“Oh, wow,” he said.
“Yeah…I got him back, though.”
“How?”
“I snuck into his bed every night for three months. I even accidentally wet it once or twice when that fucking rabbit of his would move around in its cage.”
“No you didn’t,” Nathan scoffed.
I held my hand up again in silent deference to my time in the Boy Scouts.
The sight of Nathan’s lingering smile did something to me I didn’t want to think too hard about, and I reached for my drink to swallow the rest down in a healthy gulp. The burn in my belly hadnothing on how hot I felt all over as I watched Nathan resume his meal.
“Better?” I asked.
“It’s no crying like a baby in the shower, but I’ll take it,” he said.
I chuckled at that and watched him eat the rest of his food. When he was done, he pushed the plate away. “There’s more in the fridge,” I said.
“No, thank you,” he responded. “That’s more than I’ve eaten in a while. It was delicious.”
He could use a lot more meals like that, but I kept that thought to myself.
“So, what’s the plan?” he asked.
It was a question I’d been waiting for, but I was reluctant to answer. Maybe because I knew what would happen as soon as I did. Whatever these few minutes had been between us would be gone. It shouldn’t have bothered me as much as it did.
“I try to figure out who wants you dead, I find them, take them out, you keep breathing,” I said simply.
“That easy, huh?” he said doubtfully.
“Never said it would be easy. I just told you what’s going to happen.”
“And what am I supposed to do in the meantime?” he asked.
“Whatever I tell you.”
Predictably, the answer had all the tension leeching back into his system.
“So, I just put my life on hold? Give up everything I worked for?”
“Would that be so bad?” I asked. “After all, one less politician-”
“Fuck you, Vincent,” he snapped. “You have no idea how hard I’ve worked-”
“I don’t care,” I cut in. “Spare me your speeches about how you just want to make this world a better place. You want your brother’s forgiveness for whatever you did to him, be a fucking man and ask him for it! While you still have the chance.”
The last words left my mouth before I could call them back, andI quickly reached across the table to snatch Nathan’s plate just so I’d have something to keep my hands busy.
“What does that mean?” Nathan asked, and I wasn’t surprised when he followed me to the sink where I began rinsing the plate.
“Nothing,” I bit out.
Nathan’s voice quieted as he said, “You don’t know a thing about me.”
I laughed at that as I quickly put the plate and silverware into the dishwasher and then wiped my hands on a dishtowel. “You’re such a fucking cliché, Nathan. And the fact that you’re working so hard to prove to yourself you’re doing all this just for Brody and other people like him makes the whole thing that much more pathetic.”
“What thing?”
