Chapter Eight
Simon
I have to find her. Sierra is out there somewhere, probably confused and hurt. And all this right after losing her virginity on camera. I swear, if I could kill George’s fucking cousin, I would. I barely know the guy, but every time I’ve been around him, he’s said something that made me want to throat punch him. George has been apologizing left and right for bringing him along on what was supposed to be a celebration of losing my V-card. I really don’t know what he was thinking.
After ditching his cousin, George, Dave, and I started canvassing the area, searching for the distinctive teal and rust old car I saw burning rubber out of the parking lot when I got done with Liza. But we’ve all come up empty handed.
Dave took the campus, searching every parking lot, garage, and side street in the area. George has been looking at the east end of town, and I took the west end, where all the bigger shopping complexes and big box stores are. She had said that that was where she’s been sleeping lately, and just the idea of her alone in a cold car and hurting makes me want to punch a hole through my windshield.
Starting on the third circuit of the same mall in the last two hours, my heart leaps into my throat as I see her shitty old car sitting under a big light at the back of an abandoned grocery store. This is what she thinks is a safe place to spend the night? I want to smash everything in sight. Sierra deserves so much better than this. She deserves the world.
I stop a little ways from her car, afraid if she sees me pulling up next to her, she’ll just take off again. I get out, shoving my hands into the pockets of my coat and force myself to walk over to her car. I want to run. I want to rip the doors off and pull her into my arms, never let her go. But I remember that she thinks the worst of me right now, and that helps me to slow down. The closer I get, I begin to doubt that she is in the car, I don’t see her silhouette sitting in the driver’s or passenger's seat. Once I’m a foot away, I notice a pile of blankets in the backseat shift and realize she’s laying down back there. There must be at least three huge comforters covering her, and my heart cracks inside my chest. I’ve never been an overly emotional guy, but just seeing her trying to sleep in this old car on a night that might reach down into the thirties, tears start to prick behind my eyes.
Gently, I tap on the back window just over her head, which is covered in a knit hat. Immediately, she springs up to a sitting position, scrambling to get to the opposite side of the car. I crouch down so she can she me better, and her eyes widen. Sierra is cast almost entirely in shadow thanks to the light directly overhead, but I don't miss the puffy skin around those gorgeous emerald eyes, and the tracks of tears down her face.
“Please, Sierra, open the car. Please talk to me.” A tear of my own escapes the corner of my eye and falls down my cheek. I really can’t remember the last time I cried. But seeing the woman I love and want to spend the rest of my life with wearing enough layers to hide any hint of the shapely body underneath has me damn near on the edge of blubbering. If I don’t get her in my arms soon, I’m going to lose it.
“Why should I? According to your friends, you lied about everything. You weren’t a virgin. You just wanted the money and got them to lie for you too.” Sierra looks down at her lap, where the blankets are pooled around her waist. “I should have figured it out. No virgin could be that good his first time.”
Anger rushes through me again as I remember what that asshole said to her in the parking lot. It took a lot of yelling, but they all eventually spilled what happened. Not even punching that asshole in the face made me feel any better.
“I promise, sweetheart, that guy is not my friend. He’s my business partner’s cousin. The only reason he was there was because he’s in town visiting family. I know there is no way I can prove that I was a virgin, just like you. But I swear to you, I was. Hell, I had only ever kissed two other women before I kissed you this afternoon.” Placing my hand on the window, the cold glass begins to fog up around my heated skin. I quickly remove it, not wanting to lose my view of her. “Please, seeing you out here is breaking my heart. Let me take you home.”
“No. I can take care of myself. I don’t need your pity. The check from Liza will clear my account in a couple days, and then I’ll get an apartment. I’ll be fine. We should both pretend this never happened and move on with our lives.” I can barely hear her words through the car windows, but they hit me as if she had shouted them from a bullhorn directly in my ears.
Panic like I’ve never known before beats inside my chest and veins. “Get on with our lives? You are my life. Have been since I first laid eyes on you. I don't care if you and every single one of my friends and family think I am nuts for falling in love with a girl at first sight, but I did. I will not give up. I will camp out here next to your car all night. I will camp out in every parking lot for every place you live until you listen to me. Please.” Tears are streaming down both our faces, and I know what I’m about to tell her is not going to help my case at all, but she has to know. “The check isn’t going to clear your account either. Liza isn’t paying us.”
That gets her attention. Her eyes snap to glare at me, fire burning behind them. “What, why not? We did what she asked. Was the footage not good enough?”
“No, it was perfect. I fought with her for almost an hour to get it all from her, to make sure not a single frame would show up on the internet.” Before the words are totally out of my mouth, Sierra leaps from the car, storming around the bumper and coming at me like a bull who’s had enough from a matador and coming for his blood.
