Broken Hill Halo (Broken Hill High 2)

Caden’s eyes widen and I realize that though he knows we’ve worked out his secret, he had hoped we didn’t know who it was. “I…”

“What’s that, Caden?” Trish demands. “Do you need another minute to come up with another lie? It’s over. They know.”

His face turns red and he storms towards his wife. “You told them,” he accuses waving his hands around in outrage.

Nate rushes his father and pushes him a step back. “I did no such thing,” Trish yells over Nate’s shoulder. “I don’t know how they found out or why they even knew to look for something, but know this, Caden. I’m glad. You have lied to my boys long enough and I’m glad it’s finally over. I’ve done my part trying to protect them from this, to give them the best family life they could ever want or need, but now that your dirty lies are out, I’m done. I’m not pretending anymore.”

My heart pounds in my chest as I look between the four Ryders. I mean, this is blowing up more than I could ever have imagined. Is Trish serious saying she’s leaving? Is she taking the boys with her or is she kicking Caden out?

“But,” Caden cuts her off, looking confused.

“But, nothing,” Trish snaps. “Know this, Caden,” she says, bringing her hand up and sliding her wedding rings off her finger. “I will never risk my relationship with my boys to cover for your lies ever again. We’re through.” With that, she places the rings down on the kitchen table and walks forward. She places a hand on the back of Nate’s shoulder but looks back at Jesse. “I love you two more than you could ever know, but I need to do this. I know you may not understand and you may hate me for keeping this from you, but it’s time for me to take my life back.”

Jesse walks forward and wraps his arms around his mother. “We don’t hate you,” he tells her. “We’re fucking pissed you kept this from us, but we understand why.” He looks over at me and then to Nate. “Why don’t you take off?” he suggests. “You’ve said your peace and I don’t think you want to be around for when we say ours.”

“Shit,” Trish sighs in a rare show of foul language. “I can’t leave you to clean up this mess.”

“Go, mom,” Nate demands. “I’ve got this.”

Trish looks back at Jesse before giving me an apologetic smile. She turns and walks away. “This isn’t over,” Caden calls after her. “I didn’t suffer through a year of couples therapy for nothing.”

“Yeah,” she chuckles without looking back. “You did.”

With that, she disappears from the room, leaving me wondering where the hell she could have gone. I don’t wonder for long as Nate stepping towards his father has my attention drawn like a raging bull staring down its target. “You lied to us,” Nate states.

Caden lets out a breath before looking up at me, probably wondering why on earth I’m witness to all of this. He presses his lips together and turns his gaze on his son. “It was for your own good,” he says. “Both of you. I wanted to give you boys a normal life and that never would have happened if you knew. Your mom would have kicked me out and you would have grown up without a father.”

“Maybe that would have been for the best,” Jesse growls. “Maybe she should have kicked you out.”

“How can you say that?” Caden roars. “Didn’t you have a good life? Didn’t you get everything you ever wanted? That was all me, Jesse. Not your mom.”

“Don’t,” Nate say, stepping forward into his dad and taking Caden’s attention off him which I realize is Nate’s way of protecting his brother. “There’s more to this isn’t there?” Nate accuses.

“What?” Caden grumbles, taken back. He looks around for an escape and I realize Nate is right. We’ve only just touched on the surface.

“Now’s your chance, dad,” Nate says. “You’ve got the floor. Air all your dirty fucking laundry. This won’t end until you do.”

“There’s nothing left to say,” Caden says.

“Bullshit,” Nate grunts as he watches his father very carefully, reading every tiny movement, the way he does to me. “What is it? You have a relationship with Phoenix? You’ve been funding her high class lifestyle? No,” he says, shaking his head. “That’s not it, is it?” he says. “This is about her mom. The other woman.”

Caden scoffs but there’s a panic deep inside his eyes and I watch as Nate catches on to it. He straightens slightly, placing him taller than his father as he goes in for the kill. “You’re still with her.”

Caden blanches as Nate hits the nail right on the head. Jesse flinches and I look across and see nothing but pure hurt written all over his face. The room is silent as the boys take it all in, but the silence doesn’t last long. Jesse steps up beside Nate, showing a united front. “Well, what are you waiting for? Mom doesn’t want you here and I sure as hell don’t either.”