“This is my fault. Just let me handle it.” He didn’t wait around for my response. He climbed out and directed the driver where to leave the car. I saw him hand the guy some money and then we left the lot, speeding down the road going about twenty miles over the speed limit. As we whisked past the other cars I realized that we were still not going in the direction of my house.
When we finally slowed down, we pulled up in front of a huge blue house on a secluded street. The porch light was on, but the inside of the house was dark. It took me a minute to realize that Leila’s car was parked in the driveway. AJ jumped out of the car without saying one word to me. He walked up to the door, ignored the doorbell and banged on the door forcefully with his fist. A tall thin red haired man answered with a curious look on his face. AJ was calm at first as he spoke, but that quickly changed. The man was apparently not cooperating with him, so he was yelling and his stance was defensive. After a few seconds, AJ pushed past the man and disappeared inside the house with the man following closely behind.
I wasn’t sure whether I should get out or stay in the car where it was safe. I undid my seatbelt and waited a minute before deciding to go after him. As soon as I did, I looked up again and AJ was on his way back to the car. His expression had changed. He was smiling a sinister smile that I didn’t understand. The man was following behind him yelling, but AJ wasn’t affected. When he flung the car door open, I could hear the man shouting, “Who do you think you are? I’m gonna call the police! Put your hands on her again and I swear you’ll spend the rest of your life behind bars!” AJ slammed the door shut ignoring the man’s threats and continued to smile. I stared at him in shock.
“Did you hit her?” I asked in a shrill voice. I wasn’t totally sure that she didn’t deserve it, but the thought unnerved me a bit.
He started laughing when he responded. “No, I didn’t hit her.”
“Then what’d you do? What was he talking about?”
“I just wanted her to get the message.”
At an intentionally slow pace, I asked. “What….did you….do?”
“Just slammed her against the wall and warned her. Her dad’s over exaggerating,” he said calmly.
“But we don’t even know if she did it, AJ!”
He rolled his eyes. “Of course she did it. Nobody else’s that stupid.” AJ’s mood was lighter now, casual even. He reached over and placed his hand on my thigh. “Why don’t you call your mom and tell her that you’re spending the night with Deanna again, so you don’t have to explain about the car?”
I was still in shock that he’d barged into Leila’s house like that, so I responded late. “I’ll call Deanna first to make sure her parents don’t care,” I replied as I reached for my phone.
He laughed at my naivety. “No, you’re not actually going to stay with Deanna……you’re staying with me.” His smile widened exposing his brilliantly white teeth. How did he plan to get away with that under his parent’s roof? Were they really that laid back that they wouldn’t care?
I’m sure my expression reflected my confusion. “But won’t your parents mind if I……”
He cut me off mid sentence. “They’ll never even know you’re there. We’ll stay in the guesthouse. Then I’ll go handle the car situation in the morning, so your parents won’t have to know anything.”