Page 11

CHAPTER 11

AJ

She was pissed, but her stomping down the parking garage toward me might have turned me on even more. Her longer hair blew in the breeze as her cheeks turned a bright shade of red. I knew I had to get the first word in. But I didn’t expect her to do exactly what I said without a word. She was even careful to not slam the passenger door as she got in the car, muttering under her breath.

“I’m pissed at you, but I will not take it out on my car.”

I chuckled as I drove down and out of the parking garage. I passed some of her friends, who pointed in confusion as we passed by, and she ducked her head. We only went a few blocks away when I pulled into a quiet alleyway, and I turned the car off, twisting to face her.

“So, baby girl?—”

“How dare you steal my car, AJ?!” Rosalie snapped at me.

She was fuming in her seat as she unbuckled. I’d never seen her eyes look so angry at me. It wasn’t a look I was happy to get, I’d admit.

I placed my hand on the back of her seat’s headrest, fingers gripping it tight. She might even be mad enough to hit me, and if she was, I didn’t need my automatic response to kick in and punch her back. If she wanted to hit me, she deserved to.

“Had to talk to you,” I said as I smirked and pulled my mask down my face.

She groaned and smacked her forehead. Then, she rubbed it—it was obvious she’d hit it harder than she’d meant to from the wince she made when her hand nailed her forehead.

“You could have just talked to me! You didn’t have to steal my car, drive it away, make me panic, or take me away from a fun car meet.”

She folded her arms over her chest and tried to give me a stern look.

She was cute when she was mad. But I wasn’t happy she was that way with me.

“I tried earlier, and you brushed me off and walked away. This way, you won’t leave until we get to talk.”

She raised an eyebrow at me and huffed. I brought my hand toward her cheek, and she pulled back.

“Nuh-uh! No touching! You said you wanted to talk. Well, here we are. So, talk.”

I let my hand drop back onto the headrest and chuckled. “All right. I get why you might be into—what’s his name? Kordell, right? But here’s the thing. He’s never going to be me. You picked a guy who made you feel something almost like I had. But that’s all he will ever be, baby girl—almost like me. Fuck him, Rosalie. I gave you some time to process that I’m back, and I will keep giving you as much time as you need, but I’m never going to give up. I can’t. It’s just not in my nature. Besides, you might think you love him, but there is no way you love him more than you loved me. So, let’s stop lying to ourselves, baby girl.”

I could see her mind working, the tension easing slightly as she sighed.

“AJ…”

“Yeah?”

“Why are you doing this?” She looked down at her hands and fidgeted with the hem of her black jean shorts.

I released the headrest and brought my fingers to the side of her cheek, brushing the hair that had fallen in front of her eyes behind her ear. This time, she didn’t pull away. Instead, she glanced back up at me and let my fingers stroke her cheek and cup her jaw.

“Because I care about you and I miss you.”

And as much as I meant that, damn was I happy no one was around to hear me sound like such a bitch. Where I was from, people didn’t show their feelings like this. From the moment I was born, I’d never experienced love like this. She was the only person I would say these kinds of things to. Rosalie was the only person who’d ever made me feel this way. The only person who would ever break down my walls.

“You don’t mean that. I mean, AJ, come on. If I were really that important to you, then why did you leave? There’s something I still don’t understand. Why didn’t you come and talk to me after my dad offered you money and a job to leave and never come back?”

Her eyes locked with mine, and I could see the uncertainty in them. She used to be so bold and unafraid of anything. Shit, even in the aftermath of her getting jumped by some thugs trying to get me to throw a fight, she never had the look in her eyes like she did today. The things she must have gone through when I was gone had shaken my girl’s confidence, and I was pissed about it.

“Because I knew if I had told you, you would have asked me to stay, and I would have.”

Her eyes widened in surprise as her lips opened and closed a few times before she could find the words.

“Wait. You knew if you had told me and I asked, you would never have left? So, that’s why you just decided to not say anything, to give me one of the best sexual experiences of my life, then just break up with me? I don’t believe you! You knew how much I loved you, and you had to have known that you doing it like that would hurt so much more than just texting me we were done or something. So, why did you do it?”

She gripped her fishnets with her fingertips, chewing her bottom lip, and her eyes got glossy. Shit, I didn’t want her to keep crying when we talked. I just wanted my girl to be happy again.

