“Do you fucking like that?” Nate roars before bringing his fist up in a killer uppercut. “What about that?”
“Stop,” Josh cries.
“Stop?” Nate scoffs. “Like you did for Parker after his arm was broken? Tell me,” Nate says. “What exactly did you do to him?”
Josh goes white as I watch on with wide eyes. I’ve never seen Nate like this. I mean, I know he had it in him, we’ve all heard the stories, but hearing and seeing are two very different things. Though, I’m not sure how it’s making me feel. It’s kind of freaking me out, but I know it’s only this bad because he’s doing it for Parker, the same way Parker would do if the roles were reversed.
“Tell me,” Nate demands, holding him a little tighter.
Josh whimpers. “I kicked him,” he says. “When he was down.”
Rage flashes behind Nate’s eyes as he throws Josh to the ground and slams his foot into his side. “Like this?” he roars as Jesse knocks into him from the side, though it doesn’t faze him, he keeps every ounce of his concentration on Josh, trusting the boys to take care of the others.
Josh groans. “Yes.”
“What else?” Josh whimpers again and Nate leans down and grabs him by the scruff of his shirt before hoisting him up in an incredible display of strength. “What else?” he demands.
“I knocked him out,” he finally says.
Nate feigns forward and Josh flinches in fear. “What did he ever do to you?” Nate growls. “Your problem is with me.”
“He… I…”
“Answer me,” he yells.
“It was Jackson,” Josh says, visibly shaking. “Jackson paid us to do it.”
“Fuck,” I hear cursed from across the circle. I look up and watch as Jackson barges his way through the onlookers, slamming them out of his way in his desperation to get out of here.
Nate’s head snaps up in the blink of an eye and watches him leave. He drops Josh and takes off after Jackson like a bat out of hell. Maxen goes with him, leaving Tyson and Jesse to handle the three boys, though, the blonde guy Jesse was playing with is already passed out on the concrete floor.
I hear laughter across the circle where Jackson was standing a moment ago and I see red. I race forward and grab Phoenix out of the circle and pull her in. She screams out as she’s yanked forward and I suddenly have Brooke at my side, desperately trying to pull me off her, but all I can focus on is how this trash violated my home and told the world about my sickness.
I feel completely humiliated and she needs to pay.
“You broke into my home,” I yell at her as I wrap my fingers around the flimsy fabric of her cropped shirt and shake.
She grabs my hands and digs her nails into me, forcing me to release her, though it’s not needed as Jesse grabs me around the waist and hauls me back. “Ha,” Phoenix says. “About fucking time you worked it out. Are you slow or are you just stupid?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I yell from behind Jesse, trying my hardest to get past him, only he shoves his arm out across my chest like a steel cage holding me in place. “Did you want me to find out that you’re fucking nuts? That you spend your weekends breaking into people’s homes?”
“No,” she scoffs in amusement with an irritating grin. “I just find it funny that it’s taken you this long. I was on every fucking camera in your house,” she taunts. “Evidence was everywhere and you had no fucking idea. I was in your room. Your bathroom. Your closet. And there’s nothing you can do about it.”
I fly towards her. “You crazy fucking bitch,” I scream as Jesse grabs me a little tighter.
Phoenix looks up at Jesse. “Control your dog,” she laughs.
I feel Jesse’s hold on me loosen and I know it won’t take much more for him to let me go and dig my claws into her. Phoenix looks back at me. “Tell me, did you even remember to check your cameras? Or did you forget?” My teeth clench together and her grin widens. “Ha,” she laughs. “I knew it. You’re pathetic. You forgot.”
“I didn’t forget anything,” I say, giving a little white lie. “The cameras don’t work. They weren’t on.”
“Don’t bother lying to me, princess. This isn’t my first rodeo,” she says. “The little red light was flashing on every single one. I flipped you off in every room of the house.”
“Look who’s lying now,” Jesse cuts in. “My dad checked the surveillance himself. There was nothing on it.”
