Page 39 of Tandem
It was hard, and I wasn’t really mad anymore at AJ. Just sad. It probably wasn’t fair for me to say he hurt my trust since what he did happened before we even really knew each other. But that was just how I felt. I didn’t want to feel that way, though. I did believe him when he said he had changed. I would work hard to move past this quickly if he ever replied to me. I leaned back against the counter, watching the hands on the clock in the room tick slowly by. It was hard to think the AJ I knew, who made me feel safe and sooo dang good in so many ways, would ever intentionally hurt me like that ever again.
And it wasn’t like he had gone to our house that day intending to hurt me. He explained it all; he thought he would take from someone who had more than he had. He had no intention of hurting anyone physically. It was honestly still a little hard to wrap my head around AJ being the guy from the garage that day. His eyes didn’t have the same black look they did then, and I had never seen him wear a plain black mask.
I straightened up and pushed my thoughts of the night into the back of my mind as the timer went off for the first car. I kept going through the rest of my work afternoon, checking my phone here and there, and I never did get a response, so when the last customer of the night picked up their truck, Dad waved bye, leaving to go to the dealership to do some paperwork before going home.
Then, it was just me finishing cleaning up my paint supplies. I sighed with frustration at not getting an answer yet, but I finished cleaning out the airbrushing system, drying my squirrel hair pinstriping brushes, and standing up and stretching.
“Welp, looks like I’m just going to go home, I guess. Maybe I’ll get a text from him later, or tomorrow.” I was disappointed. He was so angry last night that I had hoped that my reaching out first would get him to respond to me. But maybe he didn’t want to actually fix it. I replayed what he said about being able to have any girl he wanted and felt my eyes sting a bit. Well, if he didn’t want to fix it, it was his problem. I wasn’t going to keep crying over him.
I started to turn off most of the lights at the customs, grabbing my keys and wallet. I shoved them into my pockets next to my phone and walked out the garage door. I turned and started to roll the door down with the padlock in my other jacket pocket.
Just as I was grabbing the padlock and my phone from my pockets to have a little more light to see the lock with, Iwas shoved hard into the door from behind, and I felt a hand press against my back. The coldness of something sharp pressed against my neck, and I screamed.
CHAPTER 22
AJ
The next morning,I rolled over in bed. Judging by how bright it was outside, I had slept in later than usual. I grabbed my phone to see a text from Rosalie. I read it out loud. "Hey, can we get together tonight and talk when I get off work?" I reread it a couple of times as my irritation from our argument slowly dripped into my mind.
She thought she could blow up at me and then wake up after a good night’s sleep and it would make everything that had happened all right? Fuck that. I left her on read as I sat up. The morning light filtered through the crappy blinds of the motel room, casting light on the clothes I had tossed on the other side of the bed, and then I remembered the night spent with Rachel, the leader of the Barons.
“Fuck.” I stretched and swung my legs over the bedside. Maybe going for a jog to the gym would shake the pissed feeling my mood was turning into just thinking about talking to Rosalie later today. If this bitch came to her senses about her overreaction last night, good, but I was not about to feel bad for those couple of hours of fucking my hookup. As far as I was concerned, I was still single as fuck until Rosalie could get over herself.
I got dressed, laced up my Air Forces, and opened my door to the noise of the city’s morning traffic on the freeway nearby. I walked down the steps and did a few quick stretches before rolling my neck and shoulders and taking off at a jog toward the beach a good few miles away. When I got to the gym, I was nice and warmed up, so I didn’t waste any time getting in my full workout. I headed straight for the punching bag, which had already been replaced by my knocking it off its hooks last night, my knuckles wrapped and ready.
My annoyance fueled each punch I threw, the bag swinging wildly with each hit. My fists started to hit it to the beat of my own pulse pounding in my ears, and I got lost in the rhythm. As the sweat started dripping down my face, I moved on to a combination of kicks and jabs, my breath cutting the salty morning air. For a moment, I could almost forget why I was so goddamn pissed in the first place. Street fighting had taught me control and to block out everything else but your opponent’s movement. Pounding the shit out of this bag was releasing a lot of the tension from last night that was still lingering.
