Broken Hill Hurt (Broken Hill High 3)

My heart sinks. It’s not Jess.

That back-stabbing swamp turd. He sold me out.

Nate stares straight ahead, refusing to look at me and the anger on his face is as clear as day. “Get in,” he demands, when I hesitate a second too long.

Shit. I swallow my pride and pull myself up into the Range Rover and quietly get myself comfortable. I don’t know how this is going to go. Especially when my phone lights up with an incoming call and Jackson’s name scrawled across the screen.

Fuck my life. This couldn’t possibly get worse.

I ignore the call and jam my phone back down my bra as I wait for him to rip me a new asshole, only it never comes. He silently pulls out into the street and floors it until we’re back on our side of town.

Nate finishes off his cigarette and instantly pulls out another, making me wonder how Jesse would feel about him smoking in his car. But more importantly, it makes me cringe and l have no doubt in my mind that’s why he’s doing it.

He pulls up at my home twenty minutes later and brings the car to a stop. I reach for the door handle when his voice cuts through the silence. “We’re going to talk about this.”

Wanting nothing more than to stick it to him, I pull confidence out of my ass and practically puff out my chest. I open the door and get out. “No,” I tell him defiantly as I turn to face him. “We’re not.”

I close the door and before he can curse me out, I head up the stairs to my front door and don’t look back despite my heart and soul screaming at me to throw myself into his arms.

Chapter 21

I sit in the cafeteria on Wednesday afternoon, trying to enjoy my lunch, but the way Puck and Courtney are playing tonsil hockey has me wanting to throat punch them. I mean, don’t they know me and Brooke are suffering from broken hearts? There’s nothing I want to see less than that shit.

I look over at Brooke and scrunch up my face. She does the same but adds a roll of her eyes, somehow managing to make me feel better.

Brylee flicks a French fry at them. “Would you two knock it off?” she grunts. “I can hear the sound of your saliva moshing together and it’s making me want to barf.”

Courtney pulls back from Puck and narrows her eyes on her best friend before looking at the rest of us. “You bitches are so jealous.”

“Jealous of what?” Brooke snaps back. “Every girl in school has already been with him.”

Puck holds his hands up in defense. “Hey, what did I do?”

Courtney ignores him as she glares across the table at Brooke. “You’d know,” she snaps. “You’re the biggest whore around.”

“Guys,” Elle cuts in.

Brooke flies to her feet. “Says you? You’re the one with your tongue down your boyfriend’s throat.”

Now Court gets to her feet as I watch with my mouth hanging open. “Well, at least my boyfriend doesn’t cheat on me.” With that, she grabs her phone off the table and storms out of the cafeteria.

“Shit,” Puck grunts as he narrows his eyes on Brooke. “Did you really have to do that?”

“I didn’t do anything,” she yells at him. “Brylee was the one who asked you to stop and that cow was the one who claimed we were all jealous. So, why don’t you go and run after your precious little girl and remind her that all this bullshit is on her.”

Brylee lets out a heavy sigh as Puck shakes his head and gets up from the table, hopefully, to go and do what Brooke has just said. “What the hell was that?” Brylee questions. “Are you feeling ok?”

“No,” Brooke grunts. “If they want to make babies then they should go and do it privately.”

Brylee’s lips pull into a tight line and it’s clear as day she’s pissed with Brooke, but then, Brooke is right, Brylee and Court are the ones who started this shit. Brooke just finished it, though, Court took it way too far.

Brylee gets up and hauls ass after Puck and Courtney, leaving me and Elle to turn on Brooke. “Alright, now that they’re gone,” I say. “You want to tell me what the hell that was about?”

“You know what that was about,” she tells me. “Courtney’s big mouth.”

“Brooke,” I scold. “Spill it.”

She lets out a frustrated groan and leans forward onto her elbow. “Maxen asked out that whore, Holly, today.”

“Fuck,” I curse before letting out a heavy breath. “You ok?”

She silently shakes her head as Elle leans in closer. “OK, here’s the plan. I’ll hold him down while you two beat the shit out of him.”

Brooke lets out a big booming laugh and just like that, I know she’s feeling a shitload better, even though I know she’s filled with hurt and betrayal inside. “Besides,” I tell her. “Holly is a bitch ass skank. She went down on a linebacker last week. It’s only a matter of time before they cheat on each other. We can make it a game,” I say as the excitement overtakes me. “NO. A bet.”