Disclaimer: Characters are owned and produced by The Disney Channel, That's So Productions, Brookwell-McNamara Entertainment and Warren & Rinsler Productions. I am just borrowing them for these stories.
Author's Note: Part two of the darkest hour in the history of Chrave is here. You know what part one was so I think by now you know what part two is going to be. I just wanted to say a couple of things before I continue.
The story that you are reading is not the way I originally visualized the story playing out. Raven and Devyn were going to be the bad guys with Chelsea and Evelyne coming off as more sympathetic, but as I wrote, the roles became reversed. Not that I am complaining, that's just the way things turned out.
Thing number two that I wanted to say is that because I have earned a reputation for tastefully hot sex scenes (your words, not mine! LOL!), I had fully intended to write out the entire Raven-Devyn sex scene, and you know that it would have been muy caliente! But after thinking about it, I decided that you probably didn't want to see Raven's adultery unfold in written form before your eyes, so I held back and gave you just enough to be appropriately appalled. I am probably going to do the same with… well, you know. But we'll see. Here's one of my secrets, I write the author's note before I write a word of my chapter.
Thing three… I have never made a casting change in one of my stories until now. I had an actress in mind as my original model for Eddie's then-girlfriend now wife, Gina. Then I changed my mind and chose Janina Gavankar, Papi from The L Word and Internet advice maven, Ms. Dewey. But I decided that my original choice for Gina, Paula Garces, was better, so Gina is now portrayed by Paula Garces. Go to IMDb dot com to see her profile.
Finally, in this chapter, there are five separate scenes that I want to cover, each with a different theme. So while the chapter will have one title, again based on a song title, the chapter will also have five mini-chapters that will each have their own song associated with it. I will give you the info on all six songs… right now.
Chapter Title: When Doves Cry from Prince's iconic 1984 album, Purple Rain. Written and produced by Prince.
Mini-chapter Titles:
Nights Like This from the soundtrack of the 1991 movie, The Five Heartbeats. Written by Jesse W. Johnson and Keith Lewis. Produced by George Duke and Steve Tyrell. Performed by After 7 (Melvin and Kevon Edmonds and Keith Mitchell).
Behind These Hazel Eyes from Kelly Clarkson's 2005 album, Breakaway. Written by Kelly Clarkson, Max Martin and Dr. Luke. Produced by Max Martin and Dr. Luke.
Ring the Alarm from Beyoncé's 2006 album, B'Day. Written and produced by Beyoncé Knowles, Kaseem "Swizz Beats" Dean and Sean Garrett.
What Goes Around… Comes Around from Justin Timberlake's 2007 album, FutureSex/LoveSounds. Written and produced by Tim "Timbaland" Mosley, Nate "Danja" Hills and Justin Timberlake.
Like A Boy from Ciara's 2006 album, Ciara: The Evolution. Written by Ciara Harris, Candice Nelson, Balewa Muhammad, J. Que, Ezekiel Lewis and Calvin Kenon. Produced by Calvo Da Gr8, Ciara Harris and The Clutch.
Love Conquers All
Chapter 10
When Doves Cry
NIGHTS LIKE THIS
Saturday, April 4, 2020 – 9 am – Chelsea and Raven's apartment
It was three days after the voicemail message that sent Chelsea's world spinning out of control and Chelsea was fall down drunk. She opened a bottle of scotch the morning after that night. When that bottle was finished, she opened another. When that one was finished, she opened a bottle of vodka. It was a gray, overcast Saturday morning in New York City, and Chelsea Daniels-Baxter was passed out on the sofa of the disheveled apartment and she was off-her-ass drunk.
The apartment was as it was when she finished her tirade on Wednesday night. The broken answering machine, lamp, phone and vase were pretty much where they were when they were broken, save for the pieces that Chelsea kicked in her drunken stupor. Raven's clothes still littered the floor of the bedroom, untouched after they were violently ejected from their resting place in the closet. Chelsea's cell phone contained numerous messages, mostly from Gretchen and their boss, Darrienne Endicott, wondering where Chelsea was, worrying about her safety. Chelsea failed to call in to work that Thursday and Friday. Gretchen's call to Raven's cell phone and the house in Montauk went unanswered as well. Gretchen was worried about Chelsea and decided that emergency measures had to be enacted.
