CHAPTER FOUR
Sierra
“You did a good job taking care of her but, again, we cannot keep her here, Ms. Rowan.” The vet insisted for the third time.
“Not that I’m arguing—” Sierra started.
“You have quite literally spent the last twenty minutes trying to convince me to take responsibility for that rascal of a pup, young lady. Now, my next patient just checked in so you can kindly settle your bill with Minny. If you choose to rehab the pup until she’s fully healed instead of taking her to the animal shelter, here’s some aftercare supplies and treats. Now, you go have a good day.”
And get the hell out of my office. That was the part that he didn’t say out loud but Sierra could tell by his tight smile that it’s exactly what the elderly vet was thinking.
She sighed and reached for the padded box Chupa watched them from.
“It’s just that?—”
“I know, I know. You believe your landlord will kill her. And knowing Ezekiel Evers’s temper, he probably will. Good luck!” he said, forcefully guiding her out of the examination room.
Walking out the building over two hundred dollars poorer, Sierra placed the doctor’s offerings on the passenger floor and placed the suspiciously quiet fox in the passenger seat before climbing behind the wheel of her SUV.
“Okay Chupa, your ass better shape-shift into another form when we get back home or we’re both toast,” she said. No way was she taking baby girl to a rescue shelter. Those places were cutthroat and her little fox was a wee innocent babe...if you overlooked her killing spree.
“I mean, yes, you killed a few chickens but it’s the natural order of things in the wild, right? I don’t know why your human doppelg?nger is acting so upset and offended, he knows how these things go, he’s a farmer for Christ’s sake.”
Tapping the next destination into her phone, she drove into the congested downtown area of Saint Cloud and parked in an area where she could easily walk between the supermarket, hardware store, and pet store.
Not that she was keeping Chupa long term, but while the baby fox was in her care, she would do everything in her power to make sure Chupa was strong enough to face the wild without a mother.
They were both motherless daughters, Sierra thought, tearing up.
Her forever wound always found a way to show her it had not healed.
“Alright Chupa, I’m going to leave the windows cracked but I need you to stay in the box. I don’t want some Good Samaritan trying to break you out.”
The kit yipped and curled around herself, resting her head on her paws before closing her eyes.
Sierra stroked Chupa’s head with her thumb before covering half the box with a towel.
How had she gone and fallen in love so quickly?
It was hard for her to love in general; each of her dozen or so exes said as much at some point in their relationship.
She’d been honest and disclosed her defect to every man the minute they’d began dating.
Both she and they had hoped they’d be the one to help her let go of her fear of loss so she could embrace love.
It never happened.
Opening her heart to anyone that wasn’t family had proven impossible.
“Old wounds,” she muttered to Chupa as she got out of the car.
Within thirty minutes, Sierra carried two heavy bags in each of her hands. Despite the weight and the urge to get back to Chupa, she stepped into a coffee shop bookstore called Just Grounds.
“Welcome in,” the Black woman manning the register called out.
The woman wore jeans and a yellow tank top.
Her russet brown skin displayed a tapestry of tattoos that started at her wrists, crept up each arm and covered her shoulders and the top of her exposed neck and chest. She had a billowing cloud of coiled gray and black hair that framed her face like a nebula.
Sierra dropped her bags and looked around.
Books, coffee, food, wine.
She smiled at the woman.
“I am officially declaring this as my third place. I’ll be here so often you’ll think I’m part-time staff. Get to know this face now,” she said circling her face with her pointer finger.
The woman laughed, resting her hands on her hips.
“Well, my name is Destiny and I own this place, so I guess you should get to know my face as well.”
“Already seared into my retina, Destiny.” She extended her hand. “I’m Sierra. I recently moved to town and miss home more than I thought I would. This place feels like home.”
The café had an early 2000s Oakland cozy industrial vibe. It smelled like caffeine, creativity, and rebellion. Home.
“You want to grab a seat and look over the menu or do some shopping? We’ve got a pretty diverse selection of fiction and non-fiction if I may say so myself.”
Sierra groaned pitifully.
“I wish I could but I have a wounded pup I need to get home. I’ll take a caramel macchiato with an added shot to go, though.”
“Coming right up,” Destiny said moving farther down the counter. “What brings you to St. Cloud?”
“Work. I’ve contracted to work with the county as an environmental health specialist supervisor, handling mostly soil evaluations. I’m renting a place out on Harriet Road.”
“Oh, you living over there on Zeek’s land.”
“Is that the angry redhead?”
Destiny’s bark of laughter made Sierra smile. That man was angry.
And hot.
Shut up Sierra!
“That would be Zeek. He’s a good man as long as you don’t get on his bad side. And mind you, he has a violently scary bad side.”
“Kind of figured that when he pointed his rifle on me.”
The metallic container for the double espresso shots slipped out of Destiny’s hand and tumbled to the floor. She looked Sierra up and down.
“You must be some kind of special to have walked away without a scratch on you.”
She shrugged.
“He was mostly after my pup. He’s got a vendetta against her.”
