Page 30

CHAPTER 30

AJ

It took me a split second to realize what had just happened. One moment, Kordell had aimed his gun at me and Rosalie was standing a few feet away, and then the next, her body lurched in front of me.

Blood collected into a puddle on the ground around her feet. My entire world stopped in that second.

She fell forward in slow motion, her arms outstretched, her fingers twitching, like she was trying to grab something that wasn’t there. I lunged forward, throwing my arms around her body, catching her just before she hit the ground. Cradling her body, I pulled her in close, and my knees slammed into the dirt as I tried to cushion her fall with my body.

“No, no, no, no.” My words tumbled out in a desperate plea. I rocked her back and forth in my arms as I tipped her chin up to see her face.

Please, no! Fuck! This isn’t happening.

Her hair was covering most of her face, so I gently brushed it to the side. I looked at her face as her eyes fluttered open again for a split second. They were full of pain and terror as I brought my hand back down from her hair to cradle her cheek.

“Rosalie, I’ve got you, baby girl. Shh, it’s going to be all right,” I whispered as I watched the light in her eyes begin to dim as she gasped softly for air.

The warmth of her blood soaked through her jacket, and I could feel it pouring onto my joggers beneath her. She gasped—a loud, desperate sound—as she reached up with a shaky hand and placed it against my face. But her eyes slowly started to close.

“A-AJ… I love you,” she said on a breath, a soft whisper, and then, like that, she was gone.

Her hand dropped from my face onto her lap, limp, lifeless, and she stilled.

“No. No, wait. No,” I muttered as I shook her gently. “Rosalie… please, baby girl, open your eyes.”

But she stayed silent, her body unresponsive.

The world around us became dark, blurred by the tears streaming from my eyes as the reality of what had happened set in.

And then he spoke, his voice cutting like a knife through the haze. “Well, fuck, I guess that works. If I can’t have her, no one can. What a stupid fucking puta . She died for, what? You?”

Kordell still had his pistol in his hand, shaking it back and forth with a casual indifference. He looked at Rosalie’s body, his expression one of mild annoyance, his eyes wild and wide. “Don’t worry, you’ll see her soon enough. Can’t exactly have you running around, telling people I murdered one of the city’s rich and famous. Nah… I’ve got a better idea. I never killed her. You did.”

I barely registered his words. His lips kept moving, and his gestures became erratic as he walked around the space. But I didn’t care. He had taken the only thing that ever really mattered. The only person I’d ever loved, the only one who’d ever given a damn about me, was gone. Grief consumed me, and I let it. Fuck, I threw myself to it. Nothing else mattered anymore as the reality of life without her sank in.

I leaned down and kissed her forehead before gently laying her down on the ground. She used to light up every room she entered, but now, she was turning so pale, so cold. I’d never see her beautiful icy-blue eyes staring back at me, never hear her laugh again, never taste the strawberries on her lips, and never feel her wrapped in my arms again. The future we were going to have… it was all gone now.

And with that realization, something inside me snapped. I stood up, my legs heavy but my heart resolute. I reached in the dirt and wrapped my fingers through the brass knuckles. Every fucking ounce of pain she had ever felt because of him, every tear, and every ounce of love I had left, it was channeled into one purpose—revenge.

Kordell was still talking, waving his gun around like a toy. He didn’t realize his end was near, but I would make sure of it. Even if it killed me in the process. At least I’d get even by taking him out with me. For her sake. He had taken everything from me, and now, it was time to return the favor by taking the only thing he had left to lose. His life.

“You’re actually crying over her? Man, you’re such a bitch. Not so tough now, are you?”

I glanced down at her one more time. If I was going to die, her beautiful face was the last thing I wanted to have burned into my memory.

“Don’t you fucking say her name.” My voice was barely recognizable. It was low, hard, and deadly.

He didn’t have the right to say the name of the woman who had always been too fucking good for him in the first place.

He laughed. This psycho was completely off his rocker.

“Rosalie was always mine, you dumb fuck. Did you think you could keep her from me? Rosalie wa?—”

Rosalie’s smile flashed in my mind. A memory of her sitting on my lap in the back of my lowrider as the sun went down on the beach in front of us. The kind of moment I would never have again with her.

