Society Girls: Sierra (17 page)

“Jesus, man. No wonder she dumped your
ass.”

“Calm
your
ass down. The deal fell apart
almost immediately because I fell for her that fast.”

“But then you still screwed up.”

“We both screwed up, but yeah, it was mostly
me.”

I explain the Marcus situation as her doing
a favor for her boss, who’s an investor in his company. Since we’re
in the public eye, it’s easy enough for me to convince him she was
doing it to help his image.

“I’d probably have been shocked to hear she
was at a party with someone else, but if she was with you almost
every night until then, and she told you it was a work trip, you
should’ve known she wasn’t cheating. You should’ve talked it
out.”

“I know. Believe me, I know.”

It’s harder to admit what I did when she
came to the game. He already heard about me grabbing the bunny’s
boobs from D.J., but he didn’t have the context until now. He
visibly cringes when I explain it to him.

“Dude. That…I don’t even know what to say
about that.”

“I’ve told myself everything you can
possibly think of and called myself all the names already,
too.”

“And that was the last time you saw her?
After the game?”

“No. I saw her yesterday in Sao Paolo.
That’s how I found out about the publicity thing.”

“She was there? Pretending to be his
girlfriend again?”

“Yeah.”

“It was too crazy to talk to her, huh?”

“We could’ve talked, but she made it clear
that she was done with me.”

“Really? Or is that just what you want to
think so you don’t have to face the hard stuff?”

“No, really,” I admit. “She brought up the
boob thing and walked out.”

“You totally deserved that.”

“Your brutal honesty is really warming my
heart.”

“I already told you I needed to be honest in
order to help you.”

“What have you got in mind?”

“Nothing yet, but we’re two
smart guys. We can do this.
You
can do this. You’ll probably have to embarrass
yourself, and the guys are going to give you shit if any of it’s
romantic. You okay with that?”

“Yeah,” I answer with no hesitation. “I’ll
pretty much do anything to get her back”

“Grab some paper, and let’s get to
work.”

* * *

Sierra

I stayed in my old apartment last night.
Zack insisted on buying it for me after he met Ainsley, and
although I went back to Seattle for the year I was waiting for my
training to begin, I kept it. Stella’s taught us that clothing can
sometimes be the best armor we have, and I take that to heart as I
get ready for my meeting. I put on skintight black leather pants
with some cool zippers on the pockets, along with a slouchy black
sweater and chunky, peep-toe ankle boots. I pull my hair back into
a sleek ponytail and prepare for the biggest battle of my life.

Alex gives me a sympathetic look when I
enter the Foundation lobby and tells me to go on back to Reina’s
office. The doors open as I approach and I’m surprised to see all
of the mentors inside, as well as Matt. I keep my shoulders squared
and my walk steady, even though I’m scared out of my mind.

“Sit down, Sierra,” Reina tells me.

I do as I’m told and wait for the proverbial
ax to fall. The tension in the room is palpable, so I’m fairly
certain that I’ll be walking out of here for good once this meeting
is over. I clench my jaw and will away the tears that are already
forming in my eyes.

“To say that I’m disappointed in you is an
understatement. You have wanted this since the day you found out
about us, and yet you just threw it all away. For a man you’re not
even in a relationship with. I don’t understand what was going
through your head that would make you think this was the right
thing to do.”

“Just because I’m not with Joel doesn’t mean
I don’t love him. I had to do everything I could to save him.
Wouldn’t you do the same for Matt? Didn’t he do the same for
you?”

“Matt was Special Forces in
the military, not a trainee. He knew what he was doing. Just as I
would if I had to save him. We’re
trained
, Sierra. You
aren’t.”

“I did okay.”

“Better than okay,” Faith chimes in.

“Really, Faith? She was tossed into the
dining room. She couldn’t hold her own in that fight.”

“She killed him, Reina. I’d say that means
she was ready. I’ve been outmatched, even with training. All of us
have. She may have gone in there for Joel, but she did a kick-ass
job of helping everyone.”

