Page 6

CHAPTER 6

ROSALIE

I slid out of bed and quickly got everything together. Finding the key to the lowrider was easy enough. I kept it in the drawer of my old nightstand downstairs, next to the mask AJ had left me. After a few seconds of deliberating, I grabbed the mask as well and took it with me.

When I got to the custom car shop, I didn’t see anyone around. I parked the Lincoln out front across from the roll-up doors and contemplated just going in, grabbing another one of Dad’s cars he kept here, and just leaving the key on the dash. Maybe sticking with the plan of avoiding him altogether would be the best option. But I might not have another chance like this in a while—to just talk to him and tell him how I really felt and that whatever we’d had was over because he didn’t seem to get the message in our texts yesterday.

So, I kept the doors of the car locked and sat there with just the battery running so the music on the radio played softly in the background. The morning smog lingered in the air, and the sun was just rising in the sky. It would be a few hours before we had our pretty and clear LA skies and it would be nice and warm. I checked my phone.

Where the heck is he? He’s late. Doesn’t he know how rude it is to keep someone waiting? He probably doesn’t care.

Just as I was about to call him and give him a piece of my mind, I saw a figure walk around the corner and down the alleyway. I stiffened for a moment. Then, as he got closer, I could easily make out AJ as the mysterious man.

I opened the driver’s door and got out, tugging my jacket zipper up as the cool morning air touched me, and I shivered slightly. It had been really nice and warm in the car, but I hadn’t wanted to sit inside and talk. It wouldn’t take long, and then he would be gone and outta my life for good again.

He walked right up to me, stopping within just inches of me. I took a small step back to put some more room between us before his cologne completely distracted me.

“Hey, baby girl.” His eyes softened as he spoke. The hair peeking out from under his hat looked messy.

Did he even comb it out this morning?

I reached up and then froze as his eyes locked with mine.

What am I doing?

“You tell me, Rosalie. Because you’re giving a lot of mixed signals for someone who doesn’t want to be with me anymore.”

Oh shit! Did I just say that out loud?!

I blushed and quickly lowered my hand. “I-I’m not trying to. Sorry.”

“Don’t be. So, let’s talk.”

He gestured to his car, but I shook my head.

“I don’t think sitting in that car together is a good idea. If someone came by and saw, I wouldn’t want them to get the wrong impression. I’m fine out here.”

Getting back into the warm and cozy lowrider did sound wonderful, but there was no way I was going to risk it. That was a complete AJ danger zone. It was a bench seat even. I didn’t think I could trust myself, to be honest. There were a lot of memories between us in the seats of that car.

He shrugged. “Fine, whatever you want, Rosalie. I’ll get right to it. Break up with him. Give me another chance. I know, I fucked up majorly, baby girl. But I’ll show you just how much we belong together. No matter what it takes, I’ll prove to you that you are the only woman I have ever wanted. I promise, I’ll do right by you.”

I sucked in a deep breath. Okay, I’m not sure what I expected, but that declaration wasn’t it. This is so stupidly hard!

But I tried to think about Kordell and the good times we’d had.

Do this for him, Rosalie. Kordell doesn’t deserve to have his girlfriend sneaking around with her ex. And you’re not a cheater. So, just say it and cut it off completely. Right here, right now.

I gripped my fingers around the mask in my jacket pocket and the car keys in the other. I handed him his keys, which he took, and then I pulled out the mask and also held it out. “Here, it’s the last thing I have that’s yours. Once you take it, you won’t have any more reasons to bother me. So, go on and take it.”

My heart pounded in my chest, and my cheeks got warm as I watched him do nothing but look from my face to the mask in my palm. At first, I wasn’t sure if he was going to take it or not. Then, he reached up and grabbed it, tucking it into his hoodie pocket, along with the key.

I sighed. “All right. Well, this is it. I hope you have a good life, AJ. I… I just won’t be a part of it anymore. But you’ll find someone better. Someone who fits your life and is single. I hope that she…” My voice trailed off as I dropped my hand back to my side, lowering my eyes to look at the concrete road. The thought of finishing that sentence made me want to cry. I hoped for all of those things for him, but it still hurt to say. I guessed I was still mourning my decision to end things with him.

AJ reached out and grabbed my hand. My first reaction was to jerk it away from the surprise of his action. But I didn’t. I let him wrap his fingers firmly around my palm, and then they traced my fingers before he intertwined them with his.

I looked back up at his face. What else did he want me to do? What did he want me to say?

“I know that’s not what you really want, not when you said all that and look like you do right now. There is no one better for me than you, Rosalie. I won’t make you do anything you don’t wanna do. But let’s just get out of the cold and keep talking.”

Before I knew it, I was letting him open the driver’s door of his Lincoln Continental Mark Five for me, and I slid over to the passenger seat. AJ sat down in the driver's seat and closed the door. It was quiet. Too quiet. And almost as if he had read my mind, he slipped his key into the ignition and turned the car on. The radio sprang to life on the station I had last listened to. Soft, classic West Coast hip-hop played in the background.

“AJ… you might not like my decision, but it’s the best one for me. I can’t just let you walk back into my life like the last year didn’t happen or didn’t matter to me. Mom told me everything, and while I don’t agree with the fact that Dad did what he did in the first place, you actually took him up on his offer!”

My sadness from before was quickly turning to anger. I balled my hands into fists on my lap and looked over at him. He was staring at me, a hand on the steering wheel, his face blank with emotion.

I continued, my voice raised now, “You didn’t even bother to talk to me first! You just let Dad talk to you, and you took his money and never looked back! You went to Japan and did whatever you freaking wanted to. Then, that, what, got boring to you? So, you decided to come back here and act like you never did anything? What did you think—that I had just been waiting around for you to come back to me one day? Heck no! My life doesn’t revolve around you, AJ! So, get that through your stupid, thick head!”