Chelsea had given Gretchen a key to their apartment and house in Montauk to be used in the case of dire emergencies, disappearances and such. On that morning, to her dread, Gretchen decided to use her apartment key to find out what happened to Chelsea. Gretchen stepped off of the elevator and slowly walked down the hallway toward the apartment ready to find just about anything. The one thing that she was praying that she walked in on was Chelsea and Raven in the throes of passionate lovemaking, not because she was a voyeur, but because it meant that they were making up which is what Gretchen wanted most for her friend. When Gretchen arrived at the door, she put her ear up to the door to see if she could hear anything. She heard nothing. She took a deep breath, said a prayer and put the key in the lock and turned the knob. When the door opened, the scene that was revealed looked like something out of an episode of Law and Order. Gretchen saw the broken remnants of Chelsea's rage and Chelsea passed out on the sofa and immediately thought that the place had been burglarized.
"CHELSEA!" Gretchen exclaimed as she ran over to the sofa where Chelsea was lying. "Chelsea! Are you all… right?" Gretchen's question slowed to a halt when she spotted the empty bottles of scotch on the table, the empty bottle of vodka lying on the floor and the half-empty bottle sitting up on the floor. "Son of a… bitch." Gretchen calmly exclaimed upon the realization that Chelsea was shit-faced. "Chelsea! Chels! Get up!" Gretchen lifted Chelsea's limp body to an upright position, her dead weight making it a more difficult task than Gretchen thought. Only a low groan from Chelsea let Gretchen know that she wasn't dead. "Chelsea Baxter! Chels!" Gretchen began lightly smacking Chelsea's cheeks in an attempt to wake her up.
"That… feels… good. Keep hitting… me." Chelsea mumbled.
"If I slapped the shit out of you would it still feel good?" Gretchen asked. "Now get up." Gretchen said as she sat on the coffee table in front of Chelsea. "Chelsea! Look at me." Chelsea's eyes rolled back in her head before settling on Gretchen. Chelsea's auburn hair was all over her head. Her Stanford Law t-shirt was on inside out and backwards and her sweatpants hung haphazardly on her hips. "Chelsea! What the hell happened in here? And where have you been? Darrienne and I have been worried sick about you!"
"I've been…" Chelsea brought her left palm up to her face and rubbed it across, contorting her face. "… right here."
"What happened? This place looks like a war zone!" Gretchen exclaimed.
Chelsea leaned her head back, her face pointing straight up toward the ceiling. "I trashed it."
"I can see that!" Gretchen said. "Why did you trash it? Did something happen between you and Raven?"
Chelsea's head flopped to the side. "No." Chelsea said as her eyes lazily batted. "Nothing happened… between me and Raven." She paused and lifted her arm holding up her index finger. "Something did… however… happen… between Ravem… and Devil."
"You mean Raven… and Devyn." Gretchen corrected her.
"Yeah." Chelsea said as she slowly uprighted herself on the sofa before dropping her head. "She fucked her."
"What do you mean… she fucked her? Raven?" Gretchen asked.
"And I thought… I was drunk." Chelsea said as she lifted her head and looked at Gretchen with lazy, sleepy eyes. "Raven… fucked… Devyn. Devyn… fucked… Raven."
"Are you sure?" Gretchen asked incredulously.
Chelsea then waved her hand in the general direction of where the answering machine had shattered. "I heard them… on the machine. Somebody's tongue… was buried deep… in somebody's… pussy." Chelsea muttered.
"Holy shit." Gretchen exclaimed in a whisper.
"So… I got pissed… and I did a little… redecorating." Chelsea said. "You like?"
"No. No I don't like. Chels! You've been drinking since Wednesday night?" Gretchen asked.
"I started after midnight so technically… it was Thursday morning." Chelsea said with a smug, drunken smile.
"This is no time to be a smart ass Chelsea! This was not smart!" Gretchen chided.
"No! What wasn't smart was fucking your mistress and dialing you estranged wife's apartment! That… wasn't smart." Chelsea trailed off as she reached for the half-empty bottle of vodka on the floor.
"Oh hell no!" Gretchen said as she snatched the bottle away from Chelsea's reach. "You've had your last drink for a while! The only thing you're drinking is strong black coffee!" Gretchen said as she took the bottle with her as she stood up and went into the kitchen to make a pot of coffee.
Chelsea slowly scrambled to her feet and began stumbling toward the kitchen. "Some substitute… for the strong black woman that I lost." Chelsea mumbled.
"You did not lose her!" Gretchen said as she spun around just in time to catch a wobbly Chelsea. She pulled out a dining room chair with one hand and guided Chelsea down into the seat. "She still loves you."
Chelsea's scrambled mind decided to take Gretchen's last sentence and play on it, paraphrasing Halle Berry's anger-filled line to Eddie Murphy in Boomerang. "Love… shoulda brought her ass home last night!" Chelsea delivered with pinpoint accuracy before devolving into a drunken giggle.
Gretchen shook her head and turned back to the kitchen to begin making the coffee. She had just turned the coffeemaker on when after a couple of moments of silence, Gretchen heard Chelsea begin to cry.
