18

four loud bangs sound at sierra door, jolting her awake. her heart rate spikes in fear, and she quickly rolls out of bed and throws her robe on before speed walking out of her bedroom.

she looks out the peephole, only to see nobody. she glances around the foyer in fear, and hesitantly opens the door. a large bouquet of roses sits in front of the door with a little white envelope sticking out of the top. sierra gasps in relief at the lack of a murderer and squats down to pick up the flowers.

sierra takes them into the kitchen and sets them down on the counter with a sigh. as upset as she at jack, the sent flowers are softening her up, even if he's not here and the flowers are a simple gesture.

she plucks the envelope from the flowers and pulls the note out, opening the card.

enjoy your day, princess. there's more to come. JH

she can't help the fact that her eyes starts to water as she reads the short message. when jack cares, he shows it. even if he was in town, she'd definitely get the same treatment, which makes her feel the slightest bit better, but not entirely.

last year on valentine's day, he sent three different bouquets to the door, and then we she got back home from class, there were boxes and bags full of shoes, clothes, and jewelry. he sent in a few bouquets made out of bills, ranging from 10s to 100s. she wasn't expecting him to go all out because the year before it was much more tame, due to the fact that they had only been dating for a month two years ago. he even sent her a dress; a black corset top with a velvet train that he had a fun time taking off.

that memory, combined with the vagueness of the note, gives her an ounce of hope. as well as an immense feeling of guilt.

with another sigh, sierra transfers the bouquet into a vase before heading back into her roomto get ready for work. she goes into the bathroom to do her business, and nearly starts crying when she looks down and the bowl is red. even if she wanted to possibly get with cole tonight, it would be nearly impossible.

she quickly showers and gets herself cleaned up. then she puts on a pair of black scrubs and pulls her hair back into a low bun, ignoring her makeup routine all together. all she does is brush her eyebrows out and put vaseline on her lips before scheduling an uber to pick her up in five minutes.

grabbing her work bag and shoes, sierra goes back into her living room and sets her stuff down on the table. she puts her feet into her shoes and scrolls on instagram to kill time. it's too early for valentine's day posts, but she sees a few and harshly bites down on her lip. she so wants to be involved in the celebrations and posts, but instead she's alone, and all she's gotten is a bouquet of flowers. at least it's something.

-

this might go down in history as one of sierras worst work days. first, she was halfway to work in the uber when she realized she grabbed the wrong sneakers, so she's been walking around in white nikes all day, instead of her nurses shoes. it's not that big of a deal since they're still comfortable, but it feels like it's that big of a deal since her day just got progressively worse.

then, she was dealing with one of her youngest patients and had to give him a shot, and kicked and screamed, and scratched her arm hard enough to draw blood. it took everything in her to not parent him, since his real parents wouldn't, and had to step out of the room and collect herself before trying again. she's dealt with children being afraid of the tools and needles, but it's never been this bad. and to top everything else off, it feels like they're understaffed and there's so much to he done, she just wants to lay down and cry for hours.

exhaling through her mouth, sierra walks up to the directors counter and slides a clipboard across the counter. "thanks, harris—by the way, something was dropped off for you. it's in your locker," the coordinators, dr. madison says.

sierra nods. "thank you."

"happy valentine's day!" she calls after sierra as she walks away. sierra's face twists up in confusion, and she mumbles a 'happy valentines day' back at her supervisor and makes her way to the lockers.

putting in her combination, she spins the lock and another white envelope flutters onto the floor. she picks it up and reads the message.

enjoy yourself, on me. look in the bottom. JH

she glances back up into her locker and sees nothing, so she goes into the staff fridge. a miniature edible arrangements wrapped in clear plastic sits in the middle of the fridge with a yellow post-it note labeled 'SIERRA' on it. sierra pulls it out of the fridge as a lump forms in her throat. of course he sent something to her job.

sierra gets her phone from her locker and then leaves the staff room, taking the gift with her, to tell her supervisor that she's taking her break. she speedwalks out of the hospital outside to the courtyard and takes a seat on the bench.

sierra unwraps the edible arrangement and pulls the plastic container out of the glass vase it's in. a hotel keycard lies in the bottom, and she pulls it out to see 'the ritz' engraved on the back. immediately she gets flashbacks to to the time he flew her out to boston. it was on his first tour and she hadnt seen him for a month—the longest she'd gone without being near him at the time. he was staying at the ritz in boston for only two nights, and the two of them made the most of it. room service was ordered all day, and by night they were rolling around in the sheets.

her heart thumps in her chest and she dials his number with antsy hands. she puts the phone on speaker, biting her bare nails with anticipation with every shrill of the phone.

finally, he picks up. "happy valentine's, baby," jack says. sierra leans back in the seat, his voice making her feel weak and warm.