“This is one of the biggest problems I have
with that you’ve done. These women in this room think you did the
right thing, but you didn’t. This isn’t college where if you screw
something up, you fail a class. We deal with life and death. If you
mess up, someone dies. Thankfully, that didn’t happen this time,
but it could’ve. We have rules for a reason, and if I let you break
them while getting pats on the back, what does that say to the
other eight women who are training with you? The ones who follow
the rules, while you get away with breaking them.”

“You broke the rules,” I say quietly. “Darcy
stayed with me when all of you went against Jane Corrigan.”

“Yes, and I appreciate everything you did to
help us, but again, we are trained, Sierra. We knew what to do on
our own. You don’t. I can’t let you set a precedent with everyone
else. There have to be consequences for what you’ve done so that no
one else thinks they can just jump into a mission because they feel
like it.”

“That’s not what I did.”

“It’s exactly what you did.”

“We gave her permission to go,” Stella says.
“It’s not all on her.”

“You’re right. It’s not. I don’t know what
to do with the rest of you. I need you here training the other
recruits, so I can’t suspend you, and none of you would care if I
docked your pay.”

“Are you putting me on probation?” I ask,
hopefully.

“No. I honestly don’t know what I’m going to
do with you, yet. I hate to make rash decisions without getting all
of my facts together. Until I decide, you’re suspended. You can get
whatever you need from your Corrigan apartment, but you cannot live
there and you cannot enter this building.”

“I’m sorry,” I tell her.

“That doesn’t mean anything when I know
you’d do the same thing again. You would, wouldn’t you?”

“Yes.”

She nods. “Alex sent me a message that your
friends are waiting for you in the lobby. You may tell them
anything you want about what’s going on. I don’t believe in keeping
secrets. I’ll call you back in when I make my decision.”

That’s my cue to leave, and I stand,
planning to do just that. Darcy grabs me before I can go, pulling
me into a tight hug. The others hug me as well. All except for
Reina. She has tears in her eyes, but she doesn’t offer me any
comfort. I know she can’t, but it still hurts a little. Matt puts
his arm around her and gives me a sad smile as I turn and walk out
the door.

Sierra

“Hey there superspy,” Matisse says as I walk
out into the lobby.

“Don’t call me that,” I say, looking
nervously over at Alex.

“It’s fine. No one’s here but us. Alex
locked the doors,” Rose tells me.

“So how was it?” Rhieve asks. “Were you
scared?”

“Listen, guys. I love you, but I really need
you to pretend like this didn’t happen.”

“Why would we do that? You rocked a mission
and you’re not even out of training yet,” Harlow says.

“What I did is probably going to put an end
to my training.”

“She wouldn’t do that!” Camari tells me.
“Reina’s really fair.”

“It’s because she’s fair that she’s thinking
of kicking me out. I broke the rules and set a bad precedent for
all of you.”

“I’m not going to go out and try to do a
mission just because you did,” Kalila tells me.

“Me neither,” Nev says. “I understand why
you did it, and yeah, you should probably be on probation or
something, but I wouldn’t do it.”

“Reina isn’t so sure about that. She’s not
sure what she’s going to do to me. I have to move out until she
decides. I can’t come here, either.”

“That’s bollocks. I mean, bullshit. Bloody
hell, I’ll never be an American,” Jen tells me as we all laugh.
“You all know what I mean, though. You belong here with us.”

“Hopefully Reina will decide that, but if
she doesn’t, can we still be friends?” I ask, finally letting a few
tears flow.

“We’ll always be friends, Si. Always,” Jen
says, pulling me in for a hug.

Everyone else gathers around and we hold
onto each other for a few minutes. As we break apart, we see that
the mentors have entered the lobby and are watching us. Reina looks
conflicted and then runs over and hugs me, too.

“I want you to know that no matter what I
end up having to do, I’m proud of you. For doing what you thought
was right and for standing up to me. I may not agree with what you
did, but I respect you, Sierra.”

“I respect you, too.”

“Will you be staying at your old apartment?”
she asks, stepping back.

“No. She’ll be staying with us,” Ainsley
tells her.