"I heard her." Chelsea slowly said in a sob. "I heard her…" Chelsea stood up and stumbled over to the answering machine bits on the floor. She dropped to her knees just as Gretchen got over to her. Chelsea pushed aside some plastic bits in her search for the tape. Miraculously, she found the tape in pristine condition. She picked it up in and held it between her fingers as she cried. "Right here. She fucked her right here." Chelsea said as she held the tape in front of her and shook it slowly several times.
"Come on." Gretchen picked Chelsea up to her feet as she sobbed. "Let's get you cleaned up." Gretchen held Chelsea up as they shuffled down the hallway to the master bedroom. When Gretchen's eyes fell upon the mess that was in the bedroom, her mouth could not contain her astonishment. "God… damn."
"I fucked this place up pretty good. Didn't I?" Chelsea said as she began laughing again.
Gretchen carried her into the bathroom and propped her up against the sink before turning on the shower. She then began undressing Chelsea.
"Aren't you gonna buy me a drink first?" Chelsea joked as Gretchen pulled her t-shirt over her head. "Just be gentle. I've been through a lot." Chelsea giggled again.
"Trust me. The last thing I'm getting out of this is pleasure." Gretchen said as she removed Chelsea's last article of clothing. "Now… in you go." She said to her now naked friend.
Chelsea stepped into the shower as Gretchen pulled the curtain shut and after a couple of seconds, moaned. "That feels so goooood. I don't want to feel this good."
"Stop touching yourself." Gretchen said sternly.
"I'm not touching!… all right, I'll stop." Chelsea said in defeat.
After ten minutes of hot water therapy under Gretchen's watchful supervision, Chelsea finished her first shower since Wednesday morning. Feeling only slightly less inebriated, she pulled back the curtain and seductively purred, "I'm ready to be dried off."
Gretchen took the towel that she had taken off the rack and handed it to Chelsea. "You are so ready for your coffee." She said in exasperation as she took down what she believed to be Chelsea's robe from the back of the door. She waited for Chelsea to finish drying off before putting the robe on Chelsea and leading her back to the dining room table. She fixed Chelsea's mug of steaming coffee and watched her drink it along with taking the two extra-strength Advil she took out of the medicine cabinet.
As Chelsea began to sober up, the weight of her behavior began to set in, as did the hangover from her two day drinking binge.
"So was this the dumbest thing you've ever seen somebody do?" Chelsea asked.
"No. My brother super-gluing my cousin's butt to the toilet seat in the only bathroom in our apartment was the dumbest thing I've ever seen. But this was in the top five." Gretchen said.
"I can still hear them echoing in my head." Chelsea said.
"I hate to say this, but it's not gonna go away any time soon." Gretchen said. "I take it you haven't talked to her."
"What would I say to her? I heard you fucking Devyn on the answering machine. Was it good for you?" Chelsea asked sarcastically.
"She probably has no idea that you know." Gretchen said.
"Good. Then let's see how long it takes for her to tell me." Chelsea said.
"You sound amazingly calm for someone who just found out that the love of their life cheated on them." Gretchen said.
Chelsea paused. "I'm still numb." Chelsea admitted.
"That's the alcohol." Gretchen said.
"That was the point." Chelsea countered before pausing to think about her next question. "So why didn't you take advantage of me in the bathroom? I was drunk, naked and uninhibited."
"You're not my type." Gretchen joked. "Unless you had grown an eight-inch penis in the shower, you were shit out of luck."
"We actually have one in the bottom of the closet." Chelsea shot back.
"Okay, that was way too much information for a Saturday morning… or any morning." Gretchen said causing Chelsea to let out her first genuine laugh in days.
"I guess I should call Darrienne and let her know I'm okay." Chelsea said.
"I'll do that. You grab another cup of coffee and go lay down for a while. I'm gonna start cleaning this place up." Gretchen said.
"You don't have to do that." Chelsea said.
"I know I don't. But it'll give you time to rest, recharge and think about your next move." Gretchen said. "What is your next move anyway?"
Chelsea paused to think about it. "I don't know, Gretch. I don't know."
BEHIND THESE HAZEL EYES
Saturday, April 4, 2020 – 9 am – Long Island Expressway just outside of Flushing, NY
Raven had wondered why Chelsea had chosen the apartment instead of the house in Montauk for her residence during their separation. As she made the two hour drive into the city on that dreary Saturday morning, she knew why. It wasn't Chelsea's choice so much as it was the choice of nature itself, punishing Raven in advance for the transgression it knew she would commit.
She had to get out of the house that morning. She saw Chelsea everywhere she turned. Every time she heard her children she heard Chelsea. Every room she walked into Chelsea was there. Work was out as well. That's where it happened. That office that was once her refuge was now the seventh circle of her version of Dante's hell. With no where else to turn for a port in the storm, she returned to the eastern alcove of her West Coast home.
