Page 9

CHAPTER 9

ROSALIE

It had been almost two weeks since I had given AJ back his car, and I hadn’t really been able to think much about him or what he had said that day in the car. I was swamped with work. I had been working late days and even half days on the weekends just to keep up with paint orders. One of the biggest car meets in LA was happening this weekend, and people from all over were coming to Dad’s custom car shop to get their rides tuned up to perfection beforehand.

Kordell had also spent the past week and a half at my place, so my evenings were full of me cuddled up next to him, which usually ended up in sex of some sort. I barely had enough energy to eat dinner before crashing in bed for the entire night.

But as tired as I was, I couldn’t say I wasn’t loving every single minute at the shop.

Today, I was finishing up an intricate airbrush design on a classic Cadillac. It was made to look like ocean waves were crashing up along the front fenders. Not to toot my own horn, but it was freaking gorgeous. I did a few final shading lines on one of the waves before standing up and stretching. Boy, what I wouldn’t give for a nice, hot shower or a soak in the hot tub right now.

I walked into my paint room and started to mix up another batch of the deeper blue to finish the shading when I heard some loud cars pull up outside the shop. Then, there was the sound of a bunch of guys talking. Those voices could only belong to three people.

My best friends!

I set everything down and jogged over to the roll-up doors and peeked out into the alleyway. Three gorgeous and vastly different cars were parked across from the doors.

A stock white Subaru WRX—owned by my friend Tyler, which he had bought recently from my dad—was parked at the front of the line. Freddie wasn’t in his typical ride, but instead was driving a new Toyota GR Supra. And then there was Hank Jr., who, unlike the rest of us, only owned American muscle cars. And by the looks of it, the last year of working on his dad’s ranch had turned out to be pretty profitable since he was driving a 1970 Chevy Chevelle SS, which was obviously going to be turned into a dragster.

“Hey, Rosalie,” Freddie’s deep voice boomed in the alleyway.

My smile grew to be a mile wide as I ran over, but right before I threw myself into big hugs with all of them, I came to an abrupt halt and waved instead.

“I can’t have you be my girl and let you have another man’s arms around you, outside of me and your actual family.” Kordell’s threat from a while back echoed in my mind.

He’d fought the guys for Tyler having his arm over my shoulders, messing with me. There was no way I was going to put my friends in danger like that ever again, not when Kordell had pointed a gun at them.

They all exchanged looks, and one after another, they walked up to me and gave me the biggest hugs.

“Rosalie, fuck that boyfriend of yours! We’re not going to be afraid to hug our best friend because of him,” Tyler said as he pulled me to his side.

I glanced up at him as I hugged him back. His nose had healed, just the slightest bit crooked from Kordell breaking it, but he had told me he didn’t mind. Said it made him more popular with the girls. I giggled and hugged him back.

“I’m sorry. I just… I hated what happened last time you and Kordell met, so I’m extra cautious now, I guess.”

I went from Tyler to Freddie, who towered over me, and he patted my back. “Don’t worry about us. We won’t let anyone put us in that situation again.”

“Damn straight!” Hank Jr. said as he lifted his shirt and flashed his pistol in an inner pant holster.

“Hank! Don’t show that around here, you dork!” I swatted at him with my hands, and he dropped his shirt and gave me a hug that lifted me off the ground for a second.

“Nah, we just want you to know that your prick of a boyfriend can talk his shit, but he ain’t gonna tell us what we can and can’t do around you. Only you get to.” Hank Jr. set me back down onto the ground, and I smiled at him.

I walked back into the middle and looked at each of them and how serious they all were about it. I started cracking up. I loved these guys. I did worry about them, but they always put me in an awesome mood when we were all together. Well, almost all of us. These days, Jayden still kept to himself, mostly. But he did text me more often, and he was recording music again. He even had an album set to drop soon!

I know! I should invite him to the car meet!

“Hang on. I just realized I never texted Jayden about the meet this weekend!”

I quickly typed out my message.

Rosalie

Hey, Jay! I know you’re busy getting famous and all, but think you can take a small break and come to the car meet this weekend? It’s right by your studio! It’s in one of the parking garages close to Hotel Roosevelt! Pleeease?

“Okay, so hopefully, he replies to me soon! But what are you guys doing here anyway? I didn’t expect to see you until tomorrow!”

We all walked into the shop, and Dad waved at us as we went up to the loft waiting area.

“Well, here’s the thing…” Tyler said as they all looked between each other.

I had a sinking feeling those three new cars weren’t just parked out there for shits and giggles.

“Nuh-UH! Sorry, guys, my plate is already super full! I still have three cars I need to finish today as it is!”

