37. Nathan
NATHAN
Nathan jumped when he went to open his door and it opened to reveal a man standing on the other side.
“Jesus.” He grasped at his chest and chuckled, realizing quickly that it was Scottie’s occupational therapist.
The man grinned back as he adjusted his backpack. “Sorry about that. Not sure if that was bad timing or good timing,” he joked, stepping to the side to let Nathan in. “Scottie was just jumping in the shower. He’s in a pretty good mood today. Probably the best I’ve seen him in.”
Nathan toed his shoes off and looked in the direction of the guest room. “That’s good. He’s hot and cold. But he’s always been like that.”
“Well, I’ll be back tomorrow around noon. He’s going to hate me after so if you’ve got somewhere else to go you may want to go there.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Nathan said. “Thank you, man.” They shook hands and then Nathan closed the door and made his way into the apartment, taking a quick peek into Scottie’s room.
There was an exercise band thrown on the bed but no other evidence of any work being done. The shower was on, which Nathan could just hear over the angry sound of his brother’s music.
Closing Scottie’s door, he headed to the kitchen to start prepping for dinner. He’d be having dinner at home tonight as Octavia had a study session with a lawyer friend of hers.
She hadn’t wasted time getting in touch with a friend from law school and jumping straight into the personal law stuff.
Nathan had listened to her explain things but it had all started to jumble in his mind.
He was just happy she had a handle on it.
A very driven, capable handle. The list of things he found sexy about Octavia continued to grow.
Scottie came out of his room as Nathan was sliding a tray of chicken and vegetables into the oven.
Nathan watched him carefully out of the corner of his eye.
His brother had made it very clear he was sick of being stared at and judged.
So Nathan made a point to not do that. However, he still wanted to gauge how things were progressing.
“Is that for me too?” Scottie asked, pulling up a stool and plunking himself down.
Nathan scoffed. “Nah, figured you could cook for yourself.”
Scottie glared at him through his glasses, his blue eyes judging.
“Your OT said you were in a good mood today.” Nathan glared back, trying to see whether or not he’d be able to tell. So far the mood seemed to be less than ideal.
“It’s supposed to storm tomorrow.”
Nathan looked to his left, where the sun was starting to dip and shrugged. “What kind of storm?” It was March, if it wasn’t a snowstorm he’d be thrilled.
“The kind with big claps of thunder and dramatic lightning strikes.” He reached for the bowl of fruit sitting on the island and picked through the selection, snagging the last banana before Nathan told him off.
“Wake up from your coma with a sudden love of thunderstorms?”
Scottie’s grin drew up higher. “You could say that.”
Nathan stared at Scottie for longer than was socially appropriate, waiting for more but nothing came. “Okay, weird.”
For the next several minutes while Nathan busied himself by washing some dishes and cleaning the counter, Scottie sat quietly eating his banana, seemingly lost in thought before clearing his throat and pulling Nathan’s attention back to him.
“So…you never said where you met Octavia.”
Nathan turned off the tap and turned to dry his hands. “The bar at The Emerald Hotel.”
The laugh that burst out of Scottie had Nathan stepping back. “Of course,” he grumbled.
“Why? Why of course?”
Scottie stared back for a few beats before sliding off the stool. “No reason.”
Nathan watched in silence as his brother walked back to his bedroom. The soft click of his door sounded as if he’d slammed it. Nathan stood there, staring at an empty banana peel, confused by everything that had transpired since he’d arrived home.
“What the fuck,” he said to the empty room. Clearly there was a reason.
In seconds he was pushing into Scottie’s room, not even bothering to knock.
“What the hell, Scottie. Is this where you tell me you did some digging and found some shit on Octavia? Is this where you throw a grenade into my love life because you don’t have one yourself?
” He regretted the words the moment they were out of his mouth.
He hadn’t teased Scottie about his love life since they were in high school and now it seemed extra cruel.
Scottie’s body tensed, his fists clenching before he slowly turned around. Nathan barely registered what an improvement the clenched fists were, too annoyed to see how far Scottie had come since his accident.