She pulled up to the brownstone, finding a parking space near the door and walked up. The rain hadn't started but she had her umbrella in her hand, just in case. She rang the buzzer, hoping that someone would be home. To her relief, seconds later, she heard the click of the deadbolt unlocking.
"Raven?" Gina exclaimed in surprise. "Girl, where have you been hiding?" Gina said as she bear hugged Raven. "Come on in!"
"I didn't catch you at a bad time, did I?" Raven asked as she stepped inside.
"No! Eddie went down the street to get us some breakfast." Gina said. "We've been trying to reach you for a couple of weeks. How's Chelsea doing?" Before Raven could answer her, the front door opened and Eddie stepped in with two white plastic carryout bags.
"I thought that was you!" Eddie said as he sat the bags down to hug Raven. "I saw you when I was coming down the street. I missed you, girl."
Raven eked out a small smile as she embraced Eddie. "I missed you too."
Eddie released the hug and picked up the bags. "Come on into the kitchen. We were just about to eat breakfast."
"No. I don't want to disturb you." Raven said.
"When have you ever cared about bothering me when I eat. You better get in here." Eddie said playfully. Raven gave him a flat smile and followed them into the kitchen. Eddie sat the bags down on the table and offered Raven a seat. "I guess Chels is home with the kids, huh?"
"The kids are at home with Paulina." Raven answered simply.
"Well, how is Chelsea?" Eddie asked. "Where's Chelsea?"
Raven felt the lie at the back of her throat. She said over and over in her head, Chelsea's fine. Working hard and we rarely see each other lately, which would have been a partial truth. She had been working hard and Raven had not seen Chelsea recently. But she was sitting in front of Eddie and Gina. She had known Gina for fifteen years and Eddie for almost twice as long. She could not bring herself to lie to them. The truth came out in the form of a quivering lip and the drop of the head in an effort to hold back tears that seemed to have become a part of Raven's daily routine.
"Rae? What's wrong?" Gina said as she cocked her head and reached out, placing her hand over Raven's. "Is something wrong with Chelsea? The kids?"
"The kids are fine." Raven said with a fresh set of tears perched on the lower lid of her eyes. "It's Chelsea and I that have the problem." Raven said as a tear streamed down her face from each eye. "And I haven't been able… to tell anybody and it's killing me."
Eddie, who was sitting to Raven's right, scooted his chair over next to Raven and glanced up at Gina who was across from Raven, still covering Raven's hand with her own.
"Rae, I'm your oldest and best friend in the world besides Chels. You can tell me anything. You know that." Eddie said softly. "What's going on?"
Raven took a deep shaky breath. "Chelsea… developed this… crush on a woman at her law firm and I found out that… she kissed her." She said with a clear but tearful voice.
"Oh, Rae." Gina said forlornly.
Raven shook her head. "No Gina. It gets worse." Raven said with heavy sorrow.
"Chelsea and I had a huge fight about it… and she moved into the apartment." Raven said. "I'm out on Long Island with the kids."
"My God Rae!" Eddie exclaimed quietly.
"It's not time for 'My God Rae' yet." Raven said and then paused. "I've been… working with Devyn Shelby…"
"That fashion designer. I saw it on the news." Eddie said. "Y'all have some project you're doing for Macy's or…"
"Lord and Taylor." Gina corrected her husband. Raven nodded.
"Well… she and I hated each other at first, but… we became pretty good friends." Raven said.
"Rae. Tell me you didn't kiss her." Gina said tenderly.
Raven's bottom lip quivered almost violently as she dropped her head. Her tears began to fall harder. Eddie took several napkins from the holder in front of him and looked at Gina with a solemn look, figuring that they knew the answer to Gina's statement question. Raven's response sucked all of the wind out of their systems.
Raven lifted her head and delivered the stunning news. "I slept with her."
Gina audibly gasped and Eddie's mouth dropped wide open in all-encompassing shock. The news hit them like a ton of bricks. Raven cheated on Chelsea. Gina's emotions overwhelmed her as several tears escaped her eyes. She was torn between the emotional torment that she could see Raven going through and the anguish she could only imagine Chelsea was experiencing, if Chelsea knew.
"Rae… I…" Eddie stammered as he grasped for words to say to her. "How… Does she know?"
Raven shook her head. "No. It happened Wednesday. I haven't talked to Chelsea in close to two months."
"Jesus." Gina said quietly as her tears fell.
