Broken Hill Hurt (Broken Hill High 3)

Nate ignores me as my dad narrows his eyes on him. “The details of my relocation are none of your concern, Nathaniel,” my father says. “Now, please leave. I need to check on my daughter.”

Nate looks back at me with a question in his eyes and I know just the smallest hesitation from me and he won’t move a muscle. He’ll fight like hell to stay here if it meant I was comfortable, but I don’t want a fight. Not now. Not after everything we’ve been through over the past few days. And besides, maybe it’s time I got myself some answers.

I give Nate a nod and with that, both he and Jesse leave. My father waits until Nate has closed the door behind him before making his move. He steps up to the foot of the bed and looks down at me as I press the button to raise myself into a sitting position.

“How did you get yourself into this mess?” he finally says with a sigh.

I shake my head as tears start to well in my eyes. “I don’t know, we were in the boat shed and before I knew it, there were flames everywhere.”

“Tora,” he says. “I’m not referring to the fire. While I’m sure it was awful, the mess I’m referring to is Nathaniel.”

My face scrunches up as I repeat what he’s just said a few times over in my head. I couldn’t have heard him right. I swear, he just referred to my boyfriend as a ‘mess’. “What are you talking about, dad?” I ask cautiously.

“Don’t you take that tone with me, Tora,” he demands while trying to remain calm. “Go get yourself dressed and ready. I’m having you discharged and taking you home. We have a lot to discuss and we can start with why you’ve been acting out.”

“Acting out?” I grunt. “What makes you think I’m acting out?” I mean, where’s my ‘Hi, Tora, it’s been a while. I’ve missed you. How are you feeling? Oh, golly wolly, you were in a fire. Did you get hurt?’

“Tora, we’ll speak about this at home. Now, get dressed.” With that, he turns and stalks out of the room, leaving me gawking after him.

“Nate?” I call out, hoping he’s still out there. He steps back in and before he has a chance to say a damn word, I hold out my hand. “Phone.”

His eyebrows furrow but he does as I’ve asked. He places it in my hand not a moment later and I get busy typing in my mother’s number. It rings twice before she accepts the call. “Hello,” she says cautiously, not recognizing the number.

“Mom,” I rush out. “Get back here. Dad showed up and he’s not happy.”

“What?” she gasps before pulling it together. “I’ll be there in a second.”

She ends the call and I hand the phone back to Nate. “Are you ok?” he asks, searching my face.

I shrug my shoulders. “Honestly, I’m too pissed off to know,” I tell him. “Did you hear what he said?”

Nate presses his lips together and nods. “Don’t worry about it. He’s probably just pissed with me because of the fire. The same way your mom is. They’re looking for someone to blame and until they have answers, I’m their target.”

He sits on the end of my bed and takes my hand in his as we wait for either my mother or father to walk back through the door. Lucky for me, it’s my mother who decides to show first, though, from her breathlessness, she was desperate to get back here and probably ran. “Are you ok, sweetie?” she questions before glancing around the room. “Where is he?”

I don’t bother answering her first question. It’s just a formality. “He’s looking for a doctor to discharge me. He says I’m acting out and kicked Nate out.”

“I’m sorry, sweetie. You know how he gets sometimes.”

“Why would he say that?” I question in confusion.

“Oh, honey,” mom sighs. “I assume this is because of your suspension a few weeks ago.”

“What?” I grunt. “That was ages ago.”.

“You know he likes to handle these kinds of things himself. He wasn’t happy when I first told him. He gave me a list of demands on how to deal with you.”

“What kind of demands?”

“You don’t need to concern yourself with that.”

“Did you implement any of them?” I question with a raised brow.

Mom looks back at the door before grinning at me. “What do you think?”

I can’t help but smile back at her. Mom has always had my back when it comes to discipline. It’s probably the only thing mom and dad don’t see eye to eye on. Mom was raised as a free spirit, while dad had a father in the military, so you can only imagine.

The door opens and my father walks in. Nate stands as Mom turns to face him with a beaming smile. She hurries forward and throws her arms around him. “Oh, Tobias. I’ve missed you.”