Rise Like The Sun

CHAPTER EIGHT

NICK

His mother is side-eyeing him but Nick doesn't care.

He's never heard of brunch before but it's heavenly stuff. Nick is reaching for all the foods he can find, tasting and biting into crunchy bagels spread with thick cream, lobster-stuffed puffs, soft, rippling crepes still dripping with sweet honey. Even the toast is a dream.

"You want to leave some for the rest of us?" Will jokes but his eyes are wide, clearly impressed with how fast Nick can eat.

"Nah," Nick says, swallowing thickly. "You're all rich – you can buy your own."

"So are you," Theo puts in.

The reminder pulls Nick up short and he almost chokes on a mouthful of crisp bagel. He can't believe he'd actually forgotten. He's so used to eating and grabbing as much as he can because if you didn't fight, you didn't eat. Nick hopes nobody can see that his pockets are bulging with food and he tentatively clenches his overflowing plate.

Will and Theo are eyeing him strangely so Nick lets out a quick bark of laughter. "Thanks for the reminder," he says easily and the curious tension breaks. "What exactly is this brunch thing for, anyway? Elliot didn't say anything but that there would be food."

"Some fancy company merger," Will is saying, shrugging in answer. "Business talk. Your mum will probably know, seeing as they're throwing this whole thing for her."

Nick blinks in surprise. His gaze drifts to his mother who is laughing with Elliot's hopeful parents and surrounded by even more hopeful guests. She might have mentioned something on the awkward car ride over, he thinks.

To keep himself from replying, he stuffs more food into his mouth and Will continues to talk about a game he's been playing before Elliot's father clears his throat and taps against his glass with a spoon. Nick's eyebrows arch up before he can stop himself, unimpressed, but he doesn't have time for whatever new flattery they want to dollop heavily onto his mother so he picks up his plate and sneaks away as best he can.

He's standing a little away from the rest of the crowd of guests, scarfing the food down hungrily, when someone clears their throat deliberately.

"It's polite to listen to the speeches first before you start shovelling food into your mouth like a primitive ape," Madison says, her voice dry.

She tears her gaze away from the painting of the atlas to look at him, clearly unimpressed. The rich, snotty girl is about to walk away but Nick is bristling.

"And you're the poster child of manners, are you?" he retorts.

Madison stops and stiffens, turns her body to face him. Her dress falls against her hips in soft cascading ripples, but Nick won't let himself get distracted. She glowers at him angrily.

"You ought to apologise to Elliot," she tells him, her voice biting and furious. "The sheer nerve you have, to beat him to a pulp and then to enter his house so shamelessly and eat his food like a starving pig."

Nick is brimming over with fury. "It's not your business," he bites out through gritted teeth, taking a step closer to her in an attempt to intimidate her into backing down.

"My friend, my business," Madison hisses back angrily and holds his angry gaze, her head tilted up towards him.

"Just your friend, is it?" Nick repeats cuttingly, his large, hulking frame towering over her lithe, small figure. "What a good friend you are but I've never seen you this passionate about the other shallow bitches you hang out with. What is it, then? Do you like Elliot? Do you love him?"