"I… have never felt so horrible in my life." Raven said as she cried. "I mean, Chelsea hurt me when I found out she kissed Evelyne, and I said some terrible things to her… and then I go and…" Raven broke down into an uncontrollable sobbing fit that broke Gina's heart. Eddie simply took Raven into his arms and cradled her as she sobbed. "I don't want to lose her, Eddie! I don't want to lose her."
"Rae…" Eddie said as he wiped away some of her tears as well as a few of his own. "There are no two people I know that belong together more than you and Chels. I saw how much love you had in your eyes on your wedding day, and when Tonya was born, and when Richie was born. Cry today and be angry today, at her, at yourself, at Devyn and this… Evelyne. But tomorrow… tomorrow is a new day, and the day after that, and the day after that." Eddie lifted Raven's face and looked her directly in the eyes. "Besides the woman sitting across the table from us, you are the kindest, most sensitive, most beautiful woman I know. I know, Gina knows and you know that you didn't mean to hurt Chelsea and she didn't mean to hurt you. Yes, you fucked up. Nobody is saying that you didn't." Eddie's voice grew more passionate. "But you are a fighter. You are THE best fighter I have ever met. You get yourself together, you tell her, you brace yourself for her wrath because it is coming… and then you fight like you've never fought before. You're vows said let NO MAN put asunder. That means not you, Chelsea, Devyn, Evelyne, me, Gina, your momma, your daddy, Cory… nobody. Fight Rae. Stay here today, cry, scream, lick your wounds, let it all out. And then tomorrow… fight. And don't stop fighting until you two have reconciled. Do you hear me?" Eddie's voice then began to quiver as his emotions began to overtake him. "Because I love you and Chelsea too much to see you fail. You two are what love is all about. Fight Rae. Fight."
Raven burst into tears once again and threw her arms around Eddie's neck as they wept in each other's arms as Gina tearfully looked on. Two Amigos were hurting. And on this day, the other two Amigos rallied to their side.
RING THE ALARM
Chelsea had collected herself considerably over the weekend. Gretchen had gotten her and the apartment cleaned up. Under Gretchen's watchful eye, Chelsea managed consecutive nights of eight hours of sleep for the first time in three months. Chelsea's boss, at Gretchen's urging, had given Chelsea the week off with wishes for a restful recovery from the stress that was affecting her. It was Monday morning and for the first time since the previous Wednesday, Chelsea found herself with some energy. She had yet to talk to Raven and had no desire to at the moment. She was still trying to figure out in her head what she could possibly say to her.
Chelsea used to run. Before things got too swamped at the office, Chelsea would take her lunch hour and go for a jog with Gretchen. Although she hadn't done that in a while, on the brilliantly sunny Monday morning, she decided that a jog was just what she needed. After finding her jogging out fit, a black sports bra with lime green trim and stretch leggings to match, Chelsea grabbed her iPod, ID, some cash and her cell phone and set out for destination unknown.
She began jogging on the sidewalks of New York City. Being a resident of the city for years, she had learned how to navigate the throng of people that could be found on virtually every block. After about forty minutes of jogging and mindlessly listening to the music that was wafting into her ears, she found herself in a familiar part of the city. She was almost exactly in between her building and Raven's office building; six blocks from her building, five blocks from Raven's. She shrugged off the urge to run down to her own building to drop in on Gretchen, who had all but threatened her to stay away. She shook off the urge to go to Raven's office to confront her as well. She was about to turn down an adjacent street to continue her run when a song came on to her iPod with a message that was too powerful to ignore.
Won't you ring the alarm
I been through this too long
But I'll be damned if I see another chick on your arm
She gon' be rockin' chinchilla coats
If I let you go
Get in the house off the coast
If I let you go
She gon' take everything I own
If I let you go
I can't let you go, damn if I let you go
She gon' rock them VVS stones
If I let you go
Get in the 'Bach or the Rolls
If I let you go
She gon' profit everything I taught
If I let you go
I can't let you go, damn if I let you go
Tell me how should I feel
When I know what I know
And my female intuition tellin me you a dog
People told me 'bout the flames
I couldn't see through the smoke
When I need answers, accusations
What you mean you gon choke
Oh
You can't stay, you gotta go
Ain't no other chick spendin' your dough
This is taking a toll, the way the story unfolds
Not the picture perfect movie everyone would've saw
The message of the song seemed to rocket through Chelsea's soul as she bounced on her toes like a prize fighter waiting to enter the ring. She snatched the ear buds out of her ears and pulled out her cell phone.
"Tristan, it's Chelsea Baxter. Is Raven in her office today?... Great. Tell me, is Devyn Shelby there today… Thank you. See you soon." With that, Chelsea set out for Raven's office.
Tell me how should I feel
When you made me belong
And the thought of you just touchin' her
Is what I hate most
I don't want you, but I want it
And I can't let it go
To know you give it to her like you gave it to me, come on
Ooh
Raven was in a budget meeting with her CFO and his staff when her cell phone vibrated. When she looked down at her phone, her heart nearly stopped.
