Cocky (9 page)

Chapter Sixteen

Chelsea watched as Terrance’s car raced down the street and away from the house. She looked over to Blue wondering what was going on, but he was still staring at the path his father’s car had taken. He seemed frozen in place, with his eyes locked on the receding taillights. He had an unreadable expression on his face and Chelsea’s mind began to whirl and wonder what new threat Terrance had given his son. It was cool outside and she wrapped her bathrobe around herself tightly. Her hair was wet and and she shuddered as the cool water dripped down her back. She could feel the cold on every inch of her exposed skin and beneath her bare feet.

“Blue, is everything all right?” Chelsea called across the yard. As if woken from a dream Blue stood up a little straighter and turned around. With one look Chelsea knew something horrible had happened. Blue’s jaw was set and his shoulders were squared and he looked angry and dangerous, like a tensed wild animal that had sensed danger.

“Get inside,” Blue said taking Chelsea by the arm and pulling her into the house. He slammed the door behind her and locked both the doorknob, the deadbolt, and the chain. “Cover up the windows in here and the bedroom.” He walked over to Chelsea and Jamie’s old room.

Chelsea stood frozen in the middle of the living room. She had no idea what was going on and she was suddenly stuck to the floor with fear. She felt exposed in her empty old house; what had once felt familiar and safe was now scary and unknown. She closed her eyes and focused on what Blue had said: cover the windows, she could handle that. Her limbs shaking, Chelsea ran into her mother’s room and grabbed some extra towels and bed sheets. The curtains were gone so Chelsea hung the towels in their place, tossing them over the curtain rods, quickly working her way through all the windows in the bedroom and the living room.

Blue was closing and checking the locks on all of the windows and Chelsea swallowed nervously as she looked at him. What had happened? Why was he so worried? His expression was, as always, unreadable and Chelsea hated being in the dark. But all she could do was watch him as he moved with a robotic precision, making his way through the house quickly and efficiently. There were no doubts in his movements and no hesitations in his actions. This wasn’t the first time he had done this.

“Blue, please tell me what’s going on,” Chelsea said, choking back tears. She was trying to keep it together, but the longer he took the more her mind raced. Her imagination leapt from horrible scene to horrible scene as it ran unchecked. She needed to know.

“Okay,” Blue finally said as he came to a stop. He had run out of locks to check. He was standing in the kitchen and he slowly turned around to face Chelsea. His arms were crossed in front of his chest, but he couldn’t look her in the eye. “I’m going to take care of it.”

Chelsea’s stomach dropped.

“Some men have kidnapped Jamie-”

“What!?” Chelsea screamed. She ran at Blue as if he had Jamie hiding behind him. She rushed to him and then had nothing to do with herself when they were only a few inches apart. “What happened?” she finally stammered

“I’m not sure, but I know she’s alive and she’s okay. It’s some guys involved in the fighting pits who have her.” He reached out to hold Chelsea’s arms. He searched for her eyes, but now it was Chelsea who found she couldn’t look at him.

Her whole body was shaking, sobs wracking through her. Her stomach felt sick, like she couldn’t get it to settle no matter how hard she tried. Her sister was gone. Her sweet and innocent sister who had never done a bad thing in her life had been taken. Where was she? Was she hurt? Was she okay? What was Chelsea supposed to do now? She couldn’t think beyond her next question; she couldn’t fathom how she was supposed to keep breathing when her sister was missing. “Why?” Chelsea demanded. “Why did they take her?”

“I...I don’t know,” Blue stammered running his hand through his hair. “They haven’t told us anything yet. They said they would be in contact on the day of the next fight, which is in four days.”

“So what? We’re just supposed to do nothing for the next four days?” Chelsea screamed. “They could be doing anything to her! Did you talk to her? Is she all right?”

“I didn’t talk to her. There was just a short video. But she was alive and looked unhurt,” Blue said as he rubbed his hands up and down her arms. Chelsea lost her strength and she hunched over with a shuddering sob.  Blue pulled her over to the couch and sat her down. She collapsed against him and he wrapped her up in his arms.

“How did she look? Where was she?” Chelsea asked, her face buried in Blue’s chest.

“I don’t know where she was; it could have been any hotel room. She looked scared. She was tied-up-”

Chelsea let out a sob and clutched Blue’s shirt. It felt like she was being ripped apart.

