Broken Hill Hurt: The Broken Hill High Series (Book 3) Read online

  © 2019 Sheridan Anne.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  All Rights Reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

  Cover Design by: Sheridan Anne

  Photograph: Viktor Solomin

  Editing by: Sheridan Anne and Jessie Lynn

  Formatting by: Sheridan Anne

  Introduction

  We had it all until we didn’t.

  Nate Ryder has been the center of my world for the past few months. He’s cared for me, cherished me, and shown me a love I never even imagined could be real.

  He was my rock when my father left and my voice when I didn’t have one. He was once my bully but now holds my heart in the palm of his hands, along with it, the power to destroy me.

  We’ve face down every threat imaginable, and every single time, we’ve come out on top. But what happens when the threat is coming from within? What happens when our world literally goes up in flames and threatens to take my heart away?

  When all the walls start closing in, he’s all I’ve got left, but is what we have strong enough to survive? Or will this fairy tale come crashing down?

  You know what they say; good things can’t last forever.

  WARNING: The Broken Hill High Series is a Young Adult / New Adult Romance filled with LOL moments, teenage angst, and of course, all the swoon worthy moments I know you’re all dying for. This series is recommended for mature readers due to cursing and sexual content. If this offends you, then steer clear of this bad boy romance!

  For everyone else, dive in and have fun!

  **DISCLAIMER – Broken Hill High has seen a few minor changes to some of our beloved character names. These changes have been updated throughout the complete series.

  My sincerest apologies for any confusion.

  If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via my Facebook page or through Twitter

  www.facebook.com/SheridanAnneAuthor/

  @_SheridanAnne

  Changes are as follows:

  Cade – Caden

  Bec – Brylee

  Parker - Puck

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Author Biography

  Other books by Sheridan Anne

  Chapter 1

  I push back from the table and fly out of my seat as I save my phone from being drenched in Jesse’s caramel latte. It’s all over the table, quickly spreading. “Fuck,” Jesse grunts as everyone scrambles for their belongings not wanting to risk them being covered in the yummy goodness.

  I mean, I love that I’ve gotten Jesse addicted to Carter’s Coffee House, but sometimes his carelessness is not always welcome, especially now as the latte begins to dribble off the side of the table and hit the floor, making it splash up against my legs.

  Nate grabs someone’s car keys as Brooke starts throwing napkins at the brown liquid, but her aim is shocking and they go everywhere but the spilled drink.

  Damn it, why couldn’t he have spilled it when it was nearly finished? Instead, the latte was scalding hot and as full as can be.

  People are rushing around and the table looks like a coffee massacre, especially when Brylee knocks over her drink in her haste to save her purse.

  All of this within the space of three seconds.

  I quickly realize that the four napkins Brooke is throwing down on the table aren’t going to be enough. We’re going to need some paper towel, cleaning products, and probably a mop. I step back and my legs instantly get tangled with my chair and my handbag at my feet.

  I start to fumble as I lose my balance. My arms begin flailing around as my torso wobbles back and forth. Hell, I’m sure I’m even pulling one of those faces you see in slow motion videos when people are about to eat dirt.

  There are too many bodies moving around and nothing to save my fall. With my chair right behind me and my body weight thrown to the side, there’s literally nothing I can do.

  I’m going down. Hard.

  “Fuck,” I screech as I fall. My hip catches on the edge of Nate’s chair and I feel a sharp pain ripping through me. I crash down to the ground while knocking into Nate and sending him flying forward towards the table.

  Caramel latte drips off the table and lands on my face as Nate flicks himself around and gapes at me on the ground. I clench my eyes together and squirm myself away from the hot drink. Holy fuck, that hurt.

  Nate is there in the blink of an eye. He hooks his hands under my arms and pulls me straight up off the ground. “Fuck, babe,” he says with wide eyes as both Jesse and Elle’s booming laughter rebound off every wall in the room. “Are you okay?”

  I mentally check myself as coffee drips off me. I must have only been down for a fraction of a second, but it was enough to cause some damage. My hands hurt, my head hurts, my right knee hurts, and my hip stings like a fucking bitch.

  I cringe as I try my best to tune out their laughter. Reaching down, I pull the hem of my shirt up and get a good look at my hip. “Fuck,” Nate curses as he takes in the instant bruise that has begun spreading over my hip.

  Nate rubs his thumb over it and I shrink back. “Don’t,” I cry as the pain brings tears to my eyes. I try to blink them back, but they’re here for the long haul. “It hurts.” I look up at him to see him trying his hardest to hold back a grin. “It’s not funny,” I demand, yanking myself back out of his hands as the first tear falls.

  “I’m sorry,” he says as his grin widens. “But, it kind of is. I mean, you went down like a sack of shit.”

  “Thanks,” I grunt, pushing myself back into my chair and ignoring the spilled drinks covering the table. That’s Jesse’s fuck up so he can deal with it now. I’m done. I try to relax into my chair but the pain in my hip is just too much.

