Note We meet Chelsea as she deals with her unexpected circumstance.
*****
In Brian's Jeep, Alex shifted uncomfortably in his seat. Brian's proposal made sense, it made too much sense. They needed money, and Brian was offering a substantial amount, with the promise of more. Still, Alex didn't feel comfortable with it. Today hadn't gone as expected, he doubted Chelsea ever wanted to see Brian again. Hell, she might just decide to leave.
"Okay," Alex finally decided. "Five hundred dollars a week. She doesn't see anyone else except for me, and I always use a condom."
Brian grinned, clearly satisfied that Alex had made the right decision.
"What about Chelsea? Do you think she'll go along with this?" Brian asked.
"I'll make sure she does," Alex said cryptically.
At that moment, the rear left door of the jeep opened and Chelsea took her seat behind Brian. Without a word, she buckled in and folded her hands across her lap. Her face was still red from Alex's slaps, but it was fading rapidly. Chelsea looked subdued, her gaze focused on a squirrel that skittered around the hotel's side lawn. Despite her calm demeanor, Alex could still smell the pungent sent of her arousal. He felt rage stirring inside him, mixed with bewilderment. Didn't she ever get enough?
"Well, there's that beautiful lady," Brian said with a smile.
"Here I am," Chelsea echoed, not meeting Brian's eyes in the mirror, not sensing Alex's anger. She just continued her demure stare out the window.
"Alex and I have reached an agreement," Brian started.
"Oh, is that right?" His statement captured her attention, and she finally met his stare.
"Yes," Brian continued, "You and I will be meeting once a week. Just us. I'll take you out, we'll have some fun, and you'll go home with five hundred dollars. There are some rules, though."
"Okay," Chelsea's gaze dropped to her feet. "What are the rules?"
"You have to promise me you'll never sell yourself to anyone else. Chelsea, look at me. Look directly into my eyes."
Chelsea looked at Brian, who was straining to turn around in his seat and face her, but not quite managing since he'd left himself buckled. To compensate, he had his head twisted at an awkward angle. She would have smirked if Brian didn't look so deadly serious. So she kept her face blank and obediently looked at his bulging eyes.
"I will never sell myself to anyone else," she pledged.
"You will not sleep with anyone else except for Alex. Not for money, not for fun. When you do fuck Alex, you make sure he wears a condom. You got it?"
"Okay," she replied uneasily. "No one except for you and Alex. Alex always wears a condom. I can do that."
Alex had the worst migraine of his life. He felt sick to his stomach. The blood rushing behind his ears made the exchange between Chelsea and Brian hard to hear, but somehow he followed. Chelsea had agreed. She was going along with Brian's plan. His head swam. He hadn't expected Chelsea to accept this so readily. Could she be lying? Nothing in her face betrayed her, she looked calm, but maybe a little confused.
"Okay then!" Brian turned in his seat and shifted the Jeep into drive. As before, they rode out the drive from the hotel to the apartment complex in silence.
When the Jeep finally pulled up, Chelsea and Alex jumped out hastily. Brian immediately rolled down his window and called for Chelsea to come back. Alex didn't even look back. Chelsea saw Alex's long strides toward their building and she let out a small sigh before returning to Brian's window.
"I just wanted you to know, I'm sorry he was so rough with you. Is he always like that?" Brian asked.
"No," Chelsea said immediately. "I've never seen him behave that way."
"Well, don't you worry love." Brian reached out and stroked her face. Chelsea leaned in to his caress, desperate for comfort as she was. "Things will get real easy for you, real soon. I'll pick you up Wednesday at two. Okay?"
"Okay," Chelsea said with a small smile. "Wednesday at two."
Brian leaned in then and kissed her lips, poking his tongue into her mouth and exploring it. She returned his kiss with a passion that surprised both of them.
"Mmmm," Brian moaned when they broke apart. "You're a good kisser, I like that!"
Chelsea found herself giggling as she turned away. She made sure to sway her hips a little as she walked to her front door. Brian didn't pull away, he just took in the sight of Chelsea's rear end bouncing with each step. He was very pleased with the view, and he prayed he would get to drink it in time and time again.
