Broken Hill Halo (Broken Hill High #2)

by Sheridan Anne

  I shake my head. “I didn’t talk to Brooke last night,” I tell him before giving him a stern look.

  “Fine,” he grunts. “Trent Matthews got caught screwing Mikayla Watkins in the teachers’ lounge.”

  “What?” I laugh. “Mikayla Watkins? As in Principal Watkins’ daughter?”

  “Yeah,” he smirks. I double over in laughter as Nate expertly parks his car. He rolls his eyes as he opens his car door. “Come on,” he tells me before indicating with a nod of his head out the front window. “Your fan club is waiting for you.”

  I look up and sure enough, Brooke, Bec, and Courtney are standing right in front of Nate’s car, smiling at me as though they haven’t seen me in years when in reality, I saw them two nights ago.

  I push my way out of Nate’s car and meet the girls around the front before looking back at Nate who takes off in the opposite direction before giving me one of his signature panty melting winks matched with one hell of a gorgeous smirk.

  We walk up to the school with Courtney filling me in on all the latest gossip about her and Parker which honestly, isn’t very exciting. Not a thing has happened between them since Jesse’s party and it’s absolutely killing her; which means she’s going to give me details on every single time he’s looked her way since then.

  As we emerge in the hallway, I walk towards my locker with Brooke when a familiar wave of blonde hair walks by me, trying her best to be invisible. I can’t help but follow her movements. Elle seems depressed. I know I haven’t been here for the past few weeks, but this is clearly a girl who has fallen to the bottom of the Broken Hill High social ladder.

  She avoids eye contact, she gets bumped into from every different angle, girls sneer at her while boys call her crude names.

  I let out a heavy sigh. I can’t help but feel partially responsible. I know the whole Josh thing was her idea, but she backed off which is the very thing I can’t get past. Jesse outed her with her shameful secret in his bid to protect me and because of that, her whole life has been turned upside down.

  I mean, maybe this is on my conscious. Karma is a real bitch and I don’t want it coming back to haunt me. Maybe it’s time to make things right for her. After all, her life is miserable. She’s not happy and it’s all to do with me.

  She continues on and I turn into my locker. The thoughts of Elle’s demise instantly fade from my mind as I find the new quarterback leaning up against my locker.

  Jackson Millington. Broken Hill High’s new golden boy. “What the hell do you want?” I ask wanting nothing more than to knock that smirk off his face as people from everywhere seem to stop and circle us, desperate to know how this is going to turn out. I mean, everyone knows about the rivalry between Jackson and Nate. It’s no secret.

  He puts a hand to his chest and feigns hurt as he pushes up off my locker. “I just wanted to welcome you back.”

  “Really, now?” I question, appearing as the bitch of the conversation.

  “Well,” he smirks. “I might also want to know why you’ve been away.”

  “Sick,” I grunt. “What are you doing here?”

  “At your locker?” he asks.

  “At my school?”

  His eyes narrow on me and it’s almost as though he’s trying to get inside, kind of like he’s trying to get a read on me. After a short moment, a knowing grin takes over his features and he steps forward and speaks to me in a low tone. “Don’t stress, Tora. I’m not here to cause trouble. I know you’re with Nate… For now,” he murmurs before continuing at my stare. “My mom had me transferred. The team here is stronger and I have a better chance of handpicking a college team.”

  I raise a bored eyebrow as I cross my arms over my chest. “That’s to say any of the college teams would even be interested in you.”

  His cocky smirk is back. “You better believe it, baby,” he tells me. “They already are. If you’re smart, you’ll stick with me. I could take you on one hell of an adventure.”

  “When will you get it?” I tell him, making sure to punctuate every last word so the small mind of this football player can keep up with the big kids. “I’m not interested.”

  “We’ll see,” he says with a sparkle in his eye that puts a chill right through me.