Why had they taken Jamie? Didn’t they know that Chelsea was with Blue, or that Colleen was with Terrance? Jamie didn’t have anything to do with illegal fighting pits or anything like that. She was a bartender, not a mobster, and she didn’t deserve this.

It should have been me,
Chelsea thought to herself. “We need to call the police!” Chelsea said sitting straight up. “Why didn’t we do that right away? What were we thinking? We’ll call the cops, they bring in the FBI or whatever, and then they can plan a sting and catch the bad guys and everything will be fine.” Chelsea’s words were tumbling over each other as she rushed through them. She reached for her phone on the table, but Blue took her wrist in his hand and stopped her.

“We can’t call the police,” Blue said quietly, shaking his head.

“Yes, we can. We can call the police and we should. We are not equipped to handle this. You don’t even know what they want.”

Blue set his jaw and nodded and said, “We can’t call the cops. If we call the cops, they will kill her and then they will find us. We don’t know where they are and we have no idea who took her. If we start a manhunt they’re going to kill her and destroy her body and we’ll never know who did it. There are people out there who know how to do this, Chelsea. They know how to make someone disappear and that’s who has your sister.”

“Stop it!” Chelsea yelled, standing up and moving away from him. She re-tied her robe and pulled it tight around her. “Why would you say something so horrible?”

“Because it’s not an empty threat, Chelsea,” Blue said. “They’ll do that and worse if we call the cops. These are bad men. We need to be careful. But I can fix this, all right?” He walked over to her and took her hands in his. His hands were cool and solid and she stared into his dark eyes as he spoke. “I’m going to Jamie back, all right? I promise you. I will get her, and you don’t need to call the police. I can do this.”

“But why should you have to?” Chelsea said. “This has to be from your father. How would anyone else even know about your relationship to Jamie?”

“Terrance knows something,” Blue said, “but he didn’t tell me what. He swore he didn’t have anything to do with her kidnapping. He claims they contacted him about taking Jamie and he was just showing me, so I would know.”

“Then we need to go and talk to Terrance right now. We need to get him to tell us everything his knows,” Chelsea said, marching towards the door.

“Chelsea, stop,” Blue said, grabbing her arm. He spun her around and she tried to tug her arm free, but instead he tightened her grip and pulled her closer. “You need to calm down and think rationally. You’re not dressed; it’s late. We shouldn’t do this now. I think we need to get some rest.”

“What?” Chelsea demanded, cutting him off. “Get some rest? Are you kidding me? My sister had been kidnapped, she is tied up somewhere, and I can’t call the police, which means no rescue is coming for her. She is trapped and alone and scared somewhere and we need to do something.”

“No,” Blue said still holding her arm. “We need to think and be smart and be patient. It’s the middle of the night. We can’t do anything now. We have to wait until morning. So, please, just try and get some sleep.”

Chelsea threw up her arms and walked over to the bedroom. She slammed the door closed behind her and began to dress. She hastily threw on a pair of mismatched bra and panties and slid into jeans and a simple t-shirt. Dressing was harder than it ought to have been. Her hands were shaking and she was crying, tears pouring down her face and soaking her shirt. She searched for a tissue, but came up empty. She didn’t know where she thought she was going to go or what she was going to do. She was sobbing and her eyes were blurry with tears and finally there was nothing for Chelsea to do but fall onto the bed fully clothed and cry.

She heard the door open and quietly close. The mattress shifted as Blue slid behind her and wrapped her up in his arms. She could recognize his smell; it was ivory soap mixed with something uniquely him. She squeezed his hand and he squeezed hers in return as sobs wracked her body.

“It’s going to be all right,” Blue whispered in her ear. It became a sort of mantra as he whispered it over and over again. “It’s going to be all right.” He whispered the words and rocked her gently as she cried.

Every time she thought she was done, that she couldn’t possibly shed another tear, her sadness would come pouring over her all over again. She let herself rest against Blue, to lean into his chest. She could count on him, at least she knew that.

