****
The reunion between the two siblings had been nothing like Natalia had hoped for. She had all but sprinted toward the pub, hoping that she might find a sign, or maybe find Arty waiting for her to tell her about Nathan’s whereabouts. Instead, when she managed to push her way through the doors of the pub, she found the most unlikely sight.
The pub was empty, save three people there, and the place was in such disarray; a bar fight could be the only logical explanation for it. There were tipped tables and upturned chairs; broken glass glittered over the ground, but it was not enough to distract Natalia from seeing her brother’s face glancing up at her through a bloodstained napkin stuffed up his nose. She recognized the familiar tousled black hair and the shape of his slumped shoulders as easily as she could recognize her own and the years that had passed between them suddenly disappeared—just for a moment—like a wisp of smoke.
Sitting on an opposing chair sat none other than Jace Dillinger, nursing a split lip with a bag of frozen peas, his own dark hair stuck up, framing his face dangerously. His green eyes had widened in surprise upon landing on Natalia. Arty stood between them, huge arms crossed, acting as a wall between the two wounded men.
Natalia didn’t care much for the others, taking several steps toward her brother’s hunched figure automatically. She stopped when his brows furrowed, and she remembered exactly what had transpired; the wall of distance returned.
“G’morning, Natalia,” Arty said somberly.
“What the hell happened?” she asked, ignoring Arty’s greeting.
“These two dumbasses,” Arty grunted, aiming a sharp glare at the two men, “started a ludicrous fight here a few hours ago. Nearly called the cops on the two of ‘em, but managed to get them to sit their asses down.”
Natalia threw her brother a different glare this time, irritated that his temper still hadn’t changed. “Why?”
“Nice to see you too, Nat.” Nathan spoke finally, his voice sounding partially muffled through the napkins stuffed up his nostrils.
“Fuck you, Nate!” Natalia snarled, fists clenching at her sides. “You don’t get to act nonchalant after all these years. Not even one phone call?! I understand why you’d avoid Mom and Dad, but I didn’t realize I’d been so unimportant to you that I’d be cast in the same list!”
“I had my reasons, Nat.” Nathan replied, giving her a half-shrug. “I didn’t owe you or Mom and Dad any explanations.”
“Asshole,” she hissed finally taking those final steps toward her brother. She saw Arty give a start toward her, probably worried she would do something drastic. She wanted to hit him, punch him in his stupid nose for causing her this anguish, but Jace had done that already and all she could stomach to do was to fall to her knees and crush her twin against her chest in a bone-snapping embrace. She felt his arms wrap around her just as quickly, and she nearly broke down when she felt him wheeze against her. “Why do you always have to be such an asshole?”
“Sorry…” he muttered softly against her ear. Tears burned down her cheeks as she clenched her fingers into his jacket. “I wanted to say hi when I saw you yesterday.”
Natalia pulled away, searching Nathan’s face with surprise. “You—what?”
“I did want to tell you that I knew something about your brother,” Jace piped in, earning their attention. “See, I’m not so bad.”
Nathan’s face contorted into a violent expression, his gray eyes black with ire as he pointed a finger at the man. “You have no right to talk to her, Dillinger. Not after that shit stunt you pulled last night. Thanks to you, the entire town is convinced she’s one of your whores now!”
Jace let out a bitter laugh, “You know, I would believe your ‘brotherly over-protection’ if you hadn’t been gone for eight years.”
“Eat shit, you bastard!” Nathan shouted, pushing past his sister to lunge for the dark-haired man. Arty slammed a broad hand over Nathan’s shoulder, shoving him back in his seat.
“Nathan, will you fucking stop for five seconds?” Natalia snapped, earning her a shocked stare from her brother. “Jesus, why do you people care so much about what this town thinks?”
“Wait—Nat,” Nathan gasped, his eyes honing on her with an accusatory stare. “What the hell? Did you want this asshole to kiss you?”
“She sure didn’t hate it,” Jace answered. Natalia shot him a fierce glare, he smirked at her in response. When she looked back at her brother, she was rubbing her temple with a hand.
“Why does it matter whether or not he kissed me?” she turned back toward her brother. “I thought we’d gotten past all this when we left this place.”
“I guess we haven’t,” Nathan replied coldly and when Natalia looked at her brother, there was nothing but disdain in his eyes. “You slept with him, didn’t you?”
Everything froze between the two siblings. They had once been two halves of the same whole. She had been able to feel what he felt as easy as it was to breathe. Time had passed and changed things, yes, but she knew their bond hadn’t really changed all that much. Natalia didn’t have to answer for her brother to know the truth. After a short eternity of connected gazes, Nathan broke away first, looking betrayed and angry. All Natalia could do was stare at him in anguish.
Minutes later, Nathan pulled himself up from his chair and pulled out a wad of cash from his back pocket before slapping it on his seat. “This should cover the damages, Arty,” he muttered before walking off, brushing past Natalia with a series of footsteps that made her feel cold.
“Where you going, Kid?” Arty asked with a sigh.
“My parents’ place,” he replied with a grunt, the swing of the door screeched through the uncomfortable silence. “I’ve got some business with my old man.” And with that, the door slammed shut.
Natalia felt her chin fall to her chest, tears raining from her eyes as she felt her brother’s absence choke the feeling of loneliness against her throat. She flinched when she felt a warm and coarse hand wrap around hers; when Natalia looked up, she saw Jace peering down at her with a look of thinly veiled remorse.
“Sorry about that,” he apologized softly. For a moment, Natalia wanted to slap him, push him away, shout at him for ruining everything, but she couldn’t bear heading back to a cold hotel room where she would entertain her isolation any longer. Clenching her teeth, Natalia succumbed to his touch, her fingers tightening around his as she huffed out sobs through her chest. “Come on… let’s get you out of here.”
She had been well known as the Ice Queen of Riverdale High and people had steered clear, but all Natalia really ever wanted was someone warm to understand her. With a tug of hands, Natalia allowed Jace Dillinger to pull her out of Arty’s pub, the ice around her heart cracking so painfully, she couldn’t help but want to sink away.