Her eyes swivel toward Jesse. “Your dad?” she howls with laughter. “That’s fucking perfect. Looks like my daddy dearest deleted the footage like a good little boy. Always looking out for what’s his.”
“Excuse me?” Jesse grunts, confused by her statement while looking at her as though she’s gone nuts.
“Oh,” she says, putting her hand over her mouth and acting surprised before winking at him. A sick, twisted grin takes over her face and I know whatever she’s about to say is going to rock our world. “Didn’t you know, little brother? We’re family.”
He shakes his head as he narrows his eyes on her. “You’re fucking crazy.”
“No,” she laughs. “What’s crazy is when we slept together last year. It was fucking good, but knowing you were my brother just made it that much better.”
His arm completely drops to his side as he grabs her by the collar of her shirt and pulls her ferociously into his face. “What the fuck are you talking about?” he roars with an intense anger that I’ve never seen coming from Jesse Ryder in my life.
“Do you really need me to explain?” she laughs before talking slowly and enjoying it way too much. “Your dad. Our dad is a fucking whore. He knocked up my mother eighteen years ago, right after he found out your mom was pregnant with Nate.”
“You’re fucking lying,” he growls.
Her eyes widen a fraction, but she’s having way too much fun. “Tell me,” she says. “Why would I lie about screwing my brother and breaking into Tora’s place in front of all these people? I’m the fucking cheer captain. I have too much to lose, but watching you and Nate go down like dogs means way too much to me.”
Jesse releases her with such speed she stumbles back. “Oh,” she says. “You might want to stop telling people you fucked me. You know,” she adds with a wink. “Incest and all.”
“Fuck,” Jesse grunts before he barges his way past her and starts throwing up on the grass.
Fuck. Fuck. FUCK!
I look back at Phoenix as she doubles over in laughter at Jesse’s expense. Once again, the rage takes control. I fly forward and this time, there’s no one in my way to stop me.
I slam my fists up against her shoulders and she falls back with a loud gasp. Her ass hits the floor with both of our body weights and I don’t doubt that will leave a nasty bruise. I straddle her waist and slap my palm hard against the side of her face. “What the fuck is wrong with you?” I demand. “You’re fucking sick.”
“No,” she laughs, not even acknowledging the sting of the slap. “You’re the sick one, remember?”
I can’t help it. I hit her again. “What’s wrong with you?” I repeat. “You’re a crazy fucking whore.”
“You’re the fucking whore,” she yells back.
“I never did anything to you,” I demand as I grab her and hold her down.
Phoenix lets out a scream. “You got their attention,” she roars. “My own fucking brothers. The only time they showed me any attention was when I was offering to suck their dicks.”
I can’t help it. I hit her again. “Are you fucking kidding me?” I snap. “All of this because you're fucking jealous?”
“I’m not jealous,” she growls.
“Ha,” I scoff. “No. You’re just pathetic.” At that, I smirk down at the trash beneath me and get up. “You’re not worth it. One thing I’ve learned from Nate and Jesse is that they always come out on top. Always. So, whether or not Jesse fucked his sister, no one will care. They’ll forget about it because he’s Jesse Ryder. But you. You will fall. Hell, I wo
uldn’t be surprised if the cheer skanks have already heard about this shit. They’re probably crowning their new queen right now.”
She starts shaking her head. “No,” she says. “That won’t happen.”
“Look around you, Phoenix,” I tell her, watching as she takes in all the people standing around with their phones out, recording the whole thing. “You’re already done.”
I step away from her, knowing the rest of this bullshit will be taken care of by the gossipy people at this party. I find Brooke and we walk over to Jesse. “You ok?” I ask as I rub my hand over his back.
“Please tell me it’s not true,” he begs.
“I don’t know, Jess. I don’t think she’d say something like that in front of all these people if it wasn’t true,” I tell him.
“Fuck,” he grunts. “I fucked my sister.”
“No,” I tell him. “It never happened. Forget about it. It’s her word against yours and she’s fucking crazy.”
He cringes as a loud bang rattles the foundation of the house. People scream as others start running. “What the fuck was that?” Brooke panics.
