Page 67 of Tandem

“Well, here’s the thing, Rosalie, that was it. That was the last time we’re gonna fuck. Ever.” I blinked, confused for a minute, waiting for him to laugh and tell me he was kidding, then come over for round three. When he didn’t, I sat up a little straighter, his cum still dripping from my pussy.

“Wait… what? What do you mean?” I couldn’t hide the panic in my voice.

He continued to get dressed as he looked over at me. “I’m outta here. Your dad booked me a ticket to Japan to check out their car scene for him. I don’t really plan on coming back here. LA is a ‘been there, done that.’ Time to move on and try other things.”

His last sentence hit me like a ton of bricks. And the perfect happiness I was in shattered around me into a million pieces.

“But w-why? I thought you loved me…” I sat there, my eyes getting cloudy, my heart pounding. AJ said nothing. He just kept tugging on his clothes. “You’re going to leave me because my dad hired you to go look at cars?” This didn't make any sense. “I-I don’t understand! Did I do something wrong?” Panic was setting in, I felt it and heard it in my voice as my words left my mouth.

AJ just tucked his hands into his pocket, pulling out a set of keys. Those couldn’t be…

“I’m leaving you my car. I know if anyone will take care of my baby, it would be you. So it’s yours.” He put the keys on the coffee table and walked over. It wasn’t until he reached down and placed his hand under my chin that my eyes started to overflow with tears. “It’s been real, baby girl. You were the best woman I’ve ever been with. Take care of yourself.”

He leaned in, slowly placing the saddest kiss I’d ever tasted on my lips. My eyes closed, tears breaking free in the corners. Maybe this was all just a bad dream. I opened them slowly as he pulled away and let my chin drop to see him walking to the door. Opening it, he paused for the smallest moment, glancing back. “Goodbye, Rosalie.”

And with one final second, the door closed, and he was gone, while I was sitting there, naked on the couch, with tears pouring down my face. This couldn't be happening. I yanked on my shorts and top and ran to the front door. Flinging it open, I ran out, looking down the road toward the street. But he was nowhere to be seen. His car was in my driveway, so I ran over to it. Maybe he was sitting inside? But no, it was empty. I looked at the beautiful lowrider as panic started to take hold of me. Running inside, I grabbed the keys off the table, yanked the door of the Lincoln open, and slid inside, his smell instantly filling my nose as I took big, deep breaths.

It didn’t stop my tears from falling, it didn’t stop my chest from feeling like it had been ripped open, and I was bleeding from my heart pounding slowly but hard in my chest. It didn’t stop me from sobbing his name over and over under my breath. I didn’t know what to do, and then it hit me. The motel.

There was no way he was already packed up. He probably got a cab back to the motel! Putting the key in the ignition, I turned it on, and the slow sexy beats of hip-hop filled the car as I backedit out and started the drive to his motel in the ghetto part of town. Usually I would be more cautious driving some of these streets by myself, but this was AJ’s car. No one would ever mess with me while I was driving it. Twenty minutes later, I pulled into the back parking lot of the motel and jumped out, locking the car and jogging to the stairwell to the second floor and down the hallway until I stopped in front of room 10.

I slipped my room key into the lock and turned. Flinging it open, I was greeted with darkness. I flicked the light on and looked around. The room looked like AJ’s room still, the punching bag still hung in the corner, condoms in the nightstand drawer still, but the other drawers with his few clothes were empty. The place where he kept his money here hidden was empty. Everything of real value to AJ was gone. I left the room, jogging to the man who ran the front desk. I came to a halt in front of him, breathing hard from the run. “T-the guy who stays in room 10…” I started off, and he rolled his eyes.

“The room needs to be cleaned, but the tenant of room 10 has vacated the property. Give us 48 hours to clean, and it will be back up for you to rent,” the man said in a bored tone, not even bothering to look up. He told the front desk to give away his room—he was really leaving.

“N-NO!” I yelled at the front desk man, who looked taken aback. “D-don’t clean it, don’t touch anything in there. How much to have you to leave it alone each month?” I asked, and the guy sighed.