Before he could react, I lunged, and I was ready for the gun when he twisted his torso to try to stop me from charging. I ducked right and parried the wrist his gun was in. My fist, wrapped in my brass knuckles, slammed right into his chest with a sickening crunch. His body went flying backward into the tall grass.

“Get up, you fucking piece of shit!” I snapped, my rage pumping through my veins.

I could hear him coughing as he rolled onto his hands and knees in the grass, the outline of his body barely visible in the dim light from the building’s old floodlight. It might have been hard for the average person to see movement in conditions like this, but years of fighting in badly lit rings and boosting cars at night had honed my vision. I saw him slide the gun under his armpit and jumped behind an old couch before he got his shots off.

“Son of a bitch!” he snarled as he staggered into the light more, his gun aiming around. He must not have caught where I had hidden as he fired. “Come out, pussy! You think you’re this big man. You’re gonna, what? Avenge her death? How fucking funny.”

I waited as he walked past the couch. I kept my body low to the ground, but my legs and arms were ready to shove off the dirt and to slug him again at a moment’s notice. When he took two steps beyond the couch, I glanced over the top and saw him staring at Rosalie’s body. His finger twitched on the trigger, and for a split second, I thought I had seen remorse on his face. His empty hand motioned out toward her, but he let it drop to his side again. But any sadness I thought I saw quickly disappeared when his eyes snapped to me and he swung his gun around to fire.

I jumped out of the hiding space as the sound of the first shot ricocheted around the area, and I kept running, my sneakers digging into the loose dirt as shot after shot whizzed through the air where I had been moments before.

“Quit running, you little bitch!” he screamed at me, his desperation and rage mixing through his voice.

Then, I heard it—the hollow click of an empty clip. He swore under his breath as his eyes widened, and I pivoted on my heel, knowing this was my chance. I turned and charged right at him with everything I had.

He shook the pistol in his hands, swearing under his breath, as the pistol’s slide was open and empty. He tossed it aside and shoved his hand in his jacket pocket. As he fumbled around, I swung my fist, and it connected with his shoulder blade. He let out a guttural shout, clearly in immense pain as he staggered back. I followed my punch by kicking out where my brass knuckles had collided minutes earlier, right in his chest. He groaned and grasped his shirt as he barely kept to his feet, but he wasn’t done. I jumped out of the way as he swung the hand that had been in his pocket. I felt a sharp sting across my chest, and I held my hands up in a guard stance as I glanced down.

A slice was in my hoodie, and I could see a fine line of redness on the skin of my chest as a thin line of blood pooled along a long cut. If I had been any closer, that cut would have been a gash instead, and this could have been much different.

Kordell stood in front of me, panting, the switchblade trembling in his hand stretched out in front of him.

I can handle a knife. Hell, I’ve fought off more than my fair share of muggers since I was a teen.

Then, just for a second, Rosalie’s face flashed through my mind again. The night after we’d had a major fight, I had been walking down the alleyway when I heard her scream. I yanked the crackhead off of her and threw him onto the ground. The moments after he ran away, I held Rosalie tight in my arms. Swearing to her that she wouldn’t ever feel like that again.

And I had failed. Over and over, I’d let her down. In the end, she was the one who’d saved me. In more ways than one.

I glanced over at Rosalie’s body again. Kordell’s eyes followed my own. Then, his frown and furrowed brow turned up in a sneer, and he let out a malicious chuckle.

“Damn, you know the one thing I regret? Not filling that tight pussy of hers with my cock as soon as we got here. She was begging for it, you know? Begging for me. Why do you think we were on the couch? The horny bitch couldn’t handle not having my cock buried deep inside her a moment longer.”

Fucking lies. All of it. She never wanted you to begin with.

My jaw clenched, and I gritted my teeth as I tried to contain my rage just a little longer. But the edges of my vision faded back to black. My fists shook as I fought to keep it together. But every word out of his disgusting mouth pushed me closer to madness and losing it.

