Broken Hill Hurt (Broken Hill High 3)

Caden Ryder will be moving in with Kelly Reilly, the woman he’s been having an affair with for eighteen years. He knocked her up at the same time he knocked up Trish, and instead of doing the decent thing and coming clean to his wife, he lived a life with both families.

Kelly had a daughter, Phoenix, who might I say, is an absolute bitch and lived her life knowing all about Trish and the boys. Caden bought her a house, funded her life, played daddy to Phoenix, and went on constant work trips which I’m pretty sure is code for ‘spending the night with my other family’.

Phoenix is one of the many cheerleaders at Broken Hill High and up until two weeks ago, she was the captain. She was demoted after it came out that she seduced Jesse and slept with him. Apparently, the whole incest thing got shrugged off and only frowned upon because it was Jesse, and to the cheerleaders, he and Nate are the ultimate prizes. I mean, their priorities are seriously fucked up.

Jesse still hasn’t been able to get passed that one, and I don’t blame him. If he had known they were half-siblings, he wouldn’t have done it. He would have run for the hills at the first sign of flirting, instead, she tricked him into bed and he will have to deal with that for the rest of his life.

I mean, at the time she was just another score. How was he to know she was messed up?

Though I have to admit, as awful as it is for Jesse, I’m just glad she didn’t set her sights on Nate first. I wouldn’t be surprised if she tried, though.

Ugh. My skin crawls every time I think about it. She’s so gross. She should have been arrested for that shit. What’s worse, the whole school knows about it and Jesse has been getting into a few too many fights lately. Naturally, he wins every single one so people have backed off, realizing they’re going to get their asses kicked for even thinking about it.

I lean back in my chair and let out a huff. Nate gives me an encouraging smile and squeezes my hand before turning around and helping everyone fix up the table, though, not much needs to be done now as the barista has come over with some sponges and a mop.

Everyone moves away from the table and takes over another while Jesse remains and helps the guys finish up. Brooke drops down beside me and reaches for my shirt. She pulls it up a bit and practically shoves her head in my vag as she gets a look at my hip. “Shit, Tor,” she gasps. “You got your hip good.”

“I know,” I groan as I push her back and reach forward to grab my latte, which thankfully wasn’t spilled everywhere. I cringe with the movement as I settle back into the chair and bring the latte to my lips. I take a sip and let the yummy goodness take my troubles away. “How is it possible for this to be so good?”

“Mmmm,” she agrees as she takes a drink of her own coffee. “I’ve been needing this all day.”

“I don’t doubt that,” I laugh as I watch Nate across the table talking with Maxen. “You drank way too much last night.”

“Don’t remind me,” she groans, probably remembering the way she threw back shot after shot of tequila. I mean, the old saying ‘one tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor,’ was definitely put into practice last night and I can proudly say, she absolutely killed it. Though, I don’t know how she’s even walking this morning. “I’m never touching tequila again.”

“Right,” I scoff with a chuckle. “I’ve heard that before.”

She bumps my shoulder with hers. “Shut up.”

“Hey,” a familiar voice says from behind me, making all eyes at the table lift. I turn around to find both Courtney and Brylee walking through the door and heading over here. Courtney’s eyes instantly flick towards Puck who sits with his casted arm resting on the table as Brylee looks around at everything else. “What the hell happened here?” she questions, taking in the barista helping Jesse with the mess.

Puck scoffs. “Jesse.”

“Ahhh,” she laughs. “Enough said.”

The girls pull up chairs and dump their bags before heading over to the counter and ordering a coffee each. A smile spreads over my face. I absolutely love it when my girls hang out with my boys. It’s like my two worlds colliding and making something beautiful.

A few short months ago, these two groups wouldn’t have been seen dead together. I hated Nate with a passion and his friends were considered douchebags. They were a group of dickheads and they didn’t care who they hurt.

While most of that is still true, I’ve also learned that underneath their douchebaggery ways, they’re some of the best guys I’ll ever meet and now my girlfriends know it too. So much, in fact, that Brooke has been dating Max for a few months and Courtney is desperately pining over Puck, though, I don’t really know what’s happening there.