Chapter 16
Three weeks later
The role in the series was an intense undertaking for me.
It was going well, but I was one of the main cast members, and I had a lot of scenes to be part of.
It seemed as though I never stopped memorizing something.
I was constantly going over lines, sequences, and blocking.
Alex was a good director, and he had Judd and Cameron, who both had a clear sense of his vision and were good coaches.
I was working hard, and I was thankful that what I was doing seemed to be enough for the team.
Ty was doing great as well. The two of us were supporting each other and drawing from each other's strengths.
Ty was not a believer, but she said she admired the way I had changed since I started calling myself a Christian.
Staring in the series was intense for us, and she saw how I was able to draw strength and encouragement from reading my Bible.
She hadn't had a life-changing moment, but she and I had several meaningful conversations during the last month of filming.
It was nice to feel like I was on the right track with something, and she was coming to me for advice and wisdom.
My life felt solid, and my secret relationship with Henry Sutter was about the most fun thing I could ever imagine.
Henry and I saw each other and talked every day, and no one knew a thing.
It was fun, keeping it all to ourselves.
And it forced us to calm down and slow down when it felt like both of us wanted to just get married and start having babies already.
We hadn't said as much, but I could just feel that between us.
Neither Bailey nor Ty knew anything of it, which was crazy since we were both close to our sisters.
I was getting to know Bailey, and he was getting to know Ty, and neither of them had a clue that we were special to each other.
I was able to pass off any odd behavior as being the actress in a film for the first time in my life, and my sister easily believed it because she was also overwhelmed and doing a lot of new things.
She had some drama with her boyfriend back home, so she was distracted with her own stuff.
As far as Bailey went, we had exchanged numbers that first day under the tree.
We hadn't communicated by phone, but we had run into each other a few times on the ranch in recent weeks.
She seemed to be doing well with friendships and had met a few new people.
My plate was so full, honestly, that it was difficult to comprehend anyone else's circumstance.
I did ask her how she was doing when we saw each other, and she said things were good.
Which was why I was taken aback to see her number flash across my phone at two-thirty in the morning.
I thought it must be a mistake. We had been shooting at night, and I was used to the late schedule, but I had been sound asleep for over an hour, and I blinked at my phone.
It was Bailey's name on the screen, and I thought for sure she would realize she had made a mistake and hang up.
But my phone kept ringing and ringing. The ringtone was low, and it was vibrating in my hand.
I pressed the button to answer it and held the phone to my ear.
My sister and I shared a trailer, but her bed was on the opposite side, and she was sleeping soundly with white noise.
"Hello?" I said, quietly.
"Amelia?" Bailey said my name with such a serious tone that I sat straight up in my bed.
"Yes," I said, getting my bearings, looking at my clock, wondering what was happening.
"Can you come get me right now? I need you. Can you give me a ride home? Please? I don't know who else to call."
"Sure. Yes," I said, without hesitating. "Where are you?"
"I'm gonna send you a p-pin of my lo-cation."
"Are you okay?"
"Not really. I just need you to come pick me up," she said. "I have my friend with me, and she's out of it. We need your help. I, look, I, I'm, I… I…. I'm sending the location now."
"Okay," I said sleepily. I stared at my phone, waiting for the address.
"That's almost an hour from here," I said after I clicked on it.
"I know, but I need you. I have no one else. I have no choice but to wait here for you, Amelia. Rose is in bad shape, and the next person I could get to do it is Jaxon, and he's on the other side of Butte, which is way further than you. Please, help me."
"Okay, I'm on my way," I said without hesitation. "Stay where you are. I'll call you back when I'm in the car."
I found the keys to our rental, and I jotted down a note to my sister explaining that I had to go out and I would give details later. Not that she would care. She was a heavy sleeper and probably wouldn't even notice I was gone.
I left the ranch on a side road, and it was so late that I didn't run into a single soul on my way out. I followed the directions on the map, taking the interstate most of the way, going toward Missoula.