"are you still in jersey?" sierra asks. jack hesitates on the other line and sierra sighs. "jack, what the fuck?"

"sierra, i promise you that i'm doing everything to get my ass back to atlanta before 5pm. i swear, you can ask neelam," he lies. he's driving to the airport right now after finally finding a flight. he's scheduled to land at 2pm, and from there he has to immediately hit the mall. "trust me."

she sighs again and takes a piece of fruit off of the skewer. "whatever," she mumbles. he could never commit to prearranged plans, so she shouldn't be surprised and upset. 

"come on, baby. don't do that," he says.

"i'm not your baby," she says childishly. jack scoffs.

"you'll always be my baby."

"goodbye, jack."

"just be at the ritz by seven, okay?" he says. sierra rolls her eyes and hangs up the phone before he can get a response out of her.

sierra eats the edible arrangement in silence for the rest of her break.

-

"you think she'll like this?" jack asks, showing jasmine the dior tote bag. "or this one?" he asks, showing a dior saddle bag.

"ooh, get her the second one," jasmine says. jack landed in atlanta an hour ago, and quickly booked it to his house to shower before heading over to the mall. he called both of her friends to get opinions on more gifts for sierra, and only jasmine answered.

"fasho. thanks, jas," he says.

"what else you get her?"

jack blows out a breath and looks up at the ceiling in deep thought, trying to count everything he's bought so far. "a lot of shit," he says with a light laugh. this will be the fourth bag he's bought her, among two pairs of shoes, and a lot of jewelry.

"period. as you should," jasmine says. "and whatever she don't want, you can donate to the jasmine tucker foundation." she adds, causing jack to laugh. he's honestly really glad that jasmine picked up the phone—between jasmine and deja, she was the nicest to jack. he understand why deja blows him off, and why jasmine used to, but at the same time they should know that he's really not going anywhere, so they might as well he accepting of him again.

"bet. thanks, jas. can you make sure she get over there tonight? please?" jack asks.

"yeah, i got you. peace, jack," the two of them say their goodbyes and jack pockets his phone. he grabs the purse and wanders around the store for awhile longer, picking out a perfume and a pair of sunglasses for her.

he takes the stuff up to the counter and the cashier scans his items. "your total is $12, 545," she says. jack blows out a heavy breath as he hands his card over to the cashier. it's not like he's poor, but the amount of money he's spent today alone isnt a normal thing; maybe half is.

jack takes back his card and thanks the cashier when she hands him his bags. he leaves the store and puts the bags in the back of his car and walks around to get in the front. before he pulls out of the parking space, he dials neelams number.

she answers quickly. "what's up?"

"i just finished getting her gifts, can you meet me at the hotel with the other stuff? and my clothes, please?"

neelam sighs dramatically. "i suppose," she says.

"you're the best, neelam," jack says wholeheartedly. he's not sure where he would be without neelams help and support—probably extremely unorganized and late for everything.

"i know. see you soon," she says before hanging up. jack pulls out of the lot and makes his way across town to the ritz hotel. he got the penthouse suite for tonight and is going to decorate it for sierra. he had originally planned to get a regular room for them, but because she made such a big deal about it yesterday.

jack always knew that he'd make it to atlanta before the day was over, but he didn't expect her to blow up like that yesterday. he knew she was going to be upset, but that was different.

arriving at the hotel twenty minutes later, jack parks and grabs the gifts out of the back of the car. he enters the hotel and sees urban sitting in one of the lobby chairs, focused on the camera in his hands. "what's up, urb?" he calls from the entryway.

urban looks up from the camera and up nods at him, getting up and meeting him halfway. "yo, you talk to deja for me?" he asks.

"what happened to "hi, jack" or "hello"? and why are you sweating deja so hard?" jack asks, looking at him with narrowed eyes.

