GIVE IN: Steel Phoenix MC

by Paula Cox

  “Hello?” A deep voice said on the other end of the line. Chelsea could easily picture Ryan Baron; she had seen his face on billboards, magazines, and TV commercials for his new movie. He looked like a model, he was tall and lean with a swimmer’s build; he had a jaw that looked like it had been etched from marble and sparkling blue eyes. She still couldn’t quite believe she was actually talking to someone so famous at that exact moment.

  “Hi, Ryan? It’s Chelsea Riley. I’m so sorry it took me so long to get back to you, but my phone died.”

  “Glad to hear it. For a second I thought you weren’t into me.”

  “Oh, no,” Chelsea stammered. “Although, this whole thing is so weird, and I don’t know...”

  “Oh yeah, I forget you’re kind of new to all of this. I’ve been in the business since I was six, so this is kind of the only way I know how to contact people,” he sounded a little embarrassed, but even more he sounded like a real person. “I thought maybe I could run into you at a party or something, but then I found out you were out of town.”

  “Yeah, I’m visiting my mom with my sister.”

  “I still can’t believe you’re single and I didn’t want to miss my opportunity and have some other guy ask you out first, so I got in touch with your manager...”

  “Yeah,” Chelsea said. She didn’t know what to say. Ryan was surprisingly nice and normal and turning him down was harder than she thought. Plus, she still didn’t know what he wanted; did he really want to be with her, or did he just want something that would look good in front of the press?

  “So, when are you going to be back in town?” Ryan asked. “I’d love to take you out somewhere. Maybe we could grab dinner at the Ivy and then hit up Brentwood.”

  Brentwood Market and the Ivy were two places celebrities went when they wanted to be seen. Ryan wasn’t proposing a private date to get to know each other. He wanted people to know he was out with Chelsea Riley.

  “Look, can I get back to you about this?” Chelsea asked. “I just have a lot of family stuff going on right now and I can’t really focus on anything else. But could you not tell my manager? She’s been riding me really hard about this.”

  “Of course,” Ryan said. “I totally understand. It’s like people don’t understand we’re real people with real emotions. It’s like they want us to be these robots who just go and go and go without a break. Your manager and publicist and agent act like they’re on your side until you really need them and then they’re telling you to man up and move past whatever’s bothering you and get back to work. In the end, most people only care about the bottom line.”

  “Yes,” Chelsea said as Ryan put to words all of the complex emotions she had been feeling recently. Her manager was pulling her one way but her life was pulling her another and she was worried she was soon going to split in half.

  “No worries. Take care of your family stuff; just promise me you won’t meet some other guy before I have a chance to get to know you.”

  Chelsea laughed into the phone and said. “Thanks for being so understanding.”

  “No problem. Text me later if you feel like it.”

  “Okay,” Chelsea said and then she hung up and fell back on her bed. Ryan Baron, in another life this phone call would have had her jumping up and down on the bed and screaming. But now she had Blue and she wasn’t interested in anyone else, no matter if the relationship was fake or real.

  Chelsea jumped as her phone rang again, but it wasn’t her manager, it was her mother.

  “Mom? Is everything okay?”

  “Is everything okay? No, my daughters have accused my fiancé of arranging fighting pits and forcing his son into them. There was a huge, embarrassing scene the other day, so things are not good.”

  “Mom, I’m sorry, but everything we said is true. Terrance is not a good guy; we’re just trying to protect you,” Chelsea pleaded.

  “Enough! I don’t want to hear this nonsense anymore! You’re not a child anymore Chelsea. I would hope you would just be happy for me for once in your life. You have everything, Chelsea. You have a record contract and big house in LA and I’m still here in Snowbird trying to find my happiness. I’m sorry you’ve fallen for Blue’s lies, but you’re still my daughter and I love you and I want you and Jamie to come to dinner tonight with Terrance and I so we can talk about all of this.”

  “I want to see you, Mom. I’ll go to dinner with you, but not if Terrance is there.”

  “Why?”

  “Because he’s the liar, not Blue. If we all sit down for dinner together it’s just going to turn into a big fight. Will you come to dinner with just me and Jamie?”

  “No. Terrance is going to be my husband and you and your sister need to accept that. If you want a relationship with me, then you will have one with Terrance.”

  “Mom, I can’t...” Chelsea whispered and then the line went dead as her mother hung up the phone. Crap, Chelsea thought. She hadn’t handled that well, but she didn’t know what else she should have said. There was a soft knock on the door and Chelsea sighed out the words, “come in” and Jamie entered closing the door behind her. “Mom called. She wants us to go out with her and Terrance.”

  “Gross. No,” Jamie said.

  “That’s what I told her, but, you know, in a nicer way. She said it’s either her and Terrance or nothing.”

