Wrong Side of Town

by Komal Kant

  Three snickered. “She’d be good to eat.”

  I shot him a glare but he only grinned back at me. “You totally wanna do her, Vin. Admit it. That’s why you get all protective over her. You don’t do that with other girls, just her.”

  When I didn’t say anything, Three kept on talking. “She’s something else though, and man can she cook.”

  I knew what he was trying to do. He was trying to get me to admit how I felt about Estella, but that wasn’t going to happen. I would never admit it to him, to anyone, that she’d been on my mind all day. I’d never admit that it’d killed me not seeing her today, but I’d decided that in order to stop thinking about her, I’d have to stop seeing her, too.

  I’d never forget the look on her face when I’d called her desperate. It’d completely torn me apart. I didn’t want to care about her; I was trying to avoid her as much as I could, but for some reason I did care.

  As hard as I tried, I couldn’t give her up.

  But I had to try. For my fucking sanity, I had to try.

  “I don’t give a shit if she can cook.” I stood up and drained the rest of my beer. Then I walked over to the bunch of girls who were crowding around Ryder. None of these girls was her; they would never be good enough, but one of them would have to do.

  If I didn’t get her out of my system, she was going to drive me insane.

  The girl closest to me had a really nice ass and I grabbed it. She let out a squeal and turned around, her face lighting up when she caught sight of me.

  “Vincent! You’re so bad.” Her tone was flirtatious as she tilted her head to the side, looking at me like she couldn’t wait to rip my clothes off.

  I grabbed her by the waist and pulled her towards me, not caring who saw us. “Do you wanna see how bad I can really be?”

  From the way her lips curved up into a smile, I knew she wanted me. Her eyes weren’t the right color, her hair was too short, and she was curvy, but she would do for tonight.

  Tonight I needed to forget about a girl. I needed to forget about a girl who had the power to bring me to my knees and destroy me.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Estella

  On Monday night, I found myself finishing up early and heading outside twenty minutes before Savannah was due to pick me up.

  I was glad we’d finished up early tonight because my head hadn’t been focused on my work at all; it’d been somewhere else, distracting me from doing my job. Being around people tonight had suffocated my thoughts, and I’d rushed to finish so I could escape into the cold November night.

  I’d just have to brave the next twenty minutes until Savannah got here, but I didn’t mind so much. The freezing air against my face was sobering, and despite my best efforts to stay warm, a chill seeped into my skin.

  My mind drifted to thoughts of the Maddens, even though I was desperately trying not to think about them. I was supposed to have a tutoring session with Dylan tomorrow, and I wasn’t sure what the arrangements were. I’d kind of expected Dylan to call like he had on Thursday, but so far I’d heard nothing.

  Was I still banned from their house? Were we going to meet at the library like last time? Was I even still Dylan’s tutor?

  I honestly had no idea what the circumstances were anymore, but I felt obligated to find out. I really didn’t want to call Vincent and ask, just in case he thought I was desperate, but I had to do it for Dylan. Someone had to be the mature one here and that had to be me. This was my job after all and I depended on that money.

  But it wasn’t just about the money. Dylan had a place in my heart and I couldn’t stand to disappoint him. Maybe Vincent didn’t mind disappointing his brother, but I did.

  Reluctantly, I dialed Vincent’s number and waited for him to answer. The phone rang for a long time, and I wondered if Vincent had seen my number and didn’t want to answer.

  Then the line connected. “Yeah?”

  The sound of his voice started up a thrumming in my chest that travelled through my entire body. It was hard not to be affected by Vincent. I had let him in and now I couldn’t push him out.

  Taking a deep breath, I tried to get my emotions under control. I couldn’t care about a guy who was so cold towards me. I had to match his attitude; that was the only way to survive in his world.

  “I’m calling to ask about my tutoring lesson with Dylan tomorrow.” I was proud of how detached I sounded, but then I frowned. What was happening to me? I was trying to be something I wasn’t because of a guy. That wasn’t right either.

