Chapter 15
The ride in Nathan's mother’s van is comfortable. Since Nathan is driving and Malcolm called shotgun, Peter and I are left to cuddle in the back. We could have sat in the seats directly behind the driver but we opted to go into the very back. I feel comforted with his arm around me. The radio is playing and no one can really hear the conversation that we are having. Since Amy is still in residence, Grandmother is allowing me to stay there. She has instructed Jake to drive back with the girls. I sort of feel bad for him. But what can I do.
“If you weren’t going into the military, what would you do?” Peter asks. I’m absentmindedly stroking the back of his hand when he asks the question. I look up into his eyes and sigh.
“I don’t know. I don’t really have a passion for anything besides food,” I answer.
“What about baking?”
“I love baking. If life wasn’t in the way I would work in a bakery,” I muse.
“Chelsea’s bakery,” Peter says. “It has a nice ring to it.”
“Jacobs’ Dental,” I say. “That doesn’t sound half bad.” He chuckles and gives me a squeeze.
“No, I suppose it doesn’t. Chelsea, when you enlist, what branch of the military do you want to be in?” I frown. I’ve always wanted to work in the Air Force. Maybe I could fly planes. But after thinking about it, maybe I would be better suited in the Navy.
“Either the Navy or the Air Force.” He winces for a moment. I can see it in Peter’s eyes, he hates that he’ll have to worry about me. But I’m not changing my mind. Let’s take all of the selfish reasons and pull them aside, enlisting makes me feel like I have a purpose in life. There’s no way that I could pass something like that up. It’s something that I have to do. Maybe, since I’ve caused so much wrong in the world I can fix it somehow.
“Chelsea…” Peter pauses, not knowing what to say. He considers something and then speaks. “I hope you understand that I have no problem waiting for you. I can do the long distance thing. I…” I lean in and kiss him. It’s odd, but hearing Peter talk about the fact that we will be separated is making me not want to enlist. I don’t want to be held back just because I love him. Oh no, I love him? I’m actually in love with Peter Jacobs. Sitting in the back of a van probably isn’t the right time to say it. But the words come out anyways.
“I love you,” I whisper. He’s stunned and his face lights up with a bright smile.
“It’s about time that you succumb to my awesomeness.” He kisses my nose, chuckles, then says, “I love you too, sweetheart.” I’m about to tease him when my phone rings. My first instinct is to ignore it because someone is calling from a blocked number. But curiosity gets the best of me.
“Chelsea?” Adam groans. He sounds terrible so I don’t hassle him for calling.
“Are you sick?” I ask, feeling confused.
No, my father died an hour ago. He had a heart attack at work. It was too late to save him,” Adam explains. His voice is quivering. I’m not sure what to say.
“I’m sorry to hear that, Adam,” I say.
“Chelsea, I need to see you. Where are you?” The desperate urgency in his voice calls to something deep inside of me.
“I’m with Peter. We are probably an hour and a half away from Elmview,” I tell him.
“Come see me, Chelsea. I need you,” he begs. I’m unsure of how to react. Adam needs me? What happened to Ivy? Why can’t she be there for him? What can I do for him? How can I be there for him? Am I able to be Adam Smith’s friend? My heart belongs to Peter now. I can’t offer him anything else.
“I’ll see what I can do,” I respond blandly. Adam is satisfied with the answer. He says goodbye to me and hangs up. I fill Peter in and he ponders the situation for a moment.
“Did you know Adam’s father?” he asks.
“Barely. He hardly talked to me,” I say as a tear rolls down my face. Okay, to be perfectly honest, I’m the one who cries when a random celebrity dies. I would cry if I found out that the cashier from a store I shopped at died. If this person had a place in my life, no matter how minuscule, I cry. I have seen Adam’s father Jason over the last two years in various stages of drunkenness. He may not have been the best father for Adam, but he was Adam’s father. So, I’m sitting in a car full of guys with tears streaming down my face. Peter holds me and tells me that Jason is in a better place. He assures me that he’ll drop me off at Adam’s house then pick me up later. Maybe we can go out to dinner afterward. His offer sounds nice, so I take it.
