Broken Hill Halo (Broken Hill High 2)

“Alright,” I laugh before I start dicing the mushroom.

I get distracted as I watch Trish out the window, making her way over to the boys. She places the bowl of onions down and gives Nate one of those proud Mumma smiles before pulling him into a big hug.

A smile rips across my face as I watch them. Trish starts rocking him back and forth and I laugh as he tries to push her away. She pushes up on her tippy toes and says something in his ear that makes him look oddly embarrassed and uncomfortable before his dark eyes flash up to mine through the window.

I don’t hear it but I can tell he’s groaning before he finally manages to get his mother off him. She laughs and turns on her heel before stalking back inside and joining me. Trish goes about the kitchen cleaning everything up while I finish off the mushrooms.

I hand them off to her once I’m done and she gets busy tossing a salad. With nothing left for me to do, I head out the back with the boys. I sit up on the outdoor dining table and watch as Nate cooks the grill like a pro.

With nothing better to do, Jesse comes and joins me on the table. “I heard you used to tease Nate about his little crush,” I grin.

“Ha,” Nate barks out. “Tease is putting it mildly. I’ve given him hundreds of black eyes from the way he used to ‘tease’ me about you.”

I look back at Jesse to find him shrugging with a massive grin on his face. “What can I say? I’m his little brother. It’s what we’re supposed to do,” he explains. “Besides, he was like a love sick puppy pining over you all the time. Someone had to call him on it.”

“Leave him alone,” I say, elbowing Jesse in the ribs. “He can’t help it that he’s wildly attracted to me. Any red blooded man would be.”

“What does that make me then?” Jesse questions.

“Broken,” I laugh.

He rolls his eyes as Nate looks back at him over his shoulder. “I can’t wait until you find some poor innocent girl that you can’t possibly live without. Payback is going to be a fucking nasty bitch.”

Jesse scoffs. “Who has time for that relationship bullshit?”

“You’re missing out, bro,” Nate says as he looks back at the grill with a cheeky grin. “Nothing beats a nice warm pussy to sink in-”

“Nate,” I yell, cutting him off as my cheeks flame.

Both the boys chuckle at my embarrassment, but luckily, Jesse gives me an out. “So, did mother dearest give you the ‘what are your intentions with my son’ speech?”

“No,” I smile. “It was more of a ‘thank god, you’re going to save his soul’ sort of speech,” I tell him as Nate looks back over his shoulder. “She’s happy she won’t find any of your conquests walking around the house in the middle of the night anymore.”

His eyes widen for a fraction of a second before he cringes. “Shit, I didn’t know she knew about that.”

“How could she have not known? My first night here you were practically screwing that girl on the couch.”

“There was no practically about it,” he informs me with a proud sparkle in his eyes. “I did screw her on the couch.”

“What? Which one?” Jesse demands as his comments start to sting. I mean, I know he’s screwed nearly all the girls in school, but I could really do without the mental picture, so I put it to the back of my head and try my hardest not to be jealous about something I already knew about.

Nate grins at his brother. “Which one do you think?” he teases, knowing Jesse has one particular couch that’s his favorite, though Nate’s just messing with him. He wasn’t on Jesse’s couch, he was on the one that I consider my favorite.

Jesse’s eyes widen in horror. “Fuck man,” he groans. “I sleep on that couch.”

“I know,” he laughs as he looks back at me. “What else did mom let spill?”

“Not much,” I shrug. “She called you both assholes, though.” Jesse gasps before sucking in a breath and cursing under his break. A second later, he jumps down from the table and storms off inside. “Where’s he going?” I ask Nate who’s been watching his brother’s performance.

“He’s about to suck up to mom in a big way,” he says, indicating with a nod of his head towards the kitchen window. I look up and watch Jesse walking up to his mom and putting an arm around her as Nate explains what the hell is going on. “When she calls us assholes, it’s time to pull out the big guns. It usually means she’s caught us doing something or she’s run into one of her bitchy country club friends whose son or daughter heard something and graciously passed it along while twisting the story in the process.”