  “What about it?” he snapped.

  Sighing, I leaned against the wall in defeat. My resolve to be cold had lasted a few seconds at best. This wasn’t me. I wasn’t uncaring like him. Caring about everyone else was who I was. I wasn’t going to change myself just so I could compete with Vincent in a stupid game about who was most uncaring.

  No. I wouldn’t put myself through that.

  The sound of approaching footsteps made me straighten up and survey the dark street. This night reminded me of the night I’d first met Vincent in the same exact place. A part of me was hoping that the footsteps belonged to him, but that was just me being foolish.

  “Well, it’s just that tomorrow is Tuesday and I hadn’t heard from…” I trailed off as a figure appeared out of the darkness.

  Gripping my bag tighter, I held my breath as the figure approached me. One thing I knew for sure; it wasn’t Vincent. This man was shorter with lighter hair, and he definitely didn’t have the same effect on me that Vincent did.

  I looked pointedly in the other direction, hoping he’d ignore me and continue walking, but when he didn’t pass me by, I turned back to find him standing right beside me. There was a look on his face like he’d just won a prize, and fear settled into me, squeezing my heart so tight that I felt like I was going to choke.

  “C-can I help you?” I asked, hoping he just needed directions or the time.

  “Maybe,” he said, with an unpleasant sneer on his face. “It depends on whether or not you were the girl with Vincent last week.”

  This was about Vincent? What the heck was going on?

  “I…uh.” There were alarms ringing in my head, warning me not to give away any information. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

  “Don’t fucking lie to me.” The guy suddenly pulled out a knife and pressed it against my throat. The cold metal sliced into my skin, and pain and fear raced through me.

  I wanted to scream, I wanted to push him away, but fear had immobilized me. My hand went limp, and the phone slipped from my fingers and fell onto the ground.

  “You’re the girl I saw with him last week. You were standing right here and he was holding your hand.”

  My mind went blank and I forgot how to speak. Panic was strangling me as my insides screamed for help. But there was no one to help me. I was all alone.

  My eyes were fixed firmly on the knife that he held in front of me. Yes, I was terrified beyond words, but I also didn’t want to let him win. I was tired of men treating me however they liked and getting me to do what they wanted through intimidation.

  It didn’t matter that he held a knife to my throat; I was already dead inside. I had been dead for a long time now. What I refused to give up was my dignity. This man was not going to get the better of me. He would not win.

  Instead of shrinking away, I straightened up and fixed him with a look of defiance that made him stare at me in surprise and then burst into laughter.

  “Well, I can see why he likes you.” He flicked a strand of hair out of my face. “You’re easy on the eyes and you’ve got balls. More balls than those Maddens got. See, there’s one thing I know about Vincent Madden; he doesn’t hold hands with girls. So what I wanna know is what makes you so different?”

  When he got no answer, he stuck the knife back in his pocket and grabbed me by the shoulders. His blue eyes had taken on a sinister glint. “Okay, I get it. You’re upset with me. I’m sorry I got angry and lost control.
It’s just I get angry when people lie to me. Let me start again; I’m Conor and I’m in the Allbrook gang. Now, the thing is, Vincent’s busted up a lot of our guys and we’re losing money. Troy doesn’t like it when we lose money.”

  My brow creased as Conor said all this. Who was this Troy person? And why was Vincent beating up guys and making the Allbrook gang lose money? None of this was making any sense to me.

  “I don’t know anything about that,” I managed to say, despite the raw, arid feeling in my throat.

  A cruel smile curled around Conor’s mouth. “That’s okay; I just need you to give Vincent a message. Tell him that he needs to lose the next fight or things are gonna get ugly. Tell him that it’s not hard for me to get to the things that are important to him.” Conor leaned in and brushed his lips against mine. I let out a cry of outrage which only made him laugh. “See ya around, beautiful. If you ever get sick of doing a Madden, I’m more than happy to have you in my bed.”