  I step in closer, letting him know I’m not intimidated by his act. I mean, I’ve faced off against Nate Ryder for the past five years. I can handle this bullshit with my hands tied behind my back. The circle surrounding us seems to step closer as well, desperate to know what the hell is going on. “I see through you,” I tell him, “You’re nothing but a shady prick and whatever it is that you’re up to, just know, it won’t work. You’ll go down no matter what bullshit you try to play.”

  “Baby,” he says. “If you wanted me to go down, all you had to do was beg for it.”

  “You fucking wish.”

  His grin doesn’t leave his face for one tiny second. Not when he looks me up and down, not when he licks his lips, and not when he steps around me with a wink, making sure to move past me so closely that our bodies press together.

  “Holy shit,” Brooke whispers as she steps in beside me.

  My phone starts blowing up in my pocket and without a doubt, I know that Nate has just heard what’s been going on in here and I know that within the space of three seconds, he’ll be tearing down the hallway, barging his way through the crowd, not caring who gets in his way.

  Not a damn thing will get in the way of Nate Ryder checking on his girl.

  Chapter 14

  Jesse opens the door of his home on Friday afternoon and the first thing we hear is the shrill laughter of our two moms ringing loudly through the house. “Huh?” Jesse grunts as he looks to me for some sort of explanation.

  “Don’t look at me,” I tell him. “I’ve been with you guys all day.”

  He grunts again in that annoying way teenage boys do and walks on into his home. I follow behind, searching out the noise to find mom and Trish sitting by the back window, watching the pool boy in action.

  “Oh, there he goes again,” Trish says as they both tilt their heads to follow the pool boy’s ass as he bends low to scoop a leaf out of the pool, clearly having no clue that we’re here.

  “I’ve got to get me one of these,” mom says in appreciation.

  Jesse clears his throat and walks forward as he tosses his arm over my mother’s shoulder. “I’d be more than happy to volunteer for the position.”

  “Jesse,” Trish scolds, horrified as my mother…. WHAT? Blushes? You’ve got to be kidding me. I mean, she legitimately blushed just now.

  What the hell? I need some kind of warning when this shit is about to go down.

  “Knock it off,” I tell him as he laughs and winks at my mother, making my stomach churn, and I’m sure, probably Trish’s as well. He removes his arm from mom’s shoulder and steps out of her personal bubble. “What’s going on?” I ask her. “I thought your girls’ night thing was later on.”

  “It is,” she says proudly. “I ran into Trish at the Country Club and we decide to start early.”

  “Ok…,” I say slowly. “And the pool boy?”

  “Well,” Trish says with a shrug. “Why not take advantage of a free show? I mean,” she says, indicating outside. “Get a look at that tushie.”

  “Huh,” I grunt as my eyes swivel out the back to the tushie in question. “I can get on board with this.”

  Mom pats the space beside her and I happily take the seat. “Oh, Jesus,” Jesse chuckles. “You better hope Nate doesn’t get home to see you checking out the pool boy.”

  Trish giggles and holds up her hand before clicking at Jesse. “Be a dear and fetch us a glass of wine.”

  “What?” he shrieks like a teenage girl.

  “You heard me, love,” she says. “Now, make it snappy. I didn’t give birth to you so you can sit around and look pretty.”

  “For fuck’s sake,” he curses under his breath as he reluctantly turns on his heel and heads for the kitchen.
>
  I turn towards my mom and give her ‘the look’. “What’s really going on? You never leave the Country Club before the sun goes down.”

  “I know,” she says. “I didn’t want those bitches to find out that we’re all alone. They can be such hoity-toity cows about that stuff.”

  “You’re just figuring that out now?” I scoff. “You know they’re bound to find or sooner or later, right? Dad works with Maddison Lockhart’s father and she’s the biggest gossip in school. She’ll tell her friend, Heidi who’s Lisa Hutchington’s daughter, and the whole world will know after that. It’s just a matter of time.”

  “Great,” mom groans. “Just what I need.”

  “Come on,” I tell her. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. I was thinking today that maybe this could be a good thing. Now’s the time to go out and do all the things that you’ve always wanted to do. I mean, I know you always wanted to take a dance class but dad would never go with you.”