“Yeah, a WRX, Supra, and a Chevy, right?” Freddie said with a smirk.

Wait a dang minute. These morons!

“You BOOKED your paint appointments?!” I stopped in my tracks.

Hank Jr. snorted as he looked at my face. Oh, I was sure it was freaking priceless right now.

“You guys NEVER book appointments!” I exclaimed, still in disbelief.

“Yeah, well, Kayden said you guys were getting busy when I bought my ride from his dealership two weeks ago, so we thought it might be a good idea. Plus, we can chill the night before the meet together, like the good old days.”

My mouth opened and closed like a fish for a solid minute before I kept it shut, feeling like I would burst from happiness.

“You guys are so stupid and so awesome, all at the same time—you know that?” I said.

I ran over and flung myself onto all three of them where they sat on the couch. They laughed and hugged me back.

“So, would now be a good time to tell you that your dad just left to go get us all tacos too?” Tyler asked as I got off them and sat in the chair next to the couch.

“He did?!” I was officially done. This was going to go in my top ten best days at work of all time list.

Hank Jr. laughed and leaned back on the couch. “Dang, Rosalie. It never takes much to make your day, huh?”

I shrugged, totally not offended by that statement.

“What can I say? I know what I like! Okay, just wait a minute! I’ll be right back!” I got up from my seat and ran down the steps into the paint lab, grabbing a few sample books. I quickly ran back up the stairs and dropped them on the coffee table in front of the guys. “Let’s pick some colors!”

They grabbed different books and began to flip through the pages, pointing out paint ideas along the way. Tyler was considering a darker orange for his car while Freddie was thinking a bold red. I had to quickly shut down Hank Jr.’s idea of painting it black and nothing else.

“Hank! You have only owned black cars and trucks! Time to try something new!”

“All right… but I like the color black. I guess a camo paint job would be cool too.”

I smacked my forehead. “I mean, sure, we could do that, but could I pick the colors? I promise it’ll look good!”

He raised an eyebrow and looked at me. “Rosalie, I swear to God, if you give me a pink car…”

I laughed and shook my head. “No! Well, now I kinda want to. Just to make you drive a pink car to the car meet! But I was thinking of a dark green and gunmetal gray!”

Hank Jr. considered it for a minute. “That could be cool, actually. Go for it.”

I pumped my fist in the air, and then we all turned our heads when Dad walked up the stairs with three large bags in his hands.

“Somebody order tacos and burritos with extra green sauce, chips, and salsa?” he asked as he pretended to look at a receipt.

I giggled as Tyler got up and helped Dad put the food around the table. A few minutes later, Reece joined us in the loft, and we were all making our way through the mountain of food spread out before us. I finished three steak tacos before I held my hands up in surrender. And Dad happily helped himself to my last two tacos I’d left on the table. I leaned back in the chair and sighed, stuffed to the brim with my favorite food and surrounded by so many of my favorite people.

Today had been a great day. And I’d needed a great day.

“All right, I’m going to head down and start getting things set up. Which of you is going first?”

Tyler’s hand shot up before the other two. “Ha! Slow, just like how you two drive.”

Hank Jr. smacked the back of his head, and Freddie tried to tackle him. Dad grabbed the container of green sauce just in time before the table was bumped hard as they wrestled on the couch.

“Hey! Watch the sauce, guys!” Dad yelled as he poured a little more on his current taco.

I giggled, as it was totally obvious Dad was more concerned with finishing his food than stopping the guys from wrestling all over the room.

I narrowly avoided a rogue leg swinging out as I walked over to go down the stairs.

I’m so glad they weren’t all really my brothers, growing up. Our house would have been destroyed! Mom would have hated having so many boys. I giggled just thinking about it.

A few minutes later, Tyler strolled into the room, where I was laying out a few oranges that I thought looked close to the one in the catalog. I could always mix two together and create something totally unique, if he wanted.

“So, how have you really been? Besides being overloaded here. I see how late you all have been working when I come in on the weekends to help clean the shop for Kayden.” Tyler sat on the stool next to me. “I also really like this one.” He pointed to a burnt orange.

I nodded and started to mix it up in a batch big enough to coat the car. Reece had been super cool and brought Tyler’s car in and even taped off the windows, rims, and trim for me. Which meant I could get right to work on the respray.

“I mean, I’ve been pretty good. I don’t really have anything to complain about.”

Which wasn’t exactly the full truth, but I wasn’t about to talk about my sex life with my guy friends. Heck no.

“You sure? I don’t know. You just seem… I’m not sure how to exactly explain it. Like you’re always smiling, but your eyes just seem sad, I guess.”

Okay, when did my friends start being overly observant? And can they stop so I don’t have to try to lie to them?