“Well, God protect her,” Destiny said and began cleaning up the spill before starting a second pour.
“Go home, get your pup settled, and come back tonight. We have open mic karaoke night for both music and readings. I’ll reserve a special space for you close to the stage because I am officially invested in hearing about your run-in with Ezekiel Evers.”
The door chime sounded and Sierra turned. A Latina wearing a midriff-exposing lace tank top and white shorts stepped into the store. The features that stood out were her tits, ass, and the long wavy brown hair that had a bold magenta strip that cradled her face.
The woman was agitated. Her eyes scanned Sierra with quick dismissal, darted toward the rows of books on the lower level, then over at Destiny.
“Is he here? I saw his truck three blocks over and I know he always comes to visit you when he comes into town.”
“Morning Maribelle, how’s this fine day treating you?” Destiny asked. “Can I get you something to go?”
Maribelle fake smiled at Destiny and adjusted one of the lace straps of her tank top. That poor material was stretched to the brink of unraveling around the woman’s augmented breasts.
Maribelle tossed her long dark hair over her shoulder and continued to ignore Sierra.
Mean girl energy, Sierra thought without heat as she slid her glasses higher up her nose.
“Can I get one of those cinnamon rolls as well, Destiny?” Sierra interrupted, before Destiny had a chance to respond to Maribelle.
She had no problem being rude to rude people.
“Actually make that two. Just in case you run out before tonight.”
“Sure thing, sweetie, and I’ll kick in a ham and cheese croissant on the house.”
“Aww, thank you!”
“Oh my God, is he here or not, Destiny?” Maribelle snapped.
“I haven’t seen Zeek, but you’re free to look around,” Destiny said, not sparing the woman a glance. “You’d probably do better to ask my new friend Sierra here where Zeek is. She moved into his rental this week and saw him earlier this morning.”
That made the other woman look Sierra up and down, smile, and dismiss her again.
“At least Montel has raised his standards. Tell Zeek to call me when you see him. It’s urgent.”
Sierra sneezed at the plume of expensive parfum Maribelle left in her wake.
“Bless you. And don’t mind her, she’s diligently trying to erase the ex from ex-girlfriend. Zeek ended it with her about a year ago and she still believes she can get him back. She did before, but like I said, you get on that man’s bad side one too many times and you’ll live there forever.”
From a purely physical perspective all that man’s sides were highly desirable. If he didn’t possess a death note with Chupa’s name on it, she wouldn’t have have to repeatedly castigate herself for imagining some aspect of him rubbing against some aspect of her.
She cleared her throat. “Who’s Montel anyway?”
“Zeek’s other tenant on the property. Maribelle believes you’re shacking up with him I guess. Montel should be here this evening, by the way.”
“Is he sexy and available?” Sierra smiled as she placed her bag of food in one of the larger bags, gripping her drink securely as she lifted her bags again. “Is that why you’re sharing his evening plans?”
You did say you’d be open to being in a relationship once you got to Florida, she reminded herself.
“Montel’s a good-looking young man that’s the truth. He’ll tell any woman listening that he’s available, which he usually is. It’s just that the women don’t know what kind of foolishness they’re making themselves available to. Come by and meet him though, he’s a good time.”
Sierra promised to return this evening, and walked back to her car, carefully dumping her bags in the trunk.
Chupa sat in her box watching quietly as Sierra climbed into the driver’s seat and buckled up.
“I just met a really cool Black woman who owns a bookstore coffee shop combo,” she shared with Chupa.
Looking out the driver’s side window, she pulled out into traffic.
“Do you think you’ll be okay on your own for a few hours this evening?” Chupa made a decisive yipping sound.
“Good, I’ll be coming to the café’s open mic karaoke night, but I’ve got snacks and entertainment for you, and the pet supply store will be delivering a large cage for you within the hour so you won’t have to remain cooped up in that box.”
The way she’d bought items for Chupa, one would think she didn’t plan to return her to the wilds. She promised the angry landlord that she’d get rid of Chupa, but she’d just have to tell him that plans changed right? That Chupa would be living with her until she healed.
“Plus, my lease allows pets,” she argued, hoping Ezekiel Evers, a man she coming to know as impatient, inflexible, and unreasonable, would be swayed by reason.
“I’ll just be direct, not hide my intentions.”
Chupa stood on her hind legs, paws balancing on the door frame as she looked out the passenger window and growled.
Sierra followed the direction of Chupa’s gaze and saw the very man she planned to confront about Chupa’s living situation walking down the street.
Fully clothed. It was disheartening that he was almost as sexy in clothes as he was without them.
He must have sensed them. His gaze swung to the SUV and looked past Chupa to her. He stopped walking, ignoring the people who had to maneuver around him like water currents around a large stone.
Was he growling? He looked like he was growling.
Her body responded as if it were in danger, not afraid, just in danger. And aroused.
“Calm down girl,” she pled.
Chupa obediently quieted and sat back in her box. It was her own body Sierra was speaking to.