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Then Gabriel’s hand cracked into his face.
For the second time in one night, Nick went down.
And suddenly, they had a crowd. An older man was in front of Gabriel, blocking him, his hands up. “Take a walk, son. Take a walk. Cool off.”
Nick saw stars and tasted blood. He couldn’t feel his fingers yet. He started to get to his feet, but Adam grabbed his arm and held him there.
“Don’t get up,” he said. “Let him walk away.”
Gabriel watched this, clear derision in his expression. “You don’t have to hold him,” he snapped. “Nick will stay down.”
“Walk,” ordered the older man. “Or we’re calling the cops.”
He paused. “Now.”
For an instant, Nick thought Gabriel would shove past the guy. The air held so much violent potential.
But then his twin brother turned and walked away. No part-ing words, no final epithets. Just measured steps along the sidewalk, across the stretch of road, before giving way to a car door slamming.
And then the rumble of an engine. He was leaving.
Nick was distantly aware that his breath was shaking. And now he could feel pain roaring into his fingers. Not to mention his face.
What just happened?
Adam was pulling at his arm now, gently. “Come on. Can you stand?”
He could stand. They tried to get him to go back in the restaurant, but Nick didn’t want all those eyes on him.
But Adam insisted on sitting down, so Nick dropped into one of the metal chairs out front, the one closest to the shadows of the next storefront.
The man who’d gotten in front of Gabriel turned out to be the café owner. He brought them each a cup of coffee and a bag of ice for Nick.
Nick was shocked this guy wasn’t calling the cops anyway.
Nick had been the one to shove Gabriel into the wall.
“I’m sorry for disrupting your night,” Adam said to him.
“You didn’t do anything,” the man said. “The girls inside said that other boy started it.” He tsked. “Shame there are still such closed-minded people picking fights about this kind of thing. You’re lucky your . . . friend was here to stop him.”
“I know I am,” said Adam.
“You sure you boys won’t come inside? I’m worried he’ll come back.”
Had the man not noticed they were twins? That this wasn’t some random hate crime? Maybe it was too dark. Maybe it had happened too fast.
Nick cleared his throat. “He’s my brother. He won’t come back.”
Those words hung in the air for a moment.
“We’ll be all right,” said Adam.
And then they were alone.
Nick hadn’t touched the ice, but Adam sat in the opposite metal chair and reached for it. Then he put the bag against Nick’s face.
And Nick was struck with an entirely different sort of déjà vu. A different night, a different fight, but Adam’s hand holding an ice bag just like this.
