Page 34 of Tandem

As the hours ticked by, I finished prepping the donk for paint, had two other paint clients come by to pick up their cars, and managed to sneak over the tools I would need to attach the seats and dash into the other warehouse, without Dad noticing the last one, I might add. And then, it was time for us to pack up and I told Dad, “I love you and see you tomorrow!” And watched as he left, and AJ pulled into the alley moments later.

Sometimes, I wondered if AJ just stayed parked around the corner and intentionally waited for Dad to leave. He had still never met him as my boyfriend. AJ said he would in due time, but as we’d been together a couple of months now, I was hoping maybe they would have met tonight.

AJ parked his car and strolled over into the shop where I was waiting. He pulled me in to kiss me, and Reece peeked around the corner for a second, raised an eyebrow, and went back to putting away his tools. I giggled a bit, then leaned off of my tiptoes.

“Okay, so, I need to know what you want the primary color to be on top of the base coat.” I held his hand and walked over to the table I had all of the paint samples on. AJ looked around for a moment before picking this really pretty creamy off-white. “Ohhh! I love that one. Great choice!”

AJ talked to me about donk culture a bit, explaining he wanted it painted to show off a soda brand’s cherry flavor. So I sat there for a bit and sketched out a few ideas and we refined one of them a bit. At one point, Reece said bye, and I waved as I drew, not looking up. Drawing these kinds of things just made me so excited. Art was the only class I had perfect grades in. Once, I convinced my teacher that drawing and painting model cars and real cars should count to my credit, not just a bowl ofboring fruit. And as AJ approved the design, I got to work on spraying the donk.

The base coat didn’t take long, only a little more than an hour, to make sure the whole body was even and perfect. Then I turned on the drying room, and we walked over to the other warehouse door and went inside. AJ helped me get the seats and dash in, and finally, it was starting to look more and more like Dad’s car again. Then we had a fun little five-minute make-out break on the old seats before my phone alarm went off, meaning his donk was good with the first coat, so I regretfully pulled away with a sigh, and we took the tools back across the alley, and I put them away.

I checked on his donk and turned the dry process on again, a little shorter this time, just to make sure it was all good. “Want a drink?” I asked him, and AJ nodded.

“Sure, baby girl.” I walked him up the stairs to our loft chill area, where the offices were and some vending machines, too. I punched in the code for us to get some free sodas, the perks of being Dad’s daughter. And I turned around to see AJ comfortable on the sofa in the space, taking it all in.

The loft was such a dope place, I loved sitting up here. You could watch down below at all the people working, which I did a lot as a little kid. There was an old drum set and a new guitar and amp that Dad had to replace after the break-in. A beanbag in the corner where two walls of street art came together in a burst of amazing color. I strolled over and sat next to him, swinging my legs over his left leg. He rested his arm around my waist as I reached over to the coffee table, grabbing a binder off it.

“Oh! So there’s a couple of donks in here that Dad did over the last few years. Let me flip through and show you…” I start flipping through page after page of custom-built and painted cars, from drag builds to drift builds to a bunch of lowriders toregular sport and supercars. Some were Dad’s, but most of the cars were past clients’.

Suddenly, AJ’s hand stopped the page.

“Whose car was that one?” He pointed to Dad’s lowrider, the one that was stolen from our garage.

I subconsciously tucked my hair behind my ear. Thinking back, I had cut my hair shorter after that day, because next time, I wouldn’t have it blocking my view when someone strange was walking into a garage they weren’t supposed to. “That one was Dad’s… It was stolen from our garage a while back… We… never saw it again.” His body was suddenly tense as more of the memories of the man from that day entered my mind, and his fingers gripped the binder more.

“Why are you nervous, Rosalie?” AJ’s voice was all serious now. I glanced over at him, and his eyes, typically a gorgeous shade of amber, had turned almost black with how deep they were right now. It was so familiar—like I’d seen them before.

“U-umm… well… when the car got stolen… I was in the garage. And I was being stupid and I tried to stop him, and… I could have really gotten hurt because of that. It was super scary.” AJ kept watching me. Why was he staring at me like that? I continued on. “He pushed me hard against another car in the garage, and because of it, it’s a big reason Dad didn’t let me work at the customs after hours for a while. I’m fine, of course, but it was still super scary when it happened.”