  “Great, she’s gone to the most dramatic place possible,” Jamie sighed. “Wouldn’t it be nice to have the kind of mom who bakes cookies and makes scrapbooks?”

  “I would be happy if she would just have better taste in men.”

  “Speaking of taste in men, how’re things with Blue?”

  “Almost too good. My manager is going to lose her mind,” Chelsea said.

  “Forget her, you deserve to be happy and I, for one, am very glad you and Blue and banging like bunnies,” she gave a low giggle and Chelsea couldn’t help but join in. “So, I brought back some groceries and some beer, and now I’m gonna head out and I’m probably not going to come back tonight, so you and Blue should feel free to do whatever you want without fear of interruption.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Bye, Blue,” Jamie said as she closed the door behind her.

  Blue smiled as she left; he had always liked Jamie. She knew how to read a room. He could hear Chelsea talking on her phone in her room, but couldn’t make out what she was saying, and he decided to let her be.

  It felt strange to be back in this house sipping coffee and reading the paper like an adult. When he had been younger he used to drive Chelsea to school and Colleen would invite him on mornings when Chelsea was running late because she needed to spend hours on her hair. She would pour him a bowl of cereal, something sugary and sweet like Lucky Charms or Cookie Crisp and Blue was able to pretend that he was normal if only for a little while. The only good memories Blue had of his childhood were from this house.

  He and Chelsea spent the day together, most of it in bed. At six thirty Chelsea was lying in bed and Blue was leaning over her, kissing her gently with his hand wrapped in her hair. She had smiled up at him and Blue smiled back at her and realized how great it was to actually be with her. He understood at that moment that everything in his life could be different and better. He could get out of Snowbird and away from his father and leave his life in the fighting pits behind.

  He could have a real life with Chelsea, a normal life. He could go to college and get his engineering degree and for the first time his life would truly be his. He had spent his childhood in the fighting pits trapped by his own father and from there he had gone straight to the army. He had never had the chance to just be a normal person. His life had been filled with death and destruction and violence and he was starting to finally understand that it didn’t have to be that way.

  The day came and went and Chelsea and Blue gave no thought to the time, they were too wrapped up in each other. But finally, hunger sent Blue to the kitchen where he made himself a sandwich while Chelsea was taking a s
hower. The house was silent and he could hear the loud crickets outside. A chill had crept into the air, but he had never minded the cold. He especially didn’t mind it on a night like tonight when he would sleep with Chelsea in his arms.

  He heard the footsteps outside, and then the turning of the knob. Blue stood and turned to face the door only to realize it was unlocked. He only had a moment to curse himself for such a stupid and amateur move before the door was swinging open.

  “There was a time when you would have never been in a house with the door unlocked. You get soft, Blue?” His father’s voice was a low growl and Blue felt himself go still.

  His first thought was for Chelsea; she was still in the house with only a weak door between her and Terrance. He prayed she stayed in her room and stayed quiet.

  “Get out,” Blue spit at his father.

  “I have something you want to see, something you need to see.”

  “I don’t want to see it, whatever it is. I’m done with you.”

  “Yeah, but they’re not done with you.”

  “Who?”

  “Who do you think?”

  “You’re bluffing. Get out of this house and don’t come back. Don’t make me beat you into the ground, old man.”

  “They have Jamie.” His voice was even and calm as if he were delivering the news about the weather. Blue didn’t move; he froze as he searched his father’s face trying to discover if he were lying or telling the truth. “I told you they wanted you back in the ring and I told you they weren’t taking no for an answer. You thought you knew better than me; you thought you were smarter than me, but I’m the brains of this operation and I always have been.”

  “You’re lying,” Blue hissed.

  “I’m not and I have the video to prove it, but not here. We should keep this from Chelsea and Colleen as long as possible. We do this right and we can get Jamie back without them even realizing she’s gone.”

  Blue hesitated. He knew his father and he knew he wasn’t really worried about Jamie’s welfare. But he didn’t want to involve Chelsea. There was still a chance this was an elaborate lie from his father, another ploy to get him back in the ring.

  “Fine,” Blue said. “Let’s go to the car.”

  They sat in the front of his father’s Lexus with Blue in the passenger’s seat. Terrance pulled up the text message with a video attached. He handed the phone to Blue and Blue pressed play.

  He was looking at Jamie. She was crying and tied to a chair but looked otherwise unharmed. It was on a loop, and Blue’s stomach dropped as the video of Jamie played over and over again. Finally, he couldn’t take anymore and he closed the video. Underneath there was a phone number and an order to call it.

  “What did they say when you called?” Blue asked.

  “I haven’t called. They don’t want to talk to me, Blue. They want to talk to you.”

  Taking a deep breath Blue hit the number and the phone dialed.

  “This Blue?” a voice asked. Whoever it was was using a voice distorter and Blue couldn’t recognize them.

  “Yeah this is Blue.”

