Page 20 of Fighting the Odds

His tongue glides across them before pushing its way inside. God, he feels so good. He groans as he deepens the kiss, tightening his hold on me.

We’re both out of breath when we break apart.

“Fuck me, you’re amazing,” he growls, the deep rumble of his voice sending a shiver through my body.

Chapter 10

Cyrus

I’ll never grow tired of kissing her, holding her in my arms, being with her. We talked long into the night. She told me about her mom, what she thinks happened to her that night, and about how those assholes at school treat her.

Wesley Johnson. I’m going to kill the fucker and lucky for me, he’s eighteen. I wonder if Rico knows about him? Which is another thing. He’s got a whole lot of explaining to fucking do. How could he let her work at the club? Live like this?

“How long has she been asleep?” a deep voice whispers from the door, causing me to jump up. My fists come in front of me as I try to make out the figure standing in the dim light of the hallway.

“What the hell, Rico! Why are you creeping around?” I whisper-shout, glancing to the bed to make sure Sierra is still asleep. She’s still trying to heal from her beating and the hell she went through yesterday. My girl needs all the rest she can get.

I cover her up, then head Rico’s way. “Let’s talk in the living room.” He turns and heads down the hallway. Stepping out behind him, I pull the door shut.

I walk into the living room and he’s standing there, staring at me. I can’t hold back any longer. “What the fuck, Rico? Stalk much? What if we’re doing something?” I growl, trying to keep my voice down.

“I’d watch your tone, boy,” he growls. “And what the fuck would you be doing with her? I’m trusting you, but if you think you can come and take advantage of my niece, you can think again.”

How dare he! As if I would ever hurt her.

“Take advantage of her? I fucking love her, Rico. Are you that blind? Actually, yeah, maybe you are. Why else would you let her work in your damn club knowing she’s your niece? How could you let her show her body to all those men every single night?” The more I talk, the angrier I get.

“Do you not think I hate myself for it? But I’d rather have her work in my club, where I can keep her safe versus some dump where someone could take advantage of her.” He runs his fingers through his hair as he drops down on the couch.

“Yeah, well, you did a shit job of it.” I move over, standing in front of him. I widen my stance, crossing my arms over my chest, and glare daggers at him. What happened to her was while her mother was still alive, and I know neither of them is responsible for it, but I’m fucking pissed.

Rico’s head pops up. “What are you talking about?”

“Before I tell you, I want to know why you never questioned her needing to work there?”

“I knew her aunt wasn’t staying here, and she needed money. Sierra wouldn’t just take the money from someone she didn’t know, and she’d question some anonymous person giving her money. Does that answer your fucking question?”

As much as I hate to admit Rico’s right, Sierra wouldn’t just take a handout from someone. She’s too independent. Instead of asking for help when her aunt abandoned her, she figured it out herself.

“I’ll take your silence as a yes. Now tell me why you think I did a shit job. I screwed up with Sarah. Her beating up Sierra wasn’t something I foresaw happening.”

“Did you know she’s bullied every day at school?”

He shakes his head. I can’t really be mad at him for that, I didn’t know either. At least in my case, I didn’t even know she was in high school like he did. Still, Sierra did a good job of hiding things from everyone.

“Why? Who?”

“She doesn’t know why. But from what she told me tonight, the whole damn school is in on it. Hell, even some of the teachers. Seems some guy who used to be her best friend is the ringleader. But that’s not the worst part.”

“Can you just fucking tell me? You’re drawing this story out. Remind me to never have you be the person to recap something.” He sighs, and I don’t know if it’s at me or the fact he didn’t know everything going on in Sierra’s life.

“So that friend, the one who’s the ringleader of everything happening to her at school?” Rico waves his hands, hurrying me to get to the point. “Wesley, that’s his name. Well, she was at a party at his house. Apparently, his dad would let them drink. She said she only had two beers and then everything went foggy. She doesn’t remember anything after that. She woke up the next morning in Wesley’s car. When she got home, there were bruises and blood on her thighs and she was in pain.”

“Someone fucking roofied and raped my niece?!” he growls, swiping out at a vase that’s on the table, sending it to the floor where it shatters into pieces. I really hope that wasn’t something of her mother’s.

“I don’t know if I was raped. But I think I was,” a soft voice says from behind us.

“Fuck, Sierra. I’m sorry.” Rico rushes to her and wraps his arms around her, mumbling something into her ear. This big man that I’ve been scared of since I started at Tiger Tails breaks down in front of me.

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