Page 15

CHAPTER 15

ROSALIE

I got out of my car and locked it. When I turned back to his car—no surprise—he shoved the passenger door open from the inside.

“Hey, baby girl. Ready to go?”

He gave me that look that would normally make me all giddy inside, but I tried to keep my composure and slid in, occupying myself with buckling up.

“You really need to stop calling me that,” I mumbled under my breath as I clicked the belt in place.

He rested his arm behind my head on the backrest as he reversed the car out of the space. He chuckled as he drove down the opposite direction of the alleyway that I had come in from, and that was when I noticed he’d left his arm behind me.

“I thought you weren’t gonna make it. Cutting it pretty close.”

I tilted my head and glanced in his direction. “What do you mean, cutting it pretty close? It’s not like the donk’s going anywhere.”

“There’s been a change in plans, baby girl. We’re not gonna see the donk tonight. I have a crazy fight, and I couldn’t do it without my good-luck charm standing in the audience, cheering me on.”

What the heck?! You’ve got to be kidding me!

“Umm, excuse me? That was NOT the deal, AJ! So, you lied to me? Stop this car. RIGHT NOW!”

He looked over and raised an eyebrow. “Calm down. I can explain.”

“No! If you don’t stop, I’m going to jump out of the car while it’s still moving!” I reached down and unclipped the seat belt before grabbing the door handle. I was dead serious.

AJ yanked the wheel and pulled abruptly onto the curb. And I didn’t know why I’d forgotten about motion, but I got flung from my seat, away from the door, right into AJ’s lap.

He wrapped his arms around me and held me steady. “Stop acting silly, Rosalie.”

I glared up at him and tried to wrestle myself out of his arms. “I’m not! Let me go right now!”

“No.”

His denial only made me more determined to get out of this car. I started to throw my weight around and kick my feet. He growled and pulled me further onto his lap and wrapped his arms firmly around my arms and legs, stopping me with barely any of his real strength. This wasn’t fair!

“Rosalie, please. Just chill, baby girl.”

His voice sounded so strained, like he was on the brink of breaking down, and it tore at the fragile edges of my heart. I stopped struggling and peered at his face. His eyes were looking at me, and they made me want to wrap my arms around him and pull him in close. AJ had never been one to show any kind of weakness like this before. Maybe us being apart had been just as hard on him as it was for me.

“I didn’t know how else to ask you to come.” His words were desperately trying to convey how hard this was.

“I… I can’t believe you lied to me, though. AJ, you could have just asked. If you needed me to come tonight, to support and cheer you on, I would have tried to make it work, even if we aren’t together anymore.” I tapped his arm that had my chest restrained, and he loosened his grip. I snaked an arm out from under his and reached up, fixing his hat that had gotten crooked in the struggle. “So, let’s go so you can win your fight.”

His eyes closed for only a moment, but when they reopened, I relaxed fully.

There’s my AJ.

A smirk slowly pulled the corner of his mouth upward, his eyes showing their usual confidence, and he let me go. I slid from his grasp back into my seat and buckled back up. This time, I reached over and grabbed his hand that was resting on the center between us.

He flipped his hand over and held mine back. I didn’t even pull away when he laced our fingers together. As he started driving again, I got lost in thought.

Did you really just call him my AJ? What the heck, Rosalie?! And now, you’re holding his hand like this? What are you thinking?

I shook the hair out of my face and glanced over at AJ. His eyes were focused on the road, but his thumb was slowly rubbing back and forth on my hand.

I’m thinking this is the most at ease I’ve felt in a long time. So, shut up! I’m not going to do anything stupid. I just want to be here for him. Fight nights are a big deal. I don’t want him to lose focus and get hurt because of me.

I gave his hand a little squeeze, and he reciprocated it. We sat like that for the rest of the drive until he pulled up to this old, abandoned warehouse at the edge of the city.

“This fight is gonna be different from the ones you saw before. It’s not a part of the normal circuit. This one is off the books. So, baby girl, cheer hard and don’t worry, I’ll win it for you.”