“I knew, but you would have eventually been okay with me leaving. I knew it was a dick move, but people get over assholes faster than nice guys. And so I tried to give you an experience that would make you hate me more than love me in the end.”

You will never know how hard it was for me to walk out that door that night.

I thought back to the night I’d broken up with her. I’d had to jog around the side of her house because I knew she would follow me out. And watching her drive away in my car, knowing where she was going and how I had already left the motel before coming to her house? Yeah, it took everything I had to stay in the shadows that night and to get on that fucking plane and fly to Tokyo.

The first few weeks there were hell. I blocked her number and deleted all of her photos, but eventually, I restored them before they were gone. And when I unblocked her number and her messages flooded through, I struggled to not call her right then and there and tell her I was coming back to get her. But I didn’t, not until Billy Crystal texted me, asking when I was coming back and telling me my girl’s name had been circulating around the underground scene.

I got on the next flight out. I left everything I had built in Tokyo in an instant when I heard someone had tried to use Rosalie as ransom in a gang war. Whatever I had thought she would be involved with after I left her, it wasn’t what she was doing now. I’d pictured her either single and working away in her dad’s shop or with some super-simple guy whose worst thing was that he had a porn collection or some shit. Not that she was going to end up with one of the most volatile biker gangs in the Southern California area.

“You l-liar!” she stuttered out as tears formed in the corners of her eyes. “How could I ever hate you? AJ, I’m mad at myself right now for not hating you more than I do. I shouldn’t be able to sit here and talk to you! Not after all you did! But I can’t… I don’t want to. I just want you to be happy, still, after everything you did. Doesn’t that make me stupid? Who the heck cries over their ex who hurt them when they broke up?”

Her tears spilled over her cheeks, and I brought my other hand up to cup the other side of her face, my thumbs rubbing her tears as they fell. Fuck, she was going through it. I’d caused her to doubt her self-worth. Man, what had I done to her? It wasn’t just her current guy treating her like some trophy. Shit, I was too. I tipped her head to face mine more, not realizing how much I had leaned into her. We were only inches apart.

“Rosalie, you are the furthest thing from stupid, baby girl. I promise you that. This was my fault. You did nothing wrong, so let me fix it.”

She sniffed and closed her eyes. She pressed her face into my right hand, her own hands leaving her lap and caressing over the top of mine.

Fuck it.

I leaned in, and the moment my lips touched hers, there wasn’t a second of hesitation before she kissed me back. One of my hands traveled behind her neck and pulled her deeper into the kiss as her hands roamed up to wrap around my neck. Our lips parted only for a moment, and I barely heard her moan out my name.

“AJ…”

She took over the kiss, sucking on my bottom lip before darting her tongue against mine. She had me moaning with that little move. My dick was rock hard in my joggers as we kissed over and over. Then, suddenly, she pulled backward. Bringing a hand to her face, she gently touched her lips with a gasp.

“Oh my gosh! I can’t believe we just did that… no. No, no, no! AJ, I can’t… I just… take me back to the meet. Now! We’re done talking.” She buckled back into her seat and turned to look out the passenger window.

I couldn’t help the smirk that had taken up residence on my face. I would never regret making out with Rosalie. I didn’t care if she was with someone else. I would take every opportunity she gave me, to enjoy every little inch of her. I chuckled and placed a hand on her thigh. At first, she tensed at my touch, and then, to my surprise, she placed a hand on top of mine.

It was clear, from that kiss, we weren’t over. I just didn’t know how to get from sneaking around and making out to her openly being together with me again. I wanted her to choose to leave the man she was with right now because, at the end of the day, he was a piece of shit compared to me.

The breeze from the open windows brought the sweet smell of her strawberry perfume past me. Fuck, I’d missed that smell of hers. I’d missed everything about this woman. That year in Japan, while it’d had its ups and downs, I’d had someone to help distract me. But there was also a huge hole in my life. And that was Rosalie.

I never moved my hand from her thigh as I drove back to the car meet, and all too soon, we were pulling down the row where her car belonged. Her friends and dad gave us looks as we drove by, but I didn’t care what they thought. Right now, I was savoring a moment no one could ruin for me. I reversed her Viper back into its parking spot and turned it off.

Giving her thigh one final squeeze, I leaned over so only she could hear me. “You look beautiful, baby girl. Enjoy the rest of your meet.”