  “There’s a fight in four days underneath the abandoned mall on Vine Street. Be there and the girl lives. Skip it and we kill her and you never see the body.

  “Jimmy told me not to come back,” Blue said, grasping at any straw he could.

  “Fuck Jimmy. I’m the sponsor of the fight and I want you there. Here’s how this works: you come back for one last fight, but it’s a fight to the death. Two men go in only one comes out. We could make a lot of money, Blue.”

  “I don’t want your money.”

  “Do you want the girl back alive?” There was a long pause; it wasn’t a rhetorical question.

  “Yes,” Blue answered through gritted teeth.

  “Then four days from now you’ll get the time. You come and the girl goes free. If you call the cops or you try and rescue her, we’ll kill her and you and every other person you’ve ever met, understood?”

  “Yes,” Blue said.

  The line went dead; the call was over. Blue’s body was shaking with rage. His worst fears had just come true. His father was pulling other people into this, innocent people. He had spent all of high school protecting Chelsea as best he could, pushing her away so his father wouldn’t get suspicious. But they had taken Chelsea’s sister; it was somehow a worse blow. Chelsea would be devastated and even though she might not admit it, some part of her would always blame Blue. He had no idea where Jamie was or even who had her. He would have to fight.

  “I tried to warn you-” Terrance said.

  “Shut up,” Blue split. “You planned this, I know it.”

  “You think I would do this?” Terrance demanded. “I don’t have anything to do with this, Blue. They came to me and told me they wanted you to fight. They warned me that something would happen. My only mistake was not being clear enough about this threat and, for that, I apologize. I didn’t know they were going to take Jamie.”

  “Stop trying to talk your way out of this!” Blue yelled. “I know you are responsible for this. How could you? You’re marrying Colleen and you’ve kidnapped her daughter.”

  “I don’t have Jamie, Blue. I swear it.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “Well, it doesn’t matter either way. If you don’t fight, she dies.”

  “Yeah, and if I do fight, someone else dies.”

  “Who cares? Don’t focus on your opponent. Play your own game.Do I need to retrain you all over again?”

  “No!” Blue yelled. “I’m done.” He stood up and got out of the car and slammed the door. He walked around the car and over to his father and grabbed him by the collar of his cheap suit and pushed him up against the car. “I’ll fight one last time, for Jamie, but after that I am out of this town and you and I will never speak again.”

  He let his father go and watched as he hurried back into his car and quickly pulled out of the parking lot.

  “Blue?” He turned and saw Chelsea standing on the patio, a robe wrapped around her body and her wet hair tousled on her head. “Is everything all right?”

  What was he supposed to say?

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chelsea watched as Terrance’s car raced down the street and away from the house. She looked over to Blue wondering what was going on, but he was still staring at the path his father’s car had taken. He seemed frozen in place, with his eyes locked on the receding taillights. He had an unreadable expression on his face and Chelsea’s mind began to whirl and wonder what new threat Terrance had given his son. It was cool outside and she wrapped her bathrobe around herself tightly. Her hair was wet and and she shuddered as the cool water dripped down her back. She could feel the cold on every inch of her exposed skin and beneath her bare feet.

  “Blue, is everything all right?” Chelsea called across the yard. As if woken from a dream Blue stood up a little straighter and turned around. With one look Chelsea knew something horrible had happened. Blue’s jaw was set and his shoulders were squared and he looked angry and dangerous, like a tensed wild animal that had sensed danger.

  “Get inside,” Blue said taking Chelsea by the arm and pulling her into the house. He slammed the door behind her and locked both the doorknob, the deadbolt, and the chain. “Cover up the windows in here and the bedroom.” He walked over to Chelsea and Jamie’s old room.

  Chelsea stood frozen in the middle of the living room. She had no idea what was going on and she was suddenly stuck to the floor with fear. She felt exposed in her empty old house; what had once felt familiar and safe was now scary and unknown. She closed her eyes and focused on what Blue had said: cover the windows, she could handle that. Her limbs shaking, Chelsea ran into her mother’s room and grabbed some extra towels and bed sheets. The curtains were gone so Chelsea hung the towels in their place, tossing them over the curtain rods, quickly working her way through all the windows in the bedroom and the living room.

  Blue was closing and checking the
locks on all of the windows and Chelsea swallowed nervously as she looked at him. What had happened? Why was he so worried? His expression was, as always, unreadable and Chelsea hated being in the dark. But all she could do was watch him as he moved with a robotic precision, making his way through the house quickly and efficiently. There were no doubts in his movements and no hesitations in his actions. This wasn’t the first time he had done this.

  “Blue, please tell me what’s going on,” Chelsea said, choking back tears. She was trying to keep it together, but the longer he took the more her mind raced. Her imagination leapt from horrible scene to horrible scene as it ran unchecked. She needed to know.