Inside the apartment, Alex was in a frenzied state. He had watched Chelsea and Brian's exchange from the window and it infuriated him. That's it, he thought. Brian's going to steal her away from me because he thinks he's a fucking big shot. Well, you still have to pay for it buddy. I don't. I can get it for free you stupid fuck.
The front door opened and Alex broke from his pacing. He turned to the door, trying to urge the fire into his eyes. He was going to put Chelsea in her place. He would make her see that he owned her, Brian just rented her.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Chelsea whirled and screamed at him as soon as she had locked the door. Alex was too shocked to answer.
"That's your idea of a romantic surprise? You are insane. You do know what today was don't you?" Her pitch had raised higher and higher, it sounded like she was screeching in his ears.
"Of course I fucking know!" He shouted back at her, automatically responding to her anger and intensity.
"Then tell me," she deadpanned him. "What was so important about today?"
Alex sighed and his voice broke as he responded.
"It's our anniversary. One year today."
Chelsea just shook her head in anger. He knew...he fucking knew what this day was. She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. She saw the anger burning in his eyes, and she didn't care. She had the right to be angry after what he had put her through.
"Exactly. So when we woke up this morning and you told me you had a romantic surprise..." Her voice broke as tears sprang to her eyes. "My God Alex, what the hell were you thinking?"
Alex didn't answer, he just glowered and felt the twitch in his jaw.
"No," Chelsea said. "You don't get to stand there and close your lips. What the fuck were you thinking? Was I supposed to enjoy that? What he did to me, what you did to me? Tell me."
Silence permeated the room like bad cologne. The air was dense, and the tension between Alex and Chelsea was so permeable you could have cut it with a spork.
"I-I just can't do this right now," Alex said. "I'm leaving."
Alex walked toward the door, but Chelsea didn't move.
"Where are you going?" Chelsea asked.
"I don't know," Alex said exasperated, the pounding in his head growing stronger every second.
"You're not going anywhere," Chelsea demanded, throwing her body against the door with a thump.
"Yes, I'm going," Alex said moving towards Chelsea. His idea was to pick her up and move her out of the way, but Chelsea managed to surprise him.
When Alex reached out to lift her out of the way, Chelsea jumped into his arms and threw her weight into his upper body. Off balance, Alex stumbled into the wall. Their combined weight broke the sheet rock and made a hole, roughly three feet in diameter. Chelsea landed on top of Alex, pressing him down into the wall.
"Fuck!" Alex screamed. He stood up despite Chelsea's weight bearing down on him, and wrapped his hands around her throat.
"Calm the fuck down!" Alex screamed, squeezing tighter and blocking Chelsea's air flow.
It took a minute and a half for Chelsea to lose consciousness. Alex laid her down, maintaining pressure until he had her laid out flat. Once she was on the ground, he removed his hands and slipped out the door. He knew he hadn't killed her, just gave her an involuntary nap. He realized he had to leave, if he stayed and she woke up angry, he might kill her.
Two minutes later, Chelsea awoke with a start, dazed. She was on the floor, there was a hole in the wall, her throat hurt...Then after seeing the hole and feeling the oxygen returning to her brain, she recalled the events leading up to her predicament. Alex had left, she knew. Despite everything that had transpired she felt scared. She hated being alone. It weighed on her heavily.
She managed to stand up, but fell again as she put her hand into the hole that had once been the wall. The doorbell rang and Chelsea froze, splayed out on the floor.
"Chelsea?" she heard a man's voice call. "It's me, it's Dom."
Chelsea breathed a sigh of relief. Dom lived on the floor above their apartment, technically the apartment directly above theirs. He was a nice guy, he had been over for visits many times, but constantly complained about how loud they were during sex. Chelsea had been frightened that someone had called the cops during the exchange.
Opening the door, Chelsea started to say, "I'm sorry for the noise-"
Dom cut her off with a hug.
"Shut up Chelsea." He said affectionately. "I heard everything."
Chelsea breathed a sigh of relief and rested her head on Dom's shoulder. Dom had been her pseudo-older brother ever since she and Alex had moved in. He was a larger than any average man, at two hundred pounds for his five feet five inch frame. He was always warm and empathetic. the latter of which Chelsea was grateful for in that moment.
"Dom," She cried. "I fucked up, I fucked up bad."