Page 63 of Tandem

“She’s my family too. I’m going to see my girl,” I said. Rose stared at me, like she was seeing right through my soul, then sighed.

“I’ll give you a ten-minute window. I’ll get Kayden out of the room for food, but that’s it. Then I’m going to ask you to not come back while she’s here.” She wasn’t asking at all. Rose Wells was telling me to not come back to the hospital.

“I can do that, but I’m going to see her today. Not even you can stop me.” Rose raised an eyebrow and leaned into my ear, her tone completely changing from a warm housewife’s to a cold-blooded killer.

“Oh, AJ, I could stop you right here in the blink of an eye. Only, I don’t want to upset my daughter since she’s been asking for you. Ten minutes. Wait in the adjacent empty room until we leave.” I nodded once, knowing her mom was into something at some point.

When I asked around about the Wellses, whispers of her being a bodyguard were mentioned, but I didn’t believe it until now. The elevator came to a halt, and Rose pointed to the room for me to go in. I heard her tell Kayden they needed to go get some food and would be right back, which he protested at first.

Then her voice, weak but still sweet and light, calmed my mind, and my muscles relaxed.

“It’s fine, Dad, just go get some food… I’ll be right here… haha…” I heard her whimper for a second. She must have tried to move, and the pain kicked in.

I ducked back into the shadow of the empty room as her parents walked out and got into the elevator. I rounded the corner as soon as the doors closed, leaning against the doorframe. “Well, baby girl, not your best look, I’ll say.”

But as soon as I said it and actually took her in, rage started to set in. Rosalie Wells lay in a hospital bed, propped up slightly. She glanced over at me. My beautiful girl was bruised and battered, her lower lip swollen with a couple of stitches, her arm in a cast, and I could see bruising on her upper chest and arms. Rosalie smiled weakly. They fucked my girl up. I wanted to go back in time to find them and fucking end them myself for what they did to her.

“I-I’m sorry about missing your fight, AJ… I t-tried…” Her voice broke, and I was at her side in an instant, running my hand alongside her face as I bent down and kissed her forehead.

“Shhhh… Rosalie, you did nothing wrong. I am so fucking sorry, baby girl, you’re here because of me.” She gently sighed and leaned into my hand.

“N-no, it’s not your fault, don’t say that. Jayden said the cops arrested the guys who hurt me… D-did you win your fight?” She weakly tried to show enthusiasm for my answer, even though with every movement, the pain in her body caused her to shake.

She was still trying to brush off what happened. It WAS my fault. She was only here because they found out she was my girl. And Jabari wouldn’t be the only one who would try to exploit this weakness, and out of every girl I had been with since I got into the fight club, Rosalie was the only one I actually gave a fuck about.

“Stop it, baby girl, it was because of me. You can try to say different, but they only came for you because you’re my girl. You were in danger because you were with me, and I'm so fucking sorry for it.” I gripped the side of the bed with my other hand, keeping the one on her face soft. I looked at her, her sweet face full of nothing but love for me. She should hate me. She should take her perfect little soft hands and shove me away. She should scream at me to leave and never come back.

Her soft lips brushed against my palm, and I gripped the side of the bed tighter. “AJ, no… I don’t blame you… I’m just glad you’re okay…”

This girl, she had been worried about me more than herself. Fuck, I didn’t deserve this girl at all. I got down on my knees next to her.

“Rosalie, baby, I can’t come back to see you while you’re here, and I gotta split before your parents get back. But I’ll see you when you get out, okay? You’ll be alright, baby girl.” She staredat me like she was about to cry. Fuck, I couldn’t see her cry. It would break me completely. “Hey, don’t be sad, baby girl. I’ll still be here. Your parents just aren’t that happy with me right now, okay? I just want you to get better so I can have you in my arms again.”

She nodded and sniffed a bit as I stood up and leaned in. She kissed me, her little stitches poking my lip as I kissed her back, softly at first, then a little harder, getting a small moan from her lips as I pulled away. “I’ll be home in a few days, so come see me then?”

I nodded. Then I heard the elevator ding and walked out the door, giving her one final glance as I exited it. I slipped into the shadows of the empty room next door again as her dad walked past back into her room. Rose paused next to the room I was in and looked at me. I nodded, and she continued going.

I left the hospital with my anger slowly growing in my body, I couldn’t get how bad she looked out of my head. FUCK those bastards. I slammed my car door shut as I peeled out of the lot. My mind went blank, and when I came to, I was slamming my fists into the punching bag at the beach gym, hitting it so hard without my hands being wrapped it was starting to tear my knuckles up.

“FUCK!” I yelled as I hit the bag, sending it swinging wildly on its chain. I was pissed about it all, the fights, how Jabari went for the one thing I gave a shit about that wasn’t myself. And most of all, I was pissed at myself for getting Rosalie involved.

I knew the crowd I ran with was dangerous. I knew she came from a soft side of the city. I knew she was light and sunshine, and I was darkness and shadows. I knew she could attract the more dangerous crowd, but fuck, I thought I could keep her safe. And I fucking failed. This was the first time failure made me want to fight myself, knock my own ass out and really fucking kick the shit out of myself.

Rosalie was my girl. I should have been there to protect her. Fuck, I should have made sure to pick her up, then none of this would have happened. Seeing my girl in the hospital bed, even though she would be okay, shook me up badly. They could have done worse the first time they were there. They could have raped her—fuck, they could have killed her. I could have lost the one thing I loved more than anything.

I clenched my fists, and with another yell, I ripped the bag from its chains, watching it slam against the ground. I breathed cold breath after breath into my lungs from the ocean. I grabbed the punching bag from the ground and dragged it over to the main workout area, leaning it up against the wall. I threw a hundred into the money box to have it fixed.

I had brought Rosalie into this dangerous world. And I couldn’t shake the feeling there was only one thing I could do to make sure nothing like this ever happened again to my girl. But fuck, I hated it. I fucking hated thinking about it. It tore through me harder than the sharpest right hook to my ribs I'd ever gotten hit with.

I walked over to the weights and started to lift. I couldn’t help but replay the moments we had so far together, the days she met me here before or after work to watch me work out, going with her to the drift races and watching as the crowd was just as in love with her there as I was in that moment, fucking her for the first time, and every time after that. Stolen make-out sessions and the quickies on her breaks at work when I was in the area. Except those memories were now being warped by the thoughts of fear for her safety and the dangers of the world I ran in returning to haunt her.

The sun started to set, the skies were painted purple, pink, and orange. My memories of Rosalie going on and on about different paint colors and how she wanted to paint cars in every color known to man. She wouldn’t be able to do that if someonebroke her hands beyond repair or if she was fucking dead. I stood there watching it, and my eyes burned. I knew I had to make a difficult choice, one that could hurt both of us. But I knew it was the only sure way to protect the woman I loved from the darkness that surrounded my life.

With each rep, I strengthened my decision, determined to do whatever it took to keep Rosalie safe… even safe from my own demons. No one would ever hurt her like that again. I’d make sure of it.

I set the weights down on the rack and then made my way back to my car. I never expected to see her dad there. But there Kayden Wells was, leaning against the hood of his black-and-red Viper next to my lowrider, and for a man who was usually smiling and laughing, he was looking dead serious. I made my way over, throwing my towel and water into the passenger door before turning to him.

“You were at the hospital today,” Kayden said, his tone angry as he glared at me. I gritted my teeth. Kayden unfolded his arms and pushed off his car. “I know, Rose told me. You should’ve never gone there today.”

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