Page 143 of Meet Me at the Metro

Kimberley parts through the multitude of students gathered watching, and everything grows grimly quiet. Her jaw is on the floor as she takes in the five of us: Harvey shielding Nora, Connor standing as a barrier in front of me, John and his bloodied face, and me, locked tight in a fighting stance. Her question is answered with nothing but distant whispers and the steady shuffle of fleeing bystanders as the crowd around us swiftly dissipates.

“Someone better start talking,” she warns, her hazel eyes darting mostly between Connor and me.“Now.”

“This pathetic wanker has learned to leave Nora the fuck alone. That’s what happened.”

“My God,”Kimberley sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose as she stares at the remains of our fight. John looks utterly wrecked, and she shakes her head in disbelief. “You’ve made a bloody mess. That’s what happened.”

“Do you want me to grab someone, Mrs. Pearson?” someone further down the hallway uselessly suggests.

“No!”she snaps. “I’ve got it handled. Tell them to continue with auditions.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” she firmly replies. “Let’s go. All five of you. Administration office, now.”

Kimberley’s office door slams behind me, trapping Nora, Harvey, Connor, John, and me in the confines of its suffocating four walls. Harvey and Connor are wedged between John and me, the only physical things standing in the way of me getting my hands on him again.

And boy, do I want to get my bloody hands on him again.

I pull Nora closer, nuzzling her trembling body into the crook of my arm and shielding her from having to look at John’s pathetic arse.

He doesn’t get the privilege of even looking at her anymore—not if I have any say in the matter.

Kimberley’s heels clack against the floor as she moves toward her desk. She grabs a box of tissues and disparagingly tosses them onto John’s lap. The second he presses a handful of them against his nose, a dark crimson is soaking through.

“Are you guys insane?! Starting a fight like that on campus. Hell, Theo, you could have seriously injured him.”

“He’s been stalking her, Mum,” Connor says. “Harassing her. Following her around campus.”

I finally find it in me to really look at him since our feud at dinner.

There was no fucking clue where the two of us stood, but I appreciate the way he’s taking up for Nora right now.

“He’s gone beyond that,” I growl, narrowing my eyes at John’s slumped body in the office chair. “Why don’t you tell everyone here about how you’ve followed her to her flat? Or how you had her pinned to the fucking ground!”

John doesn’t utter a single word back—he’s completely silent.

“Ellie, is this true?” Nora nods, and Kim releases a long exhale. “And who exactly ishe?”

“I’m her boyfriend.”

“You are not!” Nora snaps, finally having enough. “You are nothing to me anymore.Nothing!”

“So he’s your ex, then?”

“Yes. I broke things off months ago, but he can’t seem to get that through his thick skull.”

“Tell them why that is,” John retaliates. “Explain exactly why you want to break things off.”

“Because you cheated—”

“No, no, no,” he scornfully laughs, shaking his head with ridicule. “Therealreason—the truth.You just found someone else to screw.”

Harvey’s hand is a warning against my chest as I move. His calm voice keeps me still as he tells Kimberley, “This has been an ongoing issue, Mrs. Pearson. She’s made a report to the police and everything.”

John’s jaw drops to the floor, face growing ghastly white. “You what?”

“Don’t act fucking surprised. She did what we need to do right now,” I growl. “Let’s see what a tough boy you are when you’ve got a restraining order on your arse and get kicked out of Uni.”

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