I called Bailey when I was a few minutes out, and she gave me instructions in hushed tones. I drove into a very small town with just a few old, small houses and sheds. There were some hills with groups of trees scattered around.
I drove down a street and then I turned off the car and got out where she had explained.
I spotted movement in the distance. Bailey waved at me from behind a group of trees.
I expected that she would come to me, but she didn't, so I began to walk over there, through the tall grass.
As I got closer, I could see that Bailey was disheveled, and she had a friend with her who was unconscious.
"She woke up a little a minute ago, but I can't get her to wake up right now," Bailey whispered as I got closer. "Can you help me get her to the car, please? She's heavy, and she's not waking up."
"Does she need an ambulance?" I asked.
"No, don’t. Can you please just help me so we can get out of here?"
Bailey was in bad shape. It was after three in the morning, and none of us wanted to be there.
I cooperated, helping her any way I could, holding her friend's shoes and half of her body weight.
I held onto her arm and shoulder, grabbing the fabric of her little dress.
The friend was dazed and half-awake, and we stumbled with her lifeless weight as we crossed the grassy yard to get back to my car.
"Get in, Rose!" Bailey whisper-yelled near the girl's ear, trying to rouse her as we approached the car.
I opened the door to the back seat, and Bailey began trying to heft and push her friend into the back. It looked a little painful for both of them, so I went to lend her a hand.
It was going well at the start. We sort of split her weight again.
We had her legs in the car, and were working on her upper body.
I was positioned behind Rose's head when she flung her head back violently, headbutting me straight in the side of the face.
The impact was so swift and unexpected that I had no hope of moving or dodging it.
The back of her head made such a square, forceful impact with my face that it knocked me back, forcing me to drop her.
I touched my face and glanced at my hand, thinking I might see blood.
I had seen blackness for a split second, and my ears rang.
I blinked, realizing I was seeing stars.
Bailey was taking over, pushing her friend forcefully into the car while asking me if I was okay.
The next minute was a complete whirlwind with Bailey being in a frantic hurry to leave, while my face was throbbing.
Bailey didn't even ask if I was okay to operate a vehicle. She just assumed I was and she sat in the front seat, staring out of the window as if telling me to start the car and drive. Her friend's lifeless body was in a sleeping heap in my back seat.
I found myself driving down the country road, heading back toward the interstate.
My face was throbbing, and I glanced into the rearview mirror.
It was dark, but it seemed and felt like I would have a black eye.
There was no swelling like the time when I hit my forehead, but there was darkness under my eye already.
"Do you know how to take me to your house?" I said to her. "Should I get the GPS going?"
"Yeah, I have no idea where we are," she said dazedly.
I pulled over so that I could type the address.
"Where are we going? Back to your house?" "My car's at home, but we need to… I don't know what to do with Rose. I can't bring her to my house like this."
"What about her house? We could stop there."
"It's in Butte."
I breathed a sigh, knowing it would add an hour to our trip to take her home.
"I guess I'll have to figure it out," she said.
"Is that where we're going? The ranch? Where's her car?"
"In Missoula," she said. "I'm not going to ask you to go there since it's thirty minutes the wrong way."
"So where are we going?" I asked, hoping she would say to the ranch.
"Home," she said, thank goodness. "I'll figure her car out tomorrow."
I started typing the address to the ranch into my phone, and then I took a second to glance in the mirror and look at my eye, which did have some bruising.
I was still in pain, and I thought of the series and how my scenes would be affected.
It was hard to stop the wave of anger that went with the throbbing.
The ranch was fifty-two minutes from here, and I got back on the road right away, glancing into the backseat at the passed-out girl as I checked the road behind me.
I wished Henry were there. I wished he were the one driving right now. We rode for a few seconds in silence, and then she started crying. I put my hand on her arm.
"Are you okay, Bailey? Are you hurt?"
"No. I'm not hurt," she said, staring out of the front windshield.
