Zoe stared at the reflection in the mirror in disbelief, as though that must be someone else’s pinched face scowling at her from the dressing-room doorway, not her rival. Maybe she’d had one too many shots earlier.
She closed her eyes to blink the image away, and when she opened them again, what she saw was a glimpse of metal raised above her head. A mic stand.
Zoe’s body recognized the threat before her brain did. She dropped to the ground just as the mic stand came crashing down where she’d been standing. It caught the vanity, taking out the rest of the knickknacks sitting on it.
Cans of hairspray and brushes rained down on Zoe’s head, and she threw her hands up. When she looked up, the stand was raised to come down on her.
Kicking out, Zoe caught a heel on Chelsea’s knee. The kneecap shifted beneath the force, and the crunch ran up Zoe’s leg. She shuddered. Chelsea screamed out.
Zoe tried to scramble away, but Chelsea recovered and she drew her weapon back again. Zoe rolled to the side. The stand smashed down, sending the trash can across the room. It whistled as it sailed past her head.
Picking up one of the fallen hairspray cans, Zoe took aim and fired. The mist hit Chelsea in the face, and her eyes clamped shut. Coughing and sputtering, she tried to wipe away the sticky film.
Zoe clambered to her feet and lunged for the door, but a half-blinded Chelsea swung the stand. It went wide, taking out a lamp. Zoe leapt out of the way just in time.
“Somebody help!” Zoe screamed, but she knew no one would hear her over the band’s encore.
Chelsea hopped on her good leg, wincing slightly each time. She took a swing, and another, and another, forcing Zoe away from the exit.
With nowhere else to go, she darted to one of the folding chairs and threw it at her rival. Chelsea stumbled, catching herself on her bad leg. Groaning in pain, she braced herself against the wall.
Taking the chance, Zoe dove for her. Her fingers wrapped around the metal stand, clamping on tight as she tried to wrench it away. But while Chelsea was in sneakers, Zoe’s heels set her off balance.
The stand twisted to the side and Zoe tripped toward a tattered armchair. She landed awkwardly on the seat, but held on to the metal stand. As Chelsea gripped either end of the stand and pressed down, putting all her weight behind it, it became too much for Zoe’s arms to handle. Inch by inch, it sank toward her throat.
Chelsea’s teeth squeaked as she ground them together, face contorting with the desire to squeeze Zoe’s neck until her head popped off.
The cool metal pressed against Zoe’s windpipe. She swallowed and felt it rub.
With Chelsea’s hands wrapped around the stand, her side lay wide open. In a last-ditch effort, Zoe whipped a knee up. It connected with ribs in a pop and Chelsea grunted, wheezing.
The pressure on Zoe’s neck relaxed. She twisted the rod with a sudden movement and it sent Chelsea flopping to the ground, holding her side, cringing in pain.
The chair tipped over, Zoe along with it. But now Zoe was on top and had the advantage.
Ripping the mic stand from Chelsea’s grip, Zoe tossed it aside. Throwing her weight on top of her rival, she tried to restrain her. She wrapped her long legs around the ones trying to kick her, and her arms around the ones trying to claw and punch and grab any part of her, until all Chelsea could do was jerk and buck awkwardly beneath Zoe’s body.
Chelsea gave a few more futile wiggles before she gave up and settled on yelling and swearing in frustration.
Zoe made sure to keep her face away from Chelsea’s in case she decided to bite or head butt. Over the swearing and screamed threats, she heard laughing and chatting voices drawing closer through the door.
“Help! In here!” she yelled.
Footsteps quickened. The door burst open. Levi’s eyes swept over the destruction before they landed on the heap of tangled limbs on the floor.
“Zoe.”
“Help me,” she grunted. “I can’t hold her much longer.”
Levi dropped to the ground, replacing her hands with his own. As she began to untangle her legs she saw Brody and Aaron grab Chelsea’s ankles to prevent her from kicking out.
“I’ll go grab the bouncers,” Candi said before taking off, vintage heels clicking down the hall.
Jett stood out in the hall, plugging his one ear to hear his phone over Chelsea’s screams. Zoe assumed he was calling the police.
Zoe rolled away and onto her back, gasping for air, feeling her pulse throb in her already-blossoming bruises. Her limbs shook and she couldn’t find the strength to stand until a couple of hands reached down to help her up. She looked up to see Piper and Addison above her.
She let them help her to her feet and into a chair where she could catch her breath. It might have only been a two-minute fight, but she felt as though they’d been wrestling for hours. She supposed that’s what happened when your body gave it everything it had in order to survive.
Chelsea was successfully pinned, but she continued to thrash on the floor like she wanted to finish what she’d come there for.
“What the hell happened?” Levi asked Zoe.
“After you left, Chelsea came in here with a microphone stand wanting to play a game of T-ball using my head.”
