Surprise flickers in his eyes. “Shutup. Or I’ll shoot you right here.”
Will he, though? Or is it a threat he’s hoping I won’t call him on?
Though it’s a gamble, my gut tells me he won’t shoot me right in the middle of Midtown. So I pin him with an angry gaze and firmly say, “No. You won’t.”
“I will?—”
“You won’t!” I shout.
Then I yank my pepper spray out of my pocket and spray it directly in his face.
He claps a hand over his eyes and shrieks.
Just as I’m bringing my knee up between his legs, Nico’s voice erupts beside me.
“GET OFF HER!”
Nico flies into action like an avenging warrior, ripping the subway asshole off of me and flinging him to the ground. “Whatdo you think you’re doing?!” Nico roars. Then he lifts the still-stunned man up and slams him against the wall a few feet away from me.
“Don’t you dare touch her!” Nico barks. He grabs the subway guy’s throat and squeezes. “Don’t youdare!”
I thought I’d seen Nico angry before. But this time, his expression is murderous.
Subway asshole stares at Nico in abject terror, his red and watering eyes wide with fear and his mouth agape. “I… I… I didn’t touch her,” the man bleats.
Nico looks over at me. Worry and anger war in his gaze. “Are you okay, Soph? Did he hurt you?”
Now that I’m safe, my adrenaline fades. Hugging myself against the tremors shaking my body, I reply, “That man, he—” My teeth chatter. “He?—”
“It’s okay,” Nico soothes. “You’re okay.”
I take a deep breath and let it out slowly. “He bumped me,” I say. “Three times. Then he grabbed me and shoved me against the wall. I didn’t realize who he was at first. But then I remembered. He hit on me on the subway. A couple months ago. When I was coming here that night. But I turned him down. He recognized me on the street and decided to teach me a lesson.”
“WHAT?” Rage suffuses Nico’s face. “He wanted to teach you alesson?”
“Yes.” I shudder again. “After he grabbed me, he pressed a gun?—”
That dangerous look comes back to his eyes. In a scarily controlled tone, Nico asks, “He threatened you with a gun?”
Whereisthe gun, now that we’re mentioning it?
While Nico quickly frisks the subway guy, I scan the sidewalk. And there, about six feet away, lies a slightly dented flashlight.
Anger heats inside me.
It was a flashlight. Not a gun. Aflashlight.
Rushing up beside Nico, I punch subway guy in the arm. Hard. “You asshole!” I shout. “How dare you!”
Nico blinks. Subway guy flinches.
“It was a flashlight,” I explain. “A stupid flashlight. He pushed the end of the flashlight against me. And I thought it?—”
Nico stares at me. Then at the discarded flashlight. His jaw clenches. Rage flares hot in his gaze. Then he turns back to the asshole. “You grabbed my girlfriend, shoved her against a wall, and threatened toshoother?”
“No,” the man replies in a wavering tone. “No. She’s lying.”
“I’mnot,” I snap at him. And then I punch his arm again for good measure. “You are.”
