Arthur's POV
The moment I heard the door open behind me, I turned and quickly; I lost touch with reality. The lady standing before me was mesmerizing in every way. The look of shock and the little part of her lips as she stared at me made my insides somersault. The feeling I could not understand, but my bad day was quickly thrown out the window at the sight of her. I took my hand out for a handshake. “Hi, I'm-” The words sank back into me when our hands collided, and a spark quickly erupted. She quickly took back her hand. “I'm- I'm sorry,” I apologized with a frown. She shook her head, holding her wrist. “Oh, it's okay,” she said. Her voice was like music to my ears. “Who is it? Oh, Arthur” Jackson came to the door, interrupting our little moment. He has terrible timing. “You didn't tell me you had someone this beautiful at home, Jackson,” I said, flashing her my brightest smile. I saw her cheeks turn red as she looked away. Jackson shook his head. “Sierra, this is my best friend, Arthur. Arthur, my baby sister,” Jackson introduced. “Hi,” I said as we shook. My hands almost swallowing hers. She had her eyes on our intertwined hands. It seemed she was a little worried about the spark we had felt earlier. “You have a wonderful name. I'm Arthur” I reintroduced. “Yeah, I told her that,” Jackson said, and I shot him a deadly look. “Hi. Nice to meet you, Arthur”. Fuck! That voice. Our hands remained glued to each other, longer than it should, but I didn't mind. Jackson stood glaring at me like I was trying to steal his gold. “You've met. It's okay,” Jackson said, glaring at our hands this time. She pulled away, much to my dissatisfaction, but I refused to let that deter me. “I'll head out now with him,” Jackson told her, and she nodded, before she looked to the side, behind me. “You're a biker,” she said. I followed her line of sight to the bike just outside the small gate, and I nodded. “Yes, I am. Professional biker of the village. Like bikers?” I asked, rubbing the back of head. Wouldn't be a strange thing to not like bikers, but I knew I would be hurt if she did not. She shrugged but said nothing. I was about to speak when Jackson spoke. “C'mon man, let's move,” he said, tapping me on my shoulder. I smiled at Sierra before turning around and leaving the door with Jackson. “When did you become this excited to see the tracks? Yesterday, you almost didn't want to go,” I said, frustration in my voice. It wasn't as though we were going there for something important. It was a new track, and we were all excited to see it. Well, that was in the past because right now, what was exciting to me was speaking to Sierra. “When did you start flirting with my sister?” he asked. “I wasn't” I lied. One look and I shook my head. “Even if I did, how does it have anything to do with you? Don't tell me you are an overprotective brother now. Frankly, I just haven't seen your sister in a while and would love to know her,” I said. “I know what you want, Arthur. I've seen you flirt with a million girls,” he said. “I don't flirt with those girls. I humour them,” I said as we got to our bikes. “Call it whatever you want,” he said. “Get your paws off my sister” “Is she dating someone?” I asked. “No, but stay clear,” he said, getting on his bike. “I won't,” I said, with all sincerity. I stared at her once and in ten minutes; she had already taken over my mind. “Listen, Sierra isn't… she is not into a relationship right now,” he said. “Why?” I asked, curious. “Just stay off her, Arthur,” he said and started his engine before riding off. I stared long enough at him, trying to understand what he meant by that. I turned to the door, and she was right there, staring and those eyes of hers were inscribed my heart. I wanted to stay, walk back to her right now and ask her out, but Jackson's words stopped me. So, I dusted off the snow on my bike and got on it, and soon I was riding away behind Jackson. We got to the track and, as expected; it was being cleaned. The snow was getting higher with passing hours. My manager, Mr. Rod, walked over to us with a smile. “First time you two came on time,” he teased, glancing at Jackson and I. Usually, Jackson always avoided this. I most times would seat with his parents for a while before we headed out but today, he was such a hurry that we arrived ten minutes before we should just so I would not speak with his sister. Mr. Rod quickly began speaking about the plans for the Christmas race and how splendid it would be with the new track. I could not pay attention as my mind was back to thinking about Sierra. With passing minutes, I slowly realized I had made a huge mistake. “Arthur!” Mr. Rod snapped me out of my thoughts. I hummed, trying to act like I wasn't just out of here in my thoughts. “It's been two hours, and you didn't even listen to a word of what I said,” he said. “Talking for two hours is a lot, Rod,” I said, and he quickly gave me a look. I raised my hands in surrender. “Fine, rude. I apologize, but why don't we do this another time? I'll be off,” I said, waving as I walked away without thinking twice. I needed to correct my mistake.Sierra’s POVOnce we heard the door shut, Arthur grabbed my hand and placed a kiss on the back of it. “Why did you stop me? You chased him away,” I said.Maybe if I had gotten off Arthur sooner, Jackson would not have left. I was so caught up in our world; I forgot Jackson was going to come in soon. “You need to be confident if you want to use me, Sierra. He is your brother. He can’t stop you from having fun and healing, can he?”His words were so tempting, but how could I make out in front of my brother? “Use me wherever. In front of anyone and I would not complain. You are in charge here, but you would need to be bolder than what you are right now,” he added.Before I could respond to that, he noticed the flask I had kept on the table. “What’s in the flask?” he asked.