Page 19

CHAPTER 19

AJ

When I had seen Rosalie floor it out of the alleyway of Kayden’s Customs, I’d followed and kept a safe distance behind her and noticed she was being tailed by that piece of shit who had laid hands on her last night.

I had thought about just hitting him at full speed. But ending up in jail for vehicular manslaughter wasn’t what I was aiming for. But right now, a life sentence didn’t seem like such a bad idea from how he was advancing on her and the fear she had in her eyes.

My car skidded to a stop in the middle of the row of cars as I slammed on the brakes. He turned his head to look at me as I opened the driver’s door and got out.

“Why don’t you get the fuck away from Rosalie? Before I make you.” My blood was pounding in my ears.

But I knew I had to play it smart with this guy. There was no way he wasn’t packing heat. I flexed my arms as I tucked my hands into my hoodie pocket. I had my brass knuckles in case I needed them. But I would rather kick his ass with my bare hands if I could.

“Surprised to see you’re still walking around. I wondered why I hadn’t heard from my boys yet. But I’ll give you one more warning. Rosalie is mine. She will always be mine. You lost your chance, and now, she belongs to me. So, fuck off if you value living.” Kordell spit on the ground at my feet.

His threat didn’t affect me, but when he turned his attention back to Rosalie and reached out to grab her arm, my vision dialed in.

The adrenaline rushed through my body as he said something to her, but all I could hear was the pounding sounds of my feet hitting the pavement as I took five long strides to get up and personal with him. He turned to react to my movement, but on my last step, I crouched and slammed my fist straight up into his jaw. His body flew backward in slow motion before crashing down onto the ground. His groan fell on deaf ears as I looked over at Rosalie. Her mouth was hanging open, and her eyes were wide in shock. I stepped between her and him, and I turned to face her.

“You all right, baby girl?” I asked as I brushed her hair out of her face.

She breathed a shaky breath as she nodded in response.

Shit, he had hit her harder than I’d thought. I saw the bruise showing from under the makeup she wore. It wasn’t enough to just punch him in his smug face. Not after he touched her.

I looked around the parking garage and saw his bike. Walking over to it, I tilted it to see its weight.

I glanced over at the wall of the parking garage. There was a hotel next door, and its pool was all too perfectly situated right by the parking garage on the ground floor. I turned around and grabbed his bike, wheeling it over to the wall.

I paused when I heard him groan out, “Don’t you fucking touch my bike.”

I ignored his words and lifted the frame up and leaned it against the ledge. Getting as much leverage as I could, I pushed. His bike fell and fell until it collided with the water of the pool below with a loud splash.

“FUCK!” Kordell yelled from behind me as he shoved himself to his feet. Storming at me, as he struggled to get his jacket undone and reached under his shirt. I grabbed behind his neck and slammed him into the wall, tilting his head over the side so he could look below at his bike, now submerged at the bottom of the damn pool.

He fought against me, so I shoved him back upright and decked him square in the face again. This time, I heard Rosalie’s guy friends cheering in the background as he fell to the ground, holding his face and groaning as he rolled slowly from side to side.

I reached down and grabbed his jacket, yanking his torso upward. I noticed the gun in his waistband he had been reaching for, and I grabbed it and threw it across the parking garage floor before glaring back at him.

“Now, you listen to me, you piece of shit. You are going to stay the fuck away from Rosalie. You put your hands on her last night, you fucking waste of space. You never deserved to be around her. If I see you come near her again? I’ll fucking throw you over the garage wall next. And there won’t be a pool at the bottom to break your fall.”

I shoved him back down onto the ground and walked back over to my car. Opening the car door, I looked over at Rosalie.

“Let’s go, baby girl.”

She started toward my car when Kordell’s voice broke through the air again.

“Rosalie!” he shouted.

She froze in place, right between my car and him on the ground. Then, I watched as she turned around and took a few steps toward him.

“No! You listen to me, Kordell! We are DONE! I’m breaking up with you. I don’t love you anymore. I don’t want to see you ever again. I’ll leave your stuff outside my door, but you have today to get it, or I’m throwing it away. And I don’t want to see you around my house or any of your friends following me or anything ever again. Goodbye, Kordell.”

With that, she turned on her heel and walked right up to me, giving me a confident smile.

“I’m ready to go, AJ.”

I moved aside, and she slid into my car, right to the middle of the seat. I leaned in and reached into her pocket, grabbing her car keys and standing back up.

“Hey, take her ride back to her dad’s shop,” I said as I tossed the tallest guy her keys.

He nodded, and I got into my car, closing my door.

I faced Rosalie. “You ready, baby girl?”

“Yes. Take me home. And, AJ?” she asked as she looked back into my eyes.

“Yeah?”

“I love you too.”

Damn, I wanna fuck you right here, right now, and show you just how badly I’ve been waiting to hear those words.

Instead, I wrapped my arm around her and tugged her into me as I drove out of the garage. Past her friends and past Kordell, who was soon to be forgotten, as he sat on the ground, pissed he had lost not just Rosalie, but his dignity as well.

