Page 142 of Meet Me at the Metro

Those words cut the final thread stitching him together. John launches off the floor and charges straight for me. He swings his fist, and when he lands, the aching blow along my cheekbone…

Utter hell breaks loose.

Nora’s shouting as I brutally tackle John to the ground. We wrestle for what feels like only a few seconds before I gain advantage and clamber over him. I’m grabbing him by the shirt before my mind has a second to contemplate, and by my next breath, I’ve slammed him back against the floor so forcefully he’s coughing for air.

“You’re done following her, you understand?”

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice the sea of bodies swiftly filing out of the dance studio and hurrying toward us, but I don’t let anything rip the center of my focus away from John.

I fist his shirt tighter.“Do you understand?”

“I’ll do whatever the hell I please until she’s willing to hear me out!”

“Wrong answer,” I growl, enjoying how his head rebounds as I strike him right in the nose. He lets out an agonized groan, and the crowd that’s suddenly gathered around us gasps as a stream of blood starts to rush from one of his nostrils.

“You’re going to stop harassing her!”

Another punch lands.

“Babe, please! Stop! You need to stop now!”

“You’re going to stop stalking her!” My fist meets the side of his head.“And if you ever lay a single damn finger on her ever ag—”

“Theo! Get off, mate!”Harvey shouts, breaking through the crowd to try and pry me off John. I pull out of his hold the second he grabs me as I’m overcome with another surge of anger.

“I. Will. Fucking. Ki—”

“Don’t, Theo!”

As I rear my fist back again, an arm wraps around my midsection so tightly I nearly heave. I’m forcefully yanked off of John before my knuckles get the pleasure of meeting his flesh again.

I jerk my head back and find that Connor's got a hold of me.“Let go of me!”

“Just calm down, alright?” Connor urges, struggling to keep hold of my writhing body. “Theo, calm down!”

“He had her pinned to the fucking ground!”

Connor’s eyes darken as they settle on John. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

Content barrels through me as I see the damage left behind in the shadows of my outrage and watch John stagger to stand. His nose is still bleeding, causing a stream of crimson to flow past his swollen, split bottom lip and drip onto the floor. His left eye is so swollen he can hardly blink.

All I can think about is how I wish I could have done more.

Connor snarls at John, “Have you had enough? Have you learned to leave her alone now?”

John slices his eyes toward Nora and pins her with a glare that has my heart pounding so loudly I can hardly discern the tumultuous conversations in the mass of people encircling us.

“These all your boyfriends,El?Have you become their little whore?”

“You fucking bastard!” My instincts strike me like a remorseless whip, and I barrel toward John like a bull, and he’s my target.

Harvey yanks Nora back as she rushes to intervene while Connor flies in front of me before I can get my hands on him again.

“No more! Look at him, Theo!Look. At. Him.He’ll be nothing but a bloody pulp!”

“What in the world is going on here?!”

The familiar, commanding female voice stops all of us in our tracks.

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