“This is a horrible idea,” Malcolm hisses when he discovers where I’m going. We both ignore him. It’s clear that Peter’s older brother has never been a fan of my ex. Not that I blame him. But still, he should have a heart. The man’s father just died.
“Don’t leave me there for more than an hour,” I beg as we pull into peter’s uncle’s house. He chuckles.
“Chelsea, just call me when you’re ready,” Peter urges. Nathan collapses the seats in front of us and Peter jumps out and I follow. I give my boyfriend a huge hug and kiss his neck. Hopefully, he can lend me some of his strength. I will need it to deal with Adam. I wave at the other two boys and cross the street. Adam’s father’s jeep is in the driveway which drives the point home that he’s really dead. I walk up to the porch and ring the bell. Adam opens the door and smiles at me.
“You came,” he says in amazement. I’ve got to say, he looks a lot better than he sounded on the phone. I’m suddenly uncomfortable about coming in. Something isn’t right about Adam’s state.
“Want to come in?” he asks me.
“Not really,” I answer as I lean against the porch railing. Adam sighs and comes out.
“Where’s your convertible?” he asks.
“Peter dropped me off,” I say, trying to make conversation. Adam nods in understanding. He suddenly looks irritated about something.
“Why didn’t you drive yourself?” he snaps. I frown at the ground. There isn’t really a reason for that.
Because…” Chelsea, don’t give him an excuse. You know what’s going to happen. He’ll get mad and will lose his temper. Just act as sweet as possible.
“Because what?” he asks slowly.
“I was hanging with the girls in Connecticut and Peter picked me up so that we could go out to dinner,” I explain. His blue eyes grow icier by the second. He apparently doesn’t like my explanation.
“I need twenty-five thousand dollars. Do you have it?” he asks. My mouth pops open.
“What?”
“Chelsea, my dad is dead, which means that I’m on my own. Do you have the money or not?” He’s desperate. His hands are shaking and sweat begins to coat his forehead. I frown.
“Adam, are you in some kind of trouble?” It wouldn’t be easy to get him the money. But maybe if I appealed to Grandmother, she would understand. Who am I kidding, she hates Adam.
“Yes, Chelsea, I am in trouble. Why else do you think I’m asking you for your money? My father had some gambling debts. If I don’t pay them. Well… You know what happens,” he says.
“I’m officially speechless. Is he serious? My grandmother’s warnings about Adam finally make sense. He’s nothing but a loser and a user. I can’t believe he pretended to be broken up about his father’s death. That’s just sick.
“Adam, I don’t have that kind of money.” He growls then walks extremely close to me. His breath, laced with beer, lands on my face and I feel very uncomfortable.
“How much do you have?” he hisses.
“Um… I’m not sure. I’d have to check my bank statement.” I’ll lie and never come back. His troubles are just that, his troubles. He doesn’t have to know that I have eighty thousand in my account at this very second.
“Where’s your phone?” he asks. I’m floored. Why is he asking that?
“In my purse,” I say. He pulls away and holds out his hand. I frown.
“Why do you want my phone, Adam?” He sighs in impatience.
“Be
cause the last I remember you have online banking,” he points out. My heart sinks. He’s going to want me to fork over my phone. I don’t care what he expects, he’s not getting my password.
“Adam, no.” My voice is firm. He presses even closer to me which isn’t acceptable.
“Just give me your phone, Chelsea,” he demands. I shake my head no in case he has lost the ability to understand the English language. Grandma had given me the money to spend on the other girls, not to fund Adam. In fact if she even knew that I was seeing him all hell would break loose.
“Chelsea, you disappoint me,” Adam says as he steps back.
“I know how you feel, I'm disappointed in you too,” I retort.
