Page 21 of The Care of Broken Things
Nathaniel didn't even set down his sandwich. In fact, he took another bite. "Why would I do that?" He hadn't even swallowed, just shifted the mouthful into his cheek.
He found he was angry. "Maybe Eli finds this 'playing dumb' charade cute, but to me it's just irritating. You want to pretend? I'll say it myself. I'm not going to touch your husband. I have no interest in things like that, so get off my ass."
Nathaniel blinked, still holding that damn sandwich. Samuel reached over, thinking he was going to knock it out of the man's hands, but did somethingmuchstranger. He grabbed the sandwich, compressed it further, and crammed almost the whole thing into his mouth. He didn't know if that was meant to be some kind of alpha male intimidation tactic, or if he was just hungry, but either way, Nathaniel didn't seem daunted. He just tore open another sandwich (cheese again) and proceeded to doctor it with Pringles and a Slim Jim. "So you're like my brother. Interesting. I shouldn't have made assumptions."
The lack of a reaction annoyed him more than anything else would have. "What does your brother have anything to do with it?"
"He's ace too."
"Ace?" The sandwich was better than he thought. He forced a swallow and reached for the one Nathaniel had just finished making.
"Asexual."
"I'm not asexual."
"But you said—"
"I said I'm not going to touch your husband." He took another savage bite. The second sandwich was even better than the first, but also messier. A couple of Pringles fell into his lap. He decided he didn't care. Neither did Nathaniel, who reached into the pile for yet another sandwich (peanut butter this time).
"I didn't come here to make accusations, Sam. But I forgot, we're not supposed to say anything on the subject in case you break someone's neck again."
"It was just a minor dislocation."
"Eli still made me promise. Do you like to read, Sam?"
Sam. Sam. Sam. He was going to smack the name right out of the guy's mouth. Except all he did was take the next sandwich from him. "This is good." Who would have thought sour worms went so well with peanut butter?
"Right? I can't take the credit though. It was Darren who discovered it."
The man didn't reach into the diminishing pile of food again, and Samuel realized he was still waiting on an answer. "Yeah, I like to read. Why?"
"Eli says you're a writer."
He shrugged. Why was Eli talking about him? "Nothing much to do here."
"I think Eli's already realized that. Me, I could sit on my ass all day, but he’s got to stay busy, like if he's not being Mr. Nice Guy for one second his permit for living gets revoked." Nathanielpicked up a Snickers bar, tore open the wrapper, and stopped. “I told myself I wouldn’t ask, but is Eli—”
“Not sleeping enough, and still not eating enough, but he’s okay, I think. Nobody touched him while I was in solitary.”
Nathaniel let his breath out. “Good, that’s good,” he said, sounding like he was coaching himself again. It had Samuel wondering about the panic attack, seemingly not just a turn of phrase. Nathaniel was older than him. He had to be, but he didn’t look it. And he was small. Like Jenny. Like he himself had been when Mr. Edwards—
He shook his head to clear it. Nathaniel was still looking at him, the gratitude in his eyes unmistakable. Samuel had had enough.
“Why aren’t you angry?”
Nathaniel blinked. He was still holding that damn candy bar. Samuel snatched it out of his hands. Snickers weren’t Reese's cups, but they weren’t a bad second. He tore a chunk off in the hope that nougat and peanuts would ease some of his agitation.
“Your husband’s stuck in prison with a bunch of animals who think his ass is some blue-ribbon prize at the county fair. If I were you, I’d be—”
“Getting thrown into solitary to defend him?”
“No, that was stupid. Jenny says—”
Nathaniel took his hand—the one without the Snickers. The man was smiling a little, but it wasn’t in a good way. His eyes, Samuel noticed, were still ringed with dark circles. “Iamangry. I’m so angry I’ve been doing all sorts of stupid things, but none of it’s helping. No one listens to me, and always I worry about just making things worse.”
Samuel never thought to pull his hand away. He didn’t particularly like being touched. Most of the time he really hated it, but even if his skin had been crawling, he wouldn’t havepulled away just then.
Nathaniel’s teeth were clenched, but then he ducked his face, hiding everything, or rather, almost everything. He couldn’t hide the strain in his voice. “Eli's innocent. I know you probably hear those words a lot on the inside, but it’s true. He was framed by his business partner, a doctor he went to residency with. Someone he trusted. Who he had over for dinner many times and who came to Hailey’s birthdays. His name was Andrew, and Eli really liked him. Wouldn’t hear a word spoken against him.”
