Page 81 of Fighting the Odds

There’s not a word spoken. We sit in silence. Cyrus squeezes my shoulder, comforting me in ways he doesn’t even know. I have him in my corner and that’s what's important.

Finally, I can’t take it anymore. There’s no need for them to stay if they can’t accept me. Who I am. What I do. What happened to me.

I’ve had enough of the quiet and I refuse to sit and be judged in my own home. Standing from the couch, Cyrus’ hands fall from my shoulder.

“You can go now. I have no hard feelings toward you. Please, just don’t repeat anything I’ve told you. I’m trusting you to keep those secrets.” I turn, kiss Cyrus and head toward the hallway. I just want to lie down and sleep. To forget everything that’s happened today.

“I don’t want to leave. Thank you for sharing everything you’ve been through with us. You are by far the strongest person I’ve ever met in my life. And if you’ll let me, I'll show you how much I want to be with you. I know I have to earn your trust after everything. But I’m ready to do it,” Colton, of all people, says, stopping me in my tracks. I turn and look at him in disbelief.

“I feel the same way. You are it for me, Sierra. I want nothing more than to be your boyfriend if you’ll have me.” Braxton stands next.

“The same for me. I want to reserve my spot in your harem. It’s just like the books we’re reading for our project. I feel like we have a heads up on how to make it work. That’s if you still want me,” Zander adds in.

“You still want to pursue something with me after all I’ve told you?”

“Why wouldn’t we?” Zander asks. “We definitely need to sit down and discuss how we want this to work. Make date nights. Talk about how we want to handle it in public, just like Cyrus said. Plus, we got our books as a reference,” he jokes, causing us all to laugh.

I guess he’s right. It looks like I’m getting my very own romance book.

Chapter 38

Sierra

“Can we talk in private?” Colton runs his hand through his hair nervously.

“Yeah. Umm, I guess we can go to my room?”

“No, stay in here. Come on, you two, let’s go get something to eat. It’s almost eleven and my girl needs to eat. When we get back, we can decide on date nights and all that stuff. Then, Sierra, we can talk about what you want to do about school.” Cyrus steps over, wrapping his arms around my waist, and kisses me.

His firm body presses against mine and I melt into him, opening my lips so he can take our kiss deeper. He groans into my mouth and I swallow it, yearning for more. I need this amazing man buried deep inside of me.

“Umm, I hate to break this up. But yeah, we need food and this is turning me on. I don’t see having a problem sharing our girl at all.”

Cyrus and I break apart, both of us grinning at Zander’s bold words.

“Yeah, I feel the same way, brother. I’m just jealous he’s kissing her and I’m not,” Braxton adds in, scratching the back of his head, his eyes heated as he stares at me.

“We’ll be back,” Cyrus whispers. “If you need me, just text and I’ll come right back.

“Thank you,” I mouth.

He heads toward the front door, where Braxton and Zander are already waiting. They all smile before opening the door and exiting, leaving me alone with Colton.

My stomach twists in knots, nervous about what’s going to happen. But mostly for being alone with him. We didn’t have the best start and I’m still a little skeptical of his intentions, even though he seems to be sincere.

“Guess we should sit down.” My words come out sounding unsure.

“Yeah,” he answers.

We both step toward the couch, nearly bumping into each other. It seems we’re both unsure. He gestures for me to go ahead of him and I make my way to the couch, sitting down at the end and turning my body toward him. Colton sits down on the other end, mimicking me.

“I’ve had this conversation so many times in my head. Even had different versions of how I’d start it, but now I’m nervous as hell. I fucked up everything with you all because I wanted to fit in.”

I want to say something, but I don’t. He could have chosen to be himself instead of blindly following everyone. But he didn’t.

“When we came here, I gave up so much and I was still mad about it. I know my dad and John love each other and they spent so much time apart that they deserved to be together. I was happy they were finally going to be, but there was still a small piece of me that didn’t want to give up what I had. Fitting in was all I wanted when we got here. Friends, fun, and girls. Wes made that happen, but in the process, it became obvious that bullying you was a part of it.”

He picks at the frays in his ripped jeans, then draws little circles on the denim fabric.

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