911. Itz about Chels. Call me at work NOW. Gretch.
Raven quickly excused herself from her meeting and briskly walked from the conference room down to her office.
"Rae, I…"
"Not now Devyn. I'll come find you." Raven said over her shoulder as she made a beeline for her office. When she reached Tristan's area, he stood up to get a word with her.
"Raven, I wanted to tell you…"
"Not right now Tristan. Important phone call." Raven said as she breezed into her office and closed the door. She quickly hopped on the phone and dialed Gretchen's number.
"Good Morning, Norris, Endicott…"
"Gretchen, it's Raven. What's wrong with Chelsea?" Raven said with panic in her voice.
"You know, I oughta punch you in your fucking throat." Gretchen said with venom dripping in her voice.
Raven was in complete shock. "Whoa! Where is that coming from?" Raven asked incredulously.
"I found Chelsea Saturday in a trashed apartment, shit-faced because of you." Gretchen spat.
Chelsea told her about the separation. Raven thought. "Gretchen, we didn't tell anybody about the separation…"
"I'm not talking about the fucking separation!" Gretchen fumed. "She knows Rae. She knows about you and Devyn."
Raven was paralyzed with fear. That's impossible. "She knows what about me and Devyn?"
"She knows that you fucked Devyn Wednesday night." Gretchen spewed. Raven felt her stomach drop to the floor. Her head began throbbing. Every synaptic nerve in her body began twitching.
"H—How…"
"One of you adulterous geniuses must've accidentally hit re-dial on your cell phone. She heard you two fucking on the answering machine."
"Ohmigod!" Raven said as her body shuddered and she collapsed into her leather chair.
"She was really fucked up this weekend and I had to try and put her back together."
Raven felt a tangible fear grip her harder than it ever had in her life. "I… I have to talk to her…"
"Don't… you say one fucking word to her. There's no telling what she will say or do. She's off this week so stay away from the apartment and don't come by the office."
"Gretchen, I…"
"I'm her protector right now since you decided to abdicate your throne. And don't worry, I'm not fucking her. No need for two adulterous whores in one marriage." After saying that, Gretchen slammed the phone down, leaving Raven to hear the dial tone.
Raven's breathing became labored. She sat in her chair shell-shocked as she stared into space digesting what Gretchen had just told her. Not only did Chelsea know she slept with Devyn, but she heard it on the answering machine. It was even more horrific than she could have possibly imagined.
"Ohmigod, ohmigod, ohmigod." Raven chanted as her brain attempted to reset itself from the overload it just received. Just then, Tristan knocked and pushed open the office door.
"Raven…"
"Get out Tristan. Get the fuck out." Raven said in the same panicked tone as her chant.
"I have to tell you that Chelsea called." Tristan said.
Raven's head shot up and her eyes bulged as she looked at Tristan. "When? How long ago? How did she sound?"
"She sounded great actually. She called about twenty minutes ago. She asked me if you were here and then asked if Ms. Shelby was here. I told her you were and she said great and she'll see me soon." Tristan recapped the conversation.
"FUCK!" Raven exclaimed as she shot out of her seat to head to Devyn's office. On her last friendly trip to the office, Raven had shown Chelsea where Devyn's temporary office was. Just as she reached the outer edge of her office suite, she spotted Chelsea stepping off of the elevator about twenty yards away making a beeline for Devyn's office. "CHELSEA!" Raven screamed. If Chelsea heard her, she completely ignored her as she continued undeterred toward Devyn's office.
Devyn was on the phone with one of her sisters when she heard one of Raven's frantic calls to Chelsea. "CHELSEA, STOP!"
"Danielle, let me call you back." Devyn hung the phone up and stood up to walk around to the front of her desk. As she reached the edge of her desk, the door to her office opened. She had never met Chelsea, but she knew from the multitude of pictures in Raven's office the identity of the woman that was now standing before her.
Before Devyn could open her mouth to say a word to the redheaded bombshell, Chelsea stepped forward and delivered a world championship right cross that connected with Devyn's jaw, sending her tumbling over the corner of the desk to the floor, taking a pile of papers to the floor with her as she went down. Raven and Tristan reached the office door just in time to see Chelsea mount Devyn and begin raining down a deluge of lefts and rights to the head and forearms of a defenseless Devyn.
"CHELSEA NO!" Raven screamed as she watched in horror as a livid Chelsea pummeled Devyn, trash talking as she did it.
"FUCKIN' BITCH! SHE'S MINE! I'LL FUCKIN' KILL YOU!" Chelsea screamed as she flailed away at Devyn.
