Page 141 of Meet Me at the Metro

John lurches for the bathroom door, but I snatch the back of his shirt and drag him backward, stealing him of any opportunities to flee.

“Where do you think you’re going, huh? I’m not fucking finished.”

He tightens his reddened jaw as I push him back against the wall.

“What makes you think you have the right to put your hands on her like that?” He remains stubbornly silent, so I award him with another shove.“Answer me!”

“This has nothing to do with you,” he seethes. “This is between El and me.”

“The fuck it is!” I fist the collar of his shirt and jerk his face toward mine, baring my teeth as I assure him, “This is between you and me now, and when I’m done wringing you dry of your fucking arrogance, you won’t have the nerve in you to eventhinkabout her again. You understand?”

“Fuck you!” John swings an elbow at me, but I catch him by the wrist and give him another punishing blow that has his head bobbing back and his lip bleeding.

He spits the blood gathering along his teeth. “She’s mine!”

“She’s her own, you entitled piece of shit!”

I rear my arm back to send another punch, but John catches me off guard as he dodges the hit and kicks between my legs. A searing pain rips through my groin that has me doubling over. He uses his fleeting seconds to his advantage and shoves me before I regain my composure. My back meets the bathroom’s tiled floor with an impact forceful enough to have me coughing for air.

Nora rushes to my side, but I heave myself off the ground as quickly as John dashes through the bathroom door.

Nora yells as I bolt after him.“Theo! Wait!”

John’s racing for the courtyard outside, his swift, heavy footsteps echoing through the dimly lit corridor, but unfortunately for him, I’m much faster. I rush in front of him, enjoying the flash of fear on his face right before his body collides with mine.

“I. Said. I. Wasn’t. Fucking. Done. With. You.”

Adrenaline is the only thing steering my body when I shove him back and send him sprawling out against the floor. John grunts with pain but plasters a cocky, arrogant grin on his face as he looks up at me.

“She must be screwing you real good, huh?”

“What she does or doesn’t do isn’t any of your damn business.”

“That’s a yes,” he laughs bitterly. “She always had a way of pleasantly surprising me when the lights went out.”

“Watch your fucking mouth.”

He cocks his head challengingly as if he’s got nothing to lose. “My favorite was when she’d scream my name when I came at her from behind.”

Everything inside of me coils at the vulgar comment, and if he said it just to get a rise out of me, well then,mission fucking achieved.

“She told you to leave her the hell alone!” I shout, my voice shaking with rage.

“Theo, people are watching,” Nora breathes shakily behind me.

A door swings open farther down the hall, but I don’t have the time to pay it any mind as I take another dominative step toward him.

Let them all watch what I’m about to do to him.

“Was she not clear enough that she wantednothingto do with you when she blocked you on everything?”

A look of embarrassment flashes across John’s face, quickly crumbling his conceited facade.

I advance toward him and sneer, “It kills you, doesn’t it? To know that you don’t deserve her. To know you’ve lost any chance you once had to be with her.”

“Screw you. That’s not true! I just need to get you out of the way.”

“It is true,” I snap, inching closer. “She wants nothing to do with your pathetic arse, and it fucking kills you.She hates you.”

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