“I don’t know,” Jesse says, gripping both our hands to the point of pain as Tyson pushes through the mass of people running around.
“Come on,” Ty yells. “We have to get out of here.”
We run to the back gate, following the crowd and gasp as we reach the front. A massive fire overtakes a car and I look up at it in horror. “Tora,” I hear Nate yelling from somewhere. I pull against Jesse's hand, searching for Nate.
He rushes up to me from the road, grabs my hand and keeps running.
We pile into Jesse’s Range Rover and before we know it, we’re taking off down the road. “What the fuck happened?” Jesse demands from the backseat as Nate takes off down the street, narrowly avoiding running some girls over. “Whose car is that?”
Nate studies the maze of people and refuses to look anywhere else. He’s silent for a moment and I feel nothing but tension in the car. “An eye for an eye,” he finally says.
Understanding hits me like a freight train.
Nate just blew up Jackson’s car.
Chapter 22
“Fuck,” Jesse laughs. “You set his car on fire?”
Nate doesn’t respond, just keeps on driving like a madman in one of his races. I look between the brothers as I try to slow my racing heart.
I’m having trouble keeping up with everything that’s just happened. It’s been a ridiculously crazy night. I was expecting to come to Noah’s party, talk to a few people and leave with hopefully a plan, instead, I get outed for my eating disorder, get hit on by Jackson again, run away, see Josh, have a makeup party in the bathroom while eavesdropping on a conversation, find Parker’s attackers and kick their asses, kick Phoenix’s ass, find out Nate and Jesse have a sister which is obviously Cade’s big secret, and lastly, set a car on fire.
What the actual fuck?
This night needs to slow down.
“Tell me you got Jackson before you blew up his car?” Tyson asks from the backseat as he leans forward between the two front chairs.
“Yeah,” Maxen chuckles. “We fucking got him. Real good.”
I reach across and take Nate’s hand hoping it will help calm him down. His fingers twine through mine and I watch as he takes a deep breath. I look back at Jesse with worried eyes and meet his, looking exactly the same. We need to tell him about Phoenix before the news gets out and he hears it from someone else, but telling him right now with the guys and Brooke in the back seat probably isn’t the best… Oh, and we should wait until he’s not behind the wheel of a very large car.
I turn back to Nate and watch as he takes a few slow breaths and finally manages to get himself under control, though, little does he know, his world isn’t finished being rocked tonight.
One by one, we drop everyone off at their homes and before we know it, Nate is pulling down his driveway, though, I notice he didn’t bother stopping at my place, telling me he wants me here tonight, wrapped in his arms, which I really don’t have a problem with. I’ll just have to make sure I’m home early in the morning before mom realizes I never came home. Though, she’s been sleeping in a lot lately. I think it’s finally hitting her that dad’s not here.
Nate brings Jesse’s Range Rover to a stop and starts getting out. I meet him around front before looking over at Jesse. He gives me the briefest nod and I pull back on Nate’s hand, stopping him outside his home. “What?” he grunts looking back at me.
I look to Jesse with a cringe before looking back up at Nate. “We need to tell you something,” I say. “Something happened after you went for Jackson.”
“What?” he grunts again with impatience as he looks between me and Jesse.
“We know the secret,” Jess says. His eyes widen and he looks pissed off that we’ve waited to tell him. “Dude,” Jess continues. “It’s not fucking good.”
“Fucking spit it out,” Nate snaps impatiently.
Jesse lets out a breath and looks up at his brother with his heart on his sleeve. “Dad cheated on mom when she was pregnant with you. We have a sister.”
“What?” Nate gasps, taken back. His eyes narrow on his brother before looking to me. I nod, making hurt flash behind his eyes. I tug on his hand and give it a squeeze, letting him know he can lean on me if he needs. “Are you sure? Who told you that?”
“Phoenix,” Jess says. “She said it in front of everyone.”
“Fuck,” he roars, releasing my hold and running a hand through his hair as he starts pacing around. “Phoenix is always full of shit. Who’s this mythical sister?” he asks with a scoff as if the word ‘sister’ is dirty.