While Raven was frozen in horror, Tristan ran over to pry Chelsea off of Devyn. By this time a crowd had gathered outside Devyn's door when they heard the screaming. After a moment or two of struggling, Tristan managed to pull Chelsea off of Devyn, both of them falling backwards onto the floor when he did. Chelsea scrambled to her feet to get some more of the designer, but Tristan held her back.
"Okay Champ, that's enough! You got her, now back off!" Tristan said as he struggled to contain the stronger-than-she-looked Chelsea.
Not knowing how she made it over there, Raven found herself standing in between Tristan and Chelsea's position and the battered Devyn, who lay on the floor of her office, with one shoe off her foot, a bloody lower lip, a torn dress, smeared makeup and a head full of disheveled hair. Raven's head swiveled back and forth in total disbelief as she looked upon the devastation that was the disintegration of her life.
If looks could kill, Devyn's family would have been preparing for her funeral as Chelsea glared at her and pointed a finger at her.
"Don't you ever let me catch your ass in a dark alley… whorish bitch." Chelsea spat before snatching out of Tristan's grasp and cutting the nastiest look out of the corner of her eye at Raven that the hazel-eyed designer had ever seen as she turned to stalk out of the office. The people outside the door parted like the Red Sea as Chelsea marched down the hallway toward the elevator.
Raven watched in stunned silence as Chelsea walked out of the office. She turned back around and knelt down in front of Devyn who looked up at Raven and chuckled as she dabbed at her lip with a tissue that Tristan had taken off of the desk.
"I guess she knows, huh?" Devyn said with an ironic chuckle. "She'd make one hell of a boxer." Devyn said as she worked her jaw. Raven went to take the tissue out of her hand when Devyn stopped her. "Go. This isn't the first time this has happened to me." Raven looked at her for a second. "Go after your wife. Go." Devyn nodded and Raven took a deep breath before she rose to her feet and ran out of the office in search of Chelsea.
WHAT GOES AROUND… COMES AROUND
She ran toward the elevators. When she got there, one of the women on the floor that heard the commotion said, "Stairs." Raven bolted toward the stairwell and began running down the stairs to catch Chelsea as she called out to her.
"CHELSEA!" Raven called out. She heard the patter of feet stop after she called to Chelsea. Three flights of stairs later, an out of breath Raven caught up to Chelsea. "What the hell was that up there?" Raven asked.
"Me beating the hell out of your whore." Chelsea said bitingly.
"She's not my whore! It was a mistake!" Raven exclaimed.
"What? You fucking her or me finding out the way I did?" Chelsea shot back in the same fashion Raven had to her months earlier.
Raven's lip trembled. "I… am so sorry you heard that." She eked out tearfully.
"YOU THINK I WANT A FUCKING APOLOGY FROM YOU?" Chelsea fumed. "AFTER THE SHIT YOU GAVE ME ABOUT KISSING EVELYNE, YOU GO THROW YOUR PUSSY IN DEVYN'S FACE!"
"It wasn't like that!" Raven bellowed. "It…"
"Just happened?" Chelsea interrupted. "Now where have I heard that before? Oh yeah. I said the same thing to you. So let me tell you like you told me…" Raven let out a sob as Chelsea threw her words back at her with a twist. "Ripping your stockings just happens. Forgetting your keys or your cell phone just happens. Opening your vagina and letting another human being stick their tongue and fingers in it does not just happen! You've GOT to come up with a better excuse than that!"
"Chels!..." Raven cried out.
"You want to 'Chels' me?" Chelsea spat. "I'll give you something to 'Chels' about." She said before turning and heading down the stairs.
"Where are you going?" Raven yelled in desperation.
"Going to help Evelyne change her sheets!" Chelsea declared as she turned to head down the next flight of stairs, disappearing from Raven's sight.
"Chelsea!" Raven yelled as she ran over to the top of that floor's flight of stairs. "CHELSEAAAAAAAA!" Raven screamed at the top of her lungs to no avail as her legs gave out, causing her to flop down on the top step sobbing.
LIKE A BOY
Chelsea left Raven's building and headed over to her office. She went there despite Gretchen and Darrienne's specific orders to stay away. Gretchen had just finished talking to a co-worker when she saw Chelsea step off the elevator. At first, Gretchen's face lit up seeing Chelsea in her workout gear, figuring that she was truly getting herself back together. Gretchen's face darkened however when she looked down at the bloody knuckles on Chelsea's right hand.
"Chelsea!" Gretchen whisper-yelled as she grabbed Chelsea by the arm and ushered her into the nearest break room. "What the hell did you do?"
"Nothing. Just a little sparring session." Chelsea cracked.
"Do I want to ask who your sparring partner was?" Gretchen asked.
