Page 37 of Suddenly Beck

I watch in fascinated horror as Beck hits the button on the door. We both sit staring as the window slowly and painstakingly rises. There’s a loud squeaking noise of flesh sliding against glass as the man’s face distorts and stretches as he presses it to the glass. Once the window is fully closed, he turns his face toward us.

‘This is my brother, Jesse,’ Beck states dryly staring as Jesse presses his mouth to the glass blowing a giant raspberry and inflating his mouth to comical proportions. ‘Apparently, he’s the well behaved one.’

Jesse pulls back and grins. I blink once, then twice as I take in his features. His blond hair is cut short, and his hazel eyes are more golden than green like Beck’s, but there is no mistaking that face. ‘Twins?’ I whisper. ‘You have a twin?’

‘Yeah,’ he sniggers as Jesse pulls another face. ‘You look like a dickhead,’ he calls through the glass to Jesse.

‘Come on, Rebecca.’ Jesse grins. ‘I’m starving, and dinner’s getting cold.’

‘Shut up,’ Beck laughs. ‘It’s not even ready yet and you know it.’

‘Rebecca?’ One of my brows raise questioningly.

‘Not my name, if you were wondering. It really is just Beck. This twat—’ He hikes a thumb over his shoulder at his twin. ‘Is just pissed because Mum gave him a girl’s NAME!’ he shouts the last part through the glass and chuckles as Jesse flips him the finger.

There’s a sudden bang, and the car rocks. My eyes widen as I turn to stare through the windscreen to see a younger version of Beck and Jesse climbing onto the bonnet of the car and pressing his face against the window grinning maniacally.

‘Quinn, you giant bell end,’ Beck growls. ‘Seriously, dude, you dent that, you’re paying for it. I don’t care if you’re only a student.’

‘Beck!’ Quinn laughs loudly. ‘Missed you, you giant twat face!’

Beck shakes his head slowly before flicking on the wiper blades. The rubber grinds loudly against the dry glass and begin to rhythmically thump against the side of Quinn’s head repeatedly.

‘Ow… ow… ow…’ Quinn grumbles with each thump.

‘Now, that’s an idiot.’ Beck sighs.

‘Hey, assholes!’ Another voice roars from the doorway. ‘Get off the damn car.’

I shift in my seat to see a huge guy standing propped against the doorway, and he’s mouth wateringly gorgeous. With long dark hair scraped off his face in a fairly sturdy top knot, giving the impression that his hair is quite long. He has a full beard and a wide grin. There are tattoo’s peeking out of the collar of his black Harley Davison t-shirt and crawling up his neck. He also has two full sleeves of colourful tattoos, and he’s wearing faded blue jeans and scuffed biker boots.

‘Who’s that?’ I clear my throat as I blink. ‘He doesn’t look like one of your brothers.’

‘He is.’ Beck sighs. ‘Just not by blood. That’s Ryan, and he’s one of my oldest friends. We’ve known each other since pre-school.’

‘Oh my God,’ I mutter. My eyes are probably huge, and I feel like I’ve stepped inside some weird reality show.

‘Nat, it looks like it’s your lucky day,’ he says almost apologetically. ‘You’ve got yourself a two for one.’

‘Huh?’ I glance at him in confusion.

‘Well, this morning you got to go to the aquarium,’ he laughs. ‘And now… welcome to the zoo.’

Chapter Eleven

Beck

I love my family, but they’re really temperamental. In fact, I’d say about thirty percent temper and seventy percent mental.

I manage to get my idiot brothers off my car long enough for Nat and me to climb out. Honestly, it’s like monkeys at a safari park, and I’m surprised they didn’t pull the wipers off and chew the wing mirrors.

I’m kidding. They’re actually not usually this bad. In fact, there’s only one reason they’d be winding me up with this much enthusiasm. I glance toward the window, and sure enough, I see Georgie, sipping casually from a tall glass as she sends me a mischievous wink and grins widely.

Shit, there’s no way she hasn’t told my brothers about Nat. Now, they’re going to be doubly curious, not just because mum hired him, completely out of the blue, to work in our dad’s restaurant, but because he’s the first guy I’ve ever brought home. Although, technically, I can pass that one off on Mum, she’s the one who actually invited Nat to our family Sunday dinner. No one needs to know that I was the one who planted the idea in the first place.

It’s not just the fact that I seem to be looking for any excuse to spend more time with him. There’s something about him, about the things he unconsciously let’s slip about his family. Throwaway comments that to him seem completely normal, but to me are beginning to form a picture of a childhood and family life that may have been privileged but was devoid of warmth and laughter. I still don’t know how he ended up in the bay, or just what it is he’s running from, but I’m determined to find out.

‘Hey, it’s Nat, right?’ Quinn grins as he reaches out and shakes Nat’s hand. ‘I’m Quinn, the youngest and most handsome brother.’