Suddenly, my heart was racing. I could hear my heartbeat pounding in my ears as AJ let go of the binder and reached up toward me. I pulled back just slightly. Why did I just do that? But as his hand reached my shoulder, his fingers curled gently around the side, and my heart beat harder. I looked deep into his eyes, and then it hit me.

Those dark, almost black-red eyes were the same eyes belonging to the man that day. The guy who hurt me. All thereasons why I thought AJ felt so familiar when I first met him… My boyfriend was the guy who robbed my dad.

“Well, fuck.” I heard him say the words, but it took a moment to process them. They weren’t the kind of ‘well fuck, that sucks. I’m sorry it happened to you.' No, it was the kind of words a person uttered when they got caught red-handed, kinda like I did when I admitted to using Mom’s makeup to color all of my toy cars when I was six after Dad found the containers in my little garbage can. My body was shaking at his confirmation, and his fingers tightened again, and a little squeak of panic escaped.

“Shhhh. Don’t scream, Rosalie,” AJ muttered, his body slowly adjusting position as his other hand tightened around my waist. “I’m not going to hurt you, baby girl. Let me talk to you, explain it.”

I sat there trying to not fidget with my hands on the binder as my mind started to process the words he was saying. “I needed cash quickly… I was walking around the Hills because I know a lot of rich idiots leave nice-ass cars out front of their homes that can be easy to pick up. When I saw the garage open, I had to go for it. That car was worth major money. When I saw you, I couldn’t let you stop me at that point. If I had known it was you…” He paused and stared at me. “You understand I don’t want to hurt you right now, don’t you?” His voice was level, but his hands didn’t loosen their grip on my body, and I opened my mouth.

“I-it… it was… you?” I whispered, my hands dropping the binder, and I startled at the sound of it hitting the steel floor. At that moment, AJ pushed me backward and pinned me onto the couch under him. I almost screamed, but he cut it off with his own lips.

For a brief moment, I relaxed. His lips were on mine, and they desperately tried to reassure me I wasn’t in any danger. Only his body was still tense. I laid there as he continued to kissme. My hands went to his chest and I pushed slightly. He shifted back a bit, looking down at me with those dark, cold eyes.

I began to tear up. “I… I don’t know how I feel right now, AJ.” I watched an emotion I couldn't quite pinpoint flash just for a moment across his face before it was replaced with the stone-cold look again.

“Look, just relax. Let’s go back to a few minutes before we saw that car photo.” AJ’s voice was so reassuring, and the way his hands moved on my hips had my mind blanking for a second before I asked.

“So you didn’t start dating me because you knew I was the girl from back then?” I asked quietly, my nerves slowly ramping up again. What if this was all some lie?

AJ sighed. His expression changed, and I could tell he was annoyed. “Fuck, I had no clue that was you until I saw that binder photo. I can’t go back and change what happened, but I am not the same man as I was, Rosalie. At least, not in that way.” I laid there, still not fully relaxed. Confused, I pushed again.

“I just don’t understand. How did younotknow? I don’t look much different now, just my hair, really…” He just stared back at me as I sat up a bit on my elbows, scooting out from under him slightly. I tucked my knees to my chest and looked at him, my fingers gripping my calves.

“Baby girl, you look VERY different now from back then. Your body is a woman’s body now. Fuck, your tits and ass alone have gotten at least a size bigger, and your face is sexy as fuck. It just didn’t click you were the same girl back then.” AJ cocked his head at me, giving me an exasperated look.

I had to ask, had to be sure. “A-are you only with me to… to… to steal more of my dad’s cars?” I didn’t know what I was expecting AJ to say, but it wasn’t what he responded with.

AJ groaned, then ran his fingers through his hair before fixing his hat in place. “Fuck, if I was just here for your dad’scars, do you think it would have taken this long? No fucking offense, but I could have had any of them on that second date. Shit, I probably could have fucked you on the first one and did it then,” he snapped at me.

---