Page 17

CHAPTER 17

AJ

THIRTY MINUTES EARLIER

I had known something bad was up from the moment Rosalie checked her phone. The way she’d panicked pissed me off. Didn’t she know that I would have kept her safe from whatever this asshole threatened her with? Why didn’t she trust me enough to stay? To let me handle whatever he tried to throw at us.

But as I watched her peel out of the alleyway, two bikers instantly followed her from across the street. One paused to stick a finger gun out toward me and pulled the trigger before taking off. Then, I knew she had been followed tonight to the fight, and it wasn’t her who was in danger. It was me.

I sat there, thinking about what the hell I was going to do when movement out of the corner of my eye made me flick my head toward the driver’s window.

It was none other than Billy Crystal. I rolled down my window as he came to a stop.

“Yo, man, everything good?”

I nodded my head. “Nothing I can’t handle.”

Billy glanced back at the street the bikers had been on minutes before. “You sure? Because I know a death threat when I see one. Shit, I give enough out myself. You know, man, we kick it enough, so if you need help with a drive-by…” Billy flashed a SMG tucked under his long white tee.

I gripped the steering wheel. As tempting as shooting at her arrogant boyfriend was, it wasn’t my style, and I would never risk Rosalie’s life like that.

“Yeah, I’m sure.”

He shrugged and glanced back down at me. “You sure your girl’s gonna be good? She looked like she saw a ghost when she got out of your ride.”

Fuck, he’s not wrong.

I couldn’t stop thinking about what she was about to walk into at home.

“Get in.”

Billy didn’t need any further reason. He opened the back door and hopped in. I turned my lowrider onto the street and drove toward her place. Damn, this was one of those times I wished I had a faster car. I pushed through yellow lights as Billy got comfortable in the center of the back seat. He pulled out his Glock 19 and racked it.

“Yo, you don’t mind if I smoke a fat one in here, do you? If we’re walkin’ into some shit, I’m going out blazed.”

If this was any other situation, I would have joined him, but not this time. I just shook my head, and he sparked up his blunt, cracking a window so the smoke would roll out. It felt like the drive took forever. Instead of pulling down her street, I parked at the street below her house and got out of the car. Billy followed and threw his finished blunt onto the sidewalk.

“All right, so which house is hers?” he asked.

I pointed up, and his eyes got wide.

“Damn, bruh, this is far from a motel. Who you fuckin’?”

“Shut up, and let’s go.”

He sighed, and we walked up the hill beneath her place and through the house’s backyard, finally hopping the wall by the pool. We quietly made our way toward the house. I could hear yelling from inside, but couldn’t make out what they were saying from over here.

“We need to get closer, but don’t get seen. There’s a motion light by the sliding door over by the bedroom to the left, so stay on this side of the pool chairs.”

He followed me past the furniture on the patio, and we took cover on the wall of the house. I edged to the back door a hell of a lot faster when I heard the sound of something shattering and Rosalie screaming at him. I glanced through the door, and we hit the edge of the sliding glass door.

It took every ounce of my resolve to not break through this glass door when I saw him advance on Rosalie. She was shaking, saying something I couldn’t hear. He backed her into the couch, and she frowned and started to speak fast. The hit happened in one slow second. His hand landed across her perfect skin, and she staggered to not fall from the blow.

I growled and went to step to the door when Billy Crystal grabbed my arm. I twisted my head back at him, about to shove him down on the damn ground for grabbing me as more yelling happened inside.

“We gotta go!” he whispered harshly as he pointed to the side of the house, where a couple light beams were moving back this way and multiple voices carried around the side of the house. There were at least a couple guys walking toward the back.

Fuck! Are you serious right now?!

I looked back inside the door and saw Rosalie push past him and dash down the hallway to our room.

Lock the door, baby girl. I’ll be back for you.

Billy and I took off, jogging as quietly as possible. We jumped over the wall edge by the pool and slid down the hill back to my car.

“That was a close one. Told you I’d have your back, man.”

I just got into my car without saying a word. Billy followed suit.

He hit her. His hand marked up my girl’s face. And I couldn’t stop it.

“Fuck!” I growled as I smacked the car horn hard. Shoving my key into the ignition, I started the car and took off down the road.

“Look, if we need to go back, we can. I just knew you didn’t want to get caught out there. But if you don’t care anymore, let’s roll,” Billy said as we cruised back toward Kayden’s Customs.

He didn’t get a response from me. I white-knuckled the steering wheel the entire ride, more to keep my car safe from the anger boiling inside me.

