by Parker, Kara
“Chelsea! How are things with Ryan?”
“Why isn’t Ryan with you, Chelsea? Doesn’t he love you?”
“Who’s the guy Chelsea and does Ryan know you’re riding around with some other man?”
Blue continued to ignore them. He neither sped up nor slowed down, but drove as if they weren’t there at all, which caused a few of them to have to jump back quickly to avoid being hit. They pulled into the driveway and Blue and Chelsea emerged from the car.
“Stay off the property,” Blue ordered as the paparazzi all tried to converge on the small front lawn. Chelsea hurried to the door and began to unlock the many locks Blue had added.
“Who the hell are you?” one of them asked.
“I’m her bodyguard,” Blue said taking a menacing step towards the photographers; they all shrank back as Chelsea opened the front door and held it open for Blue who shut it behind him.
“That was awful, I’m sorry,” Chelsea said, she brought her hand up to his chest, but Blue just shrugged and walked away, leaving her hand hanging in the air.
It took twenty minutes for Chelsea to get her first alert. “Is It Over Already? Pop star Chelsea Riley Heartbroken and Back Home.” She opened the link and saw the image of what she looked like right now, rumpled and tired and with red eyes like she had just finished crying. Below that was an article where a source who was a “close friend” of Chelsea Riley’s had this to say, “Chelsea is devastated. She thought she and Ryan were forever. She’s been looking at wedding dresses and expected him to propose any day now; instead he tells her that he needs space and isn’t ready to settle down.”
Chelsea shook her head and took a deep breath determined to not let this nonsense get to her. She wondered who the “close personal” friend was. Chelsea sighed. She needed damage control on these headlines, but she couldn’t call her manager and ask. She was already on thin ice with Lauren and any she knew that the only way to get her help would involve returning to LA and Chelsea couldn’t do that yet.
But there was one person who could help. Chelsea headed towards her childhood bedroom and shut the door. Blue was taking a shower and she knew she didn’t have long.
“Hey, babes, what’s up?” Ryan answered cheerfully on the second ring.
“Hey,” Chelsea said. “I’m freaking out a little bit about these headlines. I look awful in those photos and I’m worried Lauren is going to freak when she sees them. I was hoping you could help me with a little damage control.”
“Sure, what did you have in mind?” He sounded so relaxed on the other end of the line, like he didn’t have a care in the world. Chelsea was jealous of that, she couldn’t remember what it felt like to not be anxious and afraid.
“I don’t know; how do these things normally work?”
“Well, I’ll send out a jokie tweet with the headline, you know, make it seem it like I don’t even take it seriously. Then I’ll have my agent plant a story that we’re going to the Ivy on Friday. That should get everyone out of your hick town and back here. That should buy you a few days.”
“I can’t come back to LA right now,” Chelsea said.
“Yeah, it’s cool. I’ll have a friend tell someone that we were having too good a time in bed and didn’t want to leave.”
“Wow,” Chelsea said. “That’s kind of genius.”
“Yeah, just make it look like you’re packing up, put bags in the trunk of the car and for god’s sake put some make-up on. They’ll fall for it. I’m the one they really want, no offense, but right now I bring in more than you.”
“Fair enough,” Chelsea said with a nod. She still couldn’t quite figure Ryan out. At times it seemed like he was genuinely interested in her and by planting the story with the paparazzi he was helping her. But then he would say something shallow and she would be reminded that none of what they had was real unless she wanted it to be.
Chelsea sighed and fell back against the wall. That was one crisis averted, but her manager and her label weren’t going anywhere. Eventually she would need to go back to LA, or she would lose everything. But the fight was tomorrow night. She was almost done, she could get her sister and get the two of them out of there and they could try and forget about this whole horrible incident.
Chapter Twenty Eight
But she couldn’t wait. She couldn’t take the waiting. Her sister had been kidnapped for days. She had been taken by some monster and was locked away in a cage. Did she know Chelsea was looking for her, or had she already given up hope? What if she did something foolish and reckless because she thought it was her only chance for freedom?
What if they were hurting her? What if they had been hurting her for days and Chelsea hadn’t done the one thing she should do? But Blue would never forgive her if she did it. She would never be able to look him in the eye again. But it was her only choice. The day of the fights was coming up, but how was she to know if the boys from Detroit would keep their word? What was money when it came to family?
She pulled Terrance’s number off of Blue’s phone and with a deep breath she called him. The phone range once and then twice and then three times, what would happen if he didn’t pick up?
“Hello, Chelsea,” Terrance said. His voice was as oily and over-confident as ever. She could easily imagine him sitting behind his desk, his feet propped up as he smirked into the phone.
“You did this,” Chelsea said into the phone. “From start to finish this was all you. You had my sister kidnapped. You’re marrying our mother; Jamie would have been your stepdaughter.”
“Jamie will be my stepdaughter,” Terrance said. “Nothing is going to happen to her. As I said before, she hasn’t been hurt. She’s just collateral.”
