Broken Hill Hearts: The Broken Hill High Series (Book 4) Read online

I groan as I walk out of the den. “I’m getting a drink. You guys want one?”

  “Love one,” mom says as Jesse grunts. I roll my eyes and get busy while I distantly listen to mom and Jesse laughing at my expense.

  I return to the den and get comfortable, only now I have both mom and Jesse asking questions. I’ve never been so happy to hear the buzzer of the front gate, letting us know the delivery driver is here. “I’ll get it,” I announce, flying to my feet for the second time and hurrying to let the driver through.

  I go to the door and wait for the driver. A few minutes later, I’m back in the kitchen unpacking the bag of food.

  Mom presses pause on ‘Suits’ and we sit at the table to eat. I absolutely love Jesse, but right at this moment, I can’t help but feel that the wrong brother is sitting beside me.

  Chapter 2

  I walk down the hallway to my locker on Monday morning. Point-blank. School is really starting to suck. It’s the one place I see Nate now and also the one place I don’t. I know he’s here, walking these halls, always keeping his distance.

  He’s terrified his wicked ways are rubbing off on me. He wants me to be better, but doesn’t he know that I am better when I’m with him? It was supposed to be me and him against the world until he went and ripped that away.

  What’s worse is knowing just how deeply he loves me. I mean, he’s known he was in love with me since he was twelve. It took me a little longer to figure it out, but the second I did, I realized I could never go back. No one could possibly love me the way he does. It’s intense in all the best ways. He makes me feel things I never thought possible and I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

  I get to my locker and throw everything in before leaning up against it and watching the world go by. I hate being here. Two months ago, I loved coming to school. I had the world at my feet. People stayed out of my way and gave a shit about what I wanted. Now, it’s all different.

  It’s complete bullshit. This year was supposed to be the best of my life. My senior year. I was supposed to be making a crapload of memories that come twenty, thirty years, I’ll be thinking fondly of. Instead, I have a whole lot of people around me that are the bane of my existence.

  Take Phoenix Reilly for example. She’s nothing but a back stabbing cow. She was the cheer captain for a while and I wasn’t even on her radar until I started dating Nate. Turns out she is the boys’ half-sister and an absolute crazy, psycho bitch. She seduced Jesse last year and got him in bed, knowing he was her half-brother. He still can’t talk about it nor should he. That little stunt cost her the captainship and the respect of nearly everyone who walks these halls.

  But the bullshit with Phoenix didn’t stop there. Turns out, Caden Ryder, the boys’ father, was having an affair with her mom. In fact, over the past eighteen years, he never stopped. The only good thing that came from that was Trish and the boys kicked him to the curb. He moved in with Phoenix and her mom, only problem there; Phoenix can’t stop boasting about it and it grates on my nerves every time she does it.

  I mean, not that the boys would let it show, but I can tell it bothers them. They’re more than happy to close the book on that chapter of their lives, but having someone in this school thinking they have something on them really pisses my boys off. They like being the top of the food chain. It's where they belong and when that’s challenged, you better watch out. I don’t doubt they’re planning on striking at some stage, but when it’s family, it’s a bit of a touchy topic.

  Next up we have Jackson Millington. He’s the quarterback of the football team. He’s right up there in the food chain, constantly challenging Nate and Jesse. I really don’t know what’s going on there. Sometimes he claims he can be a friend but then he goes and does something incredibly moronic that has me continuously questioning him. Now that Nate and I have split, he seems to be hanging around more. He’s already admitted that he likes me, and I’ve already put him in his place many, many times. He knows there’s no future for us, I just wish he’d hurry up and accept that, but to be honest, I think I’m starting to come around to the idea of having him as a friend... Maybe a pet seems a better fit.

  Finally, we have Ashley Samuels. All I’ve ever known about her was that she was with Nate before me. She got a little pissed off when he ended things with her and that was it. Turns out, there’s a bit more to it. Three months ago, she was responsible for the fire that nearly took mine and Nate’s life. We only discovered this a little while ago and so far, I’ve managed to keep my mouth shut about it. Nate is planning something big and the last thing we want is for her to see him coming. But honestly, there’s only so much longer I can wait before I take things into my own hands. I promised Nate I wouldn’t, but my patience is quickly running thin.

