Page 6 of Rocking for the Rebel (Rejected 3)

Chapter 4

Joey

“You know you don’t have to come to work with me every day, right?” I tell Lexi as she bends down, hooking a belt back in place.

Fuck, she’s sexy as hell in a pair of my oversized coveralls hanging tied from her waist, a black tank top, and her hot pink hair thrown up in a messy bun. She’s so tiny but has a smile that could rival the sun. She’s amazing, she’s perfect, and I’ve fallen so hard in love with her. If she agreed not to come to work with me, I’d quit just to be with her.

She’s been coming with me every day for three weeks now. We grab food afterward, then I take her back to her car at the school before heading home. I’m still trying to convince her to let me pick her up and drop her off, but her shit parents are too strict. She even asked me not to follow her to the house because she got in trouble the last time. That’s bullshit and makes me want to murder those fuckers. Who could get pissed at Lexi?

I know I used to rile her up on purpose just to get a reaction from her since she’s sexy as hell when her temper hits. She’s learned my game now and doesn’t let it rile her. I’m not about that anymore. Her smile is much better anyway, but I still like seeing her fire come out every once in a while.

“What? Afraid I’m showing you up? Maybe they’ll start paying me instead,” she says, smirking over at me. I smile back before replying.

“Baby, you bent over the hood of a car like that? I’ll give you every dime I have,” I say, not joking in the least. She laughs before finishing up, wiping her hands with a rag I hand her.

“Do we need to do anything in the back junkyard before we leave?” she asks, but I shake my head.

“Nah, Landon is supposed to be here in about thirty minutes for his shift. He’ll take care of everything else,” I tell her as we pull our coveralls off and head toward my bike. She climbs on the back with ease. She’s a natural, and I know she was always meant to be on the back of my bike.

Before I start the bike up, I turn to look at her, “Want to get something to eat?” I ask and see a shadow cross her face. Something has been up with her lately, but I can’t figure out what it is. She won’t talk to me about it, but even Rissa has noticed something and can’t get it out of her.

“No, I’m really tired. I think I just want to head home and faceplant into my bed,” she tells me, and I don’t want to force her, so I agree before starting my bike and taking off back to the school. As I pull into the parking lot, I notice a tow truck hauling Lexi’s car up. I shut off the bike before racing over.

“Hey, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I scream at the dude.

“Towing this car. It was reported stolen. Cops were called, but they just left,” the guy says, looking like he couldn’t care less about anything around him.

“That can’t be right. This is her car. Lexi…” I start to say, but when I turn to look for her, she still sitting on the back of my bike with a vacant look on her face. Fuck, I can’t deal with the car right now. I’ll take care of that later. Right now, I need to focus on Lexi and find out what the fuck is going on. I quickly make my way to her, touching the side of her face, turning her head to look at me.

“I can’t believe they would take this away from me, too. They truly are evil,” Lexi says, looking at me, well, more like looking past me.

“Baby, what do you mean? What’s going on?” I ask her.

“My parents. They tried to kidnap me and send me to that religious camp, so I ran. I paid for my car, it was mine. I worked for a whole year, playing my guitar and singing at random events just to have enough money for it,” she says, destroyed. She told me once that she sang and played, but I’ve still not heard her. I shake off that thought as she continues. “I ran. I packed the most important things in my life, and I ran. How could they take my car from me? What kind of parents could do that?” Then it hits me, and I’m fucking furious.

“Lexi, you ran away?” I ask, trying to stay calm. When she nods her head, I ask my next question. “When, when did you run away?”

She looks at me, finally registering it’s me, and then she closes her mouth tight. She didn’t mean to let all this slip, but it did, and now I want to know everything. She will tell me everything.

“When?” I growl. She narrows her eyes at me, the fire in them back, but when she goes to open her mouth to give me a smartass remark, I interrupt.

“Don’t. Don’t you fucking dare. I want to know how long you’ve been homeless and if you’ve been sleeping in your fucking car,” I grit out. She seems to deflate at my tone.

“Homeless? I never really let that sink in,” she says, sounding devastated. I want to hold her, to comfort her, it’s killing me not to, but I need my answers first.

“How long Lex?” I ask again.

“Three weeks. Right after the night you followed me home. Just, just leave me alone, Joey. I’ll figure out what to do about my car later. Please, just leave,” she tells me.

“Like hell,” I growl. I’m about to fucking flip my shit when she gets off my bike, taking off running through the parking lot.

I chase after her. Not knowing where the hell she’s going. If she hasn’t been staying in her car or with Rissa, then where the hell has she been staying? I turn the corner and see the door for the gym barely closing. I take it she went in there. I follow, trying to keep up with her, but this all starts feeling like déjà vu. We’ve done this before, and that’s when I realize… she’s been staying in the old concession kitchen. Mother. Fucker. I make it to the door I know she’s behind, but it’s locked. I pound on it, and if she doesn’t open it, I will kick it down.

“Lexi, open the fucking door,” I say, trying to calm myself. It’s not working.

“I said go away,” she calls from the other side. I can hear the fire in her voice, but I can also hear the tiny quake. She’s trying to hold in her tears.

“Open it, or I’m kicking it down,” I warn.

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