  Laughing, he shoved me hard against the wall. The impact of my back against the bricks sent a sharp stab of pain shooting through me, and tears pricked my eyes. Frozen in fear, I watched Conor saunter away.

  Several long minutes passed before my fear began to fade away and I felt certain he wasn’t coming back. Finally, with shaky fingers, I reached down and picked up the discarded phone and pressed it to my ear.

  “Stelle! Stelle! What the hell is going on?” Vincent’s voice was urgent on the other end of the line, the indifference gone from his tone. Now he sounded genuinely scared. “Shit, Stelle! Say something! Is he gone?”

  “Yes,” I managed to say.

  My brain felt fuzzy, and the skin around my neck was where the knife had sliced into was sore. There wasn’t any blood, but the skin still seared when I touched it. An itch was starting up on my left arm, exactly where my scar was, and I subconsciously starting rubbing it against the side of my leg.

  “Listen to me carefully. I want you to go next door to the auto shop. Three should still be there. Stay with him until I get there, okay?”

  “My sister’s coming to get me,” I choked out. If I wasn’t here when Savannah came to pick me up, she’d get worried.

  “Tell her to meet you at the auto shop. I’ll be there soon, Stelle. Just go wait for me there. Please.” There was an edge of desperation in his voice, and I found myself nodding.

  “Okay.”

  When Vincent hung up, I typed out a quick text message to Savannah telling her where I’d be. Once I hit ‘send’, I urged my feet to hurry next door to the auto shop. As I rounded the corner, I slammed into someone and let out a scream, afraid that Conor had doubled back somehow.

  “Shit, Estella!” The voice was familiar, and blinking away the blur in my eyes, I saw that Three was reaching out to steady me. “It’s okay, it’s just me. Vincent told me what happened. C’mon, let me take you inside.”

  Three’s firm hand was on my back, guiding me around the corner and towards the auto shop. My mind was racing, and I barely managed to keep my shaky legs from stumbling over the sidewalk. Relief washed over me when the light from the auto shop greeted me. Three took me inside and sat me down in a chair.

  “Shit, you’re shaking real bad.” Three’s voice sounded far away, like it was coming from another room. “Did he hurt you?”

  Somehow, I managed to shake my head. My head was all fuzzy and my thoughts were scattered. Snippets of my confrontation with Conor were drifting in and out of my head. I wanted to get his face out of my mind. I wanted to forget the cold gleam in his eyes as he held the knife to my throat. I’d been able to show some bravado—which made me proud of myself—but inside I was crumbling away. The strings that held me together were slowly coming undone.

  Then all of a sudden someone was shaking me and his voice brought me back to life. “Stelle! Look at me!”

  My eyes snapped open and all I could see was Vincent’s face in my vision. There was a crease in his brow that gave away how worried he was for me. For a second I just let myself drown in the depths of his dark eyes. That darkness was reassuring; it made me feel safe. It was familiar. It was something that the broken part of me desperately held onto.

  Then all of a sudden, two hands grabbed the sides of my face and I resurfaced.

  “Stelle, are you okay?” Vincent’s voice was urgent, his eyes probing as they searched my face for any signs of harm.

  I nodded. “Yes, I’m fine. He held a knife to my throat.”

  The hands dropped from my face and Vincent placed his fingers on my chin and gently raised my head. I could sense his eyes on the small cut that I knew was on my neck. I could still feel it stinging.

  “Does it hurt?” His voice was sounded tense. “Did he cut you anywhere else?”

  “No, that’s the only place,” I said, chewing my lip as Conor’s words came back to me. “He said something about a fight. You heard him, didn’t you? What was he talking about? What fight? Why is the Allbrook gang losing money?”

  Vincent didn’t answer me straight away. Instead he moved over to where Three was standing at a distance. “Go outside and wait for her sister.”

  Three nodded and left us alone. Vincent stood still for such a long time that I finally rose to my feet. He seemed startled and hurried to me, grasping my arms as though I was an invalid who couldn’t walk.