“Not a month ago, you were ready to do anything for me. Now, you meet another guy and everything has changed?” he asks.
“You chose Ivy over me. It’s not my fault that you chose wrong.” The words come out sharp. Adam growls and slaps me across the face. Seriously, what’s with men and their sudden desire to beat me up? Ignoring the sting of my cheek, I knee him and swerve past him toward the stairs. Adam is sucking his breath in and out and this is the perfect time to get away. Then she comes out of nowhere. Ivy dives at me, making me lose my balance and sending me falling to the pavement. My purse breaks my fall. Ouch! I quickly roll over and look up at the boyfriend stealing tramp. She stares down at me with intensity that makes me queasy.
“Give me the purse,” she hisses. For a moment, I’m filled with shock and confusion. Ivy getting violent without backup seems ridiculous. Then, I remind myself that the girl who tormented me for years wants to get physical. I leap to my feet and punch her right in the face. Ivy falls to the ground, Blood gushes from her nose as a result of the blow. Before Adam can fully recover I’m running down the driveway, passed the jeep and into the street. The movements come effortlessly. Peter doesn’t live that far from here, just a few blocks. My heart sinks as I hear pounding footsteps behind me. Spinning around I glare at Adam whose face is full of anger. We have an audience now but it’s doubtful that anyone will intervene.
“Just back off,” I say.
“Not until you give me your phone,” Adam shouts.
“You can’t be serious, Adam. I can’t give you twenty-five thousand dollars,” I argue. His face twists into a cruel smirk.
“You know Chelsea, Peter isn’t in Gately. I may not be able to get to you, but my friends and I can pay him a visit,” Adam threatens.
“And?” Malcolm asks as he wraps an arm around me. Thank goodness he didn’t go home right away.
“And I can repay your brother for giving me the black eye. Chelsea, how do you feel about that? Do you understand what will happen if you don’t give me the money?” Adam shouts. I shiver at the thought of Peter getting hurt.
“And then you’ll need even more money and my brother will be threatened,” Malcolm argues. Don’t mess with me, Malcolm. I assure you that my friends can visit you as well,” Adam hisses.
“Adam, leave them alone,” I snap.
“Or else?” He laughs when I can’t come up with anything to threaten him with. Seriously, Adam has the upper hand. But Malcolm is right. If I give in and give Adam the money, then he will threaten Peter every time he’s in a bind.
“Or else your parole officer and I will have a chat. You just hit me in broad day light. I can press charges against you and you’ll be back in jail.” The words have barely left my mouth when three tall burly guys turn onto our street. Adam smirks at them. The taller of the two men nods and all four of them attack Malcolm. Well, they try to attack him. I immediately kick one of the guys in the balls then kick him hard in the knee. Gravity does the rest. He falls on the pavement and cracks his head on someone’s trash can on the way down. I spin around and see that Malcolm has knocked out one of the guys. Adam and his friend are trying to throw punches at him but Malcolm keeps on dodging. He leaps, spins, and dances out of the way of all of their blows. Then, he delivers a hard kick to Adam’s stomach that probably shatters his entire rib cage. Adam falls to the ground and Ivy creeps toward the fight. No one is paying any attention to her. But I am. She’s slowly advancing on Malcolm’s back as he begins to fight the fourth man. My mouth pops open when I see that Ivy is actually holding a kitchen knife. My blood runs cold. Malcolm is about to be killed. I can’t let that happen. There is no way that this is going to happen. Knowing that Ivy’s target is Malcolm, I run toward her, lash out with my foot and send her sprawling to the ground once again. She releases the knife and I snatch it. Getting to my feet I kick her in the face as hard as I can then spin around to see that Adam the rat has gotten up. On impulse, I dive for him, trying to intimidate him with the knife.
“Stop,” I hiss. It had to be the warning in my voice but the men all look at me.