“Oh, I made a little soup for you. I don’t know if you would like it, but you can give it a try,” I said.“I will like it,” Arthur said. “Sarah,” he called out, and a middle-aged woman stepped out and bowed.“Show her
Sierra’s POV“I saw your paintings. I voted to make sure you have an exhibition soon,” Eve said the moment I took her call.“I knew you wouldn’t just give up on your dreams,” she added.I could not explain it was not my doing. Not in a million years would I think of doing that. I had full doubts about my paintings being good enough. Just like many other things that Vance criticized, I began seeing it that way no matter how much it was praised by people.Posting them would only bring a huge backlash to me — was my thought. Who knew people would like them? Maybe a dozen people that had nothing to do with Vance. “Eve, can I speak to you later? I have something to take care of,” I told her before ending the call.I opened up the notification I got earlier.Fifteen million!I just got fifteen million dollars. From the sender, I knew I was right in my guess as to who had done this. Quickly, I left my room to the kitchen. I was both excited and worried. Excited because of the good reviews.
Arthur’s POVThe door bell rang downstairs, and I sluggishly opened my eyes, staring at the bedroom door. My eyelids were heavy. Keeping them open felt like a chore. I dragged my eyes to the wall clock, and it was almost noon.I pushed myself up from the bed as the doorbell rang again. When I chose to leave the resort suite to my penthouse, I didn’t think someone was going to make me hate it. Pushing myself off the bed, I walked out of my bedroom.“Good morning, Mr. Floyd,” Sarah, the housekeeper, greeted with a small bow.Sarah was over fifty, but she has chosen to continue working despite me giving her an offer of a good severance pay. Fortunately, I could stand her and she respects my rules perfectly. She was only meant to be around once a week, but due to my illness, she has been forced to stay another day.I hummed, helping myself down the stairs. “Go check who is at the door?” I said, taking a seat on the c
Sierra’s POVThe science that explained how these little beings with barely any work to do tend to have so much strength in their palm was unknown to me. I was in my late twenties and I doubted I had that much strength to send an electric bolt of pain through my body.“Mommy, wake up,”Yes, Elvis' usual routine. It took a moment to open my eyes as not only was I trying to fight off the sleep that wasn’t so easy to ward off with his slap, but the pain of said slap. I titled my head to the side, fluttering my eyes open to the clock.7 am.When I wanted him to be energetic in the morning, I didn’t think it would backfire on me. “Mommy, wake up. See,” he said, jumpy.It took a lot for me not to get back to sleep. With a yawn, I sat up, pulling the covers with me. I was still in his room and on his bed. “What is it,
Sierra’s POVI studied his face, trying to spot some amusement in his eyes, but there was none. He could not be possibly serious about that, could he? No one in his right mind would want to be used for an emotional support.His fingers circled around my waist, his fingers trailing my spine in slow succession under the coat. “You sound like you don’t know what it means,” I said.“Do I?” he asked with his eyes fixed on my lips.I placed my hand on his chest and pushed him off me. “You don’t. No man would want that.”“Want what?”“Being used, Arthur,” I said, frustrated.“I’m not any man. I’m a man in love,”I chuckled. “You don’t sound like you are in your right mind,”He stepped c
Sierra’s POVI raised my head as I felt the coat drop on my shoulders. Arthur helped me up, but soon picked me up from the ground. I could not argue nor fight as I let him take me back into the house.He increased the heat and walked over to the kitchen. He seemed very much used to the house, but I would not question that. After all, he was already seen as family. When he stepped out once again, he held a mug, handing it over to me.“Tea,” he said.“Thank you,” I muttered, taking the cup.The warm feel of the cup on my hands already made me feel better. I took a sip and the taste burst in my mouth. “This is good,” I complimented, raising the cup with a nod.“Thank you.” Arthur took a seat beside me. “Mum taught me well,” he winked.I drank my tea quietly, feeling warmed up