Page 43 of The Other Side of Together

Her folded hands grip each other like my words hurt when they hit, and my insides curl away from the cruelty Ihurled at her. I close my eyes and formulate an apology, but she stands.

“I want something different for you, too.” Her words huddle behind her as she walks out of my room and closes the door, leaving me alone to wonder what she meant. But her words don’t matter. Maybe she’s stuck, but I don’t have to be. I still get a choice, and I choose Marcus.

CHAPTER 16

Now I’ve done it. Crossed some line in my head and somewhere near my heart. Slammed the door on what I used to think and know and barged through the forbidden portal into Mei Land. All new territory and I’mallin. So, so far in.

The yellow light glowing from building windows looks like evil Halloween pumpkins, scowling at me. “You’re such a liar, just like your mom.” I look away ‘cause I don’t want guilt smothering all this goodness happening inside me right now. Big win at the game. Big win with Mei. Big win with my self-control, though I wouldn’t mind losing that. I’ve got it bad for Mei but there’s nothing bad about it.

When I saw her in the stadium, my heart did this thing it’s never done before. Like it was on a half-pipe doing 360s. And winning my game wasn’t even close to as exciting as seeing her. Not sure what Dad’s talking about, because nothing in my life so far has felt as good as Mei does. He just forgot. Or my mom wasn’t as cool as Mei. Something inside me swears I’ve always known Mei was out there and was just waiting for me to find her.

I grip my backpack straps and smile as I turn out of heralley, but I don’t wanna wait at the crosswalk; gotta burn this extra energy Mei pumped into me. Gotta control this smile before Dad notices the Mei all over it. He won’t be home until at least 2 AM, but…it could take that long to tame it, especially if she meets me tonight. I glance at my phone. She hasn’t responded, but she will, and then…two more hours in Meiland.

I call her again, and it goes straight to voicemail, but a text beeps:

Mei: I’ll be there.

I practically skim the asphalt, my smile taking up all the space on my face and crowding the empty sidewalks and streets.

I head behind my building to wait for Mei and figure out where we can go be invisible together when two guys cut across the intersection toward me. When I make eye contact, they walk faster and my heart thuds, pounding out a warning.

One of them calls to me to stop but my brain yells for me to run. I toss my bags aside for later and take off, even though I have no clue why I’m running from a huge dude and one half my size.

Footsteps slap behind me, closer, I pick up speed, glance over my shoulder just as Small Guy grabs the back of my neck.

I swear and twist, throwing elbows, but Small Guy slows me down and Extra Large pins my arms behind my back, shoving me against a wall.

“Stay away from her,” he growls into my ear, and I freak, wrenching my arms free. He goes down and I rush Small Guy, fear shoving hot energy through me. I plow into him, knocking him to the ground and throwing punches that hit air because Extra Large yanks my hoodie from behind. Hehauls me to my feet, then shoves me against a metal service door, his face in mine.

“You have no idea what you’re dealing with,” Extra Large growls and I shove him, but his chest is double mine, his giant gut like an anchor. He grabs my collar and twists until I’m choking. Over his shoulder, I see Small Guy scramble to his feet and sprint toward us as I thrash, but Extra Large flings me sideways, and my ribs connect with a metal railing.

Rage erupts inside me, flowing into my legs. I hurl myself at him, shove him against a garage door, white knuckles gripping his collar as I slam his head back against the metal, my face so close to his I can smell the weed coming out his pores. “Who are you?” My spit lands on his face and he flinches, but Small Guy grabs me from behind and throws me to the ground. Extra Large barrels toward me, so I scramble up and swing, slamming my fist into his face.

A growl erupts from his bloody mouth before he rushes me, throwing me against a garbage can that launches into the middle of the alley with a boom.

I skid across the sidewalk, anger sloshing in my chest and through my veins, exploding from my mouth. Spitting blood on the sidewalk, I push to my feet, hurl myself into his stomach, propel him backward into a lamp post. He drops and yanks me down with him but Small Guy’s standing over me, his face in mine.

“If you ignore this friendly warning,” he pants, “you won’t walk away next time.”

I grab his leg and twist, but he grips my arms as he goes down, and we roll, kicking a row of garbage cans at the curb, grunts and swear words echoing off metal until Extra Large kicks me. Sharp, shooting pain bursts in my ribs and I curl into the gutter when someone yells my name.

“Marcus!”

Frantic.

Fuzzy along the edge.

Wakes up my stunned senses.

Mei.

Rolling to my side, I curse to the sidewalk where I rest my forehead before slapping my palms against the cold cement and getting to my feet.

Mei shoves Small Guy in the chest while he holds her phone above his head.

“What are you doing?” she screams in his face, slapping him over and over until Extra Large grabs her.

Anger rockets out of my buzzing pain, sound roars back into my ears, and holding my ribs, I launch myself toward them.

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