“Promise, I’ve just been tired. Lots of long days here and then just trying to stay up to spend some time with Kordell at home in the evenings.”

I gave him a smile, and he stared at me for a moment, but then nodded. Even if he didn’t believe me, he wasn’t going to push any further, so that was a relief.

I got to work on spraying his car, and within an hour, it was looking like this car had been made to be painted this color. I walked out of the paint booth to find all three of the guys chilling in the sample room. Apparently, Hank Jr. had won the next spot, but since his car was going to take two coats of the bottom color and I had to do a stencil for the camo look, I told him I would spray the bottom coat, and then while it was setting, I’d do Freddie’s car. I helped him select the three colors and which one would be the base coat and got to mixing.

“So, what’re you bringin’ to the meet?” Hank Jr. asked as I filled my sprayer.

“I’m going to bring the Viper! I haven’t taken her out in a while, and it’s so nice that I can’t pass it up!”

“It’ll be good to see it. I heard your dad say he was bringing a Bugatti Chiron. Is that true? If so, that’ll be cool.”

I nodded and pulled on my sprayer mask before dipping into the lab and taping everything off. Then, I sprayed Hank Jr.’s car with this really pretty dark green. When it was fully dried, it was the color of Kordell’s eyes. I used to really love this color, but now, I had a little bit of mixed feelings about it.

Kinda like your real life, huh?

I knocked the back of the sprayer gently against my forehead.

Keep your head in the game, Rosalie. Don’t want to mess this paint job up!

I quickly finished the last panels of Hank Jr.’s car before stepping out and walking over to Freddie, who was listening to music on his headphones, leaning against the wall of the paint shop while the other two chatted away.

“Still wanting that red?” I asked as I pulled one of his earbuds out.

He was startled, and I laughed at his face.

“Damn, Rosalie. Way to give a guy a heart attack.”

He pretended to faint against the wall, and I started to crack up harder. He rolled his eyes and then pulled his other earbud out.

“Yeah, I still like the red. Can we do some matte-black trim pieces? Or would that be too much to do today?”

I glanced up at the clock while handing him back his other earbud. “No, I can get that done. Might take an extra hour or two, but I don’t mind if you guys don’t?”

They all assured me they were good, chilling, so I went about painting Freddie’s car and finishing up Hank Jr.’s. In a few hours, all three cars were finished, looking cool as heck, parked up outside the custom shop next to each other with a wall of graffiti behind them.

Hank Jr. let out a low whistle while Freddie took a few photos of his car up close.

Tyler threw his arm over my shoulders and squeezed me. “Rosalie, you always do awesome work, but these are just…” He chef-kissed into the air.

I laughed, then tensed as I heard the sounds of a street bike. I pulled away from Tyler, looking around quickly and holding my breath. But there was no one down either side of the alleyway. It must have just been someone random driving by. I sighed, and the guys all exchanged looks.

“Hey, why don’t you grab your Skyline, and let’s drift a bit around the old warehouse? Then, we can get the cars washed before the big meet tomorrow,” Tyler said as he ran his hand through his hair.

It was obvious they were trying to not show annoyance about my reaction. I’d give them some credit because they were pretty good about keeping whatever they wanted to say in their mouths. I knew they didn’t like how nervous the sound of that bike made me.

“Yeah, I mean, since you three were my last clients, I can let Dad know I’m going to be heading out for the night. Just give me one sec.”

I jogged over to the shop and found Dad changing out the fuel pump on a car.

“Hey, Dad, I’m going to be heading out with the guys. Do you need anything else before I go?”

Dad glanced up for a moment before shaking his head. “No, hon. Don’t forget to wear that helmet before you drift. And, Rosalie?”

I paused as I began to turn and walk back out of the car bay. “Yeah?”

“Have fun! I’ll see you tomorrow.”

My smile grew from ear to ear, and I laughed as I jogged over to my car and fired it up. Pulling out of the shop and into the alleyway, I gave my friends a thumbs-up and their cars all turned on back-to-back.

We took off out of the graffiti-riddled row and onto the street, cruising to the warehouse that Dad owned and used for events which was a few minutes away from Kayden’s Customs. It was cleared out tonight, so we just had fun, drifting around the different large support beams in the structure. Tires squealed, and smoke soon filled the air. My adrenaline pumped through my veins as Freddie's and my bumpers came inches apart as we took the last corner almost at the same time. We drifted as the sun finished setting and then parted ways once we saw the moon was over the mountain range. We needed to get some sleep before the big meet tomorrow. So, I waved at the guys as I made a drifting exit out of the building and went on my way home.

I couldn’t wait to take a quick shower and fall asleep. Tomorrow was going to be a great day, it just felt like that for some reason.