Society Girls: Sierra (16 page)

The gates open for my car once they see who
I am. Two men are waiting to meet us outside of the house, and I
relay that information through my comm. Inside, there are four more
men with guns. Several members of the staff are on their stomachs
on the floor. The women are crying, which makes me even
angrier.

“You picked a bad time to come and visit
your boyfriend,” one of the men tells me.

“I think I picked exactly the right time.
Four times the fun, right?” I ask, touching my comm discreetly as I
say it.

“You like it rough, don’t you?”

“Is there anything better?”

Before he can answer, the other women burst
through the front door and we start to fight. They’re having no
problem with the guys they take on, but I struggle a little with
mine. I think I’ve got him, but he surprises with an uppercut that
sends me crashing through the dining room doors.

* * *

Joel

“What’s going on?” Antonio yells into his
phone as we hear loud crashes coming from outside the door.

Reina, who was about to call Matt with
Antonio’s demands, looks like she wants to murder someone, and I
don’t think it’s him at the moment. Something else is going on. I
don’t know what, but it sounds like the cavalry has arrived. I
don’t know why that makes her mad, but then, in a matter of
seconds, I do.

The doors crash open and Sierra flies onto
the dining room table, knocking plates everywhere. She flips to her
feet and throws a knife straight through the heart of the man who
followed her in. Reina stabs Antonio in the throat with a fork
before he can react, and everything goes quiet. Jade and Darcy walk
into the room nodding.

“We’re clear. They’re all taken care of.
Ellie has the staff outside, waiting for the police to arrive,”
Darcy says.

“What is she doing here?” Reina asks,
glaring at them all, but focusing on Sierra.

“I’m finishing what I started when I came to
the ball with Marcus,” Sierra says, weakly.

“No. You came here for Joel,” Reina tells
her. Before turning to the other women. “She shouldn’t be here and
you know it.”

“What the hell is going on?” I finally
manage to ask.

“They are the Society. You are, aren’t you?”
my mother asks, her eyes wide and her voice reverent. “There really
is a secret society of women fighting against evil.”

Reina closes her eyes and takes a deep
breath before answering. “This cannot leave the room, but yes,
we’re the Society. At least some of us are. I need you to swear to
keep this secret.”

“Will you wipe our minds if we don’t?” my
father asks with a laugh.

“Yes,” Reina says, and we can tell she’s
serious.

“Sierra? You’re a spy?” I ask.

“I’m in training.”

“We will discuss that once we’re back
home.”

“Please, Reina. I had to help.”

“No. What you
had
to do is let people
who know what they’re doing handle this.”

“I got us in here.”

“You think any one of the women you came
here with couldn’t have gotten in?”

“No. Yes. I mean, of course they could.”

“What is it with you, Joel? Do you have a
magic dick or something? Two of my recruits have jeopardized their
dreams for you.”

“Greta never saw my dick.”

“Well, whatever mojo you have, keep it away
from my eight recruits.”

“Eight?”

“As I said, we’ll discuss this when we’re
alone. I trust you can get yourself home without a problem.”

“We came on the jet.”

“Yes, but you will not be returning that
way. If one of us went rogue on a mission, we would lose our
connection to the Society resources. You chose the path that led
you here, and you must face the consequences. Starting now.”

“You can use my company jet,” Marcus tells
her as I clench my teeth. “I mean, it’s the least I can do. I know
you came here for Joel, but I still appreciate what you’ve done for
me. Pretending to be my girlfriend last month and storming my
castle today.”

“Pretending? You mean that was part of
this—this Society thing?”

She turns on me, pinning me with the iciest
stare I’ve ever received. “Yes, Joel. It was fake. I came here, put
on a pretty dress, and tested out the Portuguese you’d taught me.
And every second, I thought of you and how I wished you were the
one I was here with.”

“She talked about you the whole time. I
mean, she didn’t say it was you, but she told me she had a
boyfriend and threatened to cut my balls off more than once,”
Marcus adds.

“I didn’t know.”

