Broken Hill Hearts (Broken Hill High 4)

The cheerleaders finish performing their stolen routine and shake their asses as they hurry away, absolutely loving the attention of the whole school on them.

Principal Watkins breaks away from Nate, the cops, and the suited man as he makes his way back to the field to address the students, making me want to throat punch him for leaving Nate defenseless like that.

“Weren’t they great?” Watkins cheers into the microphone. “I just want to take this opportunity to remind you all that as soon as first break is over, each of you needs to be in attendance.”

The entire student body begins to shuffle around as they start picking up bags and tucking their phones away, but they all sit incredibly still with the attention of a hawk on the field the second they see their favorite bad boy jogging out towards Principal Watkins with something tossed carelessly over his shoulder. “Whoa,” Nate calls out as he looks up at the grandstand, making me wonder what the hell he’s doing. “Not so fast guys. Sit your asses back down.”

“What do you think you’re doing?” Watkins scolds, holding the microphone away, but it’s still turned on so the whole conversation is heard blaring from every speaker.

“I need to make things right,” Nate says. “I promise, it will only take a second.”

Watkins groans and reluctantly hands the microphone over as Nate reaches for it. He walks away shaking his head, leaving all eyes on Nate. “Sup, fuckers?” Nate cheers into the microphone, getting a much more enthusiastic response than what the cheerleaders received.

I watch him with narrowed eyes. What the hell is he doing? My eyes cut across to the cops and they’re still here, though now without Nate standing directly in front of them, I see their faces aren’t scrunched up and pissed off. It’s almost as though they look amused.

I look back at Nate, absolutely loving the attention of the whole school on him. Though, I’m not surprised. They absolutely adore him. He’s their designated bad boy. Whatever he says goes.

Nate’s eyes cut across to me and a sexy as hell smirk lights up his face. He winks before setting his attention on the students with a sick excitement shining brightly through his eyes. “Now, I’ll keep this quick, but there’s a special little girl in my life and I’ve done her an incredible injustice.”

“Oh, no,” I murmur to myself as heads start turning my way and whispers are shot around the stands. This is not happening. Whatever he’s about to do is going to be absolutely shameful, though I have no idea why the cops are here to witness it.

I watch Nate closely as he paces up and down the field, chatting away to the students as though it’s story time. “Some of you might recall over the summer, I had a relationship with one Miss Ashley Samuels.” What? Nate’s eyes sparkle as he watches the crowd but I see the darkness within and pieces of the puzzle start falling into place. “Where are you, babe?”

Ashley reluctantly stands and the grin Nate sends her is devastating, in the best possible way. I watch on as Ashley swoons, thinking he’s about to make all her dreams come true. “Get that sweet ass down here.”

The way he talks to entice her has me holding back vomit. I hate hearing those words coming from his mouth when it’s not me he’s talking about.

Ashley practically skips down the grandstand and I don’t miss the way she looks across at me and grins as though she’s just won the ultimate prize while spitting in my face.

“What the fuck is he doing?” Elle demands, leaning forward to look at me past Brooke.

“Just watch,” Brooke tells her. “As Nate said, he’s done an injustice to Tora by making her wait for this and he’s finally making it right.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“Just watch,” Brooke says, watching the show. “I need a fucking box of popcorn for this shit.”

I feel Elle’s confusion radiating off her but I don’t have a spare moment to think about it. I’m with Brooke, I don’t want to miss a single second of this.

Ashley gets down to the field and I find my hand clenching Brooke’s, grasping it with everything I’ve got. I just hope I’m not hurting her.

Nate makes one definite nod and I watch in fascination as all his boys rise as one. Each of them quickly heading in a different direction. It doesn’t take me long to realize they’re covering each of the exits.

Ashley prances towards Nate and I watch a smirk cut across his face as he looks at her. It’s sexy as hell but it’s not the same smirk he gives me. Mine is filled with emotion, but this is filled with false hope and it makes me proud to watch on.