For a while, I hadn’t thought I would have this again. She wrapped her arm around my lower back and leaned her head against my shoulder and snuggled into me. Her fingers stroked slowly back and forth, and a soft giggle left her lips.

“What’s so funny?” I asked as we rolled to a stop at a traffic light.

She tipped her face up and smiled at me. “Nothing’s funny. I’m just really, really happy to be here next to you right now. I almost can’t believe that just happened. You really came for me when Freddie called you.”

I smiled at her and stroked the side of her face, careful to not touch the bruised area.

“Baby girl, Freddie didn’t have to call me. I will always come for you. In more ways than one.” I raised my eyebrow and smirked, and she laughed and leaned up, kissing me.

Her hands moved upward as well, and she practically climbed into my lap as she kissed me over and over. I could get used to Rosalie being so confident and just going for what she wanted. She ran her hands over the edges of my jaw as she playfully bit my lower lip before pulling away.

“AJ,” she said sexily.

“Mmhmm?”

“The light’s green. You might wanna go.” She giggled as the car behind us honked and the driver shouted out their window.

I flipped him off as I gassed it off the line, and we cruised to her house. She walked inside the garage first, picking up two cardboard boxes. She handed them to me before unlocking the door and walking inside. I followed her, and she took one box and stormed right up the stairs. We entered the bedroom, and it hit me.

She didn’t sleep with him in her room downstairs?

I watched as she stormed around the room, grumbling under her breath. She emptied drawers and pulled clothes out of the closet, throwing them into the box. Then, she took the other box from me and entered the bathroom. I heard a bunch of items clanking together, and she reappeared, the box full of toiletries and towels.

“Help me take that one out to go by the garbage cans?”

She didn’t wait for my response, but strode out of the bedroom. I grabbed the box sitting on the bed and followed her outside. She dropped the box she was holding right next to the garbage, and I did the same, and then she dusted her hands off.

“There! I can’t believe this took me so long to do. How could I have been so blind to how he really was? Everyone tried to tell me about him, even you! I’m just so mad at myself that I let him treat me like he did, and worse, I almost believed him when he told me his actions were MY fault!” She kicked the box at her feet hard, then swore under her breath as she rubbed her foot.

I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her back into my chest, lowering my head to her shoulder.

“No sense in beating yourself up over it, Rosalie. All that matters is, you figured it out, and you don’t have to worry about his sorry ass ever again.”

I kissed the side of her neck, and she hummed happily in response.

Then, she turned in my arms and wrapped her arms around my neck. “Move in—for real this time. Like, stop renting the motel and just move in. I’m tired of not telling people what I want, and I want you. I want to be your girlfriend, and I want to enjoy life with you every single day.”

I hesitated to answer for a minute. I looked at Rosalie, at her pink cheeks, soft lips, and piercing light-blue eyes.

Was I ready to give her what she was asking for? Hell, could I even give her that?

I had been a playboy since I’d been a teenager. Even when I had been in Tokyo, I hadn’t gone without company.

What could a guy who’d never had an actual relationship before give to someone like Rosalie Wells? Her parents had been together her entire life. My old man had run out on my mom when she first had me, and my mom had resented me all my life for it. So, having some solid relationship examples in my life just wasn’t a thing.

Could I really be there for her in the ways she needed me to be?

Fuck it, I wasn’t one to back down from a challenge just because it might be hard.

“Sure, baby girl. Let’s do it.”

She giggled and jumped in place a few times before kissing me. “Then, let’s go! I want to get my place cleaned and forget that… forget that last year really happened.”

I stroked her cheek, pushing her hair back behind her ear. “You look different with long hair. And, fuck, I’m sorry I couldn’t stop him from hurting you, baby girl. This time will be different. I’ll make sure you’re safe.”

She leaned her cheek into my palm and reached up with her hand and stroked over the top of mine. She closed her eyes and sighed. This was the most relaxed I had seen her since I’d been back. Then, she snapped out of her moment of calm and bounced up on her tiptoes to kiss my lips. Then, she ducked under my arm and walked quickly backward to the house.

“Come on, AJ! The house isn’t going to clean itself, and I could use your strong muscles for some heavy lifting!”

“I’ll be there in a minute. Gotta grab something from my car.”

She turned and kept jogging into the house. Once she was inside, I turned and grabbed the two boxes. Opening the garbage, I threw them both inside. Ain’t no way I was going to let him come get any of this shit, and knowing Rosalie, she’d probably bought him this stuff. And he didn’t deserve a single bit of it.

As I walked back to the house, I thought about everything that had happened to lead to this moment.

From stealing her dad’s car to falling for her, even though I had known her being with a guy from the wrong side of the tracks would turn her world on its head. Then leaving her and covering up the loss of her with dangerous games in Tokyo. But as soon as I heard what had happened, I couldn’t stay away. And then today. Finally hitting that fucking pile of shit where it hurt.

And, man, did it feel good.

But all I wanted to do now was go inside and help my girl get rid of every trace of another man in her house—nah, our house. And believe you me, that was exactly what I was gonna do.

Then, we’d go from there. One day at a time.