Page 9 of Brother
And there Chezwould be, simpering. And he saidNathankilled the vibe. As if. Nathanwasa vibe, thanks very much.
“Yo. Dude.” Chezstumbled into Simon, clearly smashed. Simon took the hit affably,patting the guy on the back.
“Hey. Yougood?”
“Yeah, yeah. Whyyou always got to bring your brother around, man? He kinda clingy,isn’t he?”
The smiledropped off Simon’sface. “What?”
“Yah know. Nooffence or anything, but the guy is a bit. You know.”
Simon hadstepped beside Nathan, leaving Chez to sway in the alcohol-induced wind. “Nope. Noidea what you’re talking about.” His voice was chilling. Chez wastoo drunk to notice.
“Man, you know.He kinda lame, bro.”
Nathan,recognising the look in Simon’s eye, tried to grab his arm, butSimon was already stepping between him and Chez. “Dude, who thefuckareyou? Somepiece of shit wannabe that’s been licking my ass all night? Andyou’re callingmybrotherlame?”
Chezgaped stupidly, probablyexpecting Simon to be sick of Nathan too, thinking that, what,their mom forced him to bring Nathan along? This wasn’t themovieHereditary.
“How about yougo fuck yourself? ’Cause if I so much as see you looking at mybrother again, Imma split your dumb fucking face intwo.”
The threeseconds it took Chez to process that must have been way too longfor Simon, because thenext second he was shoving Chez away and into a group of people.They groaned loudly as drinks spilt out of their cups.
Nathan tugged onSimon’s shirt. “Let’sgo.”
Simon turnedaround at once.“Wannago home?”
“Nah, I justmeant inside. Forget ’im.”
Simon narrowedhis eyes.“Did he saysomething to you when I wasn’t around?”
“Oh, my God.”Nathan rolled his eyes, moving to walk into the packedhouse.
“I’m not sayingit ’cause I don’t think you can handle him. But that shit can’t gounanswered.”
“It actuallycan, if you’re not a psycho. What, you gonna punch anybody whoinsults someone else?”
“I don’t give ashit about anybody else, I’m talking aboutyou.”
Nathan looked atSimon’s earnest, openexpression, feeling something collapse inside him.
How the fuck was hesupposed to stop that from burrowing deep into his heart?
~~~~~~~~~~
CHAPTERTHREE
Things werestill a little strange after Nathan had told Simon not togo with him to see his friends,but Simon didn’t seem angry or outwardly upset. More contemplative,if anything, but Nathan didn’t really know how to approach thesubject. Didn’t know what he would say even if he did.
So Nathan did what healways did and ignored it.
He should have knownthat it would all blow up in his face.
Nathandidn’t think twice aboutgoing to the bonfire party with Simon. They went a few times everysummer, the fire safely enclosed in a deep pit, away from theforest that edged the wide lawn people clustered on.
The first signof things being a little weird should have been Simon drifting awayfrom him. Nathan was so used to being at gatherings without hisbrother, though, that hedidn’t think too much about it. He’d adapted to managing peoplewithout Simon having his back. He drank now, a little. Knew how tokeep a conversation going without it stuttering to an awkwardstop.
The guy he wastalking to was hot, too,and it hit Nathan that this might be just what he needed—somecasual fun with a good-looking stranger. Maybe it would keep himfrom obsessing about things way too close to home.
