Broken Hill Hearts (Broken Hill High 4)

“Why the hell you crash tackled Ashley like a confused linebacker?”

I look away, unable to meet her eyes in fear of her seeing right through me. “What do you mean?” I question. “You heard what she said. She called me trash and then admitted to slashing my tire. My car’s been in the shop for a week.”

Her eyes narrow. “No,” she says. “That’s bullshit. Girls like her have been calling you all sorts of shit since you started dating Nate and it just slides straight off you. This is different. Did Nate get with her? I heard they were at Carter’s the other day.”

“It’s…it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

“Bullshit,” she grunts, sitting up and hitting pause on her stupid zombie show. “What did she do?”

I cringe, not wanting to tell her but then, she’s been my best friend for years. She knows exactly how to push the buttons I don’t want pushed just like I know she won’t give in until I come clean.

I let out a breath and sit up on my bed. I swivel around to face her front on as I prepare to tell her something that I know she’s not going to take well. “So,” I start off slowly. “Ashley was the one who set the fire in the boat shed.”

Her mouth drops open in surprise as a silent ‘What,’ comes out. “Are you… what? How do you…?” Her brows pull down and her eyes start flicking around the room as she becomes immersed in her thoughts.

“The initial police report said there was a jacket at the scene which had looked as though it was used to attempt to put the fire out, but there wasn’t enough evidence to support it and the cops couldn’t figure out whose jacket it was.”

“So… how does that tie in with Ashley?”

“Well,” I cringe. “Jesse stole the jacket from evidence an-”

“What?” Brooke cuts me off. “How the hell did he do that?”

“I, ah, don’t actually know. I wasn’t really asking questions at the time, but my guess would be that he knows a guy.”

“Tyson’s uncle is a cop,” she suggests.

I shrug my shoulders. I absolutely adore Jesse and I don’t doubt that whatever he did to get that jacket was illegal, so the less I know, the better. “Anyway, you know Sarah McKay?”

“Yeah, the chick who’s always taking pictures?”

“Yeah, that’s her. I thought she might have been there and she always uploads her pictures to Facebook, so I had a look and in the background of one of the pictures was Ashley wearing the jacket.”

“Shit, so she actually did it?”

“Yep,” I grunt.

“No wonder you tried to kick her ass,” she murmurs. “Why don’t I know about this already? You should have gone to the police the second you found out.”

“And get Jesse in trouble for stealing evidence? No thanks. Besides, she would have cried ‘accident’ and gotten away with a slap on the wrist. Nate wants her to pay for what she did.”

Her eyes widen as the situation actually dawns on her. “Shit,” she gasps. “This is going to be huge.”

“Yep.”

“Does she know that he knows?”

I shake my head. “What do you think?” I grunt. “If she had even the slightest inkling, she’d be hiding out in Mexico somewhere, not strutting around school like Queen B picking fights with me.”

“True,” she murmurs as she looks up and studies me. Hurt flashes across her features before she manages to right herself and I instantly know where this is going. “How come I’m only finding out about this now?”

“Well… first, Nate doesn’t want anyone to know so word doesn’t get out. That way when he does whatever it is he’s going to do, she’s going to be completely blindsided, just like we were in that boat shed.”

“And second?” she questions.

“And second,” I repeat. “I’m not sure you have it in you not to try and beat the shit out of her when you see her next.”

“Shit,” she sighs. “You’re right, but I promise. I’m more excited to see what Nate is going to do to her. It’s going to be brutal. I mean, she’s responsible for nearly killing you. Nate isn’t going to take it easy on her.”

“I know,” I grin. “He’s going to destroy her.”

Chapter 9

A warm body slides into my bed first thing in the morning. I smile into my pillow as my eyes refuse to acknowledge that the sun is up. I slide my hand over the mattress until my fingers find his strong chest.

“Mmmm,” I groan, happy as a pig in mud as I peel my tired eyes open and smile up at Nate…. Fuck. That’s not Nate. “What the hell are you doing?” I shriek, ripping my hand off Jesse’s chest as he grins a ridiculous grin at me.

“Happy birthday,” Jess cheers as laughter from my couch has my eyes flicking across the room to find Nate sitting back and enjoying my misery.