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 and 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-”
“Shh,” Blue said, placing his thumb on her lip. “That’s the thing, Chelsea, you don’t have to ask. You never have to ask. I would do anything to make you happy and I’m going to go into the ring and get your sister back.”
More tears poured down her face and she was shocked she had anything left to cry. Every time she was sure she was done crying some new horrible thing would happen and she would have realized that everything could still get worse. And things could get worse. Blue could die. He could lose the fight and the boys from Detroit might get mad and kill her sister and then her mother would marry Terrance and she would truly have lost everything.
Chelsea pulled Blue in for a fierce hug. She pulled him against her and he hugged her tightly as she sobbed into his shoulder. There was nothing she could do to make everything better. She ran her hands up and down Blue’s back. He felt so solid beneath her, so real and so alive.
Blue pulled away and wiped an errant tear from Chelsea’s face. “I’m going to get your sister back. I promise you that. And you can play that tape for your mom and get her back, too. And I am good, Chelsea. I’ll win the fight. I’ll win it and I’ll come back to you.”
“Where are you going?” Chelsea demanded as Blue stood up. She reached for him, holding onto his shirt and hand as he tried to pull away from her.
“I’m going to get Jamie back.”
“No.”
“I’m going to tell my father that I’ll do the fight. It’s the only way. Please don’t try and stop me, Chels. You know we have to do this.” He pulled her close and kissed her on the forehead as he finally pulled his hand free of hers. “It’ll be okay,” he whispered, caressing her face with hand. And then he was walking away from her and Chelsea was frozen in place and she could do nothing but watch as he gave her one last look and closed the door behind him.