Chelsea slammed her car door shut and then fought the urge to open it and slam it again. She was so angry and frustrated. There was one thing she was supposed to do and she hadn’t managed to do it.
“Fuck!” Chelsea screamed as the van containing Molly and Paul pulled up beside her. They were in the parking at the old, abandoned gorge. There was no one else around for miles; no one could hear her scream. She shook her head and paced the gravel filled parking lot.
Molly and Paul stepped out of the van and hurried towards Chelsea.
“You did great,” Molly said, putting her hand on Chelsea’s arm to try and stop her angered pacing.
“What are you talking about? You told me to find out when and where the fight is and I didn’t do that. We still don’t know anything!” Chelsea yelled back, throwing Molly’s arm off.
“We know the fight is happening; we have confirmation of that. It’s enough for my higher ups. With this information I can put together a SWAT team and have them waiting. The second you get the call, you call me and we ride out. Don’t beat yourself up, Chelsea. You did a really good job.”
“You’re sure you can get a SWAT team ready in time?” Chelsea asked as she pulled the wire from her bra and handed it back to Molly.
“Yes, I’m going to wake up my supervisors right now. The SWAT team will be on stand-bye. We’re still on plan, Chelsea. We can still bring down the fighting pits and Terrance.”
“We’re gonna get Blue out there,” Paul said. “We’re not going to let him kill anyone.”
Chelsea nodded and took a deep breath trying to calm herself down. She shook her head and tried to focus on the positive. She would still save her sister and Blue. She was still going to see Terrance put behind bars.
“You should go home and get some sleep,” Paul said. “We’ll be in touch in the morning.”
“All right,” Chelsea said with a nod. She looked up at Molly and Paul they were the only two people in the world who could help her. She needed to remember that they were in this together. They were all the same time and she didn’t have to do all of this on her own.
Paul pulled her into a big bear hug and held her close for just a moment. She closed her eyes and let herself relax. Paul pulled away and looked down at her with a smile. “It’s gonna be okay, Chelsea. We’re not out yet.”
She smiled at him and Molly. In the lonely darkness of the night it was nice to be reminded that she had friends who had her back.
She drove home slowly, taking her time and thinking about what she had just done. She had flirted with Terrance. It felt disgusting and wrong and she hated that she needed to do it. But it would be worth it when his whole fighting pit empire came crumbling down around him. She was glad she was going to the fight; she was ready to watch Terrance’s face as he was led away in handcuffs.
She had just pulled into her driveway when her phone began to ring from somewhere deep in her purse. She sighed and leaned her forehead against the steering wheel. What was it now? She wasn’t sure that she could handle anything else at that moment. But it might be Jamie or Blue and so she reached for her phone.
It was Ryan Baron. She answered the phone. She still needed to think about her career. She wanted to be able to provide for her sister and her mother when this was all over and she could only do that if she still had a career.
“Hey, Ryan,” she said into the phone.
“Hey, Chelsea, I just heard the news from my publicist. What’s the deal? I thought we had a good thing going. Was it something I did?”
“No, you were great,” Chelsea said shaking her head. “It’s just...” She stopped not sure what else she should say. “You really helped me out when I was in a bad time and I thought that I could do this, but I can’t.”
“Why not?” He asked.
“There’s someone else. Someone I think I love and I just can’t do this. I can’t have a fake relationship and hide the real one.”
“Why not? Do you really want your real relationship slapped across the front of those sleazy tabloids? Do you want your real heartbreak to be national news? It’s better this way; we control every aspect of it. Trust me, I’ve been in the business a long time. I know what I’m talking about.”
“I know, and you make a lot of sense. But I just can’t do it.”
“Can’t, or won’t? If this guy is pressuring you to end this then maybe he’s not the guy for you. Does he understand what it takes to be famous? If he’s pressuring you-”
“He’s not pressuring me,” Chelsea interrupted. “I’m saying no. I’m saying I don’t want to do this anymore. Thank you for everything, and we can tell the press it ended amicably, but it is over.”
“All right fine,” Ryan said, his voice short and clipped. “But your career isn’t looking so good. You’ve cancelled a bunch of tour dates and promotional shows. No one’s going to know about your album if you don’t promote it. You keep going the way you’re going and you’re not going to have a career soon and don’t think you can come crying back to me when the whole thing falls apart. Pop stars are a dime a dozen. If you end this, I’m going to find some other pop star to date and her album is going to blow yours away, Chelsea. So I’m giving you one last chance to think about this.”
“Yeah, I’m good. Bye, Ryan,” Chelsea said ending the call.
She walked to her house and wondered why she let her team talk her into dating Ryan Baron in the first place. She had been in a desperate position and she never should have done it. Having a fake relationship to increase her album sales wasn’t who she was. She wasn’t some Hollywood phony and she wasn’t some sugary sweet perfect all American girl. She was Chelsea Riley, a girl who liked to go to clubs and have a good time. She liked to play the guitar and she wanted to be with Blue. She wanted everyone to know that she was with Blue; she wanted to make her album title Chelsea and Blue 4ever and scream it from the mountaintops.
Colleen was sitting at the kitchen table drinking a cup of tea as Chelsea entered the house. Without a word her mother stood up and walked over to her and pulled her into a hug. She rested her hand on Chelsea’s head and smoothed her hair like she used to when Chelsea was little.
“You were gone for so long, I was starting to get worried,” Colleen whispered.
“I know, I’m sorry. I was with Paul,” Chelsea explained.
She hadn’t told her mother the plan or that she was working with the FBI. She was sure she would forbid it or would want to go in herself. Colleen had already been through so much; her daughter was missing and she had almost married a monster and Chelsea didn’t want to make her feel worse. Sometimes daughters needed to protect their mothers.
“I miss Blue,” Chelsea whispered into her mother’s shoulders and she fought back tears.
“I know, baby,” her mother whispered, rubbing Chelsea’s back. There was nothing else she could say. She couldn’t promise it would be okay or promise she could make everything better. Colleen was Chelsea’s mother, but she wasn’t a superhero; she was just a woman just like Chelsea. The days when Chelsea could have run to her mother with her problems were long over. She needed to be the adult now; she needed to solve her own problems. If only it wasn’t so hard.
“By this time tomorrow this will all be over,” Colleen said, looking at Chelsea, her face a forlorn frown.
“Yeah,” Chelsea said with a shaky smile.
“Get some sleep, baby,” her mom said. “I had some men pull you and your sister’s beds from storage. I moved all the gym equipment, so it almost looks like your old room now. You should go lie down and remember better times.”
She could spend tonight remembered better days and tomorrow she would spend all day waiting for the phone to ring. Once she knew the time and location she would have to go watch two men kill each other while an audience watched. But she would be strong, no more tears, no more crying she was going to stay strong and focused and she was going to bring Terrance down and get Blue back.