Page 74 of Fighting the Odds

“Who the hell are those boys in there and why are we so comfortable leaving them with her?”

“She’s fine with them,” I reply, my voice short.

“How the fuck do you know that? Do you not see how she fucking looks?”

“I do have eyes, Rico. She’s fine with them for many reasons. Their dad is Sam’s foster father, they’re her classmates and most importantly, each one of them will soon be her boyfriend, along with me. Now, can we get back to why you’re fucking here?” I don’t know what comes over me. Normally, an infuriated Rico has me shaking in my boots.

“See you finally grew some balls when it comes to me. Now what the fuck is it? Then we’ll come back to this boyfriend shit.” Rico stands back, arms folded across his chest, with a smirk on his face.

“Before you fly off the chains, listen to everything I have to say. There was a video sent via a mass text this morning at Sierra’s school. The guys saw it, then got Sierra out of there as quickly as they could. She didn’t see the video until she got here,” I pause, knowing he’s about to hulk out.

“Okay. Keep going.” Rico motions for me to finish.

“The video was of Sierra.” God, I don’t want to say or show it to him. I can see the murder in his eyes already.

“What kind of video?”

“It’s of her and a man. You can’t see him, and his voice has some type of filter on it where it sounds more robotic. Someone edited it so we wouldn’t know who it was. He’s raping her in it.”

All the blood drains from his face. “Let me see it.” His voice is short and cold.

“Rico, I’m not sure you want to see your niece like this. It gutted me.”

“Let me see the fucking video. Now!” he shouts.

I pull up the messages and hand the phone over to him. He hits the screen and the video plays. I can see his eyes glass over as he watches, but he doesn’t let a single tear fall.

He types something on the phone just before I hear a buzzing. I know he sent himself a copy.

“You said this was sent to the whole school?” he asks.

“Yeah. The guys forwarded it to me.”

“Come on.” He storms out of Sierra’s room, and I quickly rush out behind him.

Sierra’s still in the same spot, except now she has a little color.

“Has she said anything?” I ask.

“No,” Braxton’s calm voice answers.

“I need all of your phone numbers, and for you to delete the video from your phone. That video is child pornography and you could all go down for having it, especially since one of you forwarded it. I’ve got connections and we’ll have all traces of it ever being sent to you erased from your phone.” Before Rico can say another word, there’s a knock at the door. “Fuck. Please don’t let it be the damn social worker doing a surprise inspection.”

Rico moves over to the door and opens it just enough to see who’s there.

“Oh, umm, is Sierra here?” a male voice mutters from the other side of the door.

“And who the fuck are you? Wait, I know you. Are you stalking my niece?”

“That’s Wes. I’d know that voice anywhere,” Zander snarls. “He’s the main person who’s been terrorizing Sierra at school.”

Rico takes hold of Wesley’s shirt, yanking him inside the apartment so roughly he stumbles over his feet and falls onto his hands and knees.

“So you’ve been bullying my niece. I should kill your fucking ass for it.” Rico threatens him, placing his foot on his back, pushing and holding him down on the floor as Wesley tries to get up.

“Yes, I did, and I’m fucking sorry. I deserve everything you want to do to me, but I need to speak with Sierra first. I have to warn her.” Wesley’s saddened, guilty voice pleads.

“What do you need to warn her about?” I step up to him, the tip of my shoe grazing his face as I squat down.

---