"my fault, bro. hi. and to answer your question: have you seen her? she's fine as fuck," urban says. jack waves him off and starts walking towards the elevator. obviously sierras friends are attractive, but he's not going to validate urban. "and that ass is something serious." he adds.

jack slows down and looks at him over his shoulder. "let me see," he says in disbelief.

urban raises his eyebrows. "now you care? but it's on your girls instagram anyway—you haven't seen it?" jack shakes his head and urban does him the favor of pulling up the post himself.

taking the phone from his friend, jack zooms in on the photo and examines the ass in question. he looks and shrugs before looking at sierra i'm the photo, with a small smile on his face. she's so pretty, he thinks.

he starts to hand the phone back to urban but stops when he catches a glimpse of the comments. jack retracts his arm and furrows his eyebrows as he reads the limited amount of comments, coles in particular. "the fuck?" he mumbles to himself.

"what?" urban asks, looking over jacks shoulder. jack points at coles comment with his thumb and urban snorts. "he's just being stupid." he says. jack hands the phone back to urban with a frown on his face, and he continues walking to the elevator. "what's up? don't tell me you're worried about cole, man."

"i'm not," jack replies, clearing his throat. and it's true—he's not worried about cole, more so the woman hes bending over backwards for right now. he's never had to question sierra about another man because he knows her—but he's starting to doubt how much of that is true. this is not the first time cole has popped up randomly, and he has a strange feeling that it won't be the last.

-

"i hope he's not playing with me right now, because i don't know what i'll do," sierra sighs to jasmine and deja on the 3-way call as she walks through the ritz hotel.

"i don't think he'd put you through this if he was serious," jasmine offers.

sierra sighs again and shakes her head even though the girls can't see it. she presses the button for the elevator. "he bet' not," she mumbles.

deja scoffs on the line. "why are you doing him so tough, right now? y'all was just cool the other day—what changed?" deja asks. sierra frowns and leans against the wall in the elevator. she's noticed that she's been a little dramatic with him in the last day, and severely regrets messaging cole in the first place because that's not her character at all. sometimes she's just so unsure of jack, that she'd rather get him before he gets her.

"i dont know," she mumbles. the phone cuts out as the elevator ascends, so sierra stands their in silence until the elevator reaches the tenth floor of the penthouse suite.

stepping off, the phone gains signal and sierra only catches the end of the conversation. "y'all, i'm here. i don't know what you just said because the phone cut out, but i promise i'll be nicer to him tonight! i'll text you both later, mwah," she says. they say their quick goodbyes and sierra tucks her phone into her purse and exchanges it for the keycard.

she swipes the card and enters the room at the sound of the door unlocking. instantly, she's met with, red, pink, and white balloons floating all across the room. flower petals are trailed along the floor, and sierra mentally curses her uterus out for wanting to bleed on this particular day.

walking further into the room, she's met with various gift boxes and bags, and a bouquet of pinks roses in the center of the table, accompanied by a white piece of paper. she picks it up and sighs in relief as she reads it.

meet me on the rooftop. JH.

tears well up in her eyes and she fans them away with the note. she spins around in a slow circle, taking everything in. a few tears slip out, and she dabs at them gently with the backs of her fingers, careful not to ruin her makeup.

she feels so overwhelmed with a thousand feelings for jack. she knows she probably doesn't even deserve it, given everything that transpired only 24 hours ago. she hasn't even opened a single gift, and she just wants it returned. she's acted so spoiled.

with a deep breath, sierra lifts her head and runs a hand over her silky hair. she takes a moment for herself before walking over to the door of the penthouse to go meet jack on the roof.

her legs feel heavy as she makes her way back to the elevator. sierra's stomach is in knots, and she's starting to feel sweaty and anxious. she doesn't even know what she's to say to him when she sees him. an apology would probably be the best thing to start with, but she'd rather gauge his attitude before she does all of that.

arriving at the rooftop, she pushes the doors open and gasps when she enters outside. jack sits at the only table up there, among more flowers. fairly lights are wrapped around the ledge of the roof, and some hang down.

jack gets up from his chair when he hears her heels click against the ground. he smiles at her and walks over to her with outwardly stretched arms. he pulls her close to him by the elbows when they're finally close enough and says, "i told you i'd be here."

"i'm sorry," she says, throwing her arms around his neck, tears welling up in her eyes again. she hugs him tightly and jack holds her against him. "thank you. for everything." she whispers, sniffling.

jack pulls away from her and methodically wipes her tears from her face. "you gotta have a little more faith in me, sierra," he says, gently wiping underneath her eyes.

"i know," she says meekly, holding onto his arm. he fans at her face and she laughs lightly. "thanks."