“LIAR. You were just a stand-in. Rosalie was never your girl, not from the moment you met her. She always loved me, and she was the only woman I have ever loved. You were nothing, Kordell.”

My words had the desired effect. He was pissed. Because he knew what I had said was true. Deep down, he had to know Rosalie was never fully his. I had text messages on my phone telling me she needed me and wanted me when they were together to back that up.

I’m not going to let him say shit about you that wasn’t true, baby girl. Not while I’m still breathing.

“SHUT UP!” Kordell screeched.

“Why? You can’t handle the truth? She was only with you because I left. If I hadn’t done that, it would have never mattered what you said or did. Rosalie would have never looked in your direction.”

He screamed as he charged, swinging his knife back and forth in an erratic pattern. I jumped backward as the knife swished past my face and kept backing up in a circular fashion as he advanced. Keeping us in this flow, I wouldn’t back into anything since this area around us was clear of debris. I dodged swing after swing, which only pissed him off further. My heart pounded, but I had to stay focused. I knew one wrong move, and that knife could be wedged in my neck or chest.

Out of nowhere, an engine roared, and I heard dirt and rocks bang against the side of the rusty building. Kordell made the biggest mistake anyone could ever make during a fight. He let something in the crowd distract him. It was a deadly error on his end. He froze mid-stab, his head turning to see who had just driven up, and I finally let the rage take over.

CRACK!

His head snapped back as I slammed my brass knuckles straight across his jaw, feeling the bone shift beneath my fist. I knew his jaw had to have broken from that. He cried out and dropped the knife. I punched him with my opposite hand in the kidneys, causing him to double over. And a final knee to the stomach dropped the bastard onto the ground. I kicked him over onto his back as one of his hands still clasped his jaw as he groaned, trying to figure out what the fuck had just happened to him.

He tried to scramble away as I straddled his waist. Grabbing his jacket, I yanked him up, and my brass met his face again in another sickening crunch, breaking his nose. Blood gushed down his face at the impact. He choked on it as he tried to turn his face and let it drain out of his mouth. I gripped his jaw and didn’t let him.

Drown in your own blood, for all I care.

I heard a voice in the background, and as Kordell sat there, gasping through blood and a broken jaw, I looked over at the hill in front of me to see Jayden, a gun in his hand, running down it.

But as soon as his eyes glanced at Rosalie, his face contorted into despair. He changed direction and ran over to her body on the ground. A cry of desperation rang from his mouth. He dropped his gun and wrapped his arms around her, gently pulling her up against his chest.

“Oh my god, fuck! No, Rosalie, NO!”

His cries were from a broken man, someone who hadn’t just lost a sister, but who had lost a part of himself. His twin that he’d shared his entire life with. Tears streamed down his face as he pressed his forehead to hers and sobbed her name over and over.

“Rosalie, Rosalie, no, you can’t be gone! No! Please! Not you too!”

I watched him fall apart with her in his arms, and my guilt racked through my mind and body.

I failed. I failed. I failed!

I yelled as I brought my fist back down into Kordell’s face. His hands grabbed out and reached for me. One desperately tried to claw at my face, only to weakly yank my mask down and around my neck. The other made a feeble attempt to stop my fist from coming down on his face again. But as much as he tried to fight me, the more determined I was to kill him.

“AJ! Stop, man. STOP!”

Jayden’s voice rang out in my ears, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. He didn’t understand. She was dead because I couldn’t protect her from this piece of shit. I’d told Jayden and her father that I would keep her safe, and I’d let everyone who believed in me down again. I couldn’t let up until his body stopped moving.

“NO!” I growled, my voice breaking as I landed another blow.

A couple of more blows, and he would be dead. His face was already so bruised and broken; it was hardly recognizable as he whimpered in pain.

“AJ! You have to stop! NOW!” Jayden shouted.

I roared and prepared myself to deliver a final blow to Kordell’s face with all of my rage behind it. But Jayden’s next words washed over me like a bucket of ice-cold water being poured over my head, instantly dissolving all the hate in my mind and replacing it with a surge of hope.

“She’s ALIVE!”