Cocky (18 page)

Chapter Thirty Four

They sat at the huge table in the dining room. It was made from some lovely and dark tree and shined so the overhead lights were reflected back at the people who sat around it. Terrance really did have terrible taste. They kept the lights off and instead let the natural light shine in through the windows. Colleen sat next to her daughter, a cooling cup of tea in front of her. Chelsea wished she could read her mother’s thoughts. Colleen’s face was frozen in an unreadable expression, and every time she reached for her cup her hands shook.

“Honey! I’m home,” Terrance called as the door slammed behind him.

Colleen’s face hardened into a mask and Chelsea glanced over at her. She had never seen her mother fight with one of her boyfriends. Either Chelsea hadn’t been home, or the breakup had happened somewhere else. She had no idea what might happen next.

“Colleen?” Terrance called out.

“In here,” Colleen answered, her voice flat and cold.

“Hey there...” Terrance said as he stepped into the room. He stopped when he saw Chelsea and then he took a step back when he saw Colleen’s expression. He had walked into the room with a spring in his step and Chelsea knew what the good news had been. Blue was going to fight. That meant Terrance had spent all night calling up rich monsters and inviting them to town so they could watch the violence on display.

“Where’s my daughter?” Colleen asked, her voice low and dangerous.

“She’s sitting right next to you,” Terrance answered giving his voice a cheerful lilt as if they were all playing some sort of fun game.

“Jamie! Where is Jamie! I know you have her,” Colleen shouted. She stood up and leaned over the table glaring at her once-fiancé.

“Colleen, what are you talking about?” Terrance asked as he took a step towards her.

“I know everything, you son of a bitch!” Colleen snapped.

“Colleen, please. I warned you about Blue and his lies-”

“I recorded the conversation,” Chelsea said. She kept her voice low and even, shouting wasn’t going to work on Terrance. And she took her time; she wanted to remember this moment, to make Terrance know he had been out-maneuvered. “Remember, when I called and offered you ten million dollars for my sister’s return? I recorded the conversation and played it for my mom. She knows everything.”

Terrance’s face went from confusion to anger to fury and then something else. The mask he had worn since they had landed, probably since he had met Colleen, had fallen away. The gentle smile, the grandfatherly way, all of that was gone. The only thing left was the monster that did whatever would get him the most money. His dark and beady eyes flicked between Chelsea and her mother as if he were looking for something. Chelsea focused on keeping eye contact; she refused to back down to this man.

“Come on, Colleen,” he said, turning to face her. “Jamie is fine. I just needed to borrow her for a few days. No one’s hurt her or touched her. She’s fine. I promise-”

“You think your word means anything to me?” Colleen interrupted. “You’ve done nothing but lie to me since the day we met!”

“I’ve done a lot more than that,” Terrance said. “The trips, the dinners, this house, don’t you like those things? Don’t you appreciate them? Well they don’t come free. You think auto-repair shops make this kind of money? The fights are just a business like any other. There is a demand, I have a supply, and people are willing to pay a lot of money for it. Why shouldn’t I provide a service people want?”

“A service people want?” Chelsea demanded. “You’re forcing people to fight to the death. That’s not a service and the world would be better off without it.”

“There’s money to be made. Either I’m going to make it or someone else is. Wouldn’t you rather it be me, Colleen?”

“No!” Colleen yelled she hefted her mug and threw it at Terrance’s head. He ducked just in time and it shattered on the wall behind him. “I would rather live in the street like a dog than make money that way!”

“Fine,” Terrance said through gritted teeth. “We could have lived a nice life together. You and me in this fancy house. We could have ruled this town, we still can...”

“The cost is what? My daughter? I would never do that to her, never! I’m her mother. I’m supposed to protect her, not make money off of her. Only a monster would do that. Give her back to me, Terrance. Please. If you ever had any affection for me at all, you will give me back my daughter,” Colleen said as a sob rocked through her chest.

“You have Blue,” Chelsea said. “Now you need to keep your side and give us Jamie back.”

Terrance gave out a long and dramatic sigh and shook his head, “I keep telling you over and over again that she’s fine, you’re overreacting. Sadly, you can’t have her back just yet. Now that Blue will be in the fight, we’ve pushed it back by three days to let some of our out of town attendees get here in time. So in three days, you’ll have her back.”

“No!” Chelsea yelled. “You promised she would be back yesterday and now you’re adding three days? No! You can’t do that. We had an agreement.”

“What are you going to do?” Terrance asked. “Call the cops? By all means. Then they’ll call me and I’ll call the people holding Jamie and then things will be bad for her. Is that what you want? Because right now she’s fine, but that can change.”

“How can you do this? You told me you loved me,” Colleen whispered.

