Late Night: Part II

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Late Night:

Part II

An R.L. Mathewson Chronicle

“What the hell are you doing here?” Eric asked, not bothering to open his eyes as Nathan sat down next to him.

Instead of answering him, Nathan tossed his phone with their mother’s most recent email opened on his brother’s lap even as he continued to glare at the reason why he’d come down here at two in the morning. Frowning, Eric picked up his phone and-

“Oh,” his brother said, slowly exhaling as he read through the message, nodded, and said, “You’re fucked.”

“Tell me something that I don’t know,” Nathan said, taking his phone back so that could slide it back in his pocket.

“Does she know?” Eric asked as he threw Tara a curious look.

“No,” Nathan said, watched the woman that his mother determined to fix him up with while she leaned against the counter as she finished writing up run sheets, taking in the short black hair that he hated, the way she worried her plump bottom lip between her teeth, the large breasts making the EMT emblem on her tee-shirt stand out, down to her generous ass that had him biting back a groan and couldn’t help but wonder what his mother was thinking.

“Then we probably shouldn’t tell her,” Eric said with a sympathetic wince that quickly disappeared as he yelled across the station, “Hey, Tara, Nathan was wondering if you wanted to go with him to the EMS banquet.”

Nathan opened his mouth to correct him when Tara looked up with a frown and asked, “Who?” which had his eyes narrowing because she damn well knew who he was.

Oh, did she fucking know.

His mother had been throwing her towards him since she’d started working with Eric. Thanks to her, he hadn’t been at a family dinner in six months and had been forced to schedule meetings with her lieutenant when he knew she wouldn’t be here out of fear that he would say or do something that would make her think that he was interested. When he saw the email from his mother tonight, he’d realized his mistake and decided to correct it. He should have made it clear from the beginning that he wasn’t interested and put an end to this before it came to this.

“My brother,” Eric said with a huge shit eating grin.

There was a heavy sigh and then, “No offense, but I don’t do pity dates, Eric,” as she shifted her attention back to her paperwork as Nathan sat there, ignoring his brother who was laughing his ass off to focus on the woman ignoring him.

“I wasn’t asking,” he bit out.

“I’m starving,” she said, still fucking ignoring him, as she grabbed a stethoscope off the counter and laid it over her shoulders.

“What are you in the mood for?” Eric asked, moving to get up when Tara said, “Never mind,” with a smile and turned right back around to finish her paperwork, leaving Eric to frown only to smile that nauseating smile that could only mean one thing.

“I hate being fat,” Nathan’s sister-in-law announced as she carefully flopped, at least as carefully as a woman who was eight months pregnant could flop, down on Eric’s lap with a weary sigh and a pout that had the besotted bastard smiling.

“What are you doing here?” Eric asked as he placed his hand over the large swell of his wife’s belly as he pulled her closer.

“That man,” Joe said with a sniffle and a lip quiver as she pointed towards him, “Wouldn’t get me a milkshake.”

“It’s two in the morning,” Nathan reminded her only to follow that up with, “They’re closed,” since he knew that wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference to her right now.

Lip quivering harder now, she snuggled closer to her husband, buried her face against his chest and mumbled, “I hate him.”

“I know you do, sweetheart. We all do,” Eric said soothingly as he wrapped his arms around her and shot Nathan a look that told him that he’d pay for this later.

“He’s really mean,” Joe mumbled with another sniffle.

“I know he is, baby, I know,” Eric murmured as Nathan sat there, narrowing his eyes on the woman that was trying to take him down with her.

“Aren’t you supposed to be on bed rest?” he asked, watching as his brother shifted that glare back to the small woman in his arms.

“What is he talking about?” Eric demanded.

Sniffle.

“I was going to tell you when you came home, but then he,” and this is where she pointed a damning finger towards him, “refused to help me. So,” sniffle, “I really didn’t have a choice,” she finished, which brought Eric’s glare back to him.

“I’ve been with you all damn day, woman! I took you to your appointment, made you lunch, watched the kids while you napped, bathed the little demons, took them over to mom’s for the night, and then came back so that you could boss me around for the next seven hours, you little dictator,” he reminded her with a glare of his own.

“And then you abandoned me during my time of need,” Joe pointed out with another sniffle and a nod.

“I was going to grab a milkshake from McDonald’s on the way back,” he informed her.

“It’s just not the same,” she said with another sad sniffle.

“I know it’s not, baby,” Eric murmured soothingly while Nathan sat there, swearing that he would never let a woman do this to him, which meant that he should probably tell his mother that he was never planning on getting married.

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