Page 52 of Tandem

CHAPTER 30

ROSALIE

A few weeks later,after another late night where we left AJ’s car at my dad’s custom car shop again, I drove us to work. He kissed me before going over to his car in the shop and driving it out and down the alley.

Dad just watched us the entire time and nodded at AJ when he got into his car. He walked over to me as I was getting some things together, and I already knew what was coming.

“Hey, hun, have you got a second to talk this morning?” he asked, placing a hand on my shoulder. Here we go, time to get grilled about AJ. I was hoping he had forgotten about it since it had been a while since the meet, but I guess seeing us today reminded him. I spun around and put the biggest smile on my face.

“Yep!” Popping the P, I gave him a tight hug. “What’s up, Dad?” My dad hugged me tight in a rocking bear hug for a minute before leaning on the counter on which I was already laying out paint supplies.

“Well, I know my girl is all grown up now, though I didn’t know you were seriously seeing someone, Rosalie… Especially someone like AJ.” I shifted on my feet a bit. This was gonna be awkward.

“I didn’t want to mention it just in case it wasn’t serious. I didn’t want you and Mom to meet him and then like him if he wasn’t sticking around, you know?” I giggled nervously, glancing at my dad from the corner of my eye as I reached up for some paint base to mix my first colors.

Dad grabbed one of my brushes and rolled it around in his fingers, looking around at the paint supplies wistfully. He loved rolling up his sleeves and working all day on the builds and engines, but I took the only real creative thing away from him when I took over the painting side of the shop. I knew he missed painting. Sometimes, Dad would work over the weekends and work late to finish off a random paint client himself, mainly to keep his skills sharp.

“And… is he sticking around for a while?” Dad carefully asked me. I turned and placed the paint on the counter, and I knew I was blushing big time just thinking about AJ.

“Ummm… Yeah. I think he is going to be sticking around for a long time. I really like AJ, Dad.” Dad reached over and placed a hand on mine, clearing his throat.

“I can see that. But what kind of dad would I be if I didn’t look out for my girl, right? You should know AJ. He’s mixed up with a tough crowd. I don’t want you to get mixed up with them either.” He was really serious now.

I tensed a bit. Oh god. Did he know about us taking the car from the drift meet? Or about the fight club? I looked down, and Dad continued, “I just don’t want anything to happen to you, honey. With the street racing and drifting we do, I’m generally around. I know the people in that community more; they all know you and wouldn’t hurt you. But, some of the people involved in the activities AJ is involved in are dangerous. Rosalie, they’ve killed people.” I glanced at Dad again, willing my mouth to finally say something back.

“I know… but AJ wouldn’t let anyone get near me when he took me to watch him fight. So even though there were some scary-looking people, I…” As soon as the words exited my mouth, I threw my hand over it to stop saying anything else.

Dad stood up, letting go of my hand, and walked around the counter. “Wait, you went with him to the fight ring?!” He was clearly upset about what I had just said.

Uh-oh, that was the wrong thing to say, Rosalie.

“Y-yeah, but like I said, no one even talked to me! I was fine. I just watched AJ’s fight, and when he won, we left. No one hurt me, Dad, I promise!” My dad wasn’t scared of anything except the thought of something happening to me, Mom, or Jayden. Except he didn’t have anything to be afraid of. I needed him to know that AJ was a really,reallygood fighter. And also that I was never afraid when I was with him. I’d known, without a doubt, thinking about how he threw himself in front of me with the mugger and held me behind him with his muscular arms, that he would keep me safe.

“Dang it, Rosalie. I wish you hadn’t gone to that…” Dad sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, something both he and Jayden did when they were frustrated.

I tried to reassure him more. “Dad, I’m sorry, I promise I was careful.” He looked up at me again.

“I get that. I know you’re smart and careful, Rosalie. Can you promise me one thing? Just don’t go again, okay?” He pulled me in for another hug, and I hugged him back, burying my head into his sleeve. I had to lie because I had already told AJ I would go again.

“O-okay, Dad, promise…” I mumbled out.

“Okay. Good. Now.” He held me at arm’s length again as he looked me over, and a smile replaced his serious expression. “Time for us to get to work! Your morning was going to be open,but your brother wanted a new color on his car, so I gave it to him.”

Jayden was coming? Awesome! I hadn’t gotten to chat with him lately. I’d just been so busy, so it’d be nice trying to catch up—if his nose wasn’t buried in his phone the whole time.

An hour later, I was handing over the keys to my client. Then, to my surprise, not only did Jayden drive into the shop, but I saw Hank and the crew pull up outside as well. I gave everyone a big hug, ending with Jayden, who just stared at me. Which confused me at first, until he spoke. “So I hear you’re going to fight clubs now, huh?” I froze mid-hug, looking at him.

“Uhhhh, um…” Shoot, what could I even say to that? Did everyone know my business already?

Jayden shook his head with a groan. “Jesus, Rosalie, for fucking real? I was hoping I was hearing it wrong. There was no way my innocent sister was hanging around a bunch of thugs and criminals. So did he force you to go, or are you just too stupid to know when something is a bad idea?” Ouch. Based on his verbal lashing, Jayden knew more people than I thought to have heard about that night so fast.

“Well, first of all, bro, let’s not talk about whose crowd is rougher than the others, okay? You’re not really one to talk. I’ve seen some people who show up at your house.” I could see Hank, Tyler, and Freddie giving each other looks but keeping their mouths shut. Jayden and I rarely raised our voices at each other in all the years we've hung out with our friends. “Second, no one forced me to do anything. He asked me if I wanted to go. I said yes, I wanted to see what it was about. Honestly, it wasn’t anything scary, kinda like drift nights, only with fighting instead of racing for money.”

Jayden rolled his eyes, shifting away from me as he went to sit on a chair in the shop near the paint lab. He folded his arms and crossed his feet. “Not the point, stupid. There are a lotof shitty people that show up to that, guys who wouldn’t blink at stealing or, worse, hurting you, Rosalie. You shouldn’t hang around there.”

GOD! Why was everyone treating me like I was some dumb kid? I knew to keep aware of what was around me, I knew not to stray from AJ’s sight, and I was fine!

“Funny how you’re now concerned about me, yet it gets brushed off whenever I bring up something that makes me worried about you.” I frowned at him, and he stared back until he finally sighed.