Society Girls: Sierra (5 page)

“That’s not my style,” she tells me, before
launching herself at me.

I manage to hold my own for the first five
minutes or so. We’re both bruised and bleeding a little, but I’m
not doing too badly. I can see when she realizes that what she’s
doing isn’t working. It’s almost like she’s flipped a switch inside
of herself. One that brings out her true nature, her dark side.

I have no chance once she unleashes herself.
The blows become more brutal and dirty. They’re somehow faster than
before, and even as I tire, she seems to find strength in giving me
pain. It doesn’t go on long before the cage door is open, and Nate
goes for her while Jade and Ellie rush to me. There’s a moment
where I think she may take Nate down too, but then he’s got her
over his head, and he drops her to the mat none too gently. The
last thing I see before blacking out is that damn smirk on her face
before she starts laughing.

I wake up in a hospital room. From our tour,
I know it’s the one in the Foundation, and not somewhere public. My
mouth is dry, my head is throbbing, and I have no idea what time it
is. When I turn my head, I see Darcy sleeping in the chair by my
bed. Zack’s not here, which means no one told him what happened.
I’ll have to thank them all later.

“Darce?” I whisper.

Her eyes pop open and she jumps from the
chair. “She’s awake. Kenny, she’s awake.”

“Calm down, Darcy. I don’t think they heard
you in your husband’s home country,” the Foundation doctor,
Kendrick, tells her as he walks into the room. “Hello, Sierra. I
was hoping I wouldn’t see you in here until you were at least
mission ready.”

“Hi, Kendrick. Sorry to disappoint you.”

“Not to worry. I’m used to it with this
group.”

“How long have I been here?”

“You’ve been asleep for about five hours.
You had a slight concussion when you got here, and we thought it
was best if we let you rest.”

“I thought it was dangerous to let someone
with a concussion sleep.”

“It can be, but we’ve been monitoring your
brain activity,” he tells me pointing to a monitor next to the bed.
“Medicine is often no match for sleep when it comes to healing. I
can tell you’re in some pain, so I am going to give you a little
something.”

I watch him use a syringe to put something
in my I.V., and my hand gets uncomfortably cold as it goes in. “Am
I okay?”

“You will be. You have some bruised ribs and
a few other cuts and bruises that need to heal. You’re going to
need to rest for at least a few days, and I’ll be recommending that
you don’t spar for about a week.”

“Is that alright?” I ask Darcy, worried that
I’ll be kicked out of the program.

“Yes, Sierra. You won’t be penalized for
what happened,” Reina says from the doorway. “From what I’ve been
told, Nate was barely able to subdue Greta. There was no way you
could’ve been prepared for her. Hell, I probably couldn’t have held
her off, and I’ve been fighting for years.”

“She definitely seemed to go a little crazy
in there.”

“Do you know why she picked you to spar
with? Jade said she called you out immediately.”

I look to Darcy, who nods. “It’s not
snitching, Si. We have to work together, and if there’s a problem,
Reina needs to know. One day we’ll tell you how keeping something
quiet almost brought down the entire Society.”

I sigh, knowing she’s right. “She wants
Joel.”

“You mean to tell me that she attacked you
because of a guy?” Reina asks, barely containing her anger.

“Yes. She was flirting with him at the club
the other night, but he left her when I walked in. He kissed me in
the cafeteria today when Miles brought him in.”

“I know. I saw it,” she tells me with a
smile.

“We all saw it,” Darcy says.

“I also saw you pretty much dismiss him
afterwards.”

“He tends to say things that make me angry,
but he’s promised to help me with Portuguese, so I usually ignore
it. Sometimes, I don’t.” I say with a shrug.

“Sounds about right. He’s a good guy, and he
actually helped me out once, but he can be a little full of himself
sometimes. I’m happy to hear he’s willing to tutor you in
Portuguese, though. You need to pass, Sierra.”

“I know.”

“And he’s one hot tutor,” Darcy adds.

“That he is,” I agree.

“On that note, Sierra needs her rest,”
Kendrick says in his stern doctor voice.

