Broken Hill Havoc (Broken Hill High Series 5)

“So?” he scoffs. “The guy deserves to have his face kicked in.”

“I’m not denying that.”

“So, why keep it from me?”

“Because you can’t beat the shit out of him without making Brooke hate me, and besides, you have a business now and you’re in college. You’ll be risking it all by hitting him and I won’t allow you to destroy everything you’ve worked for before you’ve even had a chance to make yourself shine.”

“Tora,” he groans.

“No, Nate. You need to be careful. I can handle this on my own.”

He rolls his eyes and shakes his head, trying to calm himself down, but let’s be real, nothing on this green earth could possibly calm him down right now. He looks down at me with a firm, no bullshit expression. “I don’t want the guy in your house.”

“And how am I supposed to do that?” I snap. “I don’t want him there any more than you do, but he’s Brooke’s boyfriend and I won’t destroy our relationship over this guy. She already hates me. I’m not about to tell her she can’t have her boyfriend come over.”

“Then tell her what he did.”

“I did,” I yell, getting frustrated with him. “She didn’t believe me. What do you think the whole fight was about in the first place? She said I was jealous and didn’t want her to be happy.”

“Fuck,” he groans, starting to pace. I watch him which is when I realize we’ve been arguing in front of everyone. We usually keep our more heated arguments to ourselves, but right now, every single eye in the group is on us, wondering if their king and queen are about to take a trip back to Splitsville.

I ignore them as best I can as I watch Nate pace. He stops abruptly and turns back to me without even a hint of emotion on his face. “I’m moving in with you.”

I pull back. “No,” I snap at him.

“Why the hell not?” he demands.

“Because when you move in with me, it’s going to be because you love me not because you want to keep some scumbag from trying to get in my pants.”

“Tora,” he groans again, getting increasingly frustrated with the situation. He steps into me and grabs my waist, forcing me into him. I brace myself against his hard chest to avoid smacking my head into it. “I do fucking love you and I’m practically living with you now anyway. What’s the difference if I keep all my fucking clothes there?”

“The difference is that you didn’t want to move all your fucking clothes before you found out about Lukas.”

“Babe,” he says a little softer as he forces me backward. We walk, squished up against one another until he has me leaning back against the door of his Camaro and right away from the greedy ears listening in. His eyes soften as he leans down and gently presses his lips to mine. “I am telling you that I love you and whether or not this Lukas bullshit was happening, I would have moved in with you anyway.”

“Are you just trying to butter me up to get your way?”

A grin splits across his handsome face. “Is it working?”

“Keep going and find out.”

“Whether it’s about keeping you safe or not, I’m going to be waking up next to you every fucking morning and sinking into you just the way you like it because I want to be there, starting a fucking life with you. You’re it for me, Tora Roberts and I’m not taking ‘no’ as an answer.”

I keep my eyes trained on his dark ones. “You mean it? It’s got nothing to do with the Lukas stuff?”

“No, babe. That’s just a bonus.”

“But what about your mom and Jesse?”

“They’ll be fine,” he tells me. “Mom is getting pretty serious with John and Jesse is always with Kaylah. I’m hardly there as it is. They wouldn’t even notice I was gone.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, babe. Besides, Jesse is at your place all the time anyway.”

I study him for a moment and start thinking about just how amazing it would be spending every single day with the guy I’m disgustingly in love with. I mean, it’s bound to happen sooner or later, I even pre-warned my parents about it. I let out a sigh and let him have it. “Ok.”

“Ok?” he straightens a little and looks down at me with every ounce of concentration he possesses, making sure he hears me correctly.

“Yeah, ok, but it better include breakfast in bed every Sunday morning.”

His face lights up like the Fourth of July as he grabs me even tighter and crushes his lips down on mine. “Fuck yeah,” he cheers between kisses and I swear, I’ve never seen him look so giddy in my life. Not even as kids when he got his first kiss. “I assure you, babe. You’re going to be getting so much more than breakfast in bed on Sunday mornings.”