Page 18 of Shifting Gears

Since that nightwith Raven at the bar, everything had gone back to being the same fucking day-to-day bullshit. Minus an occasional text with her. Texts like the ones I’d been exchanging with her today.

Raven

Hey, Hero. How are you doing today?

AJ

Would be doing a lot better if you swung by again.

Raven

As tempting as that is, you know I can’t.

AJ

If that changes, you know where I live. *smirking emoji*

That was all our messages were. Her checking in on me, and I’d reply. She might flirt some days, and I’d always offer thesame thing. But she never took me up on the offer, not after the first night we’d met. It looked like, today, she wouldn’t be either.

I’d been in this country almost half of a year now, and shit wasn’t looking up. The money I had from Kayden was all gone. I hadn’t gotten laid since that night, and I still didn’t have my own ride. Walking everywhere or taking a bus was getting pretty old.

Takumi had said if I found a car, I could keep it in one of the empty areas in the side shop, but that was it. No offer to help me find a car, and I spent the money he paid me almost as fast as I got it. So, buying one outright didn’t seem like an option.

Maybe it was time to borrow some wheels, ones I didn’t plan on shipping over to Kayden.

If lowriders were a thing over here, I’d have gotten one in a heartbeat. But there was no chance of that happening. Between working for Takumi and doing my side hustles with Ken, I’d gone through a few cars that I wouldn’t mind driving, but one kept sticking out above the rest. The Nissan Silvia, preferably an older S14 model.

But wanting one and finding one to boost on the streets of Japan were two separate issues. I had been looking for one for weeks now and was unlucky as fuck. They were either 2000s models or parked in garages behind locked gates with security cameras.

My luck was about to change though. I could feel it.

Could also be the fact that one of the biggest car meets of the year was about to happen tonight. I’d been doing some digging, and the amount of people and cars here would provide the perfect opportunity for me to get away with a car of my choosing.

At least, that was the goal.

I glanced at the clock in the shop. Only another hour to go before we closed up shop and I could head out. When you had to take three different bus routes to get to your destination, it took a long time to get to where you wanted to go.

I finished stacking new tires on the tire racks, then went over to Minato. He was struggling with an engine block, so I helped get it on a lift, and we pulled it out of the car and had it on his workbench for the next day right as the clock hit six.

I exchanged nods with the guys as we locked up, and they left. I went upstairs to my loft to grab my brass knuckles and the slim jim I had hidden away. I tucked them both in my clothes, and then I left the shop and hopped on the first bus. It was a forty-minute ride to the next one. I pulled out my earbuds and popped them in, turned my phone to my old-school hip-hop mix, and kicked back in the seat as Biggie’s “Big Poppa” played.

I guessed you could always take me outta LA, but you could never take LA outta me. I tried not to regret my decision to leave, and anytime doubt started creeping in, I remembered why.

Rosalie.

I hadn’t checked on her socials since Billy had told me she was doing fine, and I shouldn’t do it now. I knew it was a bad idea, but that didn’t stop me from typing her name on the social app and clicking the link to her main social.

I was surprised to see it didn’t look like it used to. Gone were the bright photos of cars being painted, photos of her hanging with her friends, or just the silly photos of herself she used to post. Instead, a darker filter was over each photo, dulling the colors to be more one note across the board. Instead of photos with her friends, there were photos of her and some guy, but she never showed his face. Any of the photos of her were more abstract, showing only her hand holding something or her feet standing next to a car bumper.

What the fuck is going on?

I kept digging. It made my blood boil to see her in the photos with the guy. He rode sport bikes, and it looked like there might be a patch on the back, but there was never a clear photo of it.She’d changed her bio by removing my name and putting aKand a heart next to it.

A part of me wanted to unblock her, ask her what the fuck was going on because it was clear something had changed about her. But what good would that do? Shit, did I even have a right to worry about her anymore at this point?

It’s been half a year. She moved on. Why can’t you?

Because, as much as I hated to admit it, there were still feelings there. I kept them shoved down and made myself be as busy as I could to help them stay there, but at the end of the day, I still had feelings for her.

---