Sierra’s room, and I quickly rush out behind him.
Sierra’s still in the same spot, except now she has a little color.
“Has she said anything?” I ask.
“No,” Braxton’s calm voice answers.
“I need all of your phone numbers, and for you to delete the video from your phone. That video is child pornography and you could all go down for having it, especially since one of you forwarded it. I’ve got connections and we’ll have all traces of it ever being sent to you erased from your phone.
” Before Rico can say another word, there’s a knock at the door.
“Fuck. Please don’t let it be the damn social worker doing a surprise inspection. ”
Rico moves over to the door and opens it just enough to see who’s there.
“Oh, umm, is Sierra here?” a male voice mutters from the other side of the door.
“And who the fuck are you? Wait, I know you. Are you stalking my niece?”
“That’s Wes. I’d know that voice anywhere,” Zander snarls. “He’s the main person who’s been terrorizing Sierra at school.”
Rico takes hold of Wesley’s shirt, yanking him inside the apartment so roughly he stumbles over his feet and falls onto his hands and knees.
“So you’ve been bullying my niece. I should kill your fucking ass for it.” Rico threatens him, placing his foot on his back, pushing and holding him down on the floor as Wesley tries to get up.
“Yes, I did, and I’m fucking sorry. I deserve everything you want to do to me, but I need to speak with Sierra first. I have to warn her.” Wesley’s saddened, guilty voice pleads.
“What do you need to warn her about?” I step up to him, the tip of my shoe grazing his face as I squat down.
“Let me up and I’ll tell you. I swear if I had known the truth, I never would have treated Sierra that way.”
“Wesley?” Sierra’s soft voice speaks up.