  As I said, this year is quickly turning to shit.

  I let out a heavy sigh as people pass by me in the hallway. I wonder if I could get away with skipping again today. I’ve been skipping a little too much lately and it won’t be long until Nate calls me out on it. He hates when I do things that could affect my future in a negative way, but honestly he has no say anymore. He didn’t want to fight for what we had and because of that, I simply just don’t care. Ok, maybe I do, just a little. Oh, who am I kidding? I’m always going to care about what he thinks. I just want to not care.

  Jesus, I’m pathetic.

  All I want is to go back to before the fire. None of this would have happened. I mean, all the Phoenix stuff would have, but the fire is what prompted my dad to come home and try to set me on the straight and narrow, claiming I was ‘acting up,’ and it was all due to Nate. As without Nate, I wouldn’t have been involved in fights, I wouldn’t have received an in school suspension, and I sure as hell wouldn’t have given my dad enough attitude to last a lifetime. Dad completely blames Nate, and what’s worse, Nate blames himself too.

  I’ll never forgive my father for planting that seed in his mind.

  “What’s going on?” My best friend, Brooke says, falling into the locker beside me and leaning against her shoulder. “You look like a depressive ass rat.”

  “I am a depressive ass rat.”

  “Here,” she says, holding out her coffee to me. “Have some of this. It’ll make you feel better.” I wave her off. After all, Brooke has her own issues to deal with here, and I know for a fact that she’s going to need every last drop of that coffee. “Have it your way,” she tells me before taking a sip, probably just to tease me. “What’s going on? Who pissed you off this morning?”

  “No one,” I grumble. “I just don’t like how things are at the moment.”

  “Yeah,” she grunts, looking over her shoulder. “At least you don’t have to see shit like that every day.”

  I follow her gaze to see her ex-boyfriend, Maxen, with his latest girlfriend, Holly, pressed up against the lockers playing tonsil hockey. It’s a sick relationship really. There are rumors going around that they’re both cheating on each other. I mean, if either one of them had respect for themselves they would call it off, but instead, they continue on, knowing the other is unfaithful. I don’t know how they do it. It would make me sick.

  “Just be happy you dodged that bullet,” I tell her. I mean, if I had to watch Nate all over some skank every day, I’m sure I’d tear them both to shreds.

  She scoffs and looks at me as though I’ve taken a trip to the nutty hospital. “Dodged a bullet?” she grunts. “I didn’t dodge a bullet. I got shot point-blank, over and over again until I was lying dead in a gutter.”

  “Geez,” I laugh, pushing up from my locker. “No need for the dramatics.”

  “Yes, there is,” she demands. “Especially when you describe what he did to me as ‘dodging a bullet’.”

  “I know,” I say. “I’m just saying you’re lucky you got out when you did. Imagine if you never discovered he was cheating and you were still being played.”

  She sulks and looks up at me through her eyelashes. “Do we really have to talk about this?”

&n
bsp; “No,” I laugh. “But you better come up with a new topic because I have plenty more to say about Maxen.”

  “Fine,” she says as a sly grin cuts across her face. “Did you he-”

  “OH, MY GOD,” we hear yelled from down the hall. Both our heads whip to face Elle, who’s currently shoulder charging her way up the hallway, barging anyone and everyone out of her way until she reaches us, completely out of breath. “I just heard the funniest thing.”

  “What?” we both grunt, quickly glancing at each other with amused smiles.

  “Tyson just got caught by Mrs. Kingsley with his pants around his ankles and JJ’s lips around his dick.”

  Laughter rips out of me as Brooke’s jaw drops. “Oh, no,” I laugh, holding my stomach when the laughter begins to hurt. “The poor guy.”

  “Poor guy?” Elle laughs. “I was told he still finished.”

  “With Mrs. Kingsley watching?” I gasp.

  “Yeah,” Elle chuckles. “Poor Mrs. K. She’s going to be scarred for the rest of her life. She dragged Ty off to Watkins’ office.”