“I do love you, Colleen. But I love my business, too. Now you can’t really be asking me to choose between you and my business. I am my business. Don’t make me choose.”

Colleen shook her head, “I’ve been such a fool. I chose you over my own daughters. I hate you. I never want to see you again.”

“Where is Jamie?” Chelsea asked. “I want to talk to her. I want to know she’s okay.”

“Fine,” Terrance said with a shrug of his shoulders. He picked up his phone and hit a few buttons. “I need to talk to the girl,” he said and then he handed the phone to Chelsea.

She took it and hit speaker and she and her mother cradled the phone between them.

“Jamie?” Chelsea said into the phone.

“Chelsea?” It was Jamie’s voice and Chelsea couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face.

“Are you okay?” Chelsea asked into the phone. She struggled to keep it together, focusing on not crying and keeping her hands steady.

“I’m all right,” Jamie said, and Chelsea could hear her tears. “I’m okay. I’ve been trapped in this tiny room for days. No one will tell me anything. What’s happening?” Chelsea opened her mouth to answer, but Terrance ripped the phone from her hands and ended the call.

“See?” he asked. “I told you she was fine and you can have her in three days and I do apologize for the delay in returning her.”

“And Blue?” Chelsea asked.

“Blue is my son. He’s not your concern,” Terrance said. “Stay out of it, sweetheart. It’s way above your pay grade.”

“What father makes his son fight to the death for money?” Chelsea demanded.

“You’re really leaving, Colleen?” Terrance asked ignoring Chelsea’s questions.

Colleen said nothing. She just stood up and spun away from Terrance. They had packed her things earlier and together Chelsea and her mother grabbed a few bags and loaded up the car. Terrance didn’t try and stop them. Instead, he locked himself in his office as they left.

Chelsea drove. They didn’t speak at all on the ride over. Every time Chelsea turned to look, her mother would be looking out the window, her cheeks wet with tears. “Terrance was a bastard,” Chelsea said. “He lied to you, to all of us. It’s not your fault.”

“My daughter has been taken and no one told me, because you knew I would side with the man who kidnapped her. What kind of mother does that make me? What kind of person?”

“You’re a good mom,” Chelsea said, taking her mother’s hand and giving it a squeeze. “You just have terrible taste in men.”

A smile appeared on Colleen’s face as she turned towards her daughter. “My sweet Chelsea, you were always the brightest light of whatever room you were in.”

Chapter Thirty Five

“Is that Blue’s car?” Colleen asked. They were sitting at a stoplight next to the mall and across the street was the second location of DeMarco’s Auto Repair and right there, in the parking lot, was Blue’s car. Chelsea stared at it until the car behind her honked and she was pulled from her reverie. “You should go and talk to him,” Colleen said. “We know Terrance is back at home. This might be your last chance.”

Chelsea nodded and turned the car around and pulled into the parking lot.

“Go, I’ll wait here,” Colleen said.

With a deep breath Chelsea stepped out of the car and into the harsh daylight. She felt shaky all over and sick. She didn’t know what she was going to say to Blue. She just wanted to see him and be with him. Her heart was pounding as she approached the glass doors and pulled them open.

Three chimes rang out as Chelsea walked into the auto repair store. The store was bright and airy and there were about fifteen cars in the shop. Several men stood underneath various cars as a receptionist smiled brightly at Chelsea.

“Can I help you?”

“No,” Chelsea answered. She had seen Blue; she was sure of it. She had seen the back of his head as he had walked away. She left the receptionist and walked back towards where she had last seen Blue.

“You can’t go back there!” the receptionist called out, but Chelsea continued to ignore her and walked back into the shop.

The men working on the cars glanced up at her as she passed, but she ignored them all, she was here for one reason. She turned the corner and saw Blue where he was hovering over an open hood and helping another man work.

“Blue?” she asked as she came up behind him.

“Chelsea,” Blue answered. He looked around the garage as he walked over to her and took her by the hand and pulled her back into a small office closing the door behind them. “You can’t be here,” he said.

“Terrance is at the house. I got my mom out. Then we saw your car and I wanted to see you. I had to see you,” Chelsea couldn’t help herself and she wrapped her arms around Blue. She grabbed him in a deep hug and pulled him close and rested her head against his chest. She could feel the tha-thump of his heart in his chest as she leaned into him.

He put his arms around her and stroked her back with his hands. “I missed you,” he whispered. “It hasn’t even been a day yet, but I already missed you. How crazy is that?”