He winked at me as he pulled up his mask over his nose. I blushed as he playfully let go of my hand and got out of the car. I followed after him, and I could feel the energy and hear the crowd before we even got to the doors of the building. But once they opened, it was a whole different world. People lined the makeshift stadium-style seating around a ring, which had a chain-link fence for walls, in the middle of the room.

AJ wrapped his arm around my shoulders, and the crowd parted for him. He received a few cheers, but most of the onlookers either looked shocked, confused, or angry. There were boos as we continued to walk up through the crowd and toward the ring.

“My man! Here at last!”

My head snapped left as I heard T’s familiar voice. I automatically wrapped my arm around AJ’s back. The last time I had seen T, it had been so awkward for me. And I could only guess what he would say when he noticed me next to AJ now.

“Where do I warm up, T?” AJ asked as he approached us.

And just like I thought, T’s eyes went from AJ to me, wrapped close to him.

“Well, I see how it is. Didn’t wanna share because you were savin’ her? Coulda just said so, man,” T said as he rubbed his hands together.

AJ’s grip around my shoulders tightened. “Told you my girl was off-limits. Now, where’s my room?” AJ’s firm voice stomped out any other talk about me from T.

With a last glance in my direction, T sighed and jerked his head toward the area behind the seats on the left of the ring. “Back behind those seats. Now, make sure you’re good an’ ready. I’ve got a lot ridin’ on you.”

AJ reached his hand out toward T, and T grabbed something from him. He peeked at it, and when he did, I could see it was a large wad of cash.

“Put it on me to win. I’ll collect it after.”

AJ and I walked through the rest of the crowd to his room. Once we were inside, I waited until he walked me over to a zebra-print couch before I let my arm drop from his body. His grip on me held strong, though, so I tipped my head to glance up at him.

“AJ?” I asked, and my heart started fluttering at the look in his eyes as they met mine.

He leaned down and kissed me. And I let him. Worse than that? I kissed him back. And it was the best kiss I’d had all week. I wanted more. But then he pulled away. I watched him, confused.

“For luck.” He smiled at me.

I could feel my cheeks heating up, and I brushed my hair behind my ear.

“That’s not how that’s supposed to work,” I mumbled under my breath as I watched him walk away to the middle of the room and pick up a jump rope.

I settled myself onto the couch. Meanwhile, AJ walked over and stretched in the middle of the room, limbering up. I swallowed hard as he pulled his sweatshirt up and over his head. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, watching him warm up was super sexy. The way his muscles caught the low light of the room, and when he jumped with the jump rope, it flexed his toned abs and that chiseled V, which disappeared under his waistband. I rubbed my thighs together and bit my lip so the moan I felt building in my throat wouldn’t escape. I quickly glanced away as AJ looked at me mid-jump, almost like he could sense how turned on I was getting from this little display.

“Keep watching me like that, baby girl, and I might not make it to the match because I’ll be too busy wrestling you.”

I turned bright red, and my mouth gaped at him as he smirked back at me. “Excuse me? You’d better not! And I wasn’t staring at you! I was, ummm… looking at the room!”

AJ stopped jumping and started to laugh, and gosh darn if the sound of his voice didn’t make my heart pound like I had a cage of butterflies caught in my chest.

“Okay, fine! I was watching you! Happy now?” I folded my arms and tried to give him a glare, but it softened as he glanced back over at me and placed the jump rope down. My heart started to beat faster as he stepped over to me.

“Yeah, baby girl, hearing you were staring does make me happy.”

Well, crap. There he goes again, saying the perfect thing in the perfect moment. How do I even follow that up? I’d be lying to myself if I said hearing those words didn’t make me happy because, deep down… yeah, I know I still love AJ, even if it’s just a little. And making him happy? Well, that makes me freaking happy too.

I didn’t say anything. I just sat there, feeling like a moron. My face was warm, and I knew I looked like I felt. Flustered.