“I didn’t agree to that. My apartment is
fine.”

“For you, maybe. Your brother is already
freaking out about you going off on the mission. He’s going to go
postal if he hears you’re staying alone.”

“He can get over it. All of it,” I say,
rolling my eyes.

“He thinks that you might…um…I don’t know
how to say it.”

I close my eyes and count to ten. “He really
thinks I would hurt myself over this?”

“He’s just worried.”

“I’ll stay with you tonight, but Zack and I
are going to have a talk. My heart is broken, and I’m emotionally
beaten down, but I wouldn’t do that. I wouldn’t hurt or kill
myself.”

“I know you wouldn’t. Like I said, he just
worries.”

“I’ve worried way too much about him over
the years, so I guess it’s his turn.”

“Go easy on him.”

“Never,” I tell her with a smile.

I love my brother, but he needs to realize
that I’m going to fight for myself, not give up. Losing everything
only makes me want to fight harder. He should know that already. He
will by the time we’re done talking, even if I have to literally
knock some sense into him.

* * *

Joel

Part one of Operation Kitten is starting
today. Our game is being televised, and I’m taking advantage of the
cameras to get my first message across. It’s only been two days
since Sao Paolo, and I can’t allow myself to hope that Sierra will
watch the game, but I hope it’ll get picked up and go viral. Or it
will be an epic failure, and I’ll have to move on to part two
sooner rather than later.

I walk out onto the field, and right on cue,
Glen shouts out his question to me. “Did you get your Kitten
back?”

“No,” I answer, keeping to the script. “I
hope she’s not gone for good.”

“You lost a kitten?” a reporter from the
network airing the game asks me, motioning for the cameraman to
keep rolling.

“Yeah, man, and I’ll do anything to get her
back.”

“She was here with you in Arizona?”

“I lost her here, yes.”

“I bet the fans would be willing to help you
look for her. Especially the female ones. We all know you’ve never
had a problem attracting the females.”

“I’m not looking to attract any female fans.
I just want my Kitten.”

“What’s your kitten’s name?”

“Gatinha.”

I jog into the dugout before he can ask me
anything else. Glen and I discreetly bump fists and smile at each
other. I did what I could for now. It’s time to concentrate on
winning today’s game.

Eleven innings later, we’ve fought our way
to a one-point win. I’m exhausted and a little battered, but we got
the job done, and that’s all that matters. Until I look up into the
stands and see Sierra standing there with a smile on her face. I
start to run to her, but her eyes go wide and she shakes her head.
She holds up her phone and I get it. She doesn’t want pictures of
us. I can’t completely stop without looking suspicious, so I still
run to the first rows and high five the fans there.

Once I get away, and get back to the locker
room, I grab my phone. I have to stop myself from jumping up and
down when I see the text.

Kitten: I heard you were missing your
Kitten.

It came through earlier, but I immediately
respond, knowing she won’t be waiting for me outside this time. Or
at least not where I can see her. I have no doubt she’ll be
watching me with the bunnies to see if I really meant the message I
sent to her.

Me: More than anything I’ve ever missed in
my life.

Kitten: Even baseball?

Me: Yes.

Kitten: I was kidding.

Me: I’m not.

Kitten: Text me your address. If you
want…

Me: Can’t you find that out with your
internship?

Kitten: I’m probably being kicked out.

Me: Porra. Can I do anything?”

Kitten: You can give me your address. We’ll
see from there.

We both know I was asking if I could talk to
Reina for her, but I’m not going to argue with anything she’s
offering, or wanting. I’ll give her whatever she needs from me. I
text her the address and then hit the showers.

* * *

Sierra

I don’t know what I’m doing here. I was
sitting at Zack’s house after our latest fight, channel surfing as
I tried to calm down. When I saw Joel running onto the field, I had
to stop. I just wanted to see him for a few seconds. I didn’t
expect him to tell the world he was missing his “kitten.” I wonder
how many women are running around this city, calling out to every
cat they see, hoping it’s Joel’s “Gatinha.”