  “While it all sounds good,” mom says as Jesse comes back in with three glasses of wine, “But there’s just one flaw in your idea. I’m still missing a partner.”

  Trish smirks. “Take Jesse. God knows he could use something like that.”

  His eyes narrow as he looks at us. “What the hell is going on?”

  Absolute joy fills me as I allow myself to be the one to break the news. “You just volunteered to take my mom to a dance class. Once a week.”

  “What?” he says with wide eyes before looking to my mom and letting out a sigh. “What kind of dance?”

  “Ballroom,” she informs him.

  “Shit,” he groans under his breath before pressing his lips together. “Fine.”

  Trish and I look at each other in confusion before looking back at Jesse, trying to work out why the hell that was so easy. Though, I figure it out pretty quickly, unlike everyone else in the room.

  I hear the garage door opening, telling me that Nate’s home and get to my feet as mom claps her hands together in excitement. “Really?” she asks him. “You’ll actually partner with me?”

  “Yeah,” he says. “But you can’t tell anyone.”

  “You got it,” mom laughs as I grab Jesse and haul him away from my mother. “Oh, honey,” mom says, stopping me from pulling Jesse away. I look back with a questioning gaze to find mom rummaging through her purse. “I stopped by the police station to get an update on the break in, and unfortunately there’s still nothing. It looks like this one is going to go unsolved.”

  “Really?” I grunt as a wave of disappointment flutters through me.

  “Yeah,” she sighs before holding her hand out. I look down and find a set of keys. “I had the locks changed,” she informs me. “You know, just in case.”

  “Oh, good idea,” I say, reaching out and taking the keys from her. “Thanks,” I smile before latching onto Jesse’s arm once again. Mom nods as though she’s just offered me the world and I turn away, dragging Jesse along.

  Jesse and I walk out to the garage and I do my best to put those thoughts to the back of my mind. I mean, I have something a little more important to deal with right now. So, we step into the garage and I gently close the door before slamming Jesse up against it and getting up in his face. “I know what you’re up to,” I warn him. “And you can forget it.”

  A grin rips across his boyishly handsome face. “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “You’re not sleeping with my mom,” I demand as I point my finger into his chest and probably stomp my foot. “If you even think about getting her in bed, I’m going to rip your balls out your throat and pulverise them.”

  “Sorry,” he laughs. “She’s on my bucket list and once you’re on it, there’s only one way to get off it.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” I hear Nate question from behind me.

  I ignore him and narrow my eyes on his whore of a little brother. “I know you have this little rivalry with your brother. Like what he has to do, you have to do to, but this is taking it too far.”

  Nate reaches for my arm and pulls me away from Jesse. “Ok, really? What the hell is going on here?” Nate asks, grabbing my shoulder and forcing me to turn to face him.

  I let out a huff. “Your brother is going to try and seduce my mom.”

  “What?” Nate laughs. “Let him try. You know he won’t get anywhere.”

  “But that’s the problem,” I groan. “He will. Mom is going to get lonely without dad. She’s been drunk every night this week and we just caught our moms checking out the pool boy.”

  “What?” he grunts in distaste as Jesse coughs under his breath that I was getting in on the action too.

  “Yeah, not to mention, Jesse has just become mom’s dance partner.” Nate’s eyes widen but I keep on with my rant. “Mom is vulnerable and hurting, and she’s looking for a way to forget. What better way than wild teenage sex?”

  Nate’s shaking his head before I even finish. “No, she wouldn’t.”

  “It’s a possibility,” I tell him. “I know it’s gross, but if she drinks enough and Jesse charms her. It could very well happen.”

  His eyes narrow before he looks over my shoulder at his smug brother. “Shit,” he groans. “Stay away from her.”

  “Can’t,” he shrugs. “I’m her dance partner. She’s got a lovely heart. I’m not about to let her down as well. And besides, the heart wants what it wants.”

  “Jesse,” I demand.

  He bursts into uncontrollable laughter and doubles over. “Oh, shit,” he laughs. “You should see your face. As if I’d actually sleep with your mom.”