“Collateral for what?” Chelsea demanded.
“He hasn’t told you?” Terrance asked with mild surprise. “Well, how serious can the two of you be?”
“Don’t try that with me. I know all your tricks, Terrance. I know how you lie to people and get them to question everyone around them except you. I’m not falling for that. I don’t want to hear what you have to say. I’m going to do the talking from here on out.”
“All right.”
“How much for Jamie?” Chelsea demanded.
“In dollars? Billions, I would have to say.”
“Come on, Terrance. I’m serious. I have a lot of capital and I want my sister back, cut a deal with me.”
“My, my, you are a girl who is used to getting her way, aren’t you? Here’s the thing about pretty girls like you, Chelsea. Pretty girls are spoiled girls; they are constantly told how pretty they are and they are rewarded for their beauty. They have more confidence, they date whoever they want, and, in general, life is very good to them. This makes the beautiful girl think she is special. But she isn’t. The special girl is something different. There are millions of beautiful girls; you see them on street corners every night. They are raised to think the sun shines out of their ass and whatever they want will always be handed to them.
But the pretty girl has a short shelf life. Before she knows it she’s the beautiful woman, and then with the snap of a finger, she’s just another old woman, same as all the rest. Because, you see, Chelsea, you were never really that special to begin with. You’re just pretty and I can get all the pretty girls I want. I don’t take orders from you, I am not interested in your happiness, and you mean nothing to me at all.”
Chelsea’s whole body was shaking and she gripped the phone tightly. “Fine, I may not be special, but I am rich. I saw your house, Terrance, and I can tell you this: it’s garbage. My pool guy wouldn’t live in your house. Now I have money, Terrance, real money. What’s it going to take to get my sister.”
“You don’t have it, sweetheart.”
“Five million,” Chelsea said into the phone.
“No, no, you still don’t understand. These fights aren’t about money. I mean obviously money plays a part, but there’s more to it. These are elite fights, not just anyone can attend. People ar
e desperate for an invite to these fights. People come for miles in the hope that I might bless them with an invitation. This is how I keep my business afloat, my dear. How can you put a price tag on that?”
“Ten million,” Chelsea offered. “I have it, Terrance. I can get it right now.”
“I don’t need your money. Wow, that does feel good say. Go to hell, Chelsea Riley, I don’t need your money, just your desperation.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I can hear your heartbreak. I can see your tears all over the internet. But I know this isn’t really about you and Ryan. I know you’re really crying for your sister and I know that every tear that slides down your perfect face is a knife in Blue’s side. It’s what I wanted.”
“I don’t understand...”
“If I took you, Blue would have gone mad. He would have tortured me and snapped my neck to get to you, I have no doubt about that. But Jamie? He wouldn’t go that far; he would fight for her, though. But really he’d be fighting for you. He could never stand to see you unhappy, or live knowing he was the cause of it.”
“Blue didn’t cause this,” Chelsea whispered into the phone. From the other side of the wall she heard Blue turn off the shower and the background noise of the falling water faded away. The house sounded deathly quiet without it.
“He didn’t cause it, but he can end it. You could have had your sister back days ago, Chelsea. All I wanted was Blue’s assurance that he would fight, but he refused to give it me, so I had to take your sister as collateral.”
“You want Blue to fight?” Chelsea demanded. “But it’s a fight to the death.”
“I know,” Terrance said. “But he’ll win. I’m betting my whole fortune on it.”
“You can’t make him do this,” Chelsea said, she was reaching for straws anything that would undo this horrible situation.
“I’m not making him. You and those tears are.”
“Stop it! You have Jamie! You brought the sponsors here, you did all of this.”
“And now Blue is going to undo it. He’ll win the fight, you’ll get your sister back, and I’ll get even richer. Everyone wins, Chelsea, can’t you see that?”
“Chels?” There were three quiet knocks on the door and Chelsea looked up with a gasp.
She looked down at the phone and hit end. She couldn’t talk to Terrance anymore; she couldn’t handle his lies. Or was he telling the truth. Blue had been acting strangely. But had he lied to her this entire time? They had been searching for Jamie for days and Blue hadn’t told her. She shook her head; she should have known better than to call Terrance. He was never any help, ever. He just fed into her fear and made everything worse.
“Yeah, one second,” Chelsea said, trying to hide the shaking sob in her voice. What was she supposed to do? If she confronted Blue she would have to admit she had called Terrance. He would think she betrayed him. Plus, she would be believing Terrance, the man who was legendary for his lies. How could Blue ever trust her again?
But what if Terrance was right? There was no other way that kidnapping Jamie made sense. They didn’t want Chelsea’s money; the just wanted the fight to go on. A fight to the death, and Blue was the best fighter any of them had ever seen. Jamie being collateral for Blue made perfect sense. Taking a deep breath Chelsea opened the voice recording app and hit stop. She saved the conversation and then backed it up to the cloud. She hadn’t been dumb that time.