  Nate’s grin disappears as he takes me in. He crouches down before me and I can’t help but pout out my bottom lip. He raises his hand and places it against my cheek. “Do you want me to get ice?” he questions as I lean into his touch.

  “No,” I sigh as everyone continues fixing up the mess around us. “It’ll be fine.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah,” I say, looking up at the worry in his eyes. “Can we just get out of here?”

  He cringes before looking down at his phone and checking the time. “I don’t know,” he says. “I think we should wait a little while longer.”

  I let out a heavy sigh and nod my head. Nate and Jesse’s dad is officially moving out of their home today and while that’s the best news to hit the face of the earth, it’s not exactly something the boys want to be home to witness.

  Caden Ryder will be moving in with Kelly Reilly, the woman he’s been having an affair with for eighteen years. He knocked her up at the same time he knocked up Trish, and instead of doing the decent thing and coming clean to his wife, he lived a life with both families.

  Kelly had a daughter, Phoenix,
who might I say, is an absolute bitch and lived her life knowing all about Trish and the boys. Caden bought her a house, funded her life, played daddy to Phoenix, and went on constant work trips which I’m pretty sure is code for ‘spending the night with my other family’.

  Phoenix is one of the many cheerleaders at Broken Hill High and up until two weeks ago, she was the captain. She was demoted after it came out that she seduced Jesse and slept with him. Apparently, the whole incest thing got shrugged off and only frowned upon because it was Jesse, and to the cheerleaders, he and Nate are the ultimate prizes. I mean, their priorities are seriously fucked up.

  Jesse still hasn’t been able to get passed that one, and I don’t blame him. If he had known they were half-siblings, he wouldn’t have done it. He would have run for the hills at the first sign of flirting, instead, she tricked him into bed and he will have to deal with that for the rest of his life.

  I mean, at the time she was just another score. How was he to know she was messed up?

  Though I have to admit, as awful as it is for Jesse, I’m just glad she didn’t set her sights on Nate first. I wouldn’t be surprised if she tried, though.

  Ugh. My skin crawls every time I think about it. She’s so gross. She should have been arrested for that shit. What’s worse, the whole school knows about it and Jesse has been getting into a few too many fights lately. Naturally, he wins every single one so people have backed off, realizing they’re going to get their asses kicked for even thinking about it.

  I lean back in my chair and let out a huff. Nate gives me an encouraging smile and squeezes my hand before turning around and helping everyone fix up the table, though, not much needs to be done now as the barista has come over with some sponges and a mop.

  Everyone moves away from the table and takes over another while Jesse remains and helps the guys finish up. Brooke drops down beside me and reaches for my shirt. She pulls it up a bit and practically shoves her head in my vag as she gets a look at my hip. “Shit, Tor,” she gasps. “You got your hip good.”

  “I know,” I groan as I push her back and reach forward to grab my latte, which thankfully wasn’t spilled everywhere. I cringe with the movement as I settle back into the chair and bring the latte to my lips. I take a sip and let the yummy goodness take my troubles away. “How is it possible for this to be so good?”

  “Mmmm,” she agrees as she takes a drink of her own coffee. “I’ve been needing this all day.”

  “I don’t doubt that,” I laugh as I watch Nate across the table talking with Maxen. “You drank way too much last night.”

  “Don’t remind me,” she groans, probably remembering the way she threw back shot after shot of tequila. I mean, the old saying ‘one tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor,’ was definitely put into practice last night and I can proudly say, she absolutely killed it. Though, I don’t know how she’s even walking this morning. “I’m never touching tequila again.”

  “Right,” I scoff with a chuckle. “I’ve heard that before.”

  She bumps my shoulder with hers. “Shut up.”

  “Hey,” a familiar voice says from behind me, making all eyes at the table lift. I turn around to find both Courtney and Brylee walking through the door and heading over here. Courtney’s eyes instantly flick towards Puck who sits with his casted arm resting on the table as Brylee looks around at everything else. “What the hell happened here?” she questions, taking in the barista helping Jesse with the mess.

  Puck scoffs. “Jesse.”

  “Ahhh,” she laughs. “Enough said.”

  The girls pull up chairs and dump their bags before heading over to the counter and ordering a coffee each. A smile spreads over my face. I absolutely love it when my girls hang out with my boys. It's like my two worlds colliding and making something beautiful.

  A few short months ago, these two groups wouldn’t have been seen dead together. I hated Nate with a passion and his friends were considered douchebags. They were a group of dickheads and they didn’t care who they hurt.

  While most of that is still true, I’ve also learned that underneath their douchebaggery ways, they’re some of the best guys I’ll ever meet and now my girlfriends know it too. So much, in fact, that Brooke has been dating Max for a few months and Courtney is desperately pining over Puck, though, I don’t really know what’s happening there.