“No, Nathan, I haven’t looked up your fucking girlfriend.” He scoffed, turning slowly. “I have no interest in ruining your fucking life. I think one sad brother is all this family needs right now.”
“Oh well, thanks for being a martyr for sadness, Scottie.” Nathan scoffed, his own hands balling into fists. “You’re so fucking selfless.”
“You know what, Nathan, in a way you’re right. I am fucking selfless. Instead of fighting for the woman I was supposed to be on a date with, I let you have her. I thought, damn, my brother seems so fucking happy, I don’t have it in me to take that from him.”
Instead of fighting for the woman I was supposed to be on a date with…the words ricocheted in Nathan’s brain.
“Where was the date you were supposed to be going on the night of your accident?” The voice didn’t sound like his. It sounded like it was coming from somewhere else in the room.
Scottie’s blue eyes were steely as he glared back. Nathan had received his fair share of looks from his brother, but there was something in this one he couldn’t quite identify. He wanted to know what it was but was also strangely worried about what he was about to reveal.
“The Emerald Hotel. In the bar. The redhead in a blue dress and heels.” With every word the bile rose higher in Nathan’s throat.
The redhead in a blue dress. His redhead in a blue dress. His redhead who shared his bed almost nightly. His redhead he had fallen head over heels in love with from the first taste of her. His Octavia was supposed to be Scottie’s.
Nathan backed away from the door in a haze. To his credit, Scottie didn’t look gleeful about it. He didn’t seem to be deriving joy out of Nathan’s sudden misery.
His phone chimed from the kitchen counter as he strode past, desperate to make it to his bathroom before he puked on the hardwood.
Every bite of food he’d consumed that day splashed into the toilet as visions of Scottie with Octavia flashed through his imagination. Guilt twisted his stomach and he retched again.
After he was sure nothing else was going to come up, he flushed and pushed away from the bowl until his back hit the wall.
The possibility that his brother was the date that hadn’t shown up never crossed his mind.
Scottie hadn’t been hit anywhere near the hotel.
Part of him didn’t want to acknowledge that Scottie would be Octavia’s type.
But he was definitely more her type than Nathan was.
She never wanted him. He’d practically forced her to give him a chance.
And in the process, he’d ruined a genuine shot at the perfect woman for his brother.
All the inadequacies Scottie had expressed throughout the years roared in Nathan’s head.
“It fucking reeks in here,” Scottie drawled from the door. “I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. Unless you knew of course.”
Nathan shook his head partly to express that no, he certainly hadn’t known and partly because he couldn’t seem to believe this was happening.
“We never saw one another’s faces. It’s one of those connect on an intellectual level kind of dating sites…
well, if that’s what you’re looking for.
Still plenty of people sending dick pics.
It’s just been bothering me for the last few weeks.
Ya know, once my head cleared a little bit.
I kept thinking, damn what are the odds he meets someone the same night.
Once you confirmed the hotel, everything slid into place. ”
“But I never said she’d been stood up…” Nathan murmured.
“Yeah, but my imagination made that the most likely scenario. I knew you had an event that night. Listen.” Scottie slowly lowered himself onto the floor.
“Jesus, do not breathe on me.” He gagged and slid further away from Nathan.
“I’m not mad at you, I’m sure one day we’ll laugh about this and you can choose to tell her… or not. I’m not going to.”
Nathan shook his head. “I have to tell her. She was so upset because she thought you’d had a special connection. Fu—” He pushed off the wall and retched into the toilet again.
When his vision turned red behind his eyelids from the pressure of throwing up again, he saw flashes of Octavia laughing.
Octavia smiling coyly across the table. Octavia crawling across the bed.
But he was nowhere. It was Scottie making her laugh and smile like that. It wasn’t Nathan she was crawling to.
Talking to Octavia was the only option. But what if she decided she wanted to give Scottie another chance? Fuck, what if the woman he loved, and who apparently loved him, decided she’d made a mistake? What if Nathan was a mistake?
He buried his head in his hands, his breath racing out of him as the room began to close in. Things had been going too well. Everything had been perfect and Scottie had just dropped a grenade into the centre of his perfect little reality.