“Why would you do that?” Her tiny fists are balled inside one of the many sweatshirts she’s wearing, but they still sting as she pummels my chest and arms. “I needed that money. Fuck, I earned that money. What am I going to do now?”
I wrap my arms around her, holding her close to me so she can’t get a swing in. Even through all those clothes I can tell she’s still freezing, and I hold her even tighter, willing my warmth to transfer over to her. “You’re going to come home with me, and I’m going to take care of you for the rest of our lives.”
“Is that why you did this?” The venom in her voice is almost enough to make me regret everything I did this afternoon to make sure no one else would ever see the way she looked when she came undone. Almost, but not quite. “You got her to withhold my money, so I’d be forced to come live with you? What, be your live-in prostitute? Fuck. You. I’d rather sleep in my car for the rest of my life than go anywhere with you.”
She pushes and shoves at my chest, trying to get away, but there is no way in hell that is happening. Not now. Not ever. “No. I sat there and watched the footage of us kissing, of you going down on me, you in nothing but a bra and tiny shorts, and I knew I could never let another person see that. We never even got to the footage after Liza left the room. I just shut it down before they ever saw you naked. I’m the only one who should ever have the privilege of seeing that side of you.”
The fight is slowly seeping out of her as I speak, but she refuses to look at me. I don't know if she’s lost all hope or is going into some weird emotional shock after everything that has happened today, but it looks like she is just totally checking out. Not knowing what to do, how to reach her, I fall to my knees, wrapping my arms around her hips, I press my face into her belly, letting my tears fall unchecked.
“At first, she didn't want to. But then I told her we’d both forfeit our paychecks and I’d give her ten thousand dollars to pay for the production costs that day. She still hesitated, but I convinced her. Well, offering more money did actually.”
Sierra gasps, and she grabs my ears, tilting my head back to look at her. “Where did you get that kind of money to give her when you needed that money to save your business?”
“George and I took on another partner. I sold part of my stake in the brewery to a friend of ours for fifty thousand dollars. Twenty went to Liza. Twenty is going to repairs and upgrades so we can keep our doors open. Ten is going to you since I killed any chance of your getting paid today.” Dave was all too happy to give me the money in exchange for an equal share in the business. I dread what he’s going to want to do with the place in the coming months, but any stupid viral marketing campaign is better than the world seeing my Sierra in a way that only I should.
“You sold half your business so that a video of me having sex wouldn’t get posted to the internet?” Her eyes are wide with disbelief, tears shimmering on the edge of her lower eyelid.
“Sierra, I would sell the entire business if it meant keeping you safe. I would sell every single thing I own. Tell me what you need, what you want. I’ll do everything I can to provide it.” I could see the indecision in her eyes. Should she trust me? Was this all moving too fast? What should she do?
I’ve only known Sierra for a day, and I already know she’s logical to a fault. And what is happening here between us is anything but logical. I don't even totally understand it myself. The difference is I’m not fighting it. I gave into the insane pull to have her the minute I saw her.
“This can’t be real. Things like this don't happen in real life.” Sierra releases the sides of my head, raking her fingers through her hair and going to turn around.
I stop her with my hands on her hips. “It is real. Science makes sense to you, right? It is part of why you want to be a doctor?”
She nodded, though the hesitance in her eyes remains.
“This is chemistry, at least in part. It’s dopamine and testosterone and pheromones. It’s the same with brewing. Put the exact right chemicals and conditions together, and you make something remarkable. For some reason, we both have the exact right amounts of everything to make us a perfect match. Instantly.” I had her, I could see it in her eyes. Something had snapped into place behind her eyes. What I was saying made sense to her. I rushed on, not wanting to lose her. “But chemistry only gets us so far, right? We’ll have to put work in. It won’t always be easy. Nothing ever is. And right now, I need you to do something I’m guessing doesn’t come easy to you. I need you to trust me.”
The small smile that curves the corners of her lips is the second best thing I’ve ever seen in my life. The first being her face in the moment she came.
“You should have been a lawyer.” Her delicate fingers weave the through my hair, scratching at my scalp a little. I lean in to the contact, loving any bit of affection she’s willing to throw my way. “Hell, if you talked Liza into giving you those files, I’m pretty sure you could talk anyone into anything. Me included.”
“So you’ll come home with me? Let me take care of you?”
“I’ll come home with you for tonight. Just until I get on my feet. And I’m not taking that ten thousand dollars.” Sierra reached down to grab my hand, tugging me to my feet.
“Absolutely. Just until you get on your feet.” Or forever. Whatever.