“Dude. Calm down. She was going to tell you. We just talked about it last night at dinner.”
“At dinner? Last night? Soraya! Answer me. What the hell is going on?”
When I didn’t respond and still didn’t look at him, Graham reached for me. Playing the part of a protective boyfriend came naturally to Marco. He stepped partially in front of me and got in Graham’s face.
“Dude. I’m only going to warn you once. Keep your hands to yourself, and don’t touch my girl. I don’t want to have to kick your pretty boy ass out here on the street.”
“Your girl?”
Everything happened so quickly after that. Graham took a step back, then began to turn away, only to rear back and throw all of his weight behind a punch that slammed into Marco’s jaw. A loud cracking sound made acid rise up my throat, and for a second, I thought I was going to vomit right there on the street. I wasn’t immediately sure if the sound was Marco’s jaw or Graham’s hand breaking. My heartbeat was pulsing so loudly in my ears; for all I knew it could have been the sound of my own heart shattering.
Marco staggered back a few steps, his hand going to his jaw in an attempt to ease the pain. But I’d grown up watching Tig and Marco brawl, and I knew a little thing like a broken jaw was not going end this fight. Before I could get between them, Marco lunged at Graham. The two men collided, and Marco slammed Graham up against a parked car.
“Stop!” I’d finally managed to speak. “Please, stop! Marco, no!”
Graham somehow managed to toss Marco aside, and then he was standing in front of me, his chest heaving up and down, knuckles split and bleeding. Without thinking, I reached out for his injured hand. “Graham.”
He pulled away from my touch as if it was fire. “Say it, Soraya.”
I looked down.
“Say it! Tell me you’re a fucking cheater and I’m a God damn idiot. Because even though I’m seeing it right in front of my eyes, I still don’t want to believe it.”
Tears rolled down my face. I couldn’t look at him.
When he spoke again, his voice was low and pained. He sounded broken. “Look at me, Soraya. Look at me.”
I finally mustered the courage to raise my head. Staring into his eyes, tears streaming down my face, I told him the absolute truth. “I’m so sorry, Graham.”
His eyes closed for a moment before he turned, got into his car, and drove away without another word. I watched, sobbing, until I could no longer see a trace of his car.
What had I just done?
***
“DON’T BE SUCH A PUSSY.” Tig’s hands were cupping his cousin’s face. He had showed up with Del fifteen minutes after Marco and I came inside my apartment. I hadn’t even realized Marco had called them.
“I really think that should be done in the emergency room.” It was the second time I’d voiced my opinion that Marco’s obviously dislocated jaw should be reset in the hospital.
“It’s fine. I’ve done it before. Three times when he was doing that stupid kickboxing shit.” He handed Marco the bottle of Jack he had brought with him. “One more swig, make it a good one.”
Poor Marco gulped from the bottle then stood in front of his cousin with his eyes closed. “Ready.”
“On three. One…”
“Fuuuuuuccck!” Marco let out a bloodcurdling scream, and I ran to the bathroom. This time, I really did vomit.
When I came back, Tig chuckled. “I forgot what a girl you are.”
“You said on three and did it on one. You didn’t give me a chance to run out of the room.”
“Of course I did it on one. Who the fuck actually does it on three when the person is tensed up and waiting for it?”
“How the hell would I know?”
“Get your loverboy a bag of peas, will you, babe?”
I dug into the freezer, searching for a bag of something frozen. But I didn’t even have any vegetables. “I don’t eat peas.”
“What else you got?”
I pulled out a box of Choco Tacos—ice cream in the shape of a taco. Tig pulled one from the box and handed it to his cousin. “That’s perfect. A taco for the * who gets his jaw dislocated by a suit.”
Marco winced bringing the frozen ice cream to rest against his cheek. “Throws a good punch for a pretty boy.”
“I take it that things didn’t go exactly as planned?” Del had held me in her arms until I’d finally stopped sobbing. By then, Tig was playing doctor with his poor cousin.
“Not at all. We never even made it into my apartment. He saw us on the street, so I panicked and grabbed Marco’s hand.”
“That must have given him a good visual.”
I blew out a deep breath. “It was awful. He was so hurt, Del.”
“You knew he would be. You think he bought it?”