“Not so crazy. I missed you, too,” Chelsea said and she pulled herself away from him so she could look up into his eyes. But his arms were still wrapped around her. They were still touching, still connected. “I ended all that crazy nonsense with Ryan,” Chelsea said. “You were right: it was wrong and I was lying and I’ve put a stop to it. I don’t know how my manager is going to spin it. It never really was a relationship, we never even met, but at least now it’s over. We don’t have to declare anything to the media, but I want to be with you and only you. I don’t want to have a fake relationship with anyone. I want to have a real relationship with you.”

Blue tucked a stray strand of hair behind Chelsea’s ear and cupped her cheek in his hand. “You didn’t need to do that,” he said. “I shouldn’t tell you how to run your business.”

“Yeah, but I’ve realized that you still have to have your standards in business. You can’t just lie to people and make stuff up and do whatever you want. That’s no way to run a business or live your life. When my mom confronted Terrance he kept telling her it was all just business and he couldn’t understand how she couldn’t look past that. I don’t want to be anything like Terrance. I’m not going to let making money compromise my morals.”

Blue smiled and he leaned down and kissed her gently, tipping her chin up to meet his lips. Chelsea felt his scruff on her soft and smooth cheeks and she kissed him deeply, wrapping him up in her arms again. There was a loud bang from outside and they quickly separated, shocked from the noise.

“I talked to Jamie. Terrance put her on the phone,” Chelsea said. “She sounded scared, but all right and Paul is going to try and get the Feds involved. You might not have to fight, Blue.” She took his strong hands in his and held onto the tightly. “I don’t want you to have to do this.”

“But I do have to do this,” Blue said quietly. “I can’t see any way to get out of the fight.” He pulled away from her. He was out of her reach and Chelsea watched as he reached for the doorknob.

“No!” she said, launching herself at the door and grabbing the knob before Blue could. “Please, Blue. Talk to me. Say something.”

“I’m gonna get Jamie back,” he said. “No matter what it takes, I’m going to get her back. But you have to go. You can’t be seen here. I’m sure by now someone has called Terrance. I don’t want him to hurt you, Chelsea. And the only way he’s agreed to do that is if I stay where he can see me and I do the fight. If he shows up and you’re here, he might take you, too.”

“He told me the fight’s been scheduled for three days from now. I’m just supposed to not see you for three days? Do you know how long the last twelve hours have been? Besides, Blue, this is a fight to the death. I believe in you, but...” but what? She couldn’t finish her thought. She couldn’t say the words out loud.

What if Blue died? What if the other guy was bigger and stronger or more desperate? Anything could happen in the ring, Blue could slip or blink at the wrong moment and the whole thing would be over. He could die, or be seriously injured. And if everything went in his favor, he would have to kill another man. It would be murder; how could Chelsea ask him to do this for her?

“You have to move, Chelsea,” Blue said as he put his strong hands on her shoulders. “I have to go back out there before anyone gets suspicious and calls Terrance.”

But she refused to move. She refused to let go of the doorknob because letting go meant she was condoning what would happen next. If she let go, Blue would have to fight. She just needed to keep him here in this tiny locked room for as long as possible. She needed to keep him here where she could see him.

“Do you remember when we were in our junior year and we broke into that office building late one night?” A rare smile crossed over Blue’s face as he replayed the memory in his own mind. “We wanted to get to the roof, because it was the tallest building in town and we wanted to see the view. So you picked the back lock and we took the stairs...”

“And then we discovered that no one in that building locked their doors.”

“We ended up in that lawyer’s office eating hamburgers on some solid mahogany table. I remember thinking that the office building was so glamorous. Something about the tables and the computers, it all seemed so grown up to me. Isn’t that funny? I remember walking through the halls, imagining I was a president or CEO or something. That was my dream that night, to be the CEO of some crappy company in Snowbird, Idaho. I think about that night all the time,” she said looking up at him. “I wrote a stupid song about that night, and it’s on my album.” She shook her head and smiled at the memory.

“Do you remember when we were on the roof?” Chelsea continued. “The whole, crappy city was stretched before us. We found our houses and we were leaning over the ledge. I remember looking over at you and you were looking at me with this look on your face and I swore that you were going to finally kiss me. I was so nervous. I was worried I was going to throw up on you.”

“Then the alarm finally went off and we ran,” Blue finished looking deeply in Chelsea’s eyes.

“I feel like we’re always dealing with these missed moments. I don’t want to miss any more moments with you. I want you to come back with me, but I know you can’t. It feels like we’re on the roof again and we’re so close to being together, but something is always tearing us apart. I don’t want anything to keep us apart.”

“It’ll be okay, Chels. Look, they gave me the number for the people holding Jamie. I told my father he had to give it me so I could make sure she was okay. I’ll call and you can talk to her, and soon...this will all be over.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and Chelsea was so desperate to talk to Jamie she let go of the doorknob and reached for Blue. They kissed again, one last time with his hands tangled in her hair.