Chapter Seventeen

She didn’t remember falling asleep, but she awoke early in the morning. Pink and yellow rays of light were slipping into the room. Her mouth was dry and her chest and jaw ached from crying. She was in bed, Blue’s arms still wrapped around her. But she couldn’t enjoy it. Her first thought was of Jamie and then it was all she could think about. Chelsea slipped out of Blue’s arms and numbly walked towards the door. She headed to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. There were a few moments of silence and then she heard the mattress move as Blue woke up. But there were no footfalls. For the moment he was still in bed, giving her a moment alone.

She drank the entire glass and looked out onto the frost-covered front lawn. She had made it through the night. Now there were only three nights left. But how could she get through it? Each second that passed was painful and she didn’t think she could stand another night like the last one.

No, she couldn’t keep crying in bed, that much was true. Doing nothing and waiting would drive her mad. Her sister was in trouble and Chelsea needed to do something. She needed to get her back no matter what it took, no matter what the cost.

The cost. As the realization came to her Chelsea almost dropped the glass of water. She caught herself and placed in gently into the sink before hurrying to her phone in the living room.

“Chels,” Blue asked from behind her. He had finally got up when she had failed to return to bed. He was trying to hide the worry in his voice, but it wasn’t working. “What are you doing?”

“Money,” she said looking up at him as she pulled up her manager’s number. “I can get money and then we can offer it for Jamie. I can tell my manager I need an advance. I’m going to be worth millions in a few months; they have to be able to offer me some kind of advance.”

“What if she says no?”

Chelsea shrugged as she dialed the number. She walked past him and into the bedroom closing the door behind her. She needed to be alone for this. She needed to try and be LA Chelsea for just a minute. She forced herself to breath normally. She focused on calming her sobs, she reminded herself to be strong for her sister.

“Chelsea, I heard you and Ryan had a great talk the other day. He is definitely good to go on the relationship if you are,” came Lauren’s breezy voice from the other end of the line.

“Lauren, I have a family emergency,” Chelsea said, keeping her voice even.

“No, you don’t,” Lauren said her voice going from sweet to icy and cold in mere seconds.

“Yes, I do,” Chelsea answered and her voice was firm and confident. “There is a legitimate emergency and you will make accommodations for that. Let’s get one things straight: my family comes first and they always will. I don’t care what you have to pay or who you have to bribe, but you need to move everything back indefinitely.”

“Indefinitely!? I can’t do that, Chelsea. You’re an unknown. It’s never going to happen. If we start cancelling gigs, you’re going to get a reputation as a flake or, worse, someone who doesn’t care. It’s bad press, Chelsea, and you’re not famous enough for anything but good press. This launch sets the stage for your entire career. Are you telling me it’s not a priority anymore?”

“I have an emergency, Lauren. I’m sorry, but the nature of emergencies is that they’re rarely predicted. You’re my manager; it’s your job to deal with stuff like this when it comes up. It’s your job to schmooze producers and book for me shows. Do I need to explain to you how to do your job, because I don’t think I would have a problem getting a new manager?”

“Are you threatening me?” Lauren demanded.

“No, I’m asking you to do your job and warning you that if you can’t I will find someone who can,” Chelsea waited with baited breath for Lauren’s reply. She wasn’t sure how serious she was about getting a new manager. She didn’t want to lose Lauren, but if she had to pick between her manager and her sister, she was going to pick her sister every time.

“Fine,” Lauren said. “But if you want indefinite standing spots on these shows you need to give me that relationship with Ryan Baron. You’re not famous enough for that kind of pull, but a relationship with Ryan could get you there.”

“Fine, whatever. Ryan and I are in love and I’m having his babies, tell the press whatever you want,” Chelsea said, throwing her hands in the air. “Now you need to tell me how much I’m worth.”

“What?” Lauren asked. “No, Chelsea. Whatever it is, whatever this emergency is, the answer is no. Whoever needs money from you, you need to say no. You don’t owe anyone anything, Chelsea, and you need to focus on making money before you start give it away.”

“I’m just asking for a number, Lauren, that’s all. You are my manager and I do have a right to know these things.”

“Now you have to remember you haven’t sold any actual records yet, or any ticket to concerts, so this is all a projection. But, right now, conservatively I would put you at ten million dollars.”