  “What?” I ask in confusion, hoping I’m hearing him correctly. I look back at Nate and see a knowing smirk across his lips.

  “Look,” Jesse says when he finally gains control of himself. “Your mom is hot, but she’s also my mom’s best friend and my brother’s future mother-in-law. I’m not about to go making babies with her. That’s way too much drama for me. Can you imagine Christmas dinner after that?”

  “Oh, thank god,” I say as a breath of relief flies out of me. “So, why did you agree to the whole dance thing?”

  A scowl flitters across his face. “How could I not? The woman just lost her mom and her husband was sent away. It would have been a dick move saying no.”

  I step forward and throw my arms around the little turd. “Thank you,” I murmur.

  He grabs my hands and pulls me off him. “Whatever,” he shrugs, putting on his ‘too cool for school’ act.

  I step back into Nate when the sound of cars coming down the driveway draws my attention. I look up and see Maxen’s car and Parker following behind with Tyson in the passenger seat. They come to a stop and the boys pile out of the cars before hovering around Nate’s open hood, reminding me that he has a race tonight.

  Seeing as though mom’s getting wasted in the dining room with Trish, I figure I’ll be here for a while and text Brooke, knowing she’s with Courtney and Bec.

  Tora – Get your asses over to Nate’s place. The boys are playing cars and the parents are sloshed. Need some entertainment.

  Brooke – Parker there?

  Tora – You can tell Courtney that indeed he is.

  Brooke – Be there in ten.

  I sit with the boys, watching Nate do the usual check over his car and sure enough, ten minutes pass and Brooke’s Mercedes is driving down the driveway. I get up off the dirty garage floor and make my way out to the girls.

  We collapse down onto the front lawn, gossiping and laughing as we watch the boys work. Well, I watch the boys work, I have no idea if the girls are too, but from the dreamy look in Courtney’s eyes and the light flush on her cheeks, I’d assume she is too.

  Brooke gets up when Maxen steps away from the car and heads over to throw herself at him. She falls into him with a smile that she reserves for only him and he absolutely eats it up. “Geez, if only Parker would look at me like that,” Courtney sighs quietly between me and Bec.

  “Ha
ve you even told him you like him?” I question.

  “No,” Bec scoffs. “She’s too chicken shit.”

  I turn my gaze on Courtney. “What if he likes you but he’s too chicken shit himself? Maybe he’s waiting to see if you want something more.”

  “I don’t know,” she says. “I don’t think a guy like Parker is scared of talking to a girl about what he wants.”

  “You’d be surprised,” I tell her. “Guys like Parker are used to telling a girl what they want in bed, but when it comes to actually connecting with someone, that’s foreign territory.”

  “I don’t know,” she says again as I look up at the garage and see the guy in question, stealing a glance our way. I shake my head to myself wishing that there was something I could do to push these two together, but it’s not my place. They need to work this out for themselves.

  I lay back onto the grass and soak in the warm sun as the girls chat around me. A shadow falls over my face and I open my eyes to find Nate looking down at me. “We’re heading in,” he tells me. “You guys coming?”

  “Yeah,” I say. “I’m getting a bit hungry.”

  “Good. Ty ordered pizza ten minutes ago.”

  My stomach rumbles as Nate reaches down a hand and hauls me up to my feet. The girls follow along and we head inside and crash down onto the couches in the den. Parker flicks on a movie but none of us watch it as the room falls into conversation and laughter.

  Mom and Trish come waltzing on in with boxes of pizzas in their hands and make themselves comfortable. I’d like to say it’s awkward with our parents hanging out, but with how buzzed they are right now, they’re the life of the party.

  The pizza quickly disappears and the sun falls behind the hills, letting us know that we should probably start getting ready for the night. Mom and Trish disappear while the girls and I head out to Brooke’s car to grab their bags of clothes with whatever dresses and makeup they’ve shoved into it, and head back up to the room that used to be mine.

  I don’t know what the hell the guys are doing as we get ready while music flies through the whole upstairs area, but I do know that whatever it is, it’s loud.