Born to Run Free

Sean sat on the couch, his mouth slightly agape, as he stared at Celia. “What?” he asked, wondering if he had just heard her correctly. “You’re in love with me?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know!” Celia exclaimed. “I mean, no I’m not in love with you. But, I think I’m falling in love with you. Damn it, Sean, I don’t even know anymore. I never wanted to go on this stupid promotional tour, let alone go on it with you. And, we’ve fought every step of the way. And, now all of a sudden, I’m finding myself liking you, and I’m jealous when I see you with other girls,” Celia told him, deciding to lay everything out on the line and see what happens.

Sean shook his head, not able to comprehend what she had just told him. “Don’t you get it, Celia?” he asked her. “We can’t be together. We’re exactly alike. If we ever got together, we’d kill each other.”

Celia stared at him at a loss for words. She’d never had a guy turn her down before, and she couldn’t believe that Sean was doing exactly that. “Whatever,” Celia shrugged him off, pretending that she didn’t care about what he said.

“Celia, I’m sorry,” Sean heard himself say, and he couldn’t believe he was apologizing. What was he apologizing for? For telling her the truth?

“It doesn’t matter,” Celia said, shaking her head as she walked back towards her room. “You’ll be a forgotten thought in no time,” she told him, shutting her door behind her. She proceeded to lean up against it, sliding down to the floor.

She knew she never should have told Sean her true feelings, and she was regretting doing just that. She pulled her knees up to her chest, trying to figure out what to do next. It would have been okay had she not had to spend the next two weeks with him.

She figured if she could ignore him for two weeks, she’d be fine. After that time, they’d both be off on their own, and she’d never have to face him again. Hopefully, it would be like she had never even told him that she had feelings for him.

After sitting on the floor, rocking back and forth for another ten minutes, Celia finally stood up, making her way down the hallway towards the bathroom to try to clean herself up. Afterwards, she walked back to her bedroom, crawling into her bed and wrapping the covers over her. She didn’t care if she had just woken up a couple hours ago, all she wanted to do was go back to sleep and try to forget all of her problems.

Later that night, Celia walked out into the living room to grab her purse that was sitting on the couch. She saw Sean in the kitchen area, and she tried to make it past him without him noticing her. However, today was not her lucky day. “Celia,” Sean began when he saw her.

“I’m going out,” Celia said, not making eye contact with him as she quickly grabbed her purse and practically ran towards the door, pulling it open and going outside. She didn’t know where she was going, and right now, it didn’t really matter. She just needed to get away from Sean.

She glanced at her phone, going through her text messages from earlier, trying to find one from one of her old friends who had invited her to some party. She finally found it and after flagging down a taxi, gave the driver the address.

Twenty minutes later, they pulled up to a club and Celia paid the man before stepping out of the taxi. She walked past the bouncers, who after just a mere glance at her, immediately let her inside without hesitation, earning some complaints from the people that were standing in a line outside, hoping to get inside.

As soon as she walked in, she saw Yvette sitting near the bar, and she made her way over to the girl that she had known since elementary school. She sat down next to her, placing her purse on the table in front of her. “Yvette,” Celia smiled. “How are you doing?”

“Celia!” the blonde-haired girl exclaimed, reaching over and hugging Celia. “I’m so glad you made it! Here, let me get you a drink. What’s your favorite?” she asked her.

“Vodka and tonic,” Celia replied without thinking.

Yvette smiled at her, while turning to the guy that stood behind her, instructing him to get Celia’s drink, along with another one for her. The guy walked off, and Yvette turned back around. “You’re going to have a great time tonight,” Yvette promised.

“That’s what I’m hoping for,” Celia told her.

***

Sean sat in the living room, wondering where Celia was. She had stormed out of the hotel room, and he had no idea where she was going. He knew she was angry at him, but he really couldn’t tell why. Yes, he had turned her down, but it wasn’t as if he was trying to hurt her. He really didn’t think it’d be a good idea if they got together. They would have been fighting constantly, and it just wouldn’t have been a healthy relationship.

