Broken Hill Hearts (Broken Hill High 4)

“Even with this?” I ask, holding my pink casted arm up.

“Especially with that,” he tells me.

I lean forward and kiss him. “You know, you’re not too bad yourself.”

“Really?” he questions. “Because that look in your eyes tells me I’m the best damn thing you’ve ever seen.”

“Cocky much?”

He shakes his head. “You fucking love it.”

“You’re such an id-”

“Yo, fuckers. What’s going on?” Jesse hollers from the top of the stairs as he bounds down them. My eyes widen as I squeal out and throw my body forward into Nate’s, hoping his large body is enough to cover me. “Whoa,” Jesse laughs. “Having a party? Where was my invitation?”

Nate’s arms wrap around me tightly as I bury my face into his shoulder. My cheeks flush with embarrassment but I don’t dare move. From here, Jesse can only see my back and partially my side. I just hope Nate’s arms are covering my side boob and ass crack.

“Get out, man,” Nate laughs.

“It’s not funny,” I grumble into his shoulder.

“Yeah, it is,” Jesse laughs, though I’m relieved to hear his footfalls against the stairs telling me he’s backing out of the room. Though I still won’t move because knowing Jesse, he’s probably waiting at the top hoping to get an eyeful of ass.

“Jess,” Nate scolds when we don’t hear the door. “Fuck off.”

“Alright, alright,” he laughs. Not a moment later, we hear the door open and closing before the sound of his laughter following behind him towards the kitchen.

Nate runs his fingers down my back and I find the courage to sit up again. “Are you ok?” he questions.

“Yes,” I laugh. “It’s not a big deal. I’m sure Jesse has walked in on you in much worse positions than this.”

“True,” he grins. “But you’ve never been walked in on and I don’t like anyone seeing you like this.”

“Well, I’m ok,” I tell him. “It’s our fault. We should have done this upstairs where there’s a lock on your door.”

“I couldn’t help myself when you looked at me like you wanted to devour me.”

“I did want to devour you. I was working out the best place to bite you.”

He leans back against the wall, just silently watching me. A proud smile slowly begins to spread across his chiseled face. “What?” I say, knowing something’s coming.

“I’ve got something to tell you.”

“What did you do?” I tease. “I’m not bailing you out on criminal charges.”

“The only thing they can charge me for is being too damn sexy,” he grins, knowing his joke was terrible.

“Oh, my God,” I laugh. “Stop. That was the worst.”

He takes my shoulder and runs his hands over them, following them down my arms. He takes my pink cast into his hand and runs his eyes over it before lifting them back to mine. “You remember a few months ago we were talking about you going to college and you very subtly suggested I should be going too?”

I look at him cautiously, hoping this is going where I hope it’s going. “Yeah,” I tell him. “I still stand by that. You should be getting a business degree to go with the business you want to run. It only makes sense.”

“I know,” he sighs. “You’re right.”

“What?” I gasp in mock horror. “I’m right? No. Never.”

“Shut up,” he laughs. “Just so you know, I’ve thought about that conversation every day since we had it.”

“And…?”

“And I applied a few months ago.”

My eyes widen in surprise. “A few months ago?” I gasp. “When the hell were you planning on telling me?”

“I wasn’t going to say anything if I didn’t get in.”

“So, you telling me now means that…”

“That I got in.”

“What?” I shriek. “You’re going to college with me? Oh, holy hell, please tell me you applied to BHU?”

A proud as fuck grin crosses his face but he rolls his eyes as though he’s far too cool for this shit. We all know better though. This is a huge achievement and I couldn’t be happier. “Yes, he says. “I applied to BHU. The question is if I’m actually going to go.”

“Of course, you’re going to go,” I scold, hoping he isn’t building up all my hopes and dreams just to bring them back down again. “You’d be a fool not to take advantage of that.”

“Yeah, that’s what I keep trying to tell myself.”

I take it for what it is. He’s not entirely sure but his head is telling him to go, it’s just his bad boy reputation telling him he’s too good for that shit. But I know in the end, he’ll make the right decision. After all, when it comes to building a successful business, I know he’s going to do everything it takes and that includes educating himself. “Holy shit balls, Nate,” I say, throwing myself at him. I crush my lips down on his but this time it’s a completely different energy. “I’m so proud of you.”