“And we need to decide what to do about
Greta.”

“She’ll expose us all if you make her
angry,” I tell them, feeling the truth of it down to my bones.

“No. She won’t. In fact, if she’s forced to
leave, she won’t remember ever being here,” Reina tells me with a
wink.

“Don’t worry about her. And if it helps,
you’re not the only one she has a problem with, so she’s already
been on thin ice.”

“Darcy,” Reina says with steel in her voice
before my mentor can elaborate.

“Fine. My lips are zipped. I’ll come see you
tomorrow, though. We all will.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Oh, and hey, your phone’s
on the table next to you. I shut it off because it was going off
like crazy for a little while. Ainsley’s kept Zack in the dark for
now, so I’m guessing it’s your hot tutor.”

“Oh. Yeah. I think we were going to make
plans to meet up. I’ll check it.”

She gives me a little wave, and after
Kendrick checks me over one more time, and orders me dinner, I turn
my phone on. There are more missed calls, texts, and voicemails
than I’ve ever had in one day, and they’re all from Joel. They
start out nice and flirty, but by the end, he’s pissed and telling
me that since I’m not holding up my end of our deal, he’s not
holding up his either.

Shit. I can’t tell him exactly what
happened, but I have to say something. I need his help, and if I’m
honest with myself, I need more of his kisses, too. I wrack my
brain for the words I need. I have a handle on Italian and French,
so I’ve started looking up some Portuguese to get ready for Joel.
Okay, and because I like surprising him with a word here and there.
I close my eyes, and the first word I need comes to me. I type it
into my phone and send it off.

Me: Desculpe.
I’m sorry.

It’s almost five minutes later when his
response comes.

Joel: I don’t play games off the field.
Where the fuck have you been?

I can’t tell him exactly what happened, but
I can tell him part of the truth.

Me: We had self-defense
training today. I didn’t do so well. Estou magoado.
I am hurt.

This time the response is immediate. It’s
also in Portuguese, which tells me how freaked out he is.

Joel: Quanto? Onde está você? Por favor,
diga.

I’m pleased to know I can
translate all of it.
How? Where are you?
Please tell me.

Me: I’m being taken care of. That’s all I
can tell you. I’ll be okay. I just have to rest for a few days.

Joel: Who were you fighting against?

Me: Greta

Joel. Merda.

Me: Yeah. Pretty much. She thinks I moved in
on you when she saw you first.

Joel: You know that’s not true.

Me: I do.

Joel: Can we text? I can help you while
you’re resting. I’ll send you words and phrases to learn.

Me: I’d like that. Do you have time for
that, though?

Joel. Claro. I always have time for you. Boa
noite, Gatinha.

Me: Eu te adoro, Joel.

Joel: :)

I
do
adore him. Probably more than I
should, and definitely more than is safe for me. He’s sweeter than
he seems, and just as sexy as I expected. So far he hasn’t asked me
to do anything I’m not comfortable with, and I’m a little
disappointed. I kind of want to cook him dinner, be on his arm, and
yeah, I definitely want to sleep with him.

I’m in trouble, and not from a few bruised
ribs. It’s my heart that’s in danger of getting broken, and I
already think it’s too late to keep that organ out of the
equation.

Joel

“What’s so funny?” Miles asks me as I burst
out laughing after looking at my phone.

We’re eating in the cafeteria again, but
Sierra’s not here this time. She thinks she’ll be released from her
secret location tomorrow, and I can’t wait to see her in person.
Texting is fun, but kissing is so much better.

“Sierra’s trying to guess while translating
the phrase I just sent her in Portuguese. She’s failing
miserably.”

I text her to try again,
and then shake my head. She’s going to need to look it up, even if
that means taking a blow to her pride. My girl is stubborn, but I
love it. Whoa.
My girl
. Porra.
Fuck.
I realize I want her to be my girl, but not because I’m
forcing her. That whole agreement thing seemed like a good idea at
the time, but I don’t want it anymore. I want to spend time with
her because she wants to be with me, not because I forced her into
a stupid agreement.

