Page 88 of Flagrant Foul
Nate’s arm extends, flat hand making contact with Sev’s chest hard enough to force him back half a pace. Sev’s jaw tenses, but he doesn’t react otherwise. His lips are pinched together tightly, and though Nate didn’t push him hard, Sev looks like he’s hurt. Like he’s in pain. Like his ribs are cracked.
“Teddy, go to your room,” Nate says, not taking his eyes off Sev.
He’s never sounded like this before, voice so harsh and tight it could cut ice. I have no idea what to do. Ordinarily, I’d be annoyed with him for talking to me like this. Talking down to me. Telling me what to do. Right now, my reactions are a little slowed up.
“Go to your room!”This time, he doesn’t say it. He roars it.
My feet carry me backward, out of the blast.
Sev moves fast. Soundlessly. Silently. A streak of inky black hair flows behind him like water as he stepsbetween Nate and me. He moves like a warrior. A wolf that’s wide awake. A pack animal that’s prepared to take the lone road.
He moves like something I have seen before. Something I know well.
Something I love.
“Don’t talk to him like that,” Sev says quietly.
Nate’s eyes fly open, flashing with fury. “What did you just say to me?”
“You heard me. I said, don’t talk to him like that.No onetalks to Teddy like that.” Sev pauses to snatch a ragged breath. He swallows carefully, sad but certain. “Not even you.”
Nate is breathing hard and his fists are clenched at his sides. He’s leaning forward the way he does on the ice before he comes to blows with someone.
“In all the time I’ve known you, I asked for one thing, Sev.One thing. I asked more than once, and I was fucking clear about it:Don’t fuck my brother.”He spits the last four words at Sev, punctuating each with an aggressive hiss of spittle.
“Why don’t we all take a minute?” I suggest.
Sev and Nate don’t react or answer.
“I trusted you.” Nate’s chin shakes as rage morphs into something else. Something worse. Betrayal. “Andyou fucked him anyway. You knew what this would do to me. To him. To us. And you fucked him anyway.”
He runs a hand through his hair, tugging roughly when he gets to the back of his neck. He releases his hair and drops his arm, flicking his hand as though he’s flicking something unpleasant off it. “You’re a piece of shit, d’you know that?” he says to Sev. “You could have anyone. Anyone. You’re not even limited by gender. You could literally have anyone you want. There are eight billion people on this planet, and you could have any one of them, and what, it has to be my brother?”
“Yes!” Sev’s voice is also different from anything I’ve heard before. It’s louder for one thing, and it’s raw. Stripped back to bone. It’s breaking, cracking, as it thunders from his core. “Ithasto be him!That’s what I’m saying. Out of eight billion people, ithasto be him. Itishim. It’s been him for years, and I can’t fight it anymore. I can’t, I don’t want to…and it’s not fucking either. I’m not fucking your brother. I’m in love with him.”
Sev’s chest caves, winded, and he raises his hands to Nate, palms open. His shoulders rise and fall and his hands drop limply to his sides. “You know I love you, Nate.” He speaks softly now. His eyes are soft too, but there’s a certainty in them, a steel that wasn’t therebefore. “I’ve loved you for a long time, and no matter what happens…I’ll always love you. I hope you won’t make me choose between you.” He pauses, composing himself and finding the right words. “But if you do…I’ll choose him.”
Nate visibly winces, crossing his arms over his chest as he flicks through various expressions in rapid succession. Big emotions like anger and pain give way to smaller, milder ones. He lands on something that curls his top lip and looks like disgruntlement. “You love him?”
Sev straightens, shoulders broad, chest out. “I do.”
“A lot?”
“Yeah.”
“More than anything?”
“More than anything. More than anyone.” Sev turns his head, moving his attention from Nate to me. “More than reason.”
My heart throbs once in shock and three times in unbridled joy. It swells so hard and fast that it becomes too big for my chest, and I’m left with my eyes welling up and a hand clamped over my mouth. It’s not just the words. It’s not even the way he said them. It’s the way he looked when he spoke. Absolute. Unshakable. Sure beyond any doubt.
Sure of me like I’ve always been sure of him.
Nate pauses, flicking his head back and forth between us, lips pulling in discontent, and then kicks his duffel bag. It’s a strange kick. A little one that makes a point but lacks heat. He glares at both of us and shakes his head slowly from side to side.
I expect him to leave, but he doesn’t. Instead, he weaves past us and stalks toward the kitchen, muttering to himself about what a pair of assholes Sev and I are. That too lacks heat.
“Um, what are you doing, Nate?” I ask, trotting after him.