He stood there for a second, and then he reached for me, and I grabbed his hand before he could touch me.

“You should get back to warming up. Your fight starts soon. You can’t be distracted by me.”

He wrapped his fingers around my hand.

“I love being distracted by you, Rosalie. You know I won’t lose this fight. How could I with you watching?”

I swallowed the urge to say something that would make me feel even more conflicted than I already did, so I let go of his hand instead. AJ finished warming up just as we heard T’s booming voice quieting down the crowd. I followed AJ over to the doorway. He pulled back on his hoodie and tugged up his mask, fixed his ball cap, and threw his hood over it.

He pushed the door open, and I stayed close to his side as he made his way to the edge of the ring. I saw a couple of familiar faces. The girls who were with T waved me over, and I looked up at AJ one last time.

I leaned up and kissed the side of his mask, whispering into his ear, “Knock him out, AJ. You’ve got this.”

He chuckled and nodded. I jogged over to the girls at the edge of the ring, and I turned my attention to the ring with T standing in the middle.

“All right, all right! Folks, we got a damn special fight tonight! A brief intermission from the regular matches of the circuit, if you will. But the fighters in this match are no strangers to you! On the left side of the ring, the Anderson brothers! These two fought their way through the winter circuit last year and almost made it to the top! Tonight, they will be competing in a two-on-one against the one, the only, last year’s CHAMPION, Aaaay-Jaaay!”

I watched as AJ effortlessly hopped the fenced wall of the ring and bounded around to his side. Light on his feet, he gave his attention to the crowd, and they ate him up. Cheers and boos alike filled the air as girls screamed his name. He flexed his arms as he shook his fists in the air. My god, did he look sexy as heck under these lights. His whole energy was alive and made the crowd come to life with excitement and anticipation.

Then, T pulled everyone’s attention back to the center of the arena.

“Now, the rules are simple. You go until your opponent can’t fight no more. Keep it clean, but, goddamn, give us a muthafuckin’ show!”

He held his hand high in the air. The crowd silenced. And we all held our breaths as T swung his hand down and jumped out of the ring.

My breathing slowed down as I focused on the ring. AJ walked into the center while his opponents split and started circling him. He stuck out his arms and bent his hands. We all knew what was coming next.

“Here, batter, batter. Swing.”

Like always, his taunt triggered his opponents into charging for their first attack. Typically, AJ would let his opponent’s hit land, but this time, he dodged at the last second, and the two fighters clashed into each other. One took an ugly left hook to his chin and fell to a knee. He turned and swore at his brother, who snapped something incoherent back at him.

“Ladies, stop bitching and try again. One of you has to land a hit eventually, right?” AJ smirked at them and rolled his shoulders like he was bored out of his mind right now. Which only seemed to piss off his opponents.

The guy got to his feet and rubbed his jaw one more second before the brothers both adapted to fighting stances. Then, the one on the right charged again while the second hung back slightly. I held my breath as AJ barely parried the second swing, dodging the first brother again. That was close. Another second later in his reaction, and AJ would have been on the ground right now.

But he wasn’t out of the woods yet. The first brother recovered and turned his fury on AJ. Now, he was actively dodging and blocking punches from both of them at the same time, and when one of the brother’s hits landed square in his chest, I gasped.

“No!” I whispered.

I could see AJ was starting to breathe heavily from all the defense he was doing. He needed a breakthrough. To be able to land a blow himself.

Please! Let him get an opening!

I gripped the edge of the ring, my knuckles turning white as I watched him defend against their assault. Then, it happened—a moment for AJ to finally counter when the brothers accidentally stepped into the same spot, tripping each other up for a second. That was all AJ needed. Within a flash of flesh, a crack was heard through the ring as AJ’s first uppercut hit one of the brothers, sending him flying backward onto the ground, blood dripping from his mouth. The crowd was silent and then erupted in a roar, people cheering and others yelling profanities at the match. I jumped in place for a second, my heart pounding as T’s voice echoed over the ring.

