Broken Hill Hearts (Broken Hill High 4)

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming,” I mumble under my breath. “There’s no need to be so damn dramatic.”

“I heard that,” he warns me.

“You meant to.”

I get to the door and flick the switch, I’ve hardly removed my hand before the door is flying open. I hurry back to avoid getting smacked in the face by the door and wait patiently for Nate to lose his mind.

He comes storming through the door like a damn god and seeing him so enraged makes me want to jump his bones, but that’s going to have to wait until he can learn how to take a risk of his own. “Did you forget to mention something this morning?” He scoffs at me as he slams the door behind him.

“Nope,” I say, turning around and walking up the hallway.

“Hey,” he demands, grabbing my elbow and spinning me around to face him. “I’m not nearly done with you. I haven’t even started.”

“Well, I figured if you’re going to be an asshole about this that I may as well get comfortable.”

He groans and I do my best to ignore him as I turn back around and beeline down the hallway, this time going a bit faster and keeping just out of his reach. Nate follows me down to the den and I turn to face him before dropping down into the couch. “Well, come on then,” I tell him. “Let’s hear it.”

“Are you seriously making a joke out of this?” he demands, looking absolutely appalled and disgusted.

“No,” I tell him. “I’m making a joke of it to avoid screaming at you instead.”

“Me? What the hell did I do?” he demands.

“You came storming down here as though you have the right. You broke up with me, remember? You don’t have the right to come and curse me out for the shit I do anymore.”

“The hell I don’t,” he scoffs, getting closer to me. “Whether we’re technically together or not, you’re still my girl. You always will be, so like it or not, I have every right to come down here and let you know when you fucked up.”

“I didn’t fuck up,” I tell him. “I was defending myself.”

“Bullshit,” he grunts. “She was walking away and you went after her.”

Damn it. Looks like Brooke blurted out every single detail. Thanks a lot, Brooke. Some best friend you are. I’ll be taking the spa day back.

I can’t help but look away from the disappointment in his eyes. I mean, this is so much worse than what it was with mom. This is slowly killing me from the inside. “She said things,” I grumble under my breath as I study the couch very carefully.

He lets out a low breath before walking forward and dropping down into the couch beside me. “What kind of things?”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” I tell him. “Just keep yelling at me and then we can move on.”

“I can’t.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Because clearly whatever she said is still bugging you. She hurt you and I’m not about to keep reminding you how much you fucked up when you’re hurting. That can wait.”

My eyes lift from the couch and meet with his concerned ones. How did I get so lucky to have a man like Nate Ryder fall in love with me? He puts his arm out and pulls me into his chest, right where I need to be. “She said that I was nothing and now that you’re done with me, everyone else will see that I’m worthless,” I explain. “She said I was trash and after everything with the fire, I just couldn’t stop. It’s like I lost my mind. I hardly even remember doing it. One second, she was letting me know it was her who slashed my tire, the next, I was pinning her down and pulling out chunks of her fake, skanky hair.”

“Shit,” he sighs, taking my hips and pulling me up onto his lap so he can look me in the eyes. “You know none of that is true? I’ll never be done with you, and believe me when I say you are the furthest thing from worthless. I fucking love you, Tora, and if anyone is trash around here, it’s Ashley Samuels.”

I watch him silently as he tries to take my pain away, but no matter what he says, he’s still not mine. His words are amazing, but it’s the actions that count here.

Nate pushes a stray lock of chestnut hair behind my ear and curls his hand around the back of my neck. “Why didn’t you tell me last night?”

I let out a sigh. “Because I couldn’t bear the thought of you looking at me the way you are now.”

His eyebrows crease as he watches me. “What do you mean?”

“You’re disappointed with me and I see it all over your face. It kills me more than Ashley’s words.”