  Despite the events of the night, it annoyed me that all of a sudden he was so concerned about me when he’d told me only last week that I meant nothing to him. I couldn’t stand the games he played with me. I didn’t need this uncertainty in my life.

  “Let go of me!” I snapped, my fear and frustration channeling into anger directed at Vincent.

  It was because of him that a member of the Allbrook gang had held a knife to my throat. It was because of him that my heart didn’t know what to feel. It was because of him that I’d been miserable this past week.

  Vincent’s eyes widened and his arms went slack as they released me. “Stelle, I want to tell you what’s going on. I want to keep you safe.”

  “No!” My voice shook as I jabbed him hard in the chest. “I am not listening to you anymore! You can’t just play with my emotions all the time. I’ve been nothing but polite to you since I started tutoring Dylan, but you can’t even show me a little respect and be civil towards me. You have no right to keep me safe. I mean nothing to you.”

  The cold mask that Vincent had always worn around me completely shattered. His brow was pinched together like I’d said something to seriously hurt him. It was then that I realized that Vincent’s mask had been made from fragile glass. Now it was broken.

  “I shouldn’t have said that,” he said, his voice low. “I was pissed off when I said that, but I still shouldn’t have said it. I should’ve called you to explain.”

  My chest was heaving from my outburst, but the anger was fading away now. My emotions were a complete train wreck; I was a complete train wreck. I felt completely depleted. There was no fight left in me anymore.

  “Then explain,” I said, my voice heavy with defeat.

  The sooner I knew what was going on, the better. I couldn’t say that the sooner I knew what was going on, the sooner I could return to my life because my life was a lot worse. Being swept up in Vincent’s world made me forget about my own problems. And my world didn’t have Dylan in it. Or Vincent.

  Relief flitted across his face and his shoulders relaxed. Those dark eyes of his focused on me, pinning me to one place. “We participate in amateur fights. It started as a thing between us and the Allbrooks, but it’s turned into a huge deal now. There’s a lot of money involved in the fights and everyone likes to play dirty.”

  I slowly nodded, realizing that that’s what Conor had been talking about. He had said something about Vincent losing them money. “I don’t understand why he would come after me. I have nothing to do with this.”

  Vincent’s jaw tensed. “I heard what he said. He saw us together and he thinks that you’re my girlfriend, that you mean somethi
ng to me. He tried to use you to get to me.”

  “But I don’t mean anything to you,” I choked out. “He’s got the wrong person.”

  Vincent turned away from me, once again completely blocking me out. He had this way of showing his vulnerable side, but then just as quickly he would put his shield back up again.

  Just then, Three ran back in, locking eyes with me. “Your sister’s here, but she refuses to come inside with me. She almost ran me over!”

  Darting a glance at Vincent’s back, I slowly approached Three. “Sorry about that. She can get a little sassy.”

  “I think she thought I was going to steal her car,” Three said as he began to follow me outside into the cold air. I immediately wished I was back inside the warmth of the auto shop and close to Vincent.

  “I thought something similar when I first saw you.” My tone was light, but inside I felt heavy, like a weight was crushing my organs.

  Savannah was parked on the side of the road several feet away. She was peering at us suspiciously over the steering wheel as though she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing.

  When I turned to look behind me, Vincent wasn’t there.

  I tried not to let it get to me that he hadn’t bothered to come out and see me. It just proved my assumption was correct; I meant nothing to Vincent.

  Giving Three a small smile, I ducked into the car, trying to ignore the gnawing in my chest.

  Chapter Twenty

  Vincent

  Last night I’d let Estella walk away from me without telling her how I really felt. Again.

  I really needed to stop acting like such an asshole to her all the time.

  The feeling had never hit me at such full force until the moment I’d heard Conor threaten her. And then my entire world had spun out of control and fear had gripped me by the throat and squeezed and squeezed until I thought I was never going to recover ever again.