Broken Hill Hurt (Broken Hill High 3)

Maybe he isn’t the asshole I think he is. Maybe he’s right. Maybe I’ve been believing what Nate has been telling me to believe. What he wants me to believe.

Shit. Maybe it’s time to stand on my own two feet. I’ve had my night of being an idiot and if I’m going to suffer through a broken heart, then I may as well make it worth my time.

My head pounds and I reach over to my bedside table to find some painkillers. I mean, I probably should have reconsidered just how much I was drinking last night and Jesse sure as hell shouldn’t have let me annihilate myself like that. But then, it’s not like I was really going to allow him to stop me.

Knowing I’ll never find sleep, I flick on the TV and press a few buttons until I find the episode of ‘Game of Thrones’ I was up to and try my hardest to swoon over Jason Momoa, but with my heart aching so much, swooning is a little difficult.

I watch for a few hours until my phone buzzes against the wood of my bedside table. I reach over and grab it to find a text from Jess.

Jesse – He saw.

Fuck.

Tora – How’s your face?

Jesse – He winded me. Got hit with an uppercut as soon as I walked through the door. I didn’t even get a chance to run away like a little bitch.

Tora – Shit. Sorry. This is all my fault.

Jesse – Don’t stress. I know I’m fucking irresistible, but keep your mittens off me next time or I’ll be forced to tell everyone you’re taking advantage of my young soul.

I roll my eyes as I read his text.

Tora – You’re a turd!!! As if anyone would believe that! Go to bed!

My ‘Game of Thrones’ vibe disappears and I peel myself out of bed before trudging into the shower. I mean, did I even remember to brush my teeth after throwing up this morning? No, I don’t think so. Ugh. I’m foul. No wonder he broke up with me, I would have broken up with me too.

I turn on the taps get myself cleaned up and the second I feel like a normal human being, I decide to brave the rest of the house.

I walk down the stairs feeling each step rattle right through my skull and beg for it to be over soon. Yep, definitely regretting last night.

I get to the bottom and do everything in my power not to sit on the bottom step as I fear I may never get up. I walk through the formal living areas and out past the kitchen to where I hear my mother’s hushed voice. “Mom?” I call out as I start peeking my head into the room to find where she is.

“In the living room, Tora,” she says without her usual chirpiness.

Instantly, my suspicions are up.

I walk down to the living room and turn the corner before coming to a stop in the doorway. Hurt flies through me as I stare back at my father, the guy who caused all this pain in the first place. We’ve been walking around the house like strangers for the past two weeks.

“What’s going on?” I ask, narrowing my eyes on him and wondering what bullshit he’s going to throw my way. I mean, is he going to suggest I go to boarding school now. Did he somehow hear about my night?

“I’ve come to talk to you,” he tells me, watching me with caution.

My eyes flick to mom before turning back on my father. “I don’t have anything to say to you and I doubt you have anything that I’m interested in hearing.”

He lets out a sigh and leans back against the side of the couch. “I’d like to apologize, Tora,” he says. “I’ve sai-”

“For what?” I demand, cutting him off in my anger. I mean, if he wanted to talk, he’s picked the wrong day. “For leaving mom right after she buried her mother? For leaving me? Or for talking my boyfriend into leaving me as well?”

He sighs again and I do what I can to keep myself rooted to the ground otherwise I’ll race forward and punch him in the throat so I don’t have to hear that frustrating sound again. “I’m apologizing for being absent. I recognize that the way I talked to you the other week was harsh, but after the fire, I panicked and I didn’t like the path you were going down. So, I felt you needed a little tough love but I see now that perhaps it was a bit too tough.”

“A bit too tough,” I scoff. “You made me feel like a bug squished under your shoe. You had no right to talk to me like that, especially when you haven’t been around. You were taking twisted stories you heard from Caden Ryder and using them against me, rather than just asking me like a decent human being.”