"mhm. you look good, girl," he says after her tears are wiped clean off. jack grabs her hand and spins her around, letting out a low whistle. she wears a calf length, black bodycon dress with red dragons scattered, among a few other patterns. she paired the dress with red strappy heels.

"you too," she says. he's in a simple leather set—leather pants and a jacket to match, over a white turtleneck.

after they're done with their greetings, jack leads them over to the table. he helps sierra into her chair before walking around to the other side. sierra notices a long, red jewelry box in the middle of the table, glances at it, and then glances up at jack. "it's for you," he says.

sierra raises her eyebrows at him and reaches for it, until jack pulls it away from her at the last second. she looks up at him with a look of shock, her eyes wide and her mouth ajar. "you wanna tell me what's going on with cole, or what?" he asks, keeping himself calm.

"what?" she asks dumbly, her heart dropping down into her stomach. she folds her hands in her lap as they start to shake.

"you're not dumb, sierra," he states. it's not really the way he wanted to bring it up to her, but there was never going to be a good time to mention it tonight. he'd rather get it out of the way instead of leading her on, only to make thing awkward.

"there's nothing going on between me and cole..." she says. jack scoffs.

"please don't lie to me, sierra, especially not about this. ive never lied to you, and you know that," he says, putting his hands together and resting them in front of his face. sierra bites the inside of her cheek and looks off to the side. "just be straight up with me."

she runs a hand over her hair nervously and looks over at him, just to look away again. "okay, well yesterday i was really upset at you, so i just called cole because... well i dont really know why. but i felt guilty, and still feel guilty. and i swear that's it," sierra spills.

jack can only shake his head. "really, sierra? that's what we do now? look, i know we aren't exclusive, but i wouldn't do that to you, and you know it. i never thought you would, either," he admits. sierra slumps in her seat and anxiously cracks her knuckles.

"it was a bad moment, and i'm sorry. but i swear i dont fuck with cole like that—he even knows it. he called me on my shit," sierra says, finally looking him in the eyes. jack sits back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest. "i swear, jack. he knew i only called because of you."

at that, and jack can't lie, it makes him feel a slight sense of pride. whether cole and sierra said anything suggestive to each other was no longer the focal point. the fact that cole knew that sierra only called him because she was upset with jack, makes jack believe that she doesn't mess with cole in that sense. but it also makes him worry for future moments where he pisses her off again.

"are you going to do that every time i make you mad, or what?" he asks.

"of course not," she answers quickly, meaning every syllable. "i was just so caught up on the idea of you not being here today—and you know i love valentine's day. so i'm really sorry." sierra finishes. jack only takes his hand off of the jewelry box and motions for her to come over to him.

she sits sideways on his lap and he loosely holds her at the waist. jack grabs the box and opens it, taking out a simple diamond necklace with her name on it. he pushes her hair out of the way and clasps it around her neck without a word.

sierra touches her fingers to the new ice turns to look at him. "thank you," she says, her voice quiet.

"we need to be upfront with each other if we want to make this work," jack states, holding her gaze. never would either of them have thought that jack would ever be the voice of reason in terms of mending their relationship problems.

sierra nods. "i can do that," she says, grabbing one of his hands. jack tilts his face up and puckers his lips. sierra leans down and places her lips on his, relaxing against him. it's been too long without his kisses.

either of them could talk to other people, but they both know that at the end of the day, they're choosing each other.

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liked by druski2funny, taymoneyduh, and 401,386 others

jackharlow my shorty from 'round the way. happy valentine's day.

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•

liked by yagirljas, urbanwyatt, and 76,027 others

iamsierra spoiled asf 🥺🥺 happy v day

view 603 comments

user09 GOD WHEN IS IT MY TURN

yagirljas fuck yall for real 🙄

user12 shaking screaming crying throwing up sliding down the wall

jackharlow real life princess liked by iamsierra

user15 wasnt u just flirting with cole??? iamsierra not at all

urbanwyatt @dejavu this could be us 🙄🙄dejavu hmu iamsierra PLEASE STAY AWAY FROM HER!!!!!!!

user01 idk i'm happy for themuser02 lie againuser19 then u woke up LMAOOOOOOOOOliked by iamsierra

druski2funny where my birkin at? @jackharlow jackharlow otw baby 😘😘

user81 count your fucking days         iamsierra 1

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hi............ yall ate me up last chapter byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

love y'all