I gave it a few more seconds before I spoke again. "What happened?" I asked.
"Rose was… she knew some people in a band that was playing in Missoula, so we went over there to watch them play at this club, and anyway, we met these other guys, and…
" she trailed off, but I was quiet until she continued.
"We left with them. I was kissing that one guy in the back seat.
We were just supposed to be stopping by his house for something, but he kept driving to where we were, way out in the middle of nowhere.
I had been with the guy in the backseat the whole time, so I didn't see where we were.
Rose was passed out, but I didn't notice because I was busy.
And we got to their house, and she was just so out of it.
The guy said she fell asleep, but I just did not feel right about it.
I didn't have any of the drink they bought us, and Rose did.
I was in the living room of this house, and it was nasty in there.
I was grossed out, and Rose was just dead to the world.
The guys went into the next room, and I took off.
I left without her purse. I put her on my back with her arms around my shoulder like she had jumped there herself.
I snuck out of the front door and ran with her on my back. "
"And they just let you go? They didn't chase you?"
"No, I mean, we were there willingly. They thought I was having fun. I could hear them cracking up in the kitchen before I walked out. I know they did something to her. I would have been next. Thank God I didn't have that drink."
"And you just left?"
"Yeah, we didn’t drive there. We were in the middle of nowhere, and she was out cold, so I'm sure they never dreamed I would leave. But they didn't leave looking for me. I could see their house from where I was when I called you, and nobody ever left."
"And you were sitting there watching the house for an hour?"
"Yes," she said in a hopeless tone. "Rose said she recognized them before they came over to us tonight. But I don’t think she knew them. They were older."
"How old?" I said. I glanced at her from over the console.
"They said they were in college when we were talking to them, but I don't know what to believe. I heard him say something about work. I don’t know why I was willing to…
" She breathed a sigh, and her shoulders slumped.
"Thank you for coming to get me, Amelia.
Please. I beg of you. Please do not tell my family about this.
I've got to figure out what to do with Rose.
I guess I'll just drag her to my bedroom.
I'm going to have to take her to Missoula to get her car tomorrow.
What an ordeal." She breathed a long sigh.
"They were super hot," she added, sounding confused.
"What?"
"The guys. They were really good-looking. Since when are hot guys creeps?"
I didn't answer her because I didn't know the answer. She glanced at me, and I gave her a shrug and a friendly shake of my head. "I'm sorry," I said. "I think you did the right thing by getting out of there."
"I know I did. They were making light of her being passed out and I'm sure they were planning on doing something to me."
"Thank the Lord you put all that together in time and got out of there," I said.
Bailey asked me several times not to tell her family about the situation.
She was humbled and distraught, and I truly didn't want to add to everything she was going through, but I didn't see myself keeping this from Henry—especially with the way it affected my face.
I would have bruising, and it might matter to Alex if it appeared on camera.
I thought of all this as we drove, and by the time we got close to the ranch, I felt like I should warn her.
"Henry's going to see my face, and I'm… I wouldn't tell him everything, but… "
"Oh, no, you can't tell my brother anything," she said, staring at me with a frightened expression.
"I might have a black eye from this," I said.
"So, tell him you ran into a door."
I let out a humorless laugh. "That seriously happened to me once. I'm not going to make up a story that already happened right in front of him," I said.
"So, avoid him," she said. "Can't you just turn and walk the other way if you see anyone in my family?"
I hesitated, letting a strained sound come from the back of my throat. "Uh, no," I said. "I can't just turn and walk away. That's not like me. We talk all the time. Henry and me."
"You can just avoid him," she said, not seeing my point.
"You said you left your friend's purse there," I said. "Don't you think someone needs to know about this in case those guys come after…"
"In case they come after who? They won't come after anyone."
"What if they need to be investigated? It's not good that they have her purse."
"It's a fake ID in her purse, anyway. It's some other girl from our school who graduated like three years ago."