The Rookie (manxmen)**Hothouse Book 1**

Chapter 11

I stood there and stared at my brother and wondered what the hell was going through his mind. I just shook my head while my inner gay boy reclined on his divan, his well used ass was propped on a bunch of pillows for comfort, and he was filing his nails wearing a pale silk robe and matching furry six inch heels. He looked up with a bored expression and stuck out his tongue at Nate and went back to what he was doing, sparing him no more of his time. And I didn't feel like getting into with him so I walked off as well. I made it as far as the kitchen door when I heard a sob and a sniffle from behind me, and I just knew I was imaging things.  But I whirled around to see my prick of a brother actually in tears and he slumped against the center island of the kitchen.

Ah Hell, my stomach churned, and I could feel the tingle of a tension headache coming on as I sat there and watched big fat tears roll down my brother's cheeks. In my mind's eye he looked like that lost ten year old little boy that stood in the kitchen holding my six year old stubby little fingers when the men in the bid red truck came to tell us that our daddy wasn't coming home anymore. I remember thinking that the fire had eaten him. That was the beginning of the end for the sweet considerate boy Nate used to be. With a heavy heart and even heavier feet, I slowly made my way to his side and patted him awkwardly on the back. His head snapped up and he stared at me in surprise as if he just realized that I was still standing there.

"She's right you know. I have let my bitterness and resentment poision everything and everyone around me." He brokenly whispered and it was then I knew I didn't have the heart to leave him sitting there looking so broken and beat down.

"Come with me." I said as I pulled him off the stool, and it was clear to me just how affected he was by our mother's words. He was docile as a lamb as I led him through the back door. We walked around the side of the house, and I opened the passenger side of my truck and waited for him to  climb in, and he did without another word being said. I snapped into his seatbelt and he gave me a watery smile before I closed the door and walked around the hood to hop into the driver's seat. I put the key in the ignition and turned it, and the big powerful engine rumbled to life and then my baby just purred for me. I backed out of the driveway and pondered where to take my brother so that we could hash out some things in privacy. I didn't want to go to my place just in case his asshole side returned, and I definitely didn't want to go to his because of his douche bag room mate. The only place I could think of was O'Malley's Pub. It was still early on a Sunday afternoon, so the place shouldn't be too packed. Yeah, we could get a booth and have a beer or two, and maybe Nate could finally let go of whatever it was that's been festering inside of him for such a long.

Nate sat there leaning against the door with his head resting against the window as I pulled into O'Malley's parking lot. There were more cars than I thought was going to be, and I wondered just how crowded the popular civil servant watering hole was today. But meh...We were already here. Nate managed to climb down on his own and he followed me inside. It wasn't too bad as I looked around the place, and the hostess showed us to our booth with a cheeky wink and a huge megawatt smile that neither of us were even in the mood to acknowledge. Nate just nodded at her and her eyes flicked down before her smile dimmed and she promptly informed us that our server would be with us soon.

We ordered and I just stared at Nate and waited for him to get this show on the road. I wasn't going to rush him. He had to be the one to take this first step on his own. His eyes kept darting to my face and then back to the table when he saw me looking straight at him, and he coughed a couple of times trying to clear his nerves because he knew I was waiting for him to say something. My inner twink wasn't as patient as I was.  He impatiently threw his nail file across the room and sat up, crossed his legs, and glared at Nate like he was saying get on with it already.