Broken Hill Halo (Broken Hill High 2)

“I don’t see how that’s any of your business.”

He steps into me again and leans down to me. “You’re right,” he says as his breath hits my neck. “It’s not, but if you’re looking to screw someone who actually knows what he’s doing, then you know where to find me.”

I bring my hand up and push against his chest, putting some distance between us. “I’m good,” I tell him as Courtney and Brylee finally reach us.

He grins that cocky grin and winks down at me. “Your loss, babe,” he says before stalking away with his hands in his pockets.

“What the fuck was that?” Brooke demands as I grab her hand and start hauling ass to the parking lot. “Um, excuse me?” she says, not taking no for an answer as the girls follow my lead.

“It was nothing,” I tell her when she won’t let it go.

“That didn’t look like nothing,” she says.

“It was nothing,” I repeat. “He’s just some loser who hit on me at Nate and Jesse’s party a few weeks ago. He’s just like Josh; a loser who can’t handle rejection.”

“Oh,” she says. “You never told me about that.”

I shrug my shoulders as out into the parking lot and head for Brooke’s car. “It wasn’t important and besides, that was the night you first got together with Maxen. I wasn’t going to ruin it to complain about some douchebag trying to hit on me.”

“Well, aren’t you just the best friend ever?” she grins.

I wink and burst into a fit of laughter. “You know it,” I say digging through my bag for the car keys and unlocking it. A moment later we pile in and Brooke turns the music right up, saving me from having to discuss Jackson any further.

We pull up at Brylee’s house a few minutes later before we drop off Courtney, who luckily, seems to have sobered up.

Next up is Brooke’s place. “I’ll pick you up in the morning,” I tell her, seeing as though I’m still driving her car.

“Alright,” she says as she pushes out her door and rushes towards the house. She turns at the last minute and blows me a kiss before disappearing into her home.

I get my ass out of there, desperate to get home and into Nate’s arms. I drive down the Ryder driveway ten minutes later, completely exhausted. All I want to do is get something in my tummy and climb into bed.

Tomorrow is going to be a huge day. It’s Jesse’s birthday and I have a feeling he’s going to be excited; and no doubt I’ll be up until the early hours of the next morning partying with him and probably the rest of Broken Hill.

I park Brooke’s car out the front and get my ass inside. The whole downstairs area is covered in darkness so I flick on a few lights and help myself to some dinner before turning them off again and heading up to my room with my plate of food.

I stop by Nate’s room and push the door open to find his room completely empty. Hmm, maybe he’s down in the gym or out.

Music comes blaring from Jesse’s room and I make my way down there. I knock on the door before pushing it open to find Jesse lounged back on his bed playing on his phone. He looks up as I come in. “What’s up?” he questions.

“What’s going on? Where’s Nate?”

“He went out with Puck,” he grunts as his attention goes back to his phone.

My eyebrows pull down at his tone. “What’s up with you? Why didn’t you go with them?”

He grins at me as his eyes begin to sparkle. “Well, if you must know, I was buried deep inside a nice warm pu-”

“STOP. STOP. STOP. I don’t want to know.”

“He was gone when I got home,” he laughs.

“Where’d they go?” I question.

He looks back at me and pushes himself up on his elbow. “When it’s Nate and Puck, you can never be sure. But my guess would be pulling some fucked up pranks.”

My eyes widen. “What kind of pranks?”

“Last time they beat the shit out of some kid. The time before that they threw smoke bombs through the window of a Haven Falls party and smoked them out.”

“What?” I gasp. “I classify that as a little more than ‘pranks’.”

“They have a rivalry with some of the Haven Falls guys. Though, I don’t get why they went tonight. It’s usually a one for one kind of thing and they were already one up.”

“Huh,” I grunt as I start picking at my dinner. “What do you think they’re doing?”

“No idea,” he shrugs again. “But I’ll find out soon enough.”

“I don’t doubt it.”

A small smile plays on his lips. “Nate likes to brag, but deep down I think he prefers me not to go. It’s his twisted way of protecting me. He doesn’t like it when I do stupid shit. He thinks I’ll go too far and end up in jail.”