“Ignore them, those two really are in love with each other, they just don’t know it yet,” Austin stage whispers to me.
“Ew. I wouldn’t touch Jesse with a ten-foot pole.” Faith grimaces.
“Feelin’s mutual, darlin’,” Jesse fires back. Faith is stunning, she’s all curves and big boobs, she would have no problem landing a man.
“These two have known each other since they were teens when we moved here.” Everly fills me in on the history between them. “And they have always hated each other since then.” Not sure what that man did to her, but I’m on Faith’s side, even if Jesse is cute.
“And your fricken bull was in my yard again. If any of my heifers get knocked up so help me.” Faith sneers at the cowboy.
“Then they had the best ride of their lives. Something their owner hasn’t had in who knows how long, judging by her being a raging …”
Austin claps his hand over his brother’s mouth. “Yeah, man, we’re going to leave it there. We understand this is y’all’s foreplay, but we’re here tonight for Charlie and Derrick,” he says, looking over at me. Jesse nods, and reluctantly his brother lets go of him, happy that he won’t kick off again. Not sure if what those two are doing is foreplay, they just seem irritated with each other, but what do I know?
“Sorry,” Everly says.
“Don’t be sorry, I love it. You’re going to have to fill me in on the goss one day.”
“Deal.” Everly smirks.
“Derrick, what is it you do?” Austin asks, trying to move the conversation in another direction.
“I’m a stylist.”
“For like celebrities?” Hadley remarks.
I nod. “I dressed a heap of people for awards season.”
“Like whom?” Lacey asks. I list off the number of celebrities I’ve worked with which is public record. “Impressive.” Lacey smiles.
“Charlie better up his fashion game,” Jesse teases.
“He’s perfect as is,” I say, and the girls all ‘aw’ sweetly at my words and the guy’s smirk and nod.
“So, you’re from Australia? How do you deal with all the wildlife? It’s scary. Everything there wants to kill you,” Austin asks.
This makes me laugh. “Only snakes and the odd spider that can kill ya.” They all shiver. “Don’t tell me you guys fear snakes? You have like bears and mountain lions and cougars and …”
“That’s someone's mom,” Austin jokes over the cougar comment, which has everyone cracking up.
“I’m sorry, but you guys have apex predators walking around that could rip me from limb to limb. We don’t really have that, maybe the odd crocodile, but they are nowhere near the cities.”
“What about sharks?” Faith asks.
“We have shark nets at the beaches. But to be fair, up north you have to wear like a wet suit to swim at the beach, it’s called a stinger suit to protect you from the jellyfish, so I guess that’s bad.” They all stare at me like I’ve lost my mind.
“You have to wear something to go into the ocean?” Everly questions me.
I nod. “Yeah, there are these tiny jellyfish that are called ‘Irukandji’. They are tiny as a fingernail, but they have super long tentacles, and they are also clear so you can’t see them in the water.”
“I’ll take a bear thanks,” Austin says.
Guess you can see a bear coming compared to a jellyfish. “But they are up north where fewer people live.”
“Because they were killed by a jellyfish,” Faith adds.
“Probably, up north is a little wild and untamed, it’s like the Amazon,” I explain to them.
“And you like living in America?” Jesse asks me.