I pulled up my mask and threw my hood over my hat. I opened the driver’s door and closed it behind me. I strolled through the parking garage, ignoring the stares I got from everyone. When I approached the stairwell, I was stopped by someone I’d never expected to see. Her brother.

“Did you have a nice time with my sister, AJ?” His voice was cold and low as his eyes met mine.

“Always a good time with my girl.”

He snickered at my comment and leaned back on his arms on the railing that lined the stairwell. “Oh, so she dumped the loser then?”

I gave him a look, and he laughed.

“Nah, judging by how you just scowled at me for saying that, I’m guessing she told you to fuck off again, huh?”

My jaw clenched. I kept my hands firmly tucked in my pocket, cracking each knuckle one after the other. “Not really. But she will dump his ass, eventually. I’ll wait as long as I need to, but I hope she comes around soon.”

He laughed at that. Damn, this guy really knew how to push me to my limit when it came to wanting to hit a guy in the face. I shrugged and walked past him, going down the stairs.

“Might wanna try harder. He just walked over to her and hugged her.”

I froze.

He’s fucking here? Right now?

I turned and walked back up some of the steps as Jayden strolled into the parking garage. I paused a couple of steps from the top and peeked over the edge of the floor, back inside the garage. Sure enough, there was another man with his arms wrapped around my baby girl. Fuck, that stung to see. More than I’d thought it would.

Should I walk over and just rip him off her right now? Tell him to fuck off? That he was a piece of shit who never deserved to know her? Fuck, I couldn’t do that. She wouldn’t handle it well.

She’s gotta make that choice on her own.

I watched as Rosalie pulled away from him slightly, and her face was bright red as she talked. I couldn’t hear a fucking thing, of course, but I couldn’t stand here and keep watching, not when he leaned down to kiss her. I turned and stomped down the stairs, flight after flight, until I got to the level where my car was parked.

“Fuck!” I growled as I kicked over a garbage can sitting near the event space, and heads turned at the commotion.

I stormed over to my car, avoiding the few people I passed who asked if everything was good. I got into my whip and started her up, driving out of the parking garage to my motel downtown. I peeled into the parking lot and lurched to an abrupt stop, parking my car before going into my room and kicking the door shut.

The punching bag I had hanging in the corner took the brunt of my aggression. Blow after blow connected, making the bag swing wildly from side to side, almost slamming it into the wall at one point.

The way he fucking touches you. Fucking piece of shit! He acts like you’re a piece of property. Basically growling at anyone else who comes near you. How the fuck did you end up with a guy like that?!

My mind raged on, and I went at it until my muscles ached. My knuckles were bruised, and my clothes were soaked with sweat. Then, I stripped and jumped into a cool shower. Letting the water wash away the rest of my tension.

I eventually got out and went to my phone. Didn’t feel like going out again, so I put in an order for a pizza delivery. While I waited, my phone rang. I was going to just ignore it, but I saw T’s name flash on the screen. I grunted and leaned over and grabbed it off the table.

“What do you want, T?”

“Yo, yo, yo, man! I can hear you sound mad, but I got your first fight all set up, brotha!” T shouted into the line, his voice full of excitement.

Shit, maybe beating the crap out of people was exactly what I needed.

“What’s the deal? It’d better not be something stupid, T.”

His laugh was so loud that I held the phone away from my ear and just put him on speaker.

“Nah, but you know you always take down one opponent so easy, man. So, I’ve got two for you, a real challenge. Unless you’re scared you can’t take ’em?”

I clenched my fist in annoyance as I glared down at my screen.

“T, you could fill a ring with twenty men, and I’d still come out on top. Just tell me when and where. And how much money we’re talking. Better be twice as much as usual.”

“Yeah, it is. How about ten days from now? I know it’ll be midweek, but cops never expect that.”

“Sounds good. See you then.”

I hung up and tossed my phone back onto the table as my pizza arrived. I opened the door and looked at the scrawny guy holding the box.

“That’ll be $8.50.” The delivery boy said.

“Thanks.” I took the pizza from him with a nod and then just started to close the door in his face as he protested.

“Hey, wait! You gotta pay for that!”

“Do I look like a guy who’s got money?” I said as the door shut.

Time to dig in and rest. Tomorrow, I’d start training hard for the days leading up to fight night. And the other thing I was certain of? I would be inviting Rosalie to come. I just had to be careful how I went about asking her.