Indra's Heart

EIGHT

"What?"

"Yeah, I just took her home. Come by my house, we need your car."

"Okay," I pick my head up and look over at Arya. She's out cold. "I'm on the way."

I hang up the phone and throw on my hoodie, slinging my bag over my shoulder in a hurry. The tone of Will's voice has me assuming the worst and I can't get down the stairs fast enough.

This is the second time that I've left Arya in the middle of the night, but this time, I can't even be bothered to try to wake her up. The relief that I feel to find nobody waiting by my car is short lived when I remember the reason why I'm speeding down the road in the first place.

Will's already outside when I pull up to his crib, dressed in all black. I can see him clenching his jaw even in the darkness.

"What happened? Do we need to go by Sierra's house right now? Is she okay?" Questions fly out of my mouth as soon as he opens the door.

Xander is way too big to be hitting Sierra. He shouldn't be hitting a girl anyway, but especially not when he's the size of a fucking truck. Will instructs me to drive, staring out the passenger window and I reluctantly press the accelerator.

"Will, what the fuck happened?" The harsh tone earns an exasperated sigh and his voice is grim when he delivers the news.

"He raped her."

My blood runs cold. We sit at a stop sign for a beat too long before I remember to drive again.

"Sierra resisted so he beat her. Her face is bruised and everything. She started walking home from the movie theater and called me when she was far enough away from him. I picked her up from the side of the road, took her home, and called you."

I'm sick to my stomach and I'm hurt for Sierra, but above all that I'm pissed off. I grip the wheel tighter and keep following Will's directions.

Just hours ago, Xander hung out with Sierra's family. He smiled in everybody's face pretending to be a normal person. She didn't deserve this.

"He's a fucked up ass person. Where did all of this happen?"

"In the abandoned parking lot beside the movie theater. Sierra told me that after the movie ended they went to that spot to smoke, and that's when he attacked her."

"I thought athletes couldn't smoke weed?"

"That doesn't matter because Xander isn't in college. He lied. Sierra said that he never even got accepted."

"Wow."

The old movie theater in question comes into view and it looks dingy on any day but especially after the gruesome information that I've received. The parking lot of the deserted structure next to it is even more depressing.

"Why are we here, Will?"

"Because Xander thinks he's about to sell us something." Will takes out two black ribbed ski masks from the front pocket of his hoodie and puts one in my lap.

"Why would he sell us anything if he just did that to Sierra, he'll know something is up." Xander can't be that stupid.

"That's why I took the liberty of downloading an app, giving myself a fake number, and using the name of one of his frequent customers, Malik." Will slides the mask over his head.