Bodies shuffled out of the way. The bouncer with the lip piercings pushed his way in, kicking the toppled chair aside. Another bouncer followed him in and they took over for the band. As they stood Chelsea up to get her out, she jerked wildly in their grip and released a carnal scream.
“You bitch!” she yelled at Zoe. “You just couldn’t let me be happy, could you? You have everything, your successful business, your rock-star boyfriend, your connections throughout the city. Why did you have to take what little I have?” Her hair escaped from its usual tight bun, falling over her face, making her look wild.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Zoe asked.
“Sean. My fiancé,” she spat. “You just couldn’t stand to let me have him, could you? You had to steal him from me. Natalie said you came by the office the other day, that you spoke with him. What did you say to him to make him leave? Huh?”
Zoe closed her eyes, trying to gather herself. “I went there to tell you to back off and stop trying to sabotage me. I had no idea he was going to be there. I don’t even care if you marry him. You two deserve each other.”
The rims around Chelsea’s eyes had started to turn red, and when she spoke, her voice cracked with emotion. “Then why won’t he marry me?”
Zoe sighed. She rubbed the bridge of her nose, feeling a headache form. She felt a hand land on her back and start to rub it comfortingly. It was Levi. She smiled up at him gratefully.
Chelsea’s emotional outburst tugged at something inside of her, drawing forth memories of her own wedding day when Sean’s sudden abandonment threw her off the deep end.
She hated to admit that she had anything in common with her rival, but she could certainly sympathize with her. Zoe was almost tempted to throw Chelsea a bone, to tell her it would get better again if she let it.
“I don’t know why he’s not marrying you,” she finally said, a little calmer. “But considering Sean’s track record, I’d say it’s him and not us.”
“Everything was fine until you started meddling in my life. You’ve ruined everything!” Chelsea burst into tears.
Zoe laughed, getting fed up with the conversation. Everything hurt, and she suddenly yearned for bed. “I haven’t done anything to you. You’ve slandered my name all over town, you stole my assistant and my clients. And don’t even start with your booth being wrecked, because I didn’t do that.”
“Of course you didn’t,” Chelsea said like Zoe was a complete idiot. “I did!”
“What?”
“I was supposed to get that interview with Holly Hart. I was supposed to be on the news. But instead, all anyone cares about is you. Everyone’s just so plum crazy about Zoe, Zoe, Zoe.” She rolled her eyes.
“And you thought you’d blame me for it, get me kicked out of the expo, and ruin my reputation.”
“Two birds, one stone,” Chelsea said, like anyone would have done the same thing in her position.
Zoe narrowed her eyes, thinking back to before that day, when all her troubles seemed to begin. If she’d been willing to do that, then what else was she capable of?
“Did you sabotage the Fisher-Wells wedding?” she asked.
“How could I? I wasn’t even there. But Natalie, on the other hand, was in the perfect position. And she was so eager to get a job in my company that she was prepared to do just about anything.”
Zoe got to her feet, suddenly finding the strength for round two. “Were you the one who broke into my van? Did you cut up Piper’s dress?”
Levi stiffened next to her. “Did you cut her brake lines?” He blinked. Obviously everything was coming back to him at the same pace it was to her. His hands balled into fists at his side. “Were you the one responsible for the explosion in her office?”
Addison gasped. “Did you try to poison Piper?”
Piper crossed her arms, eyes narrowing with a promise of violence. And Zoe didn’t blame her. If Chelsea had really been the one to cause all their grief in the last few weeks, then she was to blame for Piper’s wedding nearly derailing time and time again. Zoe might have been her target, but Piper had also paid a price each time.
Chelsea’s head whipped around the room to greet each accusation that was hurled at her, as everyone tried to put the puzzle together. But then her face suddenly transformed, from anger, hatred, and outrage, to hilarity.
While her face was smiling, Chelsea’s eyes were dead, lifeless. Her body sagged against the bouncers. She’d lost her fight. Maybe because she had nothing left to fight for.
Zoe remembered that anger, that unquenchable anxiety and turmoil just bursting to get out, and the frustration of not knowing where to place it—strangely, not at the man who deserved it for so recklessly toying with someone’s heart. But in Chelsea’s case, she’d clearly found a target for that anger: Zoe.
The bouncers dragged Chelsea’s listless body outside to wait for the cops. For now, her fight was gone, but it wasn’t over. Zoe knew all too well that that kind of anger wouldn’t just go away. It would linger and fester if Chelsea let it.
Chelsea was out of sight, but in the silence, Zoe could still hear the scraping of her shoes along the floor as she was dragged down the hallway. Then her sharp voice rang out, echoing backstage.
“Just wait, Zoe!” she screamed. “You’ll get yours! And I’m not talking karma!”