After I finished my workout, I made my way back home. Hopping into the shower, I let my thoughts go back to Rosalie. Now that my anger had subsided about last night, I was more willing to meet. I finished the shower and sat on the edge of the bed half dressed, looking at her text again before finally deciding I would meet with her when she got off work. I wanted to hear what she had to say, and more than anything, hear her say she was wrong for how she reacted. Maybe we could salvage this relationship, hell, if that was even what she wanted anymore. I read her messages a bit, chuckling at some of the things she said in the past. Fuck, I think I was into her more than I wanted to admit. Maybe even if she wasn't on board with getting back to being my girl, I’d have to show her all the reasons she should be.
Because I just couldn’t picture those lips touching another man besides me. Those hands wrapping in another guy’s hair but mine? Those words from her sweet little lips were for another man’s ears but not mine? Rosalie Wells wasmygirl. I just had to make her understand that. I checked the time and noticed she would be closing up soon, so I grabbed the keys to my lowrider and left. I cruised over to the street by the customs and parked my car. There wasn’t always parking outside the shop, so the street was a safe bet.
But as I rounded the corner, I heard Rosalie’s voice cry out, and what I saw, I could have committed murder over, and my feet had never moved faster.
CHAPTER 23
ROSALIE
“Give me your wallet,phone, and don’t scream again, bitch!” A higher-pitched guy’s voice rang in my ear as his hot, sticky breath covered the side of my face. I dropped my arms, and my phone and padlock dropped to the ground.
“P-please don’t hurt me… just take what you want!” I cried quietly out as I felt the blade poke my skin more.
“Shut up, you stupid bitch! Just do what I say!” he shouted loudly as he started to grope me all over. I whimpered when he roughly grabbed my tits hard with a manic chuckle. “Damn, nice rack for such a small bitch,” he muttered as the knife’s pressure lessened slightly. He reached into my jacket pockets, and then I heard a familiar voice shout.
“Hey, asshole!!!”
The coolness of the blade and the weight of the guy pressed against me completely disappeared, and I heard a crashing noise with a yelp as the guy hit the ground. I twisted around quickly to see AJ standing a foot from me, between me and the guy with the knife on the ground, who was now rubbing his face.
AJ stepped closer to me, reaching out and pulling me behind him, blocking me from the man on the ground, growling in the most angry tone I’d ever heard from him. “You little tweakingpiece of shit touched MY girl…” AJ cracked his neck as he tilted his head side to side, his voice low and serious. “I'm gonna break your fucking neck.” AJ stalked toward the man, arms flexing as he drew his fists up in a fighter’s stance.
The other guy shuffled to his feet while swinging the knife wildly at AJ, who bounced back on the balls of his feet, avoiding the incoming blow with ease. I’d never seen AJ like this. I knew he worked out, but this seemed like a lot more than something lifting weights could teach you.
The man lunged again with a yell, and AJ sidestepped it and nailed him in the side of the face with a quick jab, hitting again and again. There was a sickening crunching sound as the hit connected each time. As the guy spit blood out onto the ground, he staggered upright again.
“Fuck off, this is my score! Find your own whore to hassle,” he spat out at AJ, who took this chance to step in and nail him right in the stomach with a hard punch, making him drop the knife, which AJ kicked out of the way before turning and kicking the guy upward under the jaw, sending him to the ground with a groan. Once AJ saw he wasn’t getting up anytime soon, he walked past him, spitting on him. “Don’t ever fucking come near my girl again. GOT IT?! Actually, if I even SEE you in the area by Kayden’s Customs again, you won’t live to regret it.”
He snarled at him before walking over to me and gently touching my cheek. “Sorry, baby girl, I didn’t get here sooner. Are you okay?”
Instantly, his words washed over me as his warmth heated my cheek. Even though I was still upset about what he had told me the day before, all I wanted to do was walk into his arms and collapse there. And that was exactly what I did. He just held me and petted my hair as I gripped the back of his hoodie, burying my face in his chest.