Broken Hill High (Broken Hill High 1)

Nate’s eyes come back to mine and his smirk makes him look like the world’s biggest douche bag. He makes a show of reaching across the table for a red cup, making sure his arm grazes across my chest in the process which sends an electric shock straight through me, making me want to throw up, but I won’t. Not here. Not now.

He slowly pours himself a drink before placing the bottle back down on the bench, far out of my reach, just as you’d expect of any other asshole. “You just about done?” I question.

His eyes continue to sparkle and I hate that it pulls at something within me. He continues watching me like a predator stalking his prey. “I’ll never be done with this,” he promises.

I know he’s talking about me, rather than the drink. This is the twisted little game he’s played with me for years. It’s almost as though torturing me gets him hard.

His girlfriend, Ashley, appears beside him and drapes herself over him before taking the drink out of his hand. He throws his arm over her shoulder and she looks up at him before following his gaze over to me.

Ashley scoffs at me, clearly knowing what’s going on. I mean, the whole school knows that I’m the girl the bad boy likes to kick around. “Come on,” Ashley laughs as she tugs at his waist.

Nate’s grin widens as though he’s won this round before he takes off with Ashley under his arm.

I let out a breath as Brooke turns to me. “Are you ok?” she questions.

“Yeah,” I say, shrugging it off. “I’m used to his shit by now.”

She studies me for a moment and decides she likes what she sees. It’s true. I’ve put up with his asshole tendencies for years now. At the beginning, I used to wonder why he’d suddenly turned on me and if I’d done something to piss him off. Now, I don’t give a shit. He does his bullshit and it sails right over me like water off a duck’s back.

Yes, sometimes it can suck, especially if I’ve had a bad day, but right now, I’m out having fun with my girls, and Nate Ryder is not even on my radar.

Chapter 2

With our drinks in hand, I follow Brooke around Josh’s home with Bec and Courtney right behind me until we manage to steal a couple of guys’ chairs. We sit down and people watch for a while before Brooke decides it’s time to shake our asses.

I’m more than happy to stay right where I am, but the little minx is not taking no for an answer, which is made clear when she grabs my hand and drags me out onto the dance floor behind her.

The girls and I dance around, shaking our asses and giving it our all when I finally spot him. Josh Henderson. Broken Hill’s star quarterback and the most popular guy in the room. He’s the guy that every girl wants to be with and every guy in Broken Hill wants to be. It’s sick really, the kind of attention he gets, but that’s just the way things go around here.

Josh makes his way across the dance floor with practically every cheerleader following him, each of them desperate to be the girl he chooses for the night, though it’s not hard to tell why, especially with that floppy golden hair, hazel eyes, and killer body. It’s simple. He’s absolutely stunning.

His eyes lock on mine and I watch as that familiar smile cuts across his face. He weaves his way through the throng of dancing bodies and reaches me within moments. “Hey, babe,” he says as he wraps his arms around my waist and pulls my body hard against him.

“Hi to you, too,” I smile up at him as my arms fall around his neck.

He starts dancing with me, and by dancing, I mean, he grinds himself into me while Brooke gives me the thumbs up and a big cheesy grin.

I can’t help but feel the stares of all the cheerleaders in the room and feel as though I currently have a major target on my back. After all, Josh is the quarterback and at Broken Hill High, that means he’s theirs.

I look up at him and within the blink of an eye, his lips are crushing down on mine with his tongue forcing its way inside my mouth.

I let him kiss me for a bit and I know had I been drinking, I probably would have been enjoying it a little more, but let’s face it, just like last week, it’s all saliva mixed with the taste of bourbon. It’s not his finest hour, but if he was sober right now, I’m sure this moment would be putting stars in my eyes.

Not really feeling it, I pull back and he grins down at me. “Let me get you a drink,” he says before releasing my waist and walking away, not bothering to wait for my response. I can’t help but feel a little disappointed. In my head, I had made Josh out to be this amazing guy, but the last two weeks is proving otherwise.