Broken Hill Hearts (Broken Hill High 4)

Trish’s hushed murmur comes flowing up the hallway. “I had a great night,” she says before it goes quiet.

“Oh, fuck no,” Nate grunts as Jesse’s eyes widen in realization.

Nate drops the tongs, not giving a shit that he’s going to burn the bacon and takes off up the hallway with Jesse right behind them.

“What the hell is going on?” Kaylah shrieks beside me as we chase after the boys.

“They just realized their mom is dating.”

“Oh, shit.”

“My thoughts exactly.”

We break into the foyer to find Trish completely immersed in kissing her date and I have to give the woman some credit. He’s a silver fox. He’s tall, tanned skin, fit, looks like he could handle himself while simultaneously saving the world.

The sound of our intrusion has Trish gasping and breaking away from her date. “Crap,” she grunts in a rare display of cursing. “I didn’t think you guys were home.”

“Surprise,” Jesse grunts, sizing up the guy while Nate walks forward, remaining silent.

I don’t see his face but I don’t doubt it’s terrifying. Both Trish and her date watch Nate and it’s clear the man has worked out that Nate is the one to watch. “You must be Nate?” the man says, confidently holding his hand out to Nate.

The guy smirks as Nate just looks at the outreached hand before turning on his mother. “You didn’t tell us you were… dating.”

“I wasn’t sure how you’d take it.”

“Do you like him?”

Trish blanches and looks back at the man before turning back to Nate. “So far, I do.”

Nate nods before turning back to the guy. “You hurt her and I’ll fucking kill you.”

“Nate,” Trish scolds.

“No, no,” the guy says, placing both his hands on Trish’s shoulder. “It’s fine. It’s understandable for teenage boys to be protective of their mother. Nate is just more up front than most.”

“You’ve got no idea,” Trish murmurs.

“Look,” Nate says to his mom. “I don’t want to see you get hurt, so I’m fine with this as long as your honest with everything that’s going on. We’ve already suffered through too many lies and betrayal. I want you to be happy.”

Trish walks forward and wraps her arms around Nate, holding him tight. “Thank you. I am happy,” she whispers. “I promise you,” she says, reaching a hand out to squeeze Jesse’s shoulder. “I’ll be an open book. From now on, everything that happens between me and John is out in the open.”

Jesse cringes. “I don’t want too many details.”

John laughs as I watch him. “You mean, just enough details so if something bad were to happen you’d know where to come after me?”

I find myself smiling. Good answer, John. That was the perfect response to get Jesse on your side. Now he just has to win over boss man which isn’t going to be quite so easy.

“You got it,” Jesse says as his glare slowly seeps away, showing that he’s already starting to accept the guy.

Nate, on the other hand, is no longer staring at the guy but I know he won’t just accept him in. John is going to have to earn his respect but he’s given it a good start. After all, this is his mom we’re talking about. Just one little slip up and Nate will do whatever it takes to get rid of him.

“Alright, guys,” Trish says. “Do you mind if I say goodbye to John without an audience?”

“Sure,” Nate groans. He takes my hand and a minute later is dragging me back down the hallway as I look over my shoulder, watching Trish as she turns to John with an apology in her eyes.

We get back into the kitchen and Nate tosses the burned bacon out and starts again. “What do you think?” I ask as Jesse stands at the entrance of the hallway and spies on his mom.

Nate shrugs. “Don’t know. He was confident but not cocky about it.”

“I think you should give him a chance. Your mom seems to like him.”

“That’s the only reason I didn’t kick his ass out of here.”

“I can hear you,” Trish calls from up the hallway.

“You were meant to,” Nate replies.

Trish walks into the kitchen a moment later and comes to a stop behind me. She places her hands on my shoulders as Nate busily cooks the bacon and eggs. “Thanks for not telling,” she murmurs to me, making Nate and Jesse spin around in shock, looking at me as though I’m the worst kind of traitor.

Both Trish and I cringe. “Shit.”

“Sorry, love,” she says. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“It’s ok.”

Trish hurries away as I face the wrath of the boys.

This is going to be a long day.

Chapter 21

I stand in the center of all our friends with a drink in my hand and Nate at my back, proud to say that we managed to make it through a whole week without any drama. I know, right. I didn’t think it was possible either.