Broken Hill Hearts (Broken Hill High 4)

With that, he moves back away from me to give me a little space and I watch as he pulls his phone out of his pocket. Elle tries to distract me from the pain but to be honest, it’s not helping.

“Tora?” I hear Brooke shrieking from somewhere behind me. I want to turn but the thought of moving even an inch has bile rising in my stomach. She drops down beside me and I don’t doubt Courtney and Bry are close behind her.

“I’m so sorry, Tora,” some guy says as he crouches before me, looking as though he’s about to shit his pants. I focus on his face and realize it’s B-Man, the guy who had pulled me off Ashley. “The ball was coming and I wasn’t looking. I didn’t see you there.”

I close my eyes and shake my head. I don’t want to deal with this right now. Someone pulls B-Man away and I get back to focusing on holding still.

Breathe in. Breathe out. I can handle this. It’s just a broken arm. The ambulance will be here soon and they can give me something for the pain. I’m going to be ok.

“WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED?” a furious voice roars as it draws nearer. Now that’s a voice I’ll risk moving for. I try to turn to find him but the pain is too much to bear. I’ve never been branded by a hot iron but I’d assume it’s somewhere on the same level. It’s like a hot burning coming from deep within.

Nate appears beside me and the look in his eyes is sharp enough to kill. I wouldn’t want to be the guy who’s about to face his wrath because heads are about to roll.

Nate’s eyes flick to Jackson as he drops down beside me. He reaches out and I flinch away not wanting to be touched. “Don’t,” I cry out.

Nate ignores me as he reaches out and pulls me into his arms. He cradles my body without rocking me or causing an ounce of pain. “Are you ok?”

I shake my head as I settle into him, reveling in the feel of his body against mine as it’s the only thing helping to manage my pain. “I think my arm is broken,” I tell him through clenched teeth.

Nate’s eyes flick back up to Jackson for an explanation and it’s then I realize Jackson must have called him.

Jackson swallows as he steps forward with a cringe, making it clear he doesn’t want to be in this position, but when it comes to me, he’s willing to get the shit beat out of him. “The girls were coming to play ball with us and B-Man accidentally sacked her.”

Nate’s eyes flick across to B-Man and naturally, so do everyone else’s. The poor guy. He looks as though he’s about to pass out in fear. I squeeze on to Nate’s hand. “Leave him,” I grunt. “It was an accident. He apologized.”

Nate grunts as Jackson continues. “The ambulance should be here soon. We didn’t want to move her.”

Nate surprises the absolute shit out of me and nods, telling me he’s focusing solely on me, not B-Man or Jackson, though I don’t doubt that as soon as my arm is in a cast and I have heavy pain meds pulsing through my system, he’ll be back to cause some serious damage. After all, Nate is the one who lives by the code – An eye for an eye.

I close my eyes, trying to zone everyone out, but there’s too much chatter. Too many people talking about what just happened. I squeeze Nate’s hand again and turn my head into his chest. “Get rid of them.”

I feel his nod before he turns his ferocious glare on all the onlookers. They start shrinking away before he’s even opened his mouth. “Fuck off,” he roars, and just like that, it’s just me, Nate, the girls, and Jackson. Nope, Jesse is here now too.

“What the fuck happened?” he roars in a very similar way to what Nate had as Tyson and Puck come after him.

“She’s all good, man,” Nate says before looking to Puck and Ty. “Can you make sure the ambulance knows where to go.”

“Ambulance?” Jesse grunts in shock as Ty and Puck turn on their heels and start hurrying towards the front of the school. “What happened?” Jess demands again.

Nate starts explaining and this time I manage to actually zone out. I really don’t want to hear it again as every time I do, I get a vision of being slammed into by one of the biggest guys I’ve ever seen in my life. I mean, B-Man is huge. He would have more muscle packed into his little toe than I would have in my whole body.

Nate’s arms curl tighter around me as he wipes a tear off the side of my face, sensing that I’m done with today, and not long after, the ambulance starts driving out onto the field.