Page 32 of Feint

“Wherever you want, mama, I’ll take us there.” Kordell slid my plate in front of me and started to eat his food, smiling and staring at me the whole time.

“Santa Monica. Take me to the beach and the pier,” I said as I took a bite from my pancake.

“Done. We can head out after you get ready, mama.”

Kordell finished his food and then cleaned the kitchen as I took my time getting ready. I was going to make this makeup date a fun one even if, deep down, I was still a little shaken up by the way he had acted.

CHAPTER 14

ROSALIE

Walkingdown the stairs and making Kordell’s jaw literally drop was soooo worth the extra time to really put some effort into my makeup today. Usually, I just throw on my lip gloss and mascara. This time, I was wearing a light smoky eye, still mascara, but in place of my lip gloss, I was wearing a pretty mauve matte lipstick instead. I’d even spent two minutes throwing a few actual styled waves into my hair. I looked hot, and matching my fishnets with ripped jeans and a crop top really made the whole look come together.

“Holy fuck, mama. Gonna make my cock a permanent rod in my pants with you walking around looking like that. Maybe I shouldn’t let you out of the house today because I don’t know if I want to rip that many guys’ heads off from looking at you.” He rubbed his cock in his pants to the side, making the outline really show behind his tight motorcycle pants.

I smiled, acting innocent, and batted my eyelashes, doing a little circle. “Oh, I’m not that good-looking right now. I barely did anything different.”

“Don’t you start. You know exactly how hot you are right now. Don’t stand like that. Fuck! Your ass looks so good in those.” He walked over and ran his hands behind my back, slidthem down and grabbed my ass cheeks roughly, pulling me into him.

I held back a little moan at the feeling of my body grinding against his cock. “Okay, okay, I’ll take your word for it! But let’s get going. You aren’t going to get out of a date that easily, mister!” I giggled and walked over, and tugged on my Air Force 1s. They were the last piece of the look and brought it all together perfectly.

We walked outside, and it was the perfect LA day. It was hot, but not too hot. The sun was out, and the morning haze had burned off already. It would be a great day to go to the beach, and I was low-key ecstatic. Because today, Kordell was going to spoil me, not the other way around! I already knew a couple of the places I wanted to eat at and hang at. They were some of my favorite places since I was little, and dates there with AJ had shown me even more places in the area I wanted to go back to and visit.

We cruised easily on his bike, lazily taking the turns through the hills, nothing too fast today. Which let me take in all of the views as we rode through the city. There were a lot of nice cars out and about as well today. Geez, did everyone in the Hills get a new super car over the last week?

As we got closer to the pier, I became excited. I hadn’t been here in months. Almost a year, even. How could you live next to a California beach and not go for a year? I didn’t know, but I didn’t want that to happen again in the future—that was for sure!

We pulled into the parking lot below the pier, and I gently hopped off and handed Kordell my helmet. He secured both to his bike and then unzipped his jacket. Grabbing my hand in his, he started to lead me toward the stairs of the pier.

“Let’s head up here first, then the beachfront shops, all right, mama?” He smiled at me, and I crinkled my nose in response, making him laugh as I let him lead the way.

We made our way through the shops. Grabbing a small iced coffee to start, we tried on sunglasses, played some of the carnival games, sat on the benches, and watched the fishermen fish. It was a nice way to unwind after the intensity of last night and this morning. I just wanted to have fun. I wanted Kordell to have fun. I didn’t want to stay mad at him. I wanted him to know he could talk to me about anything. I would help out however I could if something was wrong. But I still felt like he kept me out of a lot of what he did for the clubhouse he was a part of. I wished he would trust I could handle it. I’ve been through a lot. I knew I seemed like I was Little Miss Kind and Innocent, but I could handle the hard stuff too.

Dad had once said to me, “You’ll go through a lot of hard things in life, Rosalie. A lot of it will be outside of your control. So, the only thing you can control when things happen is how you react to them and how it affects you, going forward. I’ve seen a lot of things no one should have to see. But I’ve chosen every day to not let it weigh me down to the point that I don’t enjoy every moment in life that I can. I have your mom as my amazing wife, and then we had you and your brother. I have a great couple of businesses. There is no reason for me to be stuck in bad memories. I choose to move forward and with a smile on my face.”

I had taken that talk to heart, so even if days were hard, I tried to smile, to think of good times. Even when the future had felt dark after AJ left, I’d tried to think of the things I still had that made me happy.

And that was why I was here on this date today, pushing forward from last night’s issues to make a better future together. No couple was perfect—I knew that. Kordell and I had to work through a few issues still, that’s all.

After the pier area, we walked down to wander through the shops on the beachfront. There were all kinds of things here:clothing shops, vape shops, food stands, bike rentals, beach rentals, skateboard shops, and my favorite little ice cream spot that AJ had introduced me to. There were also things on the beach, like a bunch of different ball courts to play on, a skate park, and an outside gym! It was all pretty awesome in my book. You saw all kinds of people here. It reminded me of working at the custom shop.

We started to pass the ice cream place, and I stopped and pointed at it. “Can we get some ice cream here? I could use something cold because it’s pretty warm out now.”

I smiled at Kordell and pursed my lips. He rolled his eyes and nodded.

“All right, chill out here, mama. I’ll be back.”

I gave him my ice cream flavor order and walked over to sit at the stairs by the outdoor gym.

That was when my heart jumped into my throat as I sawhimwalk to the weight rack and pick up two of the larger weights. He started to curl them, sweat coating his muscular arms that stood out of his sleeveless hoodie. The hood was thrown up over a dark ball cap. I struggled to breathe. It felt like all the air was sucked from the world in that instant. He continued to pump iron, his back toward me, and I took in the black joggers and white Air Force 1s on his feet.

I willed my body to move, and before I knew it, I was jogging across the pavement and into the gym area, weaving around the other members, my eyes focused only on him. He went and leaned forward, putting the weights down on the rack. I reached out and grabbed the back of his hoodie, my heart practically pounding out of my chest.

“AJ?!” I said loudly.

But when the man turned around and lifted his ball cap, my heart plummeted back into my chest. He wasn’t AJ. Not even close.

Heck, Rosalie, he doesn’t even have the same arm tattoos AJ had. You freaking stupid idiot.

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