Chapter 65 Derrick
DERRICK
“Charlie.” Everly turns, noticing us together, and the table stops talking and every single pair of eyes is on me.
I feel them look me up and down, assessing if I am good enough for their Charlie.
She gets up and hugs her brother, before hugging me.
“Welcome to our home, Derrick. Sorry we’ve crashed your romantic weekend, but there was no way any of these assholes were going to let Charlie not introduce his new man to them all.
Their bark is worse than their bite, but .
..” she warns, which doesn’t fill me with much confidence “… they are excited to see Charlie happy.” She loops her arm through mine.
“Hey, guys, this is Derrick,” Everly states, making the table go quiet.
“This is Faith, our sister.” She points to the blonde she was talking to earlier.
She gives me a warm, welcoming smile. “And this is her best friend, Lacey,” Another blonde, “her brothers Jesse and Austin,” Pointing to two very hot cowboys who tip their hats in my direction, “and this is Hadley.” She points to another blonde.
“G’day,” I say, which makes everyone laugh. Never in my life have I ever used that word before, but standing in front of a table of cowboys, I’m suddenly all Aussie. It’s my way of saying I come in peace.
“That is the cutest accent, no wonder Charlie fell. Come sit down,” Faith says, moving over to make room for me. I take a seat, and Everly takes her seat next to me.
“D, I’ll get us drinks,” Charlie whispers in my ear as he kisses my temple and walks away.
“Who knew our brother could be so cute?” Faith coos.
“So, Derrick, how did you and Charlie get together?” Jesse, the hot cowboy, asks.
“My friend back in LA, Jackson, introduced us.”
“You’re friends with Jackson Connolly?” Jesse asks.
“Yeah,” I answer nervously.
“He’s a good guy, that one. He’s really been there for Charlie,” Austin adds.
“Jackson is hot.” Faith chuckles, which makes the girls all giggle. Guess I’m going to have to tell Jackson he has a fan club in Midnight Falls.
“You think any new man that comes to town is hot,” Jesse says to Faith.
“Yeah, because the caliber of men in this town is lacking,” Faith bites back. I look between the brooding cowboy and Charlie’s sister.
“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 ,” I explain to them.
“And you like living in America?” Jesse asks me.
“My friends are all in LA, and so is my work. I do miss home, but I’ve created a new one here now.”
“And you like LA?” Lacey queries.
“Yeah, I do, I haven’t explored much of America yet. I’ve been to New York and Miami, but nothing else really till now.”
“And what do you think of Midnight Falls? It’s a world away from LA,” Jesse states.
“From what I’ve seen so far, I kind of love it. It looks like a cowboy movie set to me, it doesn’t seem real. I love how quaint and small it is.”
“When everyone knows your business, a small town ain’t so quaint,” Faith grumbles. I can appreciate that.
“Hope y’all are being nice to Derrick,” Charlie says, bringing back buckets of beers for everyone.
Everly gets up and moves to another seat, letting Charlie sit beside me.
His friends all grumble and moan to him about how nice they are, but when Charlie turns and looks at me, asking me if I am fine blocking out his friends, it makes my entire body tingle.
No man has ever anticipated my needs as well as Charlie, no man has ever put me first, nor been truly honest with me.
Didn’t think I could fall any harder for this man, but I do.
When he sees my relaxed smile, he leans over and kisses me gently, and I melt.
“Hey, no making out at the table, you’re making all of us singles jealous,” Austin chastises him.
Charlie flips him off and proceeds to grab my face and kiss the hell out of me, which sets the table off with hoots and hollers and makes my cheeks burn bright red, and I hardly ever get embarrassed.
Charlie smirks triumphantly at me as he slides an arm around, pulling me closer to him.
Then the night continues as if I’m one of the gang, and I have the best time.
“Relax, everything is going to be okay,” Charlie tries to reassure me as he saddles up Maverick for me.
He’s taking me horse riding, something I’ve never been into ever since I was bucked off a horse at the school fete when I was five.
“Goose is a good boy, aren’t you?” he coos at the horse, who gives him a huff, letting him know he is, in fact, a good boy, but I’m not so sure.
“Okay, D, place one foot in the stirrup and then kick your leg over,” he explains.
I suck in a deep breath and try to loosen up my nerves and do as Charlie asks me.
“I did it.” I squeal, sitting in position, the horse stays, doesn’t move at all, and I rub Goose’s neck.
“Good boy,” I tell him for not bucking me off him.
Then I watch Charlie mount his steed, Maverick, because one of his favorite movies is Top Gun, and boy, did he look hot doing it.
His jeans tighten around his ass, and his muscles bulge underneath his shirt as he effortlessly gets onto his horse.
He looks so hot, maybe we should skip the horse ride and just head back to bed.
“Ready?” Charlie asks me.
“Not really.” I grab Goose’s reins.
“Derrick, you’ve got this. Also, just let Goose follow Maverick and all will be okay,” Charlie explains to me. Well, it’s not like I know what I am doing, so sure, I’ll let Goose do whatever he wants. I’m not in charge he is. I’m at his mercy today.
We head off out of the stables, and Goose, the good boy he is, follows Charlie and Maverick, and we make our way along the dirt path, which leads into the forest. “Do, um, bears attack horses?” I tentatively ask Charlie.
“It’s still a little cold for them at the moment, so we should be fine,” Charlie reassures me.
There’s still snow all about, but it’s been unseasonally warm, Charlie’s advised, so the snow is melting quickly if it does fall.
Honestly, this place is gorgeous, peaceful, quiet.
I thought I would be bored, but I guess Charlie’s dick has been keeping me busy, although it’s not just his dick that I’ve been enjoying.
I’ve liked the quiet pace of things, maybe it’s the slowdown I’ve needed as things have been so busy.
Not sure right now in my career if I could uproot my life and move somewhere like this, but I know Sienna and Evan want to spend more time in Byron Bay than LA, which would suck because I am severely co-dependent on my girl and boys.