"You don't know her. But her name rhymes with Kevin." Chelsea said with a cold, neutral look on her face.
"Have you lost your mind? She could press charges against you!" Gretchen said. "And what if Raven finds out you did that?"
"Raven was standing right there when I beat the bitch down." Chelsea coolly said.
"I don't believe this! I tell you two simple things to do; stay away from Raven and stay away from this office, and you couldn't do either one!" Gretchen exclaimed.
"I guess I'm officially out of control." Chelsea said calmly as she headed for the break room door.
Gretchen reached out and grabbed her arm. "Where are you going?"
"Home to clean up. I've got an errand to run later." Chelsea said quietly.
"Maybe you should come over to my place tonight." Gretchen said.
"I'll be fine. I got that out of my system. I promise I will not touch Devyn again." Chelsea said calmly.
Gretchen looked at Chelsea with concern. "I just don't want to see you…"
"Make a mistake?" Chelsea asked. "I promise… you will not see me make a mistake. I'll call you tomorrow." Chelsea then turned and walked out of the break room leaving Gretchen more worried than ever about her friend.
Chelsea stepped onto the elevator and was about to hit the button for the lobby when she paused for a second. She then made the decision to press the button for the twenty-third floor, where human resources was located. She stepped off the elevator and went to the office of Jillian Conroy, one of the HR specialists and occasional coffee and bagel buddy of Gretchen and Chelsea's.
"Jillian?" Chelsea said, peeking her head inside.
"Chelsea! Hey! Gretchen said you had the week off!" Jillian said as she hugged Chelsea. "What can I do for you?"
"One of my former employees left some personal effects in my office and I wanted to deliver them to her. Can you… bend a rule and give me her address?" Chelsea asked.
"For you? Sure. What's her name?" Jillian asked.
Chelsea had one last wave of conscience flow through her before steeling herself and answering Jillian's question. "Evelyne Carlson."
Monday, April 6, 2020 – 8 pm – Evelyne Carlson's apartment – North Bergen, New Jersey
Evelyne had just gotten off the phone with her sister and had decided to settle in for a night of watching television. Her favorite pastime involved slipping into her white University of Vermont t-shirt and her green and gold Vermont Catamounts shorts, curl her feet underneath herself and watch old episodes of Law and Order. It was just after eight when during the opening credit sequence of a Jerry Orbach-Jesse L. Martin Law and Order episode, she heard a knock on her door. She stood up and walked over to the door and peered out of the peep hole. To say she was astonished by who she saw was an understatement.
She slowly opened the door to reveal Chelsea standing in front of her in jeans and a striped polo shirt reminiscent of her high school days back in San Francisco. The two women engaged in a staredown that seemed to go on forever but in reality lasted less than thirty seconds.
"What are you doing here?" Evelyne asked.
"I came to give you your goodbye hug and kiss." Chelsea said, recalling their last conversation two months earlier.
"What makes you think I still want it?" Evelyne said coldly.
"Because if you didn't… you'd have slammed the door in my face and locked it." Chelsea responded.
"I don't want you." Evelyne said. "I was attracted to the red hair and the killer body. And I knew you'd be a good fuck but… well… you know the rest. Your words, remember?"
"Not gonna make this easy for me are you?" Chelsea asked.
"What are you really doing here?" Evelyne asked.
"Telling you that I figured it out." Chelsea said, referring to Evelyne's challenge to come to her when she figured out how to be with her without feeling guilty.
Evelyne took an ominous step toward Chelsea and stood nose to nose with her. "Prove it." Evelyne challenged.
For the second time that day, Chelsea overwhelmed a woman with her first cat-like move. This time, instead of using a right cross, Chelsea used two arms around the waist and the most devastatingly deep French kiss Evelyne Carlson had ever experienced.
Evelyne backed into her apartment with Chelsea all over her. Chelsea spun the slightly taller blonde around, slamming the door with her back. Chelsea hungrily kissed Evelyne's lips, jaw and neck as she clawed at Evelyne's t-shirt and shorts. Evelyne's response was to passionately tug at Chelsea's polo shirt and jeans until all four garments met the same fate as their underwear would moments later.
These actions officially began Chelsea's payback for Raven's indiscretion nearly a week earlier and would serve to close the seventh circle of the Dante's Hell into which Chelsea and Raven's marriage had descended.
As I said about Raven and Devyn at the beginning of the chapter, there's no need to play out the whole Chelsea-Evelyne sex scene. You know by the last two paragraphs that it was going down. Feel free to fill in the blanks if you wish. Dual affairs. Two wrongs certainly do not make a right, but can they eventually lead to reconciliation? Let's find out together. See you here for chapter eleven. PLEASE REVIEW.