“Okay,” Chelsea said. Her head was swimming. That was a big number, a very big number. She and Lauren had agreed not to try and guess at what her value would be. They were waiting for money in the bank, not some estimate. But Chelsea hadn’t really thought about it and the number made her feel a little faint. Ten million dollars was a lot of money; it was more money than she could imagine. “Okay, thanks, Lauren. Look, if it’s any help, this family thing should be done in a couple of days, maybe a couple of weeks. Maybe not even that long. We can do that, right?”

“I guess a couple of weeks isn’t too bad. We can cut some rehearsal time. But you will need to be here in LA all day every day once this emergency is resolved. Once it’s fixed I own you and spend every moment exactly how I tell you to.”

“I understand,” Chelsea said.

“Great, we’ve given the scoop to
US Weekly
about you and Ryan; they are posting it to Twitter as we speak. We’ve given them an extra hour over the rest of the weeklies, so they’ll owe us a favor down the line.”

“You sent something already?” Chelsea asked.

“Publicists have confirmed the long standing rumors that Chelsea Riley and Ryan Baron are a couple,” Lauren said and Chelsea could tell from her tone that she was reading from something. “The leading man and the all-American girl have just confirmed rumors that they are dating and have been for a few weeks. The couple said that while they’ve enjoyed their privacy, keeping their news from the world was just becoming too much of a hassle. ‘We wanted to announce it to the public before the paparazzi started snapping pictures,’ Ryan Baron announced. ‘We’re just really happy and having a good time together,’ Chelsea added. ‘Ryan has really helped me keep sane as I’ve been finishing my album, it’s been so stressful and hectic and he’s really been there for me.’”

“What?” Chelsea demanded. “You just had that ready to go?”

“Yeah, and there’s more. Chelsea Riley’s new album
Wild at Love
premiers in two months on December first. If you need a little more for your Chelsea Riley fix you can watch the stunning video for her hit single
Love Be True
- and then the link goes there,” Lauren finished. Her voice had this air of boredom as if Chelsea should have anticipated all of this.

“That is so many lies packed into one press release,” Chelsea said shaking her head.

“Welcome to the business, babe,” Lauren said. “I know I gave you that number, but don’t come to me for money. Not yet. You need to make the money before you can spend it. Don’t borrow against your future, Chelsea. It’s your future and no one else’s, don’t sell it.”

“I have to go, Lauren.”

“Keep in touch. The second you know something about when this family emergency is over, you pick up the phone and you call me,” Lauren said and then she hung up the phone.

Chelsea dropped her phone onto the bed and then sat down next to it. Ten million dollars, it was more money that she could imagine. Why hadn’t they kidnapped her instead of Jamie? Were they going to try and ransom Jamie to Chelsea? Did the sponsors of the fights need a little bit more money to entice good fighters? Maybe that was their plan, kidnap Jamie and ransom her to Chelsea for money. Well, Chelsea had the money, but the kidnappers hadn’t called her; what was she supposed to do now.

Ten million dollars. Chelsea had no idea how she would get ten million dollars to whoever had her sister, but she knew that she would. She would have paid anything for her sister. She would gamble her future a thousand times over if it would keep Jamie safe.

Blue knocked twice and then opened the door. He saw Chelsea on the bed, but he waited in the doorway, as if he needed permission to come in.

“I called my manager and asked her how much I could get if I needed it right now.”

“This isn’t a money thing,” Blue said shaking his head.

“Ten million dollars. I could get that right now if I wanted to.”

“Whoa,” Blue said and Chelsea suddenly felt very naked under his gaze.

It felt wrong to be reduced to a number and it felt wrong that she was proud of how high it was. “I’ll give it all to them if they’ll give me Jamie back,” Chelsea said.

“You can’t do that, Chels. They’ll just come back to you over and over again for more money. You’ll never be done.”

“What’s your idea, then?” she asked, standing up. She was suddenly screaming at him and she didn’t know why. “Every time I think of something you say,
no it won’t work
and then we’re stuck with waiting. I can’t just sit around and wait any longer. How about you come up with an idea instead of shooting all of mine down!”

“I’m not shooting you down. I’m just being honest with you. Your ideas are just as likely to get you killed as they are to save Jamie. You need better odds than that. You just have to trust me, Chelsea. I can get Jamie out of this.”

“How?” Chelsea demanded.

“I’ll figure something out,” Blue shouted, throwing his hands in the air.

Chelsea opened her mouth, but just as she did the doorbell rang and she and Blue froze where they were standing.