“If you don’t leave, I’ll use this knife.” Fat chance. I would rather gut myself then cut someone. But these boys don’t have to know that. Adam punches me in the face and I see stars. Instinctively, I swing with my other hand, too late remembering that I’m still clutching the knife. Adam grunts as the blade slices him on the fore arm. His blood begins pouring and that’s enough to make him back off. Without another thought he runs over to Ivy, scoops her up and runs off. The other three men, who are as stunned or disturbed as Adam follow their friend Malcolm walks over to me and gently removes the knife from my grip.
“Ivy was going to stab you from behind. I got the knife from her,” I explain. He smirks.
“Thanks for saving my life,” he says before gesturing me to follow him. Malcolm tosses the knife in a random trash can as we walk down the street. I can’t help it. I glare at a few of the bystanders that didn’t bother calling for help. This isn’t the best side of town. But still. Ivy was going to kill Malcolm, and no one was going to do anything to prevent it.
“What’s up?” he asks right after we cross a busy street.
“Malcolm, my grandmother warned me about Adam. She thought that he was nothing but bad news. She was right. Why hadn’t I listened?”
“Because you are a girl. Most girls don’t listen when people try to warn them about their boyfriends. Believe me, I have firsthand experience,” he muses.
“Would you have listened to your mother if she told you that Danny was bad news?” I challenge.
“Maybe. I probably would have stayed vigilant,” he says.
“Before I forget, thanks for saving me. I don’t know what I would have done if Adam beat me up.”
“You are pretty good with hand to hand combat,” Malcolm says.
“Before everything happened, I use to be into martial arts,” I tell him.
“Maybe you should get back into it,” he suggests.
“Maybe. It’s really useful. When I join the military, I will have an extra advantage,” I say.
“I can actually see it,” he admits.
“See what?” I ask.
“You in the military. You will make a good soldier,” he says as we walk over to my house. Peter is walking to his car, a scowl on his face when he spots us. Lilly, who is following behind him arches a brow.
“How did your love fest turn violent?” Lilly asks more confused than anything.
“It was never a love fest. It turns out, Adam wants me to give him twenty-five thousand dollars,” I announce and my boyfriend’s face darkens. He walks over to me and gently strokes my cheek.
“I saw you two on the porch,” he softly says. “You were so close together.” I sigh.
“He wanted to intimidate me, Peter,” I snap. It hurts that he doesn’t trust me. Then again, how could he? I have been fickle over the last month.
“Oh. Chelsea, I had no idea. What happened?” he asks.
“He tried to beat Malcolm up. Ivy tried to stab him. I took the knife out of her hands and accidentally stabbed Adam. They all ran off. It’s not over though,” I warn. Lilly’s mouth hangs wide open.
“You stabbed Adam?” she nearly shrieks.
“No, I
accidentally cut him. There’s a difference,” I state testily.
“What do you mean it’s not over?” Peter asks.
“He told me that if I didn’t give him the money, he would attack you. I…” Peter curses then balls up his fist. It looks like he wants to punch something.
“Attack me? Chelsea, what kind of guy were you dating?” he hisses.
“Apparently, a psycho. I didn’t know about his connection to those guys. Honestly, he had always been nice to me,” I say not wanting to talk about the one occasion when he hit me. That’s embarrassing.
“Chelsea, my family is being targeted?” he demands.
“Yes… I…” His face fills with anger.
“Let me take you home. Malcolm, I want you and Nathan to come with. My mom and dad are at a couples retreat. I don’t need to worry about them,” Peter says. Malcolm nods then runs inside to get Nathan.
“Lilly, I…”
“I know, I should go. Peter, I’m glad that everything worked out for you,” she says before walking away. I sigh and wrap my arms around Peter. It is so good to see that he’s safe. He feels safe. Peter kisses my forehead and whispers that he loves me.
“I’m sorry about this. If only I had listened,” I say.
“Chelsea, it’s all right. Everything will be all right,” he tells me. Nathan runs out, which causes us to separate.
“He hands me an ice pack and we hop into the van. Malcolm joins us and we are on our way to the mansion.