“We’re not really supposed to do that, but you’re the girl he’s been seeing for a while, right?” I nodded. He let out another sigh. “Six hundred a month, and we can leave it be.”

I put my card on the counter. “I’ll pay for a year right now.” He just looked at me sadly but still took and ran my card, handing it back with a printed receipt for room 10, a twelve-month lease. “T-thank you.” I walked out of the office and backover to the Lincoln, sliding back inside on the passenger side on autopilot. I sat there for a few seconds, expecting AJ to hop into the driver’s seat, but he never came. I slid over and drove myself home slowly.

When I got there, I turned off the car, opened the glove box to put the receipt inside, and I saw it when I did. I reached inside with trembling hands and grabbed the mask. Not just any mask, his half-skull mask. The mask he was wearing when I met him, the one he wore when I fell in love with him, the one he wore in every workout, every fight, when he walked down the street. This was as much a part of him as anything was, and he left it behind. AJ was gone. And with it, he took my heart and everything good in the world. I broke. Right there in the bench seat of his car, my entire world shattered as realization set in, and I lost track of everything.

I barely registered the sound of a bike pulling up next door. Then I heard a muffled voice that sounded so much like Jayden’s. A face appeared at the open door that looked like his, too. “Rosalie?! What’s wrong? Why are you in this car crying? Did he hurt you?!” Jayden sounded mad for some reason, but he should be sad, not mad.

Didn’t he know the person who made me happiest just disappeared and left me behind? I think I barely got out that very statement, and Jayden’s eyes softened as he reached in and I wrapped my arms around his neck, another round of tears hitting me. He just held me for a while until I stopped crying a bit. I must have ran out of tears because I didn't feel any better.

“Let’s get you inside, all right? Bonnie will order some food. It’s going to be fine, sis. You’ll be fine.” I followed him inside the house, where he walked me to my bedroom. Then, he walked into the bathroom, grabbing a towel and wetting it with warm water. He held it out to me, and then I scrubbed my face a bit and handed it back to him.

“I… I don’t… I don’t know what to do…” I said in a whisper, my voice shot from the crying. Jayden sat down on the bed next to me.

“I’ll fucking deck him in the face, Rosalie. I knew he was no good for you, I told you he would break your heart like this. I’m just fucking mad I was right. If he shows his face around here again, I’m going to kick his ass.” I chuckled a bit, even though I knew Jayden was dead serious. There was no way he would be able to beat AJ in a fight, and he knew it. AJ was taller and more muscular than Jayden, but the fact my brother would still try was just like him. Jayden took care of the people he loved in his own way.

“N-no, I don’t want you to hurt him. I just don’t know why Dad would have hired him to go away… Or why that meant we had to break up… but that’s what he did… he broke up with me… I… I…” I felt another tear travel down my cheek and Jayden pulled me in for another big hug.

“It’s fine, Rosalie. Don’t cry over him anymore. Fuck him. You were too good for him anyway. So don’t be sad, this has nothing to do with you doing anything wrong. Understand?” I nodded, but didn’t understand as I buried my face into his shirt, trying to stop the tears from falling. A knock on the doorframe had us pulling apart to see Jayden’s girlfriend Bonnie standing there holding a takeout bag.

“Sorry to interrupt this touching twin moment, but is anyone hungry? Because I’m starving,” she said, shaking the bag. Jayden stood up and tugged me with him.

“I know it’s 2 a.m. and you’re exhausted, sis, but you need to eat. Then you can go to bed, okay?” I nodded, and while Bonnie and Jayden ate most of the food, I just pushed the Thai food around on my plate, taking a bite here and there. After Jayden made sure I was going to bed and had water and a snack withme, they left and I laid in bed silently, no more tears left in me, just emptiness where I once felt so full and happy.

CHAPTER 39

ROSALIE

THREE MONTHS LATER

“Rosalie,honey, can you come up to my office for a few minutes?” I stopped setting up the paint shop, looking up the stairs onto the landing at my dad, and flashed him a quick smile.

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