Love Linked by Allison Speka

Author:Allison Speka [Speka, Allison]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-02-05T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

NATHAN

“That’s it!” Oliver exclaimed from below. “Ring the bell!”

Sweat collected on my brow. Grunting, I reached my hand up to press the buzzer. A ringing blared, signaling I had made it to the top of the artificial rock wall.

“Hell yeah, brother!”

I kicked against the wall and leaned back, slowly descending onto the mat.

Once my feet connected with the ground, Oliver clasped my shoulders and shook me.

“You finally made it to the top without incident. We’ll have to take it to the next level and go climbing outdoors next summer.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” I said, unclipping the harness. Despite my frustration that these activities didn’t come naturally to me, my improvement was evident. I had to admit I could see the appeal in some of these sports.

As Oliver clipped in to go next, I found myself stuck on what he said. “Next summer.” Why hadn’t it even occurred to me to correct him? Tell him that I wasn’t sure where I’d be next summer. The integration would have concluded by then, and I’d likely have more freedom of location.

Amidst these attempts to bond, I realized I had forgotten that spending time with Oliver used to feel like an obligation. Just the other day, I came home late to an empty house and found myself genuinely disappointed that Oliver wasn't there to drag me to some extracurricular activity I would surely be terrible at.

A voice in the back of my mind urged me to express this to him—to somehow convey that our relationship meant something to me. I thought of Harrison ripping into me the other day. But my apprehension lingered. Despite Oliver's current attempts to bridge the gap between us, that wasn't the case while we were growing up. Our parents might have been the cause of our alienation, but neither of us made an effort to overcome it.

Oliver was our mother’s favorite, and he was always more than happy to keep it that way. They got to be the warmth in the family—the ones that glowed and had fun with life. Meanwhile my father and I put in the hard work to make something of ourselves. Oliver and I had never understood each other and, honestly, never really tried. He never included me in his plans. He treated Harrison more like a brother than me.

You never treated him like a brother either.

The sound of the buzzer jerked me from my thoughts. Oliver had already scaled to the top of the wall at least three times faster than I managed to.

“Nice one,” I called, clearing my throat. The praise sounded unnatural coming from me.

Oliver propelled down and held out his hand for a high five. I hesitated before making firm contact.

“I’m serious, Nathan. You haven’t lived until you’ve tried this outside.”

“Didn’t you say a rock almost took your head off last time you went?”

He waved off my concern as if it were ludicrous. “You have fast reflexes. You’ve got nothing to worry about.”

I arched a brow. “They weren’t so fast when the rope hit me in the eye.

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