All The Misery That Fell In-Between.
Hit Where it Hurts.
"… yeah, he's here right now … sleeping on the couch … completely passed out … don't know what … can't even stand to look … kind of wish he had …"
Nick's quietly murmured words entering Greg's mind chased away the static. His hangover was leaving him. How long had he been asleep?
"… coming to now … talk to you later …"
"Nick?"
There was the sound of a phone being hung up.
"Yeah, Greg?"
Greg flinched. His eyes flew open and he felt himself want to curl up in a ball. Nick's voice sounded colder than he'd ever heard before. He opened his mouth, but slowly shut it after he realized he had nothing to say. His mind had cleared considerably, but a slight buzz still lingered. As if realizing this, Nick brought him a glass of cold water.
Greg took it and had a small sip. The freezing liquid hit the roof of his mouth and sloshed over his tongue, giving him a temporary brain freeze. He wouldn't be able to just knock it back.
Nick had been about to go back to the kitchen after surveying Greg for a second, an unreadable expression on his face, but Greg's voice stopped him.
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
"No – I meant coming to pick me up. I must've screwed up pretty bad, but I'm fine now," Greg said, smiling up at the Texan.
Nick's face darkened and his eyes flashed. "You have no idea what you've done, do you?"
Greg said nothing.
"You aren't fine now, Greg. You'll never be fine. You've – you've completely FUCKED YOURSELF OVER!" Nick bellowed at the younger man. Greg instinctively pulled away from the enraged Texan in front of him.
"I can't even – Greg – WHY?" Nick yelled, closing the distance between them and then violently grabbing Greg's long hair and pulling his head back, forcing them to be eye-to-eye.
After that moment, Greg never wanted to look into Nick's eyes again; they were no longer the comfortingly warm and understanding brown eyes that he was accustomed to. Instead they were filled with wrath and hatred.
Nick shook Greg's head viciously and the younger man whimpered in pain as a few of his hairs were yanked out of his scalp.
"Why?" the Texan hissed.
"I don't even know what I did," Greg whispered hoarsely, his feet beginning to tingle, his legs going numb in fear.
What had he done?
Nick threw Greg from the couch by his hair, and he fell hard against the coffee table, his mouth hitting the corner. A metallic taste surged over his taste buds. He let out an exclamation of pain and terror as Nick advanced slowly on him.
"Please, Nick, don't –"
"Do you remember Lucy or are you still too much of a fucking drunk to recall?"
"L – Lucy?"
"One of the girls from the internship at the crime lab," Nick told him, his voice going deathly quiet.
An image appeared in Greg's frantic-to-remember mind for an instant: the image of a girl with a mischievous smile and sea-green eyes.
"I –"
Nick stopped less than a foot from where Greg was cowering. His face was contorted with rage and agony.
"You hit her," he said, his words full of venom. "You got in your car after you'd been drinking and fucking KILLED HER! I saw it myself on the red light cam – YOU DIDN'T EVEN STOP!" he screamed, his words echoing horribly in Greg's mind.
Hit her … didn't even stop …
As if containing himself, the Texan turned stiffly and left the room. Greg heard the bedroom door slam shut. The whole house shook and a picture in the hallway fell from the nail it was hanging on and shattered on the hardwood floor.
Killed her … didn't even stop.
Nick was right – he had fucked himself over. Greg would never be fine again … and neither would Lucy.