Broken Hill Hearts (Broken Hill High 4)

I haul myself up a pillar and onto the roof before scrambling around to Jesse’s window. I slide it open and scare the absolute shit out of him as I drop down into the room that smells like a bad mix of dirty socks and wet fart. “What the fuck are you doing?” he grunts, leaning over and flicking on his bedside lamp.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I just… I need.”

“Go,” he tells me, reading it in my eyes exactly what it is I need before leaning over and flicking off his light.

“Night, Jess,” I whisper into the dark room.

He grunts out something that kind of sounds like ‘night’ as I walk out his door and softly close it behind me. As I walk down the hall towards his room, my heart rate starts to spike. There’s a very real possibility that he tells me to go. I’m so close to my goal for the night and his rejection would absolutely kill me.

My fingers curl around his door handle and I slowly push it open. Nate’s already asleep in bed but the sound of me at his door has him waking and pushing himself up onto his elbow. “Tora?” he murmurs into the quiet room.

I watch him for a moment and as our eyes connect, I break. The tears flow and no matter how hard I try, I can’t make them stop. His eyes soften as he takes me in. “Come on,” he tells me, pulling the blankets back. From the look in his eyes, it’s clear he thinks I’m hurting because of us not because of the afternoon I had. I’d bet any money that he doesn’t know about it yet as if he did, there’s no way he’d be this calm.

I crawl into his bed and a moment later, his arms are wrapping around me, pulling me in hard against his strong chest. “It’s ok,” he murmurs, trying his best to soothe me. His warm hands curl around my cold ones and just like that, I’m home.

“You’re freezing,” he scolds. “Did you walk here?”

I don’t respond but I don’t need to. The answer is pretty damn obvious. He lets out a sigh and it’s clear as day he’s not happy with it, but he’s choosing to let it go.

As my body begins to warm, I strip out of my hoody and sweat pants and roll over to face into him. My head goes down on his chest as his arm curls around my body. Our legs become a tangled mess and then his lips are pressing against my forehead. “Go to sleep,” he tells me.

“I love you,” I murmur into his chest.

“I know,” he says. “I love you, too.”

And just like that, I finally find the sleep my body has been craving all afternoon.

Chapter 6

Light seeps in through the window and my eyes peel open. The last thing I want is to leave the safety of his arms but I need to be home before my mom notices I snuck out.

I push up off his chest and his arms tighten around me, pulling me back to him. “Don’t go,” he tells me. I snuggle back into him as he holds me. His fingers rub back and forth over my back and ass.

“I have to.”

“Just a minute longer.”

“Nate,” I sigh. “Please, don’t make it harder. Mom’s not happy with me. I have to get home before she notices.”

He grabs my hips and pulls me up on top of him so I straddle him. My hair falls down into my face and he pushes it back as he studies my eyes. “Are you ok?” he questions, not liking what he sees.

I give him what I hope is an encouraging smile and nod. “Yeah,” I tell him. “I just really have to go.”

“Ok,” he says sitting up. He curls his hand around the back of my neck and pulls me to him before he kisses me gently. “I’ll take you home.”

“K,” I mumble before climbing off his lap. I find my hoody and sweat pants on the floor and grab my phone off the table.

Nate takes my hand a second later and leads me down the stairs and out into the frosty morning. “You sure you’re ok?” he questions, opening the door of Jesse’s Range Rover for me. “You don’t look right.”

“I’m fine,” I tell him. “I just had a really sucky day. I didn’t mean to intrude on you, but I just kind of… needed it.”

“That’s what I’m here for,” he tells me as he starts up the car.

We sit in silence as he drives home and I don’t doubt we both have a million things we each need to say, but now’s not the time. He reaches across and weaves his fingers through mine. It’s nice. Comforting. It takes me back to a time where this was normal.