Lying in her childhood bed didn’t make her feel like a little kid anymore. She felt old and useless and mostly alone. She looked to the right where Jamie’s bed sat empty. Without her sister there to whisper and joke with the bedroom felt cold and lonely. Chelsea tossed and turned and watched the clock next to her as it moved slowly.
She tossed and turned for an hour and then sometime near midnight she realized sleep was not going to happen. She tossed her covers aside and got dressed and then had no idea what to do with herself. She wanted to see Blue, that was the only thing. She wanted to see him or talk to him, anything. It had only been a day, but already she missed him more than she could have imagined.
So why don’t you go see him? You know where he is. The realization hit Chelsea and for a moment she debated her options. She could see him; she needed to see him. He could die tomorrow, or he could end up in jail. Tonight might be the last night they could ever have together. Was she really going to spend it apart from him?
Chelsea started her car and drove quickly to Terrance’s house. She parked a few blocks away and hurried to his house and then ducked through the shadows and ran across the lawn. She hugged the side of the house and looked up at the windows, searching for one that had a light on. There was one in the basement; she could see where a small, square window peeked over the grass. Chelsea dropped to her hands and knees and peered through it.
The room was small and bare. It was clearly the servant’s quarters. Blue’s room had a single bed and a small table with a chair and nothing else in it. And then she saw him. He must have just come out of the shower. He was walking naked towards the bed, his body still wet from the shower as he dried his hair with a towel.
Chelsea tapped three times on the window. She watched as Blue froze then he dropped the towel and took a fighting stance. He looked up at the window and seemed startled to see her. He grabbed his towel from the floor and wrapped it around his waist. Blue walked over to the small window and pried it open.
“What are you doing here?!” he hissed.
“I wanted to see you,” Chelsea said. “I miss you and I just needed to see you. Let me in, I can crawl through the window.”
“You can’t fit through there,” he said.
“Take the screen out,” Chelsea whispered. Blue shook his head but at the same time he pulled the screen out of the window. Chelsea put her arms through first and began to pull herself through the small opening, shifting her hips in order to fit through. Blue took her arms and pulled her the last of the way catching her in his arms and lowering her to the floor.
Once she was on her feet Chelsea put her arms around Blue and kissed him deeply. He was still warm from the shower and he smelled like ivory soap and tasted like toothpaste. His warm hands made their way up Chelsea’s back and she sighed as she leaned into him.
“I missed you,” she whispered into his ear as she kissed his neck and felt the scratch of his stubble against her cheek.
“I missed you, too,” he said squeezing her tightly and then letting her go. “But you should go,” he said glancing back at the closed door. “If Terrance finds out you’re here, I don’t know what might happen. I don’t want you to get hurt, Chelsea. It’s the one thing I can’t handle.”
“I got it,” Chelsea said. She ran to the desk and grabbed the chair and stuck it under the door to keep it closed. She turned around smiled at Blue as he crossed his arms and shook his head.
“It’s works,” she said with a shrug of her shoulders. She looked around at the sparse room. There was no carpet on the floor and the room was chilly and there was one lone light on the desk. “Why are you down here? There are like ten empty bedrooms upstairs, why are you here?”
“Terrance thinks easy environments make men weak. A hard environment makes men strong. It toughens them up. He thinks you can get too used to comfort and then you forget what it is you’re capable of handling.”
“I think that sounds dumb,” Chelsea said shaking her head.
“Yeah, it’s not my favorite thing,” Blue said as he rifled through his bag and pulled out a pair of boxer shorts and a t-shirt and dressed quickly.
“So, I have to tell you something, but you can’t be mad,” Chelsea said.
Blue looked over at her in concern and she told him everything. She told him about her and Paul contacting the FBI and the SWAT team that was on the ready for Terrance’s call.
“Chelsea, you shouldn’t have done that,” Blue hissed.
“I knew you were going to say that,” Chelsea said shaking her head. “But I don’t need you to protect me and I’m not going to sit back and do nothing while you do this fight. But this means you can’t kill your opponent. If you do you could go to jail for a long time, Blue. You have to stall as best you can.”
“Stall, in a fight? That’s not how it works, Chelsea. It’s a fight to the death. I can’t not fight; if I don’t, he wins. This isn’t like a movie. I have to give it my all or I will be the one who dies.”
He sat down on the bed and motioned for Chelsea to join him. She sat down next to him and together they laid back as she rested her head against his chest.
“Are you nervous about tomorrow?” Chelsea asked.
“I don’t really get nervous the night before a fight. I only get nervous right before I’m about to walk into the ring. Just the walk to the ring, that’s the only time. When all these strangers are cheering me on and patting me on the back...” he looked away, unable to continue.
“So what are you feeling right now? Because I’m nervous as hell. I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, I can’t do anything but worry about tomorrow.”
“I feel ready,” Blue answered. “I feel like I’ve never stopped training. The Army isn’t exactly easy, you know? I went from one fight to another and it’s never really stopped. But I’ve never gone soft in all these years, so I feel ready. I was training today and it all just came right back to me. I never really had the chance to forget.”
“But this fight is different,” Chelsea whispered.
“Yeah, I’m trying not to think about that.”
Chelsea turned over and snuggled into Blue’s chest as his hand came up and massaged her back.
“So, what are you thinking about?” Chelsea asked.
“You mostly. I feel like everything reminds me of you. There’s that pizza place on Main Street that we used to go to, remember? We had our favorite booth in the corner where we used to play cards.”
“Life in a small town,” Chelsea said shaking her head. “My mom used to complain about me coming home smelling like pizza and garlic bread; she said the smell was bad for her diet.”
“Then there was that crappy diner on Ninth Street. You were smoking cigarettes and hiding it from your mom. We used to sit and drink coffee and you would smoke and write my English papers for me.”
“I’ve never known anyone to hate Shakespeare as much as you did.”
“As much as I do. I still think he’s an overrated hack.”
“That’s because you were reading it. Shakespeare’s plays were meant to be performed, not read in a classroom.”
“Please tell me this isn’t going to lead to that rant about you not getting the part of Juliet in the school play, is it?”
“That was a disgrace. They chose Harper Madison over me? She had the most stilted line readings I’ve ever heard! They only gave to her because she had perfect attendance and straight As and because I was suspended during the auditions. Stupid Coach Carson caught me smoking in the bathroom. She was such a bitch.”
“I know and I agree with you,” Blue said nodding. “We’ve been over this so many times. Harper Madison has nothing on you.”
“Thank you,” Chelsea said.
She propped herself up on her elbow and gave him a kiss on his cheek and then she kissed him again on his lips, his hand coming around her body and pulling her closer.