He sighed to himself, hoping that Celia was okay. He knew that she liked to go out drinking and go home with random guys, and he assumed that it wouldn’t help with her being as angry as she was. He only hoped that she didn’t go home with the wrong guy.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when his phone rang from its place next to him on the couch. He glanced at the caller id before groaning. Darcy’s name flashed across the screen, and she was the last person he wanted to talk to at the moment. Yes, they had had a one-night stand, but he didn’t want anything past that. Darcy, however, had other plans, as she continued calling him, asking him if he wanted to go out with her. He had repeatedly told her he didn’t want to, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer and hadn’t given up yet.

“Hello?” he asked into the phone as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Sean!” he heard Darcy exclaim. “I was wondering if you wanted to do something tonight.”

“No, Darcy, I don’t,” Sean sighed, hoping that she would get the hint and just give up already.

“Come on, Sean. We had a good time the other night. And, I know that you’re only in town for another couple of days. So, we should make the best of the rest of the time you’re here,” Darcy told him.

“Darcy, I don’t want to go out with you, okay? Just leave me alone,” he said, hanging up the phone. He threw it down next to him, and he almost screamed when it began ringing once again. Couldn’t this girl take a hint? He snatched it back up and glared at the caller id, his anger fading when he noticed it was an unknown number calling him. “Hello?” he answered.

“Sean, it’s Cooper Thornton,” he heard Cooper say. “I need your help.”

“Okay,” Sean said slowly. “What’s up?”

“I need you to go get Celia. She’s in trouble,” Cooper said, and Sean’s stomach immediately dropped, wondering what was wrong with Celia. “She went to this party, and now she’s wasted, and I guess it’s pretty bad. And, obviously, I can’t go get her when I’m not in Texas, so I was hoping you could help me out here.”

Sean sighed before replying. “What’s the address?” he asked.

Cooper quickly spouted off the address before thanking Sean. “Thanks, man. I really appreciate this,” he told him. “Can you call me when you get her? I’m really worried about her. From what they were saying, she’s pretty bad off.”

“Yeah, I’ll call you,” Sean promised, hanging up the phone. He grabbed his card key off the table, along with the keys to the rental car. On the way down to the car, he plugged the address that Cooper had given him into the GPS on his phone so he could find his way there. He shook his head as he got in the car, unable to believe that he was the person that had to go save Celia right now, after everything that had happened between them in the past forty-eight hours.

His GPS told him that he had arrived at his destination, and he looked out the window to see that he was out in front of a club with a long line of people waiting to get in. He quickly parked his car, walking back towards the entrance of the club.

He bypassed the line of people, much to the anger of everyone standing in line, and made his way up to the bouncers. He opened his mouth to try to argue with them to let him in when he was cut off by one of the bouncers. “You Sean Avery?” the guy asked.

“Yeah, I am,” Sean said, surprised that the guy recognized him. San Antonio wasn’t exactly known for their hockey fans or anything.

“You’re awesome,” the guy told him. “Seriously, always picking fights. It’s great stuff. Go on in,” he said, moving aside to let Sean walk inside. And, for the first time in a long time, Sean was grateful that he was known for his pestering antics on the ice.

He walked inside, and he had no idea where to even begin looking for her. If he had to guess, there was at least three hundred people packed inside the small club, and he couldn’t figure out how he was going to be able to find Celia. Not knowing what else to do, he went up to the first person he saw, asking if they knew where he could find her.

“You looking for Celia McCall?” a girl asked from behind him.

Sean spun around to see a blonde-haired woman standing there, one hand on her hip, the other clutching her martini in her hand. “Yeah, I am. Have you seen her?”

“Yeah, she went to the back room,” the girl told him, pointing behind him to a small hallway.

“Thanks,” Sean told her, making his way back there. He saw a door that was slightly ajar, and he could hear voices from inside it. Taking a chance, he flung the door open, shocked at what he saw. Inside, Celia was lying on the couch, unconscious, in only her underwear, with two guys on top of her, one of them grabbing at her underwear. “Get the fuck off of her!” Sean boomed, and the two guys quickly spun around to see who had come inside.

Seeing Sean standing there, furious, they ran out of the room, not even bothering to pick up their clothes that were scattered all around the room. “Celia,” Sean said, trying to get her to wake up, but she was completely unconscious. He looked around for Celia’s clothes, but he couldn’t find them, and he wasn’t about to put her in the clothes of the guys that were about to rape her. Not knowing what else to do, but knowing he needed to get her out of the club, he picked her up bridal-style, holding her close to his body, trying to shelter her from the many eyes that followed them, and carried her out to the car.