  “What about JJ?” Brooke questions.

  “I don’t know. She’s probably too busy bragging to all her friends to bother going and getting in trouble.”

  “Ha,” I scoff, under my breath. “Either that or she’s in the bathroom regurgitating his spoof so she can knock herself up with his baby.”

  Brooke scrunches her faces as she looks across at me, clearly very disgusted and disturbed by my comment. “Who the hell says shit like that?”

  I shrug my shoulders. “Try having Jesse as your new BFF and see what kind of shit comes out of your mouth.”

  As Brooke rolls her eyes, I notice the girl standing behind her gasp before puffing out her tits, telling me he’s here. I watch with distaste as the girl looks at me, gives me a sly grin, and starts strutting down the hallway.

  I can’t help but watch. It’s like a train wreck. You just can’t look away.

  I search beyond the girl, knowing he’s down the other end of the hallway and our eyes meet, just like they do every other day. A million messages pass between us and just like that, I know exactly what he’s thinking; he needs me just as I need him.

  He continues forward, his eyes never leaving mine. My body calls for him but I know it simply won’t happen. The skank beelines straight for him and puts a hand upon his chest to stop him. He frowns, looks down at the hand, and follows the arm until he comes to the girl’s face. He pulls back, swats her hand off him as though he was shooing a fly, and continues forward as the girl is left behind, watching him as though she has never been so wronged in her life.

  Brooke was wrong, seeing Nate with other girls couldn’t be more satisfying. To know they’re invisible to him and to still be the only girl his heart beats for is a feeling I’ll never get enough of. So, as far as I’m concerned, let the girls try because no matter what, he’ll always be mine.

  His eyes return to mine as he struts forward. That’s right, Nate Ryder doesn’t just walk like the rest of the human population, he struts like hot shit. I don’t even think he knows he’s doing it. Maybe it’s the walk of someone with confidence spurting out of their ass, either way, he looks damn fine doing it.

  He walks right into me, not giving a shit that Brooke and Elle have to step back out of his way. His hand curls around the back of my neck as he presses his body right up against mine. I breathe in his heavenly scent, the one I miss so damn bad as he drops his head to mine.

  His lips are so close, all I would have to do is reach out and take them, but we can’t. Not here. I wouldn’t be able to stop, so instead, I place my hand against his racing heart and take what I can get.

  My eyes close with the satisfaction of just being close to him and I feel the deep rise and fall of his chest as he breathes me in, the same way I’m doing to him. He presses his lips to my cheek and I turn my face into him, needing more. “I miss you,” he murmurs for only me to hear.

  I pull back slightly so I can look up into his eyes. “I’m right here,” I tell him. “All you have to do is take me.”

  He watches me for a moment longer before pulling me back in and pressing a kiss to my forehead. He doesn’t say the three words I’m desperate to hear, but I know he feels it, right down in his soul. So deep it’s ingrained there for all eternity.

  With that, he walks away and all I can do is watch him go.

  Elle scoffs. “You two are way too intense for me.”

  “Right,” Brooke agrees.

  “Shut up,” I say as I watch him go to his locker and throw something inside. Jesse joins him a second later with Puck, and from the look on Jesse’s face, I’d dare say he’s telling Nate all about Tyson’s exciting morning. Not a moment later, Maxen breaks away from Holly as though she’s yesterday’s news and joins the boys.

  Nate’s eyes constantly come back to mine and when a smile lifts the corners of his lips, I melt. God, what I would give to have him back in my life.

  “Would you two just sort out your shit and get back together?” Courtney says as she joins us with Brylee, who has her face shoved deep into a textbook. Brylee is off to Yale in the fall and saying she’s trying to soak up as much information as possible before she goes is a disgusting understatement. She’s going nuts. She’s going to be Yale’s special little girl who has all her professors in her back pocket.

  “We can’t,” I groan, having to repeat myself for the millionth time. I mean, we must have this conversation at least a few times a week.

  “Yeah, yeah,” Court says. “We know, but just saying, when you do, you better make him work for it.”