I was breathing hard by the end of that. But my anger was still at a boiling point. I was surprised by how upset I really was. I’d thought I was sad and confused more than anything, but, nope, guessed after everything that had happened, I was just pissed off.

“I know. I get it. I know I fucked up, but what can I do to fix it? I’ve seen you with your current guy. He doesn’t deserve you. I know I hurt you, Rosalie, but I never treated you like that, like you didn’t exist when we were together.”

Ouch. That stung a bit. Mainly because he was right. When AJ and I had been together, I’d felt nothing but absolute love from him. And Kordell was a lot more self-centered than AJ ever had been. Did it hurt my feelings that I sometimes felt he would rather spend more time on his phone or riding his bike than chilling with me? Yeah. Was I about to agree with AJ that he was right? Heck no.

“It was just an off night. You don’t know how he usually is. And I don’t really appreciate you judging him or our relationship.” I folded my arms over my chest and glared at him.

And then he did something I’d never expected.

He reached out and touched the side of my cheek gently as his voice deepened when he said, “I’m sorry.”

And with those two words, my anger poured out of me. His eyes were so sincere when he spoke, and I couldn’t help but reach my hand up and place it on top of his. I closed my eyes and leaned into his touch. His fingers stroked my cheek slowly, and I took a deep breath. This touch just felt so right. And that made me feel so wrong.

I opened my eyes, and AJ had leaned in more while they were shut. I was captured by his eyes. The amber was such a pretty color in the morning light.

“Sorry doesn’t fix what you broke,” I whispered.

I wanted to kiss him. But I couldn’t. I turned my head and pulled away from his reach. He let his hand fall to the backrest as I grabbed the passenger door handle, pushing it open. I slid my legs out and paused for a moment before barely glancing back over my shoulder.

“Bye, AJ.”

I didn’t wait for a reply. I got out of the car and shut the door before hurrying over to the shop’s door, unlocking it, and going inside. I slammed the door behind me, harder than intended. After a few seconds, I heard his car drive away from the shop, and I opened the door and peeked outside just to make sure he was gone. And not a trace of the gorgeous purple lowrider was around. Just the typical noises of LA waking up. I sighed softly and closed the door again. Suddenly, I didn’t feel much like working anymore today.

I pulled out my phone and opened up my messages to Dad.

Rosalie

Hey, Dad. Do you mind if I take the day off? Just not really feeling in the mood to paint. My two projects I was going to work on today can wait an extra day, and it won’t really impact the schedule too much.

While I waited for his reply, I went over to the garage area where we kept a few of our cars. Dad had a few different project cars along with two of his daily drivers along one side. And I had my drag Challenger and my Skyline along the other. I grabbed my keys to my Skyline when I felt my pocket buzz. I pulled out my phone and swiped to his message.

Dad

Sure, that’s fine. Everything okay, hon?

Rosalie

Yeah, just tired. Didn’t get much sleep last night. But I’ll be right as rain tomorrow, promise!

Dad

All right, then I’ll see you tomorrow. Tacos for lunch on me!

I smiled at that thought. But my smile didn’t last long after I started driving, and song after song was nothing but sad breakup or love songs. I groaned and finally just turned the radio off. But it didn’t really help my mood to sit in silence the rest of the drive home either.

But seeing Kordell’s bike parked out front lifted my spirits a bit. I parked my car and walked with a lighter step up to the front door, but as I was reaching for the door handle, it swung open. I almost fell over from the loss of balance from leaning for it, but Kordell’s arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me into his body to catch me.

“Easy there, mama.”

I wrapped my arms tightly around his back and tipped my head up, planting a few kisses along his jawline with a small giggle.

“Didn’t expect you to be up yet. It’s still pretty early!”

“Well, when I wake up and my girl is nowhere to be found, do you expect me to just sit there and not go looking for her?” He smirked down at me as he brought one of his hands up around my throat and gave it a squeeze. “So, I noticed you’re missing a car in the garage. You trade it out for this one for a while?”

My face heated up, and I laughed nervously. “No! I sold the other one, so I decided to bring my Skyline home.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Who’d you sell it to?”

I pulled away from him and kept walking inside the house, taking off my shoes and jacket. I hung up my car keys before answering him so he wouldn’t see the blush that had creeped up onto my cheeks. “Oh, just some guy Dad knew who really wanted a lowrider. I didn’t use it, so it was time for someone else to enjoy it. Anyway! What do you want to do today? I took the day off work, just not really feeling it.”

I followed behind Kordell as he walked into the kitchen, where he sat down at the counter while I walked over to the coffeepot and poured myself a cup. I sipped it as I leaned on the counter across from him while giving him a small smile.

“Oh, yeah? Hmm… we should go take a cruise then. Haven’t taken you out on the bike in a while. It’d feel good to have your arms wrapped around me as we fly down the freeway.”

I nodded. “Okay, yeah, that would be fun! But I’m not staying overnight. I still have to go to work tomorrow.”

He reached over and tugged on a lock of my long, dark brown hair. “For sure, little mama. Why don’t you get changed and we can head out shortly?”

I blushed a bit as he brought the piece of hair to his lips and kissed it before letting it fall back to my shoulder, and I nodded.

“Okay, yeah, I’ll go do that. Give me, like, fifteen, and I’ll be good to go!”

With that, I quickly finished drinking my coffee before dashing up the stairs two at a time. Grabbing my ripped jeans, fishnets, and my jacket to go over my t-shirt, I changed and did a quick mirror check. A little extra mascara and reapplication of my lip gloss, and I was ready. I jogged down the stairs and came to a stop in front of Kordell by the door.

He handed me my helmet and smirked. “Damn, you always look so fucking sexy for me, mama. Let’s get going.”