Page 2 of Fighting the Odds

“Uh huh, positive.” I want to tell them but I can’t. I need to keep Sam with me. If it means lying and bearing more of Aunt Sarah’s wrath, I will.

“Okay, well, we need to go get Samantha and head down to the Social Services. Your aunt’s employer, whom we have on file, just confirmed she hasn’t worked there in months. They fired her for showing up to work late, as well as intoxicated. I hope by the time we get to the office, you’re ready to tell me the truth. I need you to pack a bag for you and her.”

“A bag?” Please, no. My head already knows what’s going to happen, but my heart doesn't want to believe it. A pain pierces through it and I can feel it cracking into a million pieces.

“Yes, please hurry. Just a few items until we can get this sorted out.”

Standing slowly, I shuffle back to my room.

I hear her footsteps behind me, following me. As soon as she steps into my mine and Sam’s room, she’s going to know the truth.

I’ve failed Sam. I was supposed to be the one to look out for her, and I couldn’t even do that. Worst of all, I know I’ve broken my promise to her that we’d never be separated.

Chapter 1

Cyrus

Fifteen minutes earlier

Ihated leaving Sierra behind to deal with the CPS worker alone. This is the worst thing that could have happened. She is so close to her eighteenth birthday. Granted, she would’ve still had a hard road to get custody of Sam, but at least she would be a legal adult.

“Let’s take this outside,” the officer orders, gesturing for us to head to the stairs.

Guess he didn’t want to risk us going at it again in the elevator.

I take one final look back at her battered and bruised face, her eyes begging me not to leave. The apartment door closes and I have no way of knowing what fate awaits Sierra. How did they even find out? Who made the complaint? I need to tell Rico what’s happened. He’s a different person with her, compared to how he is with the other girls at the club. That’s something I need to look into. Is he waiting until she’s of age?

The three idiots in the front hit the landing first and turn around to glare at me.

“Okay, so Ms. Jones said none of you were to blame for the state she is in, but I need to know why you all are here?” The officer takes a moment to look each of us in the eyes.

“We don’t know why he’s here, but we’re her classmates. Our father is the guidance counselor at the school and knows we’re friends with her. He asked us to bring her homework over,” one of the twins says, and from the red mark on his jaw, I know it isn’t the one who was calling me a pimp.

“I’m just a friend and I was here visiting.” He doesn’t need to know I was here helping to take care of her. That would just drum up more questions that I don’t want to answer, at least not without talking to Sierra first.

“And what was the altercation about?” the officer asks as he scribbles on his notepad.

“Honestly, sir, I have no clue. There was a knock on the door. Sierra was in the restroom so I answered it, and when she walked in the room, they attacked me.” Fuck, it’s the truth. I’m just being kind and leaving out the slurs they threw at me.

“We saw how she looked and assumed he hurt her,” the dark-haired one says.

I hold my hands up in the air. “It wasn’t me. Am I being accused?”

“No, not yet. We will be investigating this incident.”

“You’re just going to let him get away with it? We showed up and he was here and she looked like that,” the carbon copy who threw a punch asks, pointing back to Sierra’s apartment.

“I’m not going to let anyone get away with anything.” He turns to me. “Sir, I need your name and a contact number, then I need you to leave. We will be in touch. The three of you wait over there.”

The boys comply, and I quickly give him the information before heading down the stairs. When I look over my shoulder, two of the three amigos are glaring at me.

I have no intention of leaving. I need to know what happens to Sierra and Sam. Stepping outside onto the sidewalk, I look around before heading to my car. Once the cops and the people from CPS leave, I’m running right back up those stairs to the woman who owns my heart.

I’m parked on the curb, and the police cruiser is two cars in front of me. I open my door and slide down behind the steering wheel, trying my damndest to not look suspicious.

A few minutes go by before I see the three classmates walk out. They’re looking around, so I duck down a little more. It looks like they’re arguing. The dark-haired one’s hands are waving frantically in the air as he talks, while one of the double trouble twins shakes his head and walks away. He crosses the street and opens the door to a jeep, climbing into the driver’s seat. He doesn’t wait long before he lays on the horn, and the other two jump in. The car starts up and they pull off.

I can’t, though. I have to see Sierra, to make sure she’s okay.

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