  Brylee and Courtney return to the table a few minutes later with a plate of French fries that makes my mouth water. They sit down and I find it impossible to take my eyes off them. “Would you like some?” Courtney laughs as she grins across the table at me.

  “I thought you’d never ask.” I reach over and grab a handful of French fries off the plate before annihilating them and reaching for more.

  “Jesus,” Nate grunts, making me look up to notice the sparkle in his eyes. “If you were hungry, you should have said so.” I scrunch my face up at him but all he does is grin and shake his head as though he finds me amusing. A moment later he gets up and walks over to the counter before ordering me a bowl of my own.

  I get the warm fuzzies when he does stuff like that. I absolutely love it. Especially when he leans up against the counter and looks back at me with a smirk, making my panties disintegrate. God, I love him.

  I don’t know how I spent five years hating him. He’s the best thing I never knew I needed, and the way he loves me makes me feel like the only girl in the world. It’s incredible and all consuming. I wouldn’t have it any other way.

  The guy hands him the bowl of French fries and he takes it with a mischievous gleam in his dark eyes. Oh, dear God. I know that look. I narrow my eyes on him and wait for whatever game he’s about to play. He walks forward with his eyes on me and the excitement bubbles up within me as our friends remain completely oblivious to what’s going on between us.

  He plucks a French fry off the top and… wait, is that gravy? Damn. That looks so good.

  He raises the gravy covered French fry to his mouth and bites down before licking his lips. Holy crap that was hot. The French fry disappears and I don’t know whether to be cranky that he’s stealing it or jealous that it’s not me all over those lips.

  I go with cranky. I want those French fries.

  He takes another.

  Nope.

  I push myself up out of my seat, this time being a little more careful not to face plant into the ground, as I’m sure there’s no way I’ll be that lucky again. I mean, I’ll probably end up needing some sort of plastic surgery if I was to go down a second time.

  I step out from the table and watch as he tightens his hold on the bowl. A wicked grin takes over his face before the laughter spills out. There’s only one thing on this earth that Nate loves more than teasing his brother, and that’s teasing me.

  “Nate,” I warn as I walk towards him.

  “Yes?” he questions like an innocent little boy.

  I raise my chin to him, letting him know I’m up for a challenge in the same way I used to. Only before, it wasn’t fun. It was never fun. Things have changed and because of him, I’ve grown one hell of a backbone. “I think you have something of mine.”

  “Really?” he asks, taking another delicious gravy filled French fry and slowly raising it to his mouth. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  I come to a stop right before him and look up into those dark, smoldering eyes as he raises the bowl of French fries way above my head. “You dare eat that French fry, Nathaniel Ryder, and I’m going to rain down hell on you.”

  His eyes bore into mine, studying me and trying to work out my game plan. But jokes on him. I don’t have one.

  His eyes tease me as the French fry gets closer and closer to his delicious lips. I suck in a breath and watch as it disappears.

  My eyes narrow. His raise. My knees bend. He nods. I charge.

  I push myself into him but two big arms wrap around me from behind and pin my arms to my sides. “Let me go,” I demand as Jesse’s booming laughter rings in
my ear and Nate’s grin triples in size while they gang up on me.

  Jesse lifts me so my feet dangle off the ground and I do my best to get myself free, but probably look like a fish out of water. “I thought you’d learned your lesson by now,” Nate taunts as he eats another. “Remember, I always come out on top.”

  I can’t help but grin back at him. “Really? Because last night I got the impression you loved it when I was on top.”

  “Nope,” Jesse grunts behind me as he releases his hold and lets me drop to the floor. He looks up at Nate as I steady myself. “I don’t want to know. You’re on your own.” With that, he walks away.

  Nate steps into me, still with the French fries far out of my reach and leans in so his lips hover just over mine. “I fucking love you,” he murmurs for only us to hear before his lips press down. I kiss him back and melt into him. His free arm wraps around my waist and he pulls me in hard against him. I feel his phone vibrate in his pocket but he ignores it to kiss me again. “And I fucking love it when you’re on top. But just so you know, when it comes to you, I’m going to take you any way I can.”

  I pull back with a smile from ear to ear. “You’re so romantic,” I tease.

  “Shut up,” he laughs as he brings his hand down and finally hands me the French fries, though, not before stealing another. I take them greedily and watch as he digs in his pockets and pulls out his phone.

  He checks his message and an excited gin takes over. “Fuck yeah,” he grunts.

  “What is it?” I question, biting into a French fry.

  “He’s gone.”

  “Dude,” Tyson says as he walks past us. “You should at least pretend to sound upset about it.”

  Maxen scoffs. “He’s excited because it means he can go back home and start working on the Mustang.”

  Now it’s my turn to scoff. “You mean, now he can use the extra space for the stupid car lift he bought last week.”

  Nate grins like a kid in a candy shop. “It’s not stupid.”

  “Of course, it’s stupid,” I laugh. “The car doesn’t even have an engine yet… or wheels.”