“I’ll fix it.”
Wrath shook his head. “I’m not lettin’ you near her until you tell me what the fuck’s goin’ on.”
“Get the fuck outta my way, Wrath. This is between me and Sierra,” I growled. “If she wants you to fight this battle for her after she and I have talked, then we can head out back and do that.”
I shoved past him, knocking on Sierra’s door, and pushing it open despite the fact I wasn’t invited in. I covered my eyes in case she was naked or something.
“Go away, Wrath.”
“It’s not Wrath,” I said, closing the door behind me, and keeping my back to her.
“Oh, well, you can especially fuck off.”
“Are you decent?”
“If I said I wasn’t, would you leave?” she asked.
“No.” I faced the room and saw she was sitting on the edge of her bed. She was, in fact, crying. Or, she had been. “Shit, sweetheart, I didn’t mean to make you cry. I was just teasin’.”
She shrugged, dropping her head, and picking at some nonexistent piece of lint on her skirt. “Iambossy.”
I closed the distance between us and lifted her chin gently, stroking her face. “I like that about you, Sierra. Didn’t realize I was hittin’ a nerve.”
She pulled away from my touch. “You didn’t know.”
“You wanna tell me?”
“Foster care just sucked, is all. We’ll leave it at that.”
“Well, I’m sorry I was a dick. I know you’re goin’ above and beyond to help me, and I shouldn’t have shit on that,” I said. “I appreciate all your help, not that my earlier treatment showed that.”
Sierra and I had had an instant connection. We’d never been attracted to each other, but we’d always felt like family, and we’d fallen into a sibling kind of relationship from the second we’d met each other. She was one of my best friends and to know that I’d hurt her in any way broke my heart.
She slid off the bed and wrapped her arms around me. “This is precisely why you are my favorite human on earth.”
I chuckled. “Because I’m a dick?”
“No, because when you are, you recognize it and make it right.”
“I’d highly suggest you get your hands off my woman,” Wrath growled from behind us.
Sierra squeezed me tighter. “Fuck off, Wrath.”
I kissed the top of her head. “I’ll give you guys a few minutes and meet you downstairs when you’re done.”
“Okay,” she whispered, reluctantly letting me go.
I strolled past Wrath who glared at me but gave me a wide berth as I walked out the door.
* * *
Sierra met me in Rocky’s office almost a half-hour later looking like she’d worked some shit out and smiled at me as she set her laptop in front of me. “I have to say, this guy, Stanley’s dad, was kind of a badass.”
“How so?”
“He hid the money really well. Like, expert level, well.”
“No shit?”