Broken Hill Hearts (Broken Hill High 4)

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.