“Oh, yeah! This is what we are here for, folks! After a relentless barrage of hits, AJ took his moment to spill some blood! Don’t lose your tongue when you get slugged. The ladies love that.”

The brother on the ground was fighting hard to stay conscious from that one, and the second brother took the opportunity to tackle AJ onto the floor.

I worriedly watched their two bodies roll around for supremacy, and it looked like AJ wasn’t getting the upper hand from his position.

AJ rolled onto his stomach, and the fighter wrapped an arm around his neck, jerking it back. He was trying to choke him out, and AJ wasn’t in the best position to fight him off.

No, no! Get up! Come on!

I took a deep breath and screamed, “AJ! Don’t let them win! Get up and fight! You can do it!”

I thought for sure my voice was going to be completely drowned out by the crowd, but AJ’s eyes snapped in my direction, and he went from looking pissed to smirking, making the corners of his eyes narrow. Almost as if to say, Don’t worry, I got this, to me, knowing I was probably worried.

He growled out and I couldn’t believe it. I watched as AJ pushed himself, with his opponent on top of his back, off the ground, as if it was almost easy. But his adversary kept his hold around his neck, still trying to choke him out. AJ reached behind him, grabbing at the other fighter. In one smooth motion, he used his opponent’s body weight against him and ripped him over his shoulder and slammed him hard on his back. AJ jogged backward to put some distance between him and the other fighter.

I looked around the ring, trying to see everything at once. The other brother had crawled to the edge of the ring and was slowly using it to stand up. But he looked like he was about to throw up, so that hit obviously had done a number on him. But the one on the ground was getting to his feet.

“That was a close one!” T’s voice announced as AJ rubbed his neck.

The two girls next to me started chatting.

“Dang, I knew they’d try to take their opponent down, but this isn’t wrestling. How boring.”

“I know, girl. Like, just fight already! Throw some hits!”

I tried to tune them out, keeping my attention trained on AJ.

Please win fast, AJ! Don’t let them grab you again!

I let go of the railing and started to fidget with the edge of my jacket. As much as I enjoyed watching AJ do something he loved, seeing him get hurt wasn’t fun at all. I just wanted the match to be over so we could leave and he wouldn’t get hit anymore.

AJ approached the brother who had just pushed himself off the edge of the ring and put up his fists again. He swung, and AJ dodged it and landed a second powerful blow next to the man’s temple. He folded like a lawn chair. I mean, he was out cold, sleeping on the mat.

It was one versus one now. And both AJ and the last brother had been roughed up a bit.

AJ looked over at me, and I blushed as he pointed at me, then at his opponent in front of him.

His meaning was clear— This is for you, baby girl.

I gave him a little nod, and he strode toward his opponent. And, boy, was he mad. He looked like he wanted to charge AJ, but his eyes kept looking back at his brother. Then, AJ tapped his cheek.

“Swing, batter, batter.”

And that was all it took to break his opponent’s concentration. He charged, and AJ started to slam his fist into his flesh, blow after blow connecting with his opponent’s ribs. It wasn’t totally easy. AJ took a blow to the side himself and almost had another one land across the jaw. But try as his opponent might, AJ was just better than him. The longer the fight dragged on, the more tired his opponent’s swings became, but AJ seemed to get even stronger. And within two more minutes, the fight was over. With a final cross punch from AJ, the second brother fell. Both of his challengers were knocked out on the cold concrete floor as AJ stood in the middle of the ring, victorious.

T ran over to him and handed him a stack of cash and announced him as the winner. But no sooner had he made the official announcement than AJ stuffed the cash into his pocket and strode right over to where I was. The crowd and I stepped back as he hoisted himself over the ring and landed in front of me.

“Let’s get outta here.”

I nodded, and he grabbed my hand. Together, we quickly walked out before the crowd left the stands. We slid into his car, and I was on top of his lap faster than his fist had collided with the first fighter’s face.