Chapter Twenty Nine
Chelsea stepped out of the room and walked to the kitchen where Blue was drinking a glass of water.
“What’s wrong?” he asked slowly lowering his glass.
Chelsea’s eyes were blurry with tears she was desperate to hold back. They were hovering right on her lower lashes and were sure to slip over any moment. “I called Terrance,” she said. Blue put down the glass and shook his head. “I know I shouldn’t have. But I needed to. I offered him money for Jamie – a lot of money – and he laughed at me.” Chelsea stopped, she was hoping Blue would take over, that he would fill in the gaps, but his jaw was locked and he lifted his eyes from the linoleum floor to Chelsea’s eyes and waited for her to continue. “He said you’re supposed to fight, that they’re holding Jamie as collateral. Is it true?”
He didn’t speak or move for a moment and then he let out a single word, “Yes.”
Chelsea couldn’t hold back her tears and a sob escaped her as she leaned against the table. Tears were pouring down her face and soaking her shirt and she was helpless to stop them. “Why didn’t you tell me? We’ve been running all over town and you didn’t tell me. Why?”
“Because I hoped we could find Jamie and I wouldn’t have to fight,” he yelled back at her.
“It’s a fight to the death,” Chelsea whispered. “You can’t do that. You can’t kill someone, Blue. What if they’re stronger than you? What if you don’t win?”
“I’ll have to.”
“No! That’s bullshit. I won’t let you do it. I’m not going to let you go into that ring if I have to kidnap you myself.” She remembered the basement, the hard packed floor dotted with blood, the beer cans, and cigarette buts, the darkness. It was like a nightmare come to life. She couldn’t let Blue do that.
“What’s the other option, Chelsea? That Isaac and Amos return Jamie to you piece by piece because that’s what’ll happen. These are not guys who threaten lightly. They’re dangerous and they have it out for me. I’m sorry, Chelsea. I’m sorry I came back here. I roped you and your whole family into this thing with my dad. I just wanted to protect you and I couldn’t even do that.”
“You did protect me,” Chelsea said. “You literally saved my life yesterday and this isn’t your fault. Promise me you won’t think that. This is all Terrance; it’s all his fault and we need to get him. I recorded our conversation,” she said holding up the phone. “I got every word of it. We can take it to the police.”
Blue shook his head, “They’ll kill her, Chels. They’ll do it as a warning to anyone else who tries to go to the cops. Besides, the cops know about the fights. They get a nice little wad of cash for looking the other way.”
“So what do we do now? There has to be something. I’m not letting you do this and I’m not losing my sister. There has to be something.”
Blue shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know where they have her, no one does. We’re out of options and leads, Chelsea. We never really had any to begin with. I’m going to fight. There’s nothing else to be done about it.” He brushed passed her and walked over the living room couch. He fell down onto the soft cushions and put his hands in his hair.
Chelsea felt her heart break. She felt it crack and shatter in her chest. Her sister or Blue, how could she ever be asked to choose? If only she had been taken instead. If it had been her she wouldn’t have wanted Blue to fight, she would have rather died that make him kill someone for her. But they hadn’t taken Chelsea; they had taken Jamie and now Blue was faced with Chelsea’s lifelong suffering if anything happened to her sister.
She was trapped between two people she loved. If only she could trade places with either one she would have. But she couldn’t; she was trapped in the middle. Terrance had designed his trap perfectly.
Chelsea walked towards Blue and stood next to him and pulled him closer to her. He pressed his head against her stomach and wrapped his arms around her as she ran her hands through his thick hair. She felt so right with him. They fit so perfectly together. They hadn’t seen each other in years, but it hadn’t mattered; they remembered each other perfectly.
So how could she ask him to do this? How could she ask him to go into a ring to risk his life and try to kill another man so she could have her sister back? How could she not? She could feel the pulse on his neck against her stomach, could feel his shoulders lift as he took deep breaths. He was so strong and so smart and so capable and it felt wrong for it to end like this.
Chelsea sat down on the couch next to him and took both of his hands in hers an
d then she looked up into his blue eyes. He was so handsome, there was a slight bit of stubble on his chin and Chelsea ran her fingers over it. He was alive and unhurt and hear with her, if only it could stay like that forever.
Chelsea leaned forward and kissed Blue slowly. He placed his hands on the small of her back and pulled her close. He kissed her deeply, sliding his tongue into her mouth as she wrapped her hands around his neck. They kissed and Chelsea rested her hand on his face and turned him so he had to look at her.
“I wish I could make this all better,” she said as a tear rolled down her cheek. “I wish I had a fairy godmother or a genie or someone I could call to make this whole thing go away. I guess I thought that would be my label, but not even money was enough to tempt Terrance.”
“It’s all right,” Blue said, stroking her hair.
She scoffed, he was comforting her. It seemed wrong; he was the one who was being asked to make a huge sacrifice. She should have been comforting him. “I hate to have to ask you to do this, but-”
