Page 93 of Shifting Gears

He looked over at me. I could tell he was confused about my question because I never offered for him to do stuff like this. It was always sparring, or sparring and then sex, or sparring and going to have something to eat. We didn’t do late walks with the moon shining down on us.

But it was time to have this talk.

For both of our sakes.

He followed me down the path as it wound to the back of our property, where a decent-sized koi pond was. I took a seat on the bench we had by the water, and AJ sat down next to me.

“I want to talk to you about Rosalie,” I said.

AJ’s eyes snapped to mine, and as the smirk left his face, I knew he could tell this would not be a simple conversation.

CHAPTER 30

AJ

Fuck.

I stared back at Sydney. The mention of Rosalie’s name dragging me right back to a place I’d been trying to get out of for months now.

It was actually kind of funny. They said time was supposed to numb shit like this. But it hadn’t.

Not with Rosalie.

Even when I pretended I didn’t care or tried to keep myself busy so I didn’t let my thoughts linger about her for too long, she still crossed my mind.

All the times we had shared in the front seat of my lowrider, how her hair looked in the sunlight, the way her laugh carried itself around the room. How she controlled her car and gave every man she raced against a run for their money.

I missed her every damn day.

I missed her voice. I missed the way she had said my name, always so sweet. The way her blue eyes lit up when she talked about painting cars. How she looked at me when she was in my arms, like she trusted me with her whole damn heart.

Being with Rosalie had made me want to be a better man—in a lot of ways.

Hell, sometimes, I even caught myself thinking about stupid shit I never thought I’d have. A place to call home and someone to come back to.

Someone who actually gave a damn aboutme.

When I was with her, I’d thought maybe that there was more to life than just where I had come from.

But it’d been too much to hope for. In the end, I’d only dragged her down by letting her into my life.

“There isn’t much to talk about,” I grumbled under my breath.

She folded her arms over her chest, not believing a word I’d said.

“Nope. It’s not that simple. I know she means more to you than you keep trying to lead on. AJ, you’re here in Japan, but your mind isn’t. I see you check her profile sometimes. I see the look on your face when you scroll through your pictures. You miss her,” Sydney said.

“It doesn’t matter. She’s moved on,” I said, crossing my ankles and shoving my hands into my hoodie pocket. I grabbed my phone and dragged it out.

She has photos with the fucker to prove it,I thought as I stared at the black screen.

“You don’t know that for sure. And you still won’t until you talk to her.” Sydney turned to face me, her eyes dead serious.

“Unblock her,” Sydney said.

I looked down at my phone in my hand. A thousand things were running through my mind at that moment, but I knew she was right. It was time to open myself up to see if Rosalie had truly moved on, like her social showed. Or was she in the same headspace as me?

Before I could change my mind, I clicked her profile and hit Unblock.

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