I pulled into the alleyway of the shop and stopped the car.

“Get out,” I stated through gritted teeth.

Billy just gave me a once-over and then shrugged. “You do you, man. Catch you later.”

And with that, he shut my door and walked down one of the side alleys, where he got into a lifted white Hummer limo and drove off.

I couldn’t just sit here, so I drove, and I kept driving until I ended up in a parking lot of a closed department store. But I couldn’t just drive around and not know if she was all right. I pulled out my phone and opened up our texts. Then, I paused. She didn’t know I had seen what I saw tonight. So, I’d just start by asking if she got home fine.

AJ

Rosalie, did you get home? Everything good?

I waited for a minute, and then I took a deep breath when I saw the typing bubbles pop up in the corner.

Rosalie

Well, well, if it isn’t the loser ex who won’t take a fucking hint.

I tightened my grip on my phone. This wasn’t Rosalie replying. What happened after I left? Is she good? Did he follow her down that hallway and hurt her?

AJ

Who the fuck is this? Where’s Rosalie?

Rosalie

This is her boyfriend, and what she’s doing is none of your fucking business. You get one warning from me. Either you fuck off out of her life or you die. No in-between. I don’t fuck around when it comes to my woman.

I saw red as I read my woman. This narcissistic fucker.

AJ

It is my business if she’s fine or not. Why do you have her phone? If you fucking hurt her again…

Rosalie

*laughing emoji* What are you gonna do, tough guy? Maybe you should worry about yourself. Don’t worry. Rosalie is in excellent hands, and so is her tight pussy.

AJ

You piece of shit. If you touch her again, I’ll fucking beat you within an inch of your life.

No reply.

I tried calling, and it instantly sent me to a beep ! and then the line dropped.

He’d fucking blocked my number.

“Fucking shit!” I yelled as I threw my phone onto the floorboard of the passenger side.

But before I could say or do anything else, my driver’s door was flung open from the outside. I felt hands wrap around my arm and pull, yanking me out onto the cold asphalt ground. I tucked my head behind my forearms as a foot swung in my direction and collided with my back. I rolled as another foot started to come down right where my face had been. I kept rolling a few times until I had just enough distance to shove myself to my feet and figure out who the fuck was fighting me.

Two bikers, their fists raised and their helmets hiding their faces, stood across from me. They sported prospect patches on their jackets, both a part of the BLVD Riders’ group.

I’m in a shit mood, and this isn’t helping.

“You two are fucking with the wrong dude.”

I wrapped my fingers into my brass knuckles and took up my fighting stance as they approached me, leaving a small gap between them. They charged together, throwing punches and jabs. They were sloppy, no real training. No doubt their hits would hurt if they landed, but the chance of them landing a hit before I knocked both of them the fuck out?

Zero.

I stepped back, putting all the weight into my left foot as I swung an uppercut right under the helmet and into the chin of the first biker. I knew the full force was blocked a bit by the helmet, but it still caused him to stagger backward for a moment. Enough time for me to weave around the second and sweep his legs out from under him. He fell to the ground and tried to roll to his feet. I grabbed the helmet of the first biker again, throwing him over my shoulder and into the one on the ground. But when his body landed on the other’s, I realized his helmet was still in my hand.

Dumbass didn’t have it strapped. Works for me.

As they were struggling to untangle from each over, I ran over and swung that helmet with all my momentum. I smacked the helmet into the skull of the biker it had come from, and he lurched forward and then collapsed onto the ground, knocked out. The other tried to tackle me, but as he wrapped his arms around my torso, I grabbed his sides and twisted, breaking his hold. I threw him right into their two bikes that I hadn’t even realized had pulled up next to me.

“Oh shit!” he yelled as I stalked toward him.

He groaned and grabbed for what I could only assume might be a gun in his waistband. I kicked him in the jaw hard. And he crumpled. They were both still breathing, but not waking up anytime soon. I spit on the one next to the bikes and walked back to my car. Time to get the fuck out of here before some other goddamn biker who rode with that piece of shit stood in my way.

I pulled up to my motel, but it just didn’t seem right. So, I took off again. And I made my way back up toward Rosalie’s place. It was later now, and this time, when I snuck up to the backyard, there were no lights on in the house besides the usual one Rosalie kept on in the kitchen. I settled in on the chair in the back by the pool, tucking it behind one of the half walls you couldn’t see over from inside the house. If I had to wait here all night to see if my baby girl was fine, I would.

And if she wasn’t?

Guess I’d cross that road when I got there.