“It’s her,” Jess says. “Phoenix.”
Nate cringes. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding.”
“I wish I was,” Jess replies before pressing his lips together in regret. “It’s pretty fucked up if she is.”
Nate steps back and looks at his brother before understanding dawns. “Ugh,” he grunts. “You fucked her last year.”
Jesse lunges forward and gets in his brother’s face. “Don’t fucking talk about it,” he growls. “Ever again. It never fucking happened. Got it?”
“Yeah, man. Got it,” Nate grins before he slowly begins to sober up. He gives Jesse a serious look before shaking his head in disbelief. “You’re fucking sure about this?”
“Yeah, pretty sure,” he says. “I mean, why would she say something like that in front of everyone. Lying about it only makes her look bad and will probably fuck up her spot as captain.”
Nate thinks it over for a moment. “Fuck,” he curses low under his breath. “I guess we have to go talk to dad.” Jesse nods as he takes a deep breath. “You ready for this?” Nate asks him, knowing how badly this is going to break his heart if it’s true.
“Yeah,” Jesse says. “I mean. I can’t go on not knowing if it’s true. I’ll always be questioning if I fucked my sister.”
A smile lifts the corner of Nate’s mouth and even though this whole station sucks, Nate can’t possibly miss an opportunity to mess with his brother. I can just see it now, Jesse will never live this down no matter if it’s true or not. “Alright then,” Nate says. “Let’s go.”
I pull back on his hand, digging my feet right in. “I’ll um… maybe I should go. This is private,” I tell him. “I’ll keep my phone on if you need to talk after.”
“Fuck that,” Nate grunts, pulling on my hand. “You’re fucking it for me, Tora. If it’s personal for me, then it’s personal for you too. You’re coming with me.”
“Are you sure?” I grunt, looking up at him and then to Jesse. “I don’t want to intrude on this. I mean, it’s not going to be pretty.”
“Nah,” Jesse says. “You’re pretty much a part of the family now anyway. You may as well come along. Saves us explaining the story afterward.”
“Alright,” I breath. “Let’s go.”
With that, we walk up the stairs of the
massive house and push our way through the front door. My hands shake. I don’t know how this is going to go and I don’t know why I’m so fucking nervous. I don’t want it to be true, but something is screaming within me that it is.
All hell is about to break loose in the Ryder household and things are never going to be the same.
Nate storms through the front door, letting the hardwood swing open and slam against the wall. He walks straight past the alarm and I raise an eyebrow, realizing he’s putting on a show. There’s only been once that I’ve seen Nate walk through the door and forget the alarm. The place went nuts and I have no doubt that’s his intention now.
Jesse scoffs, reading his brother in the same way I am as we follow him through the house. We get to the opening of the kitchen when the alarm system goes off.
Nate pushes himself up onto the kitchen table as he watches the show play out before him. I lean against the table beside him with Jesse on his other side, arms crossed over his wide chest.
It takes all of twenty seconds for Cade to come down the stairs with a baseball bat in hand. His eyes are wide as he scans the darkened room.
“Holy shit,” he gasps as he sees us before lowering the bat and walking forward. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he yells at the boys over the high-pitched wail of the alarm. “Did you set off the alarm? Your mother is beside herself thinking it’s a home invasion.”
Shit. Guilt flashes in both the boys’ eyes but it’s gone a moment later as their father shakes his head and walks out of the room before we hear three loud beeps followed by the alarm cutting off.
Trish appears at the top of the stairs as Cade walks back in the room, flicking the light on as he goes. “It’s just the boys,” he tells her as he walks by us with a heavy scowl.
“Oh,” she gasps with her hand over her chest as she makes her way down the stairs. “Thank god.” She stops halfway down as Cade reaches the bottom step.
“Why don’t you take a seat?” Nate says to his retreating form with a tone sharp enough to cut glass.
He turns back around and meets Nate’s blank stare. He studies him for a moment and Trish slowly continues her descent down the stairs, wondering what the hell is going on.
Broken Hill Halo (Broken Hill High #2) Page 20