I text her before I can second guess
myself.

Me: I want this to be real.

Kitten: What about our agreement?

Me: Eu gosto de você. That agreement was
stupid. I just wanted to get you to spend time with me, but I don’t
want to force you.

Kitten: I like you, too.

Me: I’d like to cook you dinner tomorrow
night if you get released.

Kitten: I thought I was supposed to be the
one cooking.

Me: I meant what I said about the deal. All
bets are off, querida. I want to help you, but I also want you in
my life because you want to be with me.

Kitten: Eu te
quero!
I want you.

Me: Também

Kitten: I need to look up what you sent me
earlier.

Me: I know. I’m eating with Miles right now,
so I should probably talk to him instead of texting you. I’ll call
you later.

Kitten: Bo apetite!

“You’ve got it bad, man.”

“No, Miles. I’ve got it good.”

“Spring Training starts soon.”

“It does.” I’ve got another six weeks before
I have to report.

“What’s your plan for when you have to head
back to Cali?”

“I have no fucking clue. Between you and me,
I don’t even know if I’ll be ready. My shoulder’s been healing
well, but is it well enough?”

“You’re doing PT, right?”

“Yeah. The guy’s pretty good, and I feel
better. I need to go to the cages, though.”

“You haven’t been batting?”

“No. We do stuff to simulate hitting and
throwing, but I haven’t done the real thing. I didn’t want to go
down to the field and try to do it in front of the staff, and I was
afraid someone would see me at a local place.”

“Shit. You should’ve said something. I have
a room with cages at home, but the C&C apartments have a full
regulation size cage as part of the game room on the main floor.
You can use that one. I’ll get you the clearance to enter the
building.”

“Is that were Sierra lives?”

“Yes, but I can’t get you access to her
floor without her permission.”

“I’m cooking her dinner tomorrow if she gets
released, so that’s not a problem. Maybe she’ll want to go to this
game room with me after.”

“If she’s up for it. I heard she was in
pretty bad shape after what happened.”

“I still don’t understand how she could get
so hurt from a self-defense class.”

“From what I understand, Greta went after
her like they were figthing for the title belt.”

“Crazy bitch.”

“Who’s heading this way.”

“What?”

“Hi, Joel,” she says, putting her hand on my
shoulder as she stands next to my chair.

I stand up and move away from her. “Get the
the fuck away from me.”

“Greta, you need to go sit down with the
other girls,” Isabelle Mason says, coming up behind her.

“I don’t have to listen to you, you stupid
little girl.”

“The only stupid thing I’ve done is agree to
mentor you as an intern for the Foundation. Get over to that table,
or get the Hell out of this building.”

Whoa. The girl genius means business. I’m
impressed, and more than a little afraid, as I hear the steel in
her voice. Greta tries to stare her down, but when it doesn’t work,
she stomps over to a table on the other side of the room. Once she
sits, everyone else stands and walks to another table, leaving her
alone and fuming.

Isabelle shakes her head,
and then looks at me. “Fique longe dela. Eu não posso controlá-la
fora destas paredes, e eu não quero ver Sierra machucar novamente.
As outras meninas vão defendê-la, mas haverá vítimas.”
Stay away from her. I can't control her outside
of these walls, and I don't want to see Sierra hurt again. The
other girls will defend her, but there will be
casualties.

“Eu não quero nada a ver
com aquela vadia louca.”
I want nothing to
do with that crazy bitch.

“Good.”

She turns and walks away. Miles just shakes
his head when I sit down again. “I thought I had it rough with Alex
when we got together, but it looks like you’re in the middle of a
shit show right now.”

“All I want is Sierra. She’s worth the
trouble.” I just have to hope that she thinks I’m worth it,
too.

* * *

Sierra

“There was an altercation in the cafeteria
today,” Reina tells me as I get ready to leave the hospital
wing.

“What kind of altercation?” I ask, sitting
down on the bed.

“Joel was eating with Miles, and Greta tried
to approach him.”

“Oh.”

“It’s a little worse than ‘oh’ I’m
afraid.”

“Did he do something wrong?”