But I
knew
. I knew something wasn’t right.
I wouldn’t admit it myself, but deep down in my shattered heart, I
knew she didn’t cheat on me. I just wasn’t man enough to believe
it.

“I couldn’t tell you.”

“It’s all good. Now he knows, and you can be
together again,” Marcus says.

She shakes her head. “It would never work.
He’s a boob man, and I’m afraid I’m just too lacking in that
department to keep him satisfied.”

“You know I only said that to hurt you.”

Two knives whiz past my face, one on each
side, taking a few whiskers with them before they hit the wall.
Reina looks at Faith first, then Jade.

“My hand slipped,” Faith tells her.

“Mine, too,” Jade says.

“I would’ve aimed lower,” Darcy adds with a
shrug. “Just saying.”

“Enough!” Reina roars out the word and looks
at Sierra. “This is what you gave up your dream for? Him?”

“Yes, and I’d do it all over again.”

I watch her walk out of the room, and now I
know I was wrong. My heart wasn’t broken when I thought she was
with Marcus, because I never really thought it was true. But now?
Now it’s shattered into so many pieces that I don’t think I could
find them all, even if I did want to put them back together one
day. I’m ruined and wrecked, and I have no one to blame for it but
myself.

* * *

Sierra

I grab my purse from where I dropped it on
the floor in the living room. The police are already outside, and
I’m forced to take some time and give a statement. They’re
satisfied with my insistence that I just came here to visit Marcus
and happened upon a hostage situation. I tell them I had to fight
for my dignity. They offer me medical attention for the bruises and
small cuts that are visible all over my body. I decline, because
it’s the bruises they can’t see that hurt me most. Those can’t be
fixed with a bandage.

Even though I refused medical attention, I
accept a ride to the airport. Reina told me to fend for myself, and
that’s exactly what I’m doing. I have my passport, my wallet, and
my phone, which means I’m not really struggling. There’s no direct
flight to Vegas, but after what I’ve been through, a First World
problem is the least of my worries, so I take the first flight
out.

I’m too wound up to sleep on the flight to
Miami, so I try to strategize. Reina’s pissed, and I know I’m in
trouble. There has to be consequences for me, but I need to try and
make sure they lean more towards probation than dismissal. I didn’t
lie when I said I’d risk it all for Joel again, because I would. I
love the Society, but I love him more. Even after everything, I
love him. There’s no hope for us, but I had to do what I did. I
won’t regret going into that house to save him, but I’ll also do
almost anything I can to prove that I want to be part of the
Society.

My shot at standby for an earlier flight
doesn’t work out, so I have twelve hours in Miami. I want to go to
the beach, but the adrenaline that kept me going on the plane is
gone, and I’m just so damn tired. Tired of being heartbroken, tired
of having to prove myself, and really, just plain tired. I check
into the closest airport hotel, and sleep for a solid eight
hours.

Once I’m back at the airport, I decide that
it’s time to be brave and turn my phone back on. Most of the missed
calls and messages are from Zack, but there are plenty from all of
the mentors and recruits as well. Two messages stand out, and those
are the ones that make my eyes fill with tears.

Joel: I love you, Sierra. I am so sorry for
everything I said and did. I’m so sorry for ever doubting you.
Please call me.

Reina: Do not go to your apartment when you
get back to Las Vegas. I do not want you on any Corrigan property
except for when you come to my office at 9 am tomorrow morning.

I don’t respond to either message. I don’t
know what to say to Joel, and there’s nothing I can say to Reina
before I see her tomorrow. Despite the hours of sleep I just had, I
suddenly feel drained once again. I don’t have the weight of the
world on my shoulders, but I do have the weight of my choices
there, and they may just crush me before everything is said and
done.

Joel

“Were you really held hostage?” Glen asks me
after practice the next day.

I probably shouldn’t be here. I’m not fit
for human company, much less a ball game, but sitting in my
apartment would drive me crazy.

“Yeah.”

It’s been all over the news, so there’s no
point in lying. I’m not giving any details, but I can at least
admit to my friends.