  A grin rips across my lips as I look back at the man I love. “Oh, believe me, I will.”

  Nate’s eyes narrow on mine and it’s almost as though he can read my mind. He becomes increasingly suspicious, yet all I can do is grin. I can’t wait. I’m going to have so much fun with it.

  If Nate Ryder thinks he’s just going to walk straight back into my life without fighting for it, he’s got another thing coming.

  “Hello, hello, hello,” a cheery Jackson says as he throws both his arms over Brooke and Elle’s shoulders, forcing his way into our circle. Both Brooke and Elle groan. They’re both petite girls and I’m sure having Jackson’s arm on their shoulder is weighing them down big time.

  “Is there something you need?” I question, still not having forgiven him for taking me to a rowdy Haven Falls party and leaving me to fend for myself in a house full of stoned morons wanting to stick it to Nate.

  “Nope,” he grins like an evil little Cheshire cat. “Just saw your boyfriend looking over here and thought I’d take the opportunity to get under his skin.”

  At the mention of my boyfriend, my eyes flick towards Nate to see his grin completely gone, replaced with pure annoyance. I try to shoot him a comforting look but there’s no way in hell it’s working on him. But then, he lost the right to storm in here like a raging bull when he broke up with me. I turn back to Jackson. “At least you’re being honest about it.”

  He pretends to look offended. “I’m wounded, Tora. I’m always honest, especially when it comes to pissing off Nate Ryder.”

  Brooke slips out from under his heavy arm though I’m surprised when Elle doesn’t move. “When are you and Nate going to call all this bullshit off?” Brooke questions.

  “When are you going to forgive Maxen?”

  “Never.”

  “Well, there’s your answer,” he tells her with a proud smile as the bell rings. “Now, what do you ladies say about me walking you to class?”

  I turn back to my locker and pull out my books for Mr. Miller’s class. “We’re good,” I tell him.

  Jackson looks down at Elle. “And what about you?”

  “Are you going to carry my books?” she questions with a raised eyebrow.

  “Do you want me to carry your books?”

  Elle studies him for a moment before giving in. “I do.”

  His grin widens in
to a smirk before he turns back and winks at me as though he’s about to screw her in the hallway closet. “Lead the way,” he tells her. Elle turns and naturally, Jackson follows behind. They get halfway up the hall when I realize that neither one of them had a single book in their hands.

  Brooke and I start walking to class when Nate falls in beside me. “What was that about?” he questions.

  “You don’t want to know,” I tell him, surprised to see him walking to class on time, especially Miller’s class. I guess that’s what happens to a man when he wants answers.

  “Trust me,” he tells me, taking my textbook out of my hands and adding it to his. “When it comes to Jackson and you, I definitely want to know.”

  I let out a sigh but can’t help grinning knowing what his reaction is going to be. “He was trying to get under your skin,” I explain. “You know, if you two could stop being douchebags for two seconds, I think you’d be pretty good friends.”

  “Yeah,” he laughs. “That’s never going to happen.”

  Chapter 3

  “Are you coming over this afternoon?” I ask Brooke over the top of my car as she unlocks her own. It’s been a huge day and I’m so happy to be seeing the end of it. Nate scowled at Jackson the whole day while Jackson did his best to push every damn button Nate has, and when it comes to me, it’s like a big shiny red one saying ‘push me’. I swear, I had to break up nearly three fights between the two today. I should just let them go at it but poor Jackson would get an absolute ass whooping.

  “Nah,” Brooke says as she opens the door of her car. “I’ve got a test tomorrow. I need to study.”

  “Alright then,” I sigh, kind of relieved. I mean, now I can go home and crash in my pajamas without the world judging me. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “K,” she says on a yawn, making me wonder if any studying will actually get done or if she’ll just wing the test tomorrow.

  I drop down into my car and start it up, but naturally, the parking lot is filled with bodies and I have to wait patiently for everyone to clear away before I risk killing them. I mean, I know I kicked ass on the racetrack that one time but I don’t doubt I’ll see my doom in the form a simple driving task. I’m not the most confident driver. Not like Nate.