What was she supposed to say to that? How could she respond to something so horrible? There was nothing she would say that wouldn’t come out as some trite and terrible cliché and Blue didn’t need that. But what did he need? What could she give him that would make up for the horrors of his childhood?
Parents are supposed to protect and provide for their children; they aren’t supposed to profit from them. Even Colleen would have never done anything like this and suddenly Chelsea was aware of just how well she had it. She had a mother who looked out for her and protected her and defended her. Colleen may not have been a perfect mom, but she had been a good one.
“I’m so sorry, Blue. And thank you for protecting me.” He gave a quick smile and then winced as he tested the bruise around his eye. “It doesn’t look too bad yet,” Chelsea said, she was completely unaware if she was helping him or not. “Why did you come back?”
“He got in touch with me in the military, promised that he had changed and he apologized a million times. He begged me to come home so we could reconnect and I could meet my new stepmother.”
“Did he apologize?”
“Nope. I had just finished putting my bag in the room when he came rushing in because he couldn’t wait to tell me about this new fight ring he had found. He told me I would just have to fight once and we could make a mint. He told me we could split it fifty-fifty.”
“So you do all the work and he gets fifty percent?”
“Well, Chelsea,” Blue intoned impersonating his father’s voice, “I did find out about the fight and set the whole thing up, so really one hundred percent should go to me. I’m doing you a favor.”
“That’s awful,” Chelsea said shaking her head. “Why are you still here?”
“Because I didn’t come back to Snowbird to reconnect with my father. You’re the reason I’m here, Chelsea. He told me you would be in Snowbird and I wanted to see you. I still want to see you. I’m not a little kid anymore, I don’t depend on him, and I can leave whenever I want. He can pressure me all he wants, but he can’t make me do anything anymore”
Chelsea shook her head. “I can’t believe you’re in the same house with him. I can’t believe you can stand to look at him.”
Blue shrugged and said, “He’s the only family I have.”
Chelsea looked around her kitchen. The cabinets still wore the thin shadows of paint from when Jamie and Colleen and Chelsea had stenciled birds and apples on them. The wallpaper had never been changed and the pale linoleum floor was still there. But it didn’t feel like home anymore. No one lived here, no one had lived here in awhile and she could feel it. There was a staleness in the air and a thin covering of dust on everything. Knickknacks and small items like keys and bags were missing.
Her mother was living with a man who had forced his son into illegal fighting pits. Her mother loved that man and wanted to marry him and Chelsea had to convince her not to somehow.
“Can we stay here tonight?” Blue asked.
Chelsea nodded and she stood, walking towards her childhood bedroom, the one she and Jamie had shared. But the two twin beds were gone and had been replaced with a treadmill and more empty boxes. For some reason she couldn’t quite identify, Chelsea wanted to cry. She had spent so much of her life in this room, laying on her stomach and gossiping with her sister. They used to sneak out and sneak boys in and stay up late at night watching MTV.
Chelsea closed the door to her childhood bedroom and opened the door to her mom’s old room. It was practically empty. The mattress and box spring were still in the room, but both were bare. The dresser was empty and all the perfumes and makeup that used to sit on it were gone.
Chelsea opened the closet door and pulled out clean sheets and made the bed while Blue took quick shower. She still couldn’t get over what he had told her. While she had been gossiping and curling her hair Blue had been fighting for his life and protecting her all at the same time. He had already seen so much and been through so much; she didn’t know how he managed to get out of bed every morning.
Blue came out of the shower in nothing but his boxers and Chelsea took a step away from the bed when he came in.
“You should sleep in here. I’ll sleep on the couch,” she said.
“Are you kidding me?” Blue asked. “We don’t need to sleep in separate beds. We’ve already had sex, Chelsea.”
“I know, but you need your rest.”
“Then come and rest with me,” he said.
She could never have resisted him. She nodded and slipped out of her jeans and bra and wearing just her t-shirt and panties she slid between the cool covers. Blue lay down next to her and wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close until her back was pressed against his chest. She settled against him and felt as he relaxed and then his breathing became slow and even and within minutes he was asleep.
Chelsea closed her eyes and enjoyed the sensation of his strong arms around her. How many times had she pretended her pillow was Blue DeMarco? And now he was here and he wanted her and his arms were wrapped around her. He had liked her all along; maybe there had been nights when he had lied in bed and dreamed that she was next to him.
Terrance DeMarco was the reason nothing had ever happened between them. He had been a monster to his only son and now he was going to marry Chelsea’s mother. What would happen to Colleen all alone in Snowbird with Terrance DeMarco? What did he have planned for her?
Sleep overcame her faster than she thought and she slept deeply until the sunlight pouring through her mother’s curtainless windows woke her. Blue was on his back next to her still sleeping deeply. Chelsea looked at his face and the dark purple bruise under his eye. It had swollen and darkened overnight, but didn’t look as bad as Chelsea had feared. Even with the bruise he still looked almost too handsome in the morning light.
Chelsea wanted to lie across his chest and wake him up with a kiss. She wanted to run her hands up and down his chest and have him kiss her neck. But she made herself get up instead. She wanted Blue and Blue wanted her, but there was so much going on between their parents and Blue and his father and then what would happen next? All Chelsea had wanted was one crazy fun night and now she was caught up in a fight between a violent man and his son and she wasn’t the only one caught in the crosshairs.
There was still coffee in the house and Chelsea brewed a pot and drank it black as her mind whirled over the many complications that had entered her life in the last day. It wasn’t long before Blue came out. She tried not to wince when she looked at the bruise on his face, but it looked bad. It was swollen and black and she could only imagine how painful it was.
“We need to tell my mom,” Chelsea said. “But I don’t know how to make her believe me. It sounds so crazy; she’s going to think I’m making it up.”
“I don’t know how to tell her either. But I do agree with you. I think we should separate them. Terrance is dangerous and unpredictable and mean.”
“But how do we do it?” Chelsea asked.
“We’ll think of something,” Blue said.
Her cellphone chimed and Chelsea dug through her purse until she found it. It was Jamie telling her she and Blue were being missed at breakfast.
“I can’t believe we have to go back to that house,” Chelsea said.
“We do. We need to go back there and we need to smile and be polite until we figure out how to convince your mom to leave him. If he finds out that you know or that we’re trying to break them up he’ll act first and he’ll be smart about it. He’ll get Colleen on his side and then we’ll never get through to her.”
Chelsea nodded. She knew he was right but she didn’t want to do it. She wanted to get back to LA and be in the sunshine where her biggest concern was fitting in her Pilates class. She had no idea how she was going to convince her mother to leave her new rich boyfriend who liked to shower her with presents.
But Blue was with her and they had the truth on their side. Plus, Terrance was just so oily and creepy, surely there was some part of Colleen that recognized what Terrance was. Chelsea just needed to get through to that one part and hope that it would be enough to convince Colleen to leave.