“That’s some crazy shit right there,” D.J.
tells me.

“And what I walked into at your house
wasn’t?”

“Speaking of that, why didn’t you stay? I
had some girls for you.”

“When, since I’ve been back, have I given
you the idea that I want even one bunny?”

“You kissed a few, and I heard you grabbed
some chick’s tits after your first game.”

“If you heard that, you should’ve also heard
that it didn’t go any further than that.”

“Why even go there if you weren’t going to
follow through?”

“Because I’m a bastard.”

“She was disappointed that you didn’t take
her home, but she still loved it. She came by to play later and
told me.”

“I didn’t do it for her. She was just
convenient. Nice to know she ran to you when I turned her down.”
Yet another reason to stay away from those girls. I’m all for women
having as much sex as they want, with whoever they want, but I was
never comfortable being just a stop on the train, even when I was
sleeping around.

“Your loss.”

“If you say so.”

“I do,” he tells me, walking out of the
locker room.

“I’m with you on this. It gets old quick,”
Glen says.

“How long have you and Sandy been together
now?” I ask.

“Almost five years.”

“It can’t be easy for her. She has a job
back home, right?”

“It’s not, and yes, she has a great job she
loves. It sucks when we’re not together, but it’s amazing when we
see each other again.”

“That’s how I think it’ll be with my girl. I
mean, if I had a girl.”

“You so have a girl. Spill. No wait,” he
says, looking around. “Let’s get out of here, and then you can
spill.”

“I actually do need to talk it out, so if
you really don’t mind, getting out of here sounds great.”

“Your place or mine?”

“Whoa, are you two together? I mean, I
thought you liked chicks,” one of the rookies tells us, walking up
just in time to hear the end of our conversation.”

“We’re all about the pussy, man, but there’s
not much better than a good bromance,” Glen says with a smirk.

“Let’s go to my place,” I tell Glen. “I
think I’ve got a bigger…T.V.”

“I’ll see you guys later,” the rookie says,
practically running from the room.

We’re still laughing when
we walk out to our cars. Reality sets in as I drive to my
apartment. I want Sierra back. I
need
Sierra back. She hasn’t
responded to the text I sent her, and I know proving my love to her
isn’t going to be easy. I screwed up, and now it’s time to go big.
She deserves nothing less.

I pull some sandwich stuff and pasta salad
from the fridge so we can eat while we talk. Once we’re settled
with food and water, he dives right in. “Spill it. Who’s the
mystery woman?”

“Do you know Zack Taylor?”

“Not personally, but I’ve seen him around.
Hold on. Are you banging his wife?”

I put down my sandwich and level him with a
glare. “I would hope you’d know me better than that. Ainsley’s
cool, but I don’t sleep with married women.”

“So why bring him up?”

“I was dating his sister, Sierra.”

“Sister?” he asks and pulls out his phone.
“Oh, damn. She’s hot. Like smoking hot.”

“You have a girlfriend,” I remind him.

“Doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate a good
looking woman. Getting back to the problem at hand, what’d you do
to fuck it up?”

“I don’t even know where to begin,” I tell
him honestly. I know I can’t tell him anything about the Society,
but there’s so much more, and while most of it is really good, the
bad was like a nuclear meltdown.

“The beginning is usually a good place.
How’d you hook up with her?”

“The actual beginning was at Zack’s wedding.
I asked her to dance, and she said no.”

“Smart girl.”

“I thought you were here to help.”

“I am, but helping means being honest. Carry
on.”

“You know I’ve been rehabbing in Vegas.” He
nods. “Zack invited me to a celebration party he was throwing for
Sierra. She got a new job, and it was a pretty big deal to her. I
had nothing else to do that night, and honestly, I wanted to see
her again.

“My mom called while I was there, so I went
outside to take the call. I ended it by speaking in Portuguese,
which Sierra overheard. Turns out she needed to learn the language,
and being the bastard I am, I told her I’d need some ‘things’ in
return.”