Her eyes flick around and briefly land on me before taking in the standoff between Nate and Cade. “What’s going on down here?” she questions as she continues glancing between us and Cade.
Nate doesn’t move his eyes off his father who’s now white as a ghost. “Dad’s got something to tell us,” he says.
Cade begins shaking his head. It’s as clear as day that he’s been caught out, yet he’s still going to try to spin a story, which is the only proof Nate needs. Just like that, it’s all confirmed. We don’t even need to have the conversation that’s about to follow, but things need to be said and Cade Ryder needs to be put in his place. “I’m not sure I follow,” he says cautiously as he rocks back on his heels.
Jesse scoffs in disgust and looks away, prompting Trish to walk forward and take a stance beside us. “Oh, cut the crap, Cade,” Trish says. “Now’s your chance to come clean.”
His eyes widen as he looks to his wife with the deepest betrayal. “Shut up,” he yells at her before turning on his heel and stepping up on the first step. “I don’t need this shit.”
“Don’t talk to her like that,” Nate roars to his retreating back as he jumps down from the table. “Mom’s put up with your cheating ass for way too long. She deserves a shitload better than that bullshit.”
Cade stops and turns back to us. “You watch your mouth, boy,” he warns.
“Or what?” Nate challenges, opening his arms wide. “You going to do something about it? You’re fucking done here. We know all about your dirty little secret. Your daughter. You cheated on mom and have been lying about it for the past eighteen years.”
He shakes his head again, though I’m not sure if it’s because he’s been caught out or if he’s scared of what’s about to happen. I mean, there’s no way this is going to end with them all saying a pleasant goodnight and heading off to bed.
Jesse steps up beside Nate. “The cameras were on at Tora’s place. You deleted the security footage, didn’t you?” he questions. “Were you protecting someone?”
Cade’s eyes widen and I realize that though he knows we’ve worked out his secret, he had hoped we didn’t know who it was. “I…”
“What’s that, Cade?” Trish demands. “Do you need another minute to come up with another lie? It’s over. They know.”
His face turns red and he storms towards his wife. “You told them,” he accuses waving his hands around in outrage.
Nate rushes his father and pushes him a step back. “I did no such thing,” Trish yells over Nate’s shoulder. “I don’t know how they found out or why they even knew to look for something, but know this, Cade. I’m glad. You have lied to my boys long enough and I’m glad it’s finally over. I’ve done my part trying to protect them from this, to give them the best family life they could ever want or need, but now that your dirty lies are out, I’m done. I’m not pretending anymore.”
My heart pounds in my chest as I look between the four Ryders. I mean, this is blowing up more than I could ever have imagined. Is Trish serious saying she’s leaving? Is she taking the boys with her or is she kicking Cade out?
"But," Cade cuts her off, looking confused.
"But, nothing," Trish snaps. "Know this, Cade," she says, bringing her hand up and sliding her wedding rings off her finger. "I will never risk my relationship with my boys to cover for your lies ever again. We’re through." With that, she places the rings down on the kitchen table and walks forward. She places a hand on the back of Nate's shoulder but looks back at Jesse. "I love you two more than you could ever know, but I need to do this. I know you may not understand and you may hate me for keeping this from you, but it's time for me to take my life back."
Jesse walks forward and wraps his arms around his mother. "We don't hate you," he tells her. "We’re fucking pissed you kept this from us, but we understand why.” He looks over at me and then to Nate. “Why don't you take off?" he suggests. "You've said your peace and I don’t think you want to be around for when we say ours."
"Shit," Trish sighs in a rare show of foul language. "I can't leave you to clean up this mess."
"Go, mom," Nate demands. "I've got this."
Trish looks back at Jesse before giving me an apologetic smile. She turns and walks away. "This isn't over," Cade calls after her. "I didn't suffer through a year of couples therapy for nothing."
"Yeah," she chuckles without looking back. "You did."
With that, she disappears from the room, leaving me wondering where the hell she could have gone. I don’t wonder for long as Nate stepping towards his father has my attention drawn like a raging bull staring down its target. “You lied to us,” Nate states.
Cade lets out a breath before looking up at me, probably wondering why on earth I’m witness to all of this. He presses his lips together and turns his gaze on his son. “It was for your own good,” he says. “Both of you. I wanted to give you boys a normal life and that never would have happened if you knew. Your mom would have kicked me out and you would have grown up without a father.”
“Maybe that would have been for the best,” Jesse growls. “Maybe she should have kicked you out.”
“How can you say that?” Cade roars. “Didn’t you have a good life? Didn’t you get everything you ever wanted? That was all me, Jesse. Not your mom.”
“Don’t,” Nate say, stepping forward into his dad and taking Cade’s attention off him which I realize is Nate’s way of protecting his brother. “There’s more to this isn’t there?” Nate accuses.
“What?” Cade grumbles, taken back. He looks around for an escape and I realize Nate is right. We’ve only just touched on the surface.
“Now’s your chance, dad,” Nate says. “You’ve got the floor. Air all your dirty fucking laundry. This won’t end until you do.”
“There’s nothing left to say,” Cade says.
“Bullshit,” Nate grunts as he watches his father very carefully, reading every tiny movement, the way he does to me. “What is it? You have a relationship with Phoenix? You’ve been funding her high class lifestyle? No,” he says, shaking his head. “That’s not it, is it?” he says. “This is about her mom. The other woman.”
Cade scoffs but there’s a panic deep inside his eyes and I watch as Nate catches on to it. He straightens slightly, placing him taller than his father as he goes in for the kill. “You’re still with her.”
Cade blanches as Nate hits the nail right on the head. Jesse flinches and I look across and see nothing but pure hurt written all over his face. The room is silent as the boys take it all in, but the silence doesn’t last long. Jesse steps up beside Nate, showing a united front. “Well, what are you waiting for? Mom doesn’t want you here and I sure as hell don’t either.”
“Excuse me?” Cade says. “This is my home. You can’t kick me out.”
“It’s over for you here,” Nate says. “There’s nothing left. You’ll never have a relationship with us again and I can promise you that mom will never forgive you, not for this. Your only hope is to go and see if that whore and her skank ass daughter will take you in.”
Cade’s eyes go hard as he looks from son to son. He takes a step back and I realize we’re done for the night. “This isn’t over,” he tells the boys, just as he had told Trish.
“It is, dad. This is one fuck up you’ll never come back from. Go live with your other family. We’re done.”
With that, Cade takes another step back before letting out a heavy sigh. A moment later, he turns and walks up the stairs, hopefully, to pack himself a bag.
Nate turns towards his brother and searches his face. “You ok?” he questions.
“Yeah,” he grunts, looking away before walking out of the room with his head down low.
Nate turns to me and slowly walks over. He puts his hands down on the table on either side of my waist and leans into me while letting out a heavy breath. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think it would get that out of hand.”
I bring my hand up and rest it against his raci
ng hearts. “It’s ok,” I murmur. “Are you alright?”
He shrugs his shoulders and presses his lips together. “I don’t know,” he admits. “It’s a lot to take in.”
He rests his forehead against mine and I bring my other hand up and around him, holding his body close to mine. “I love you,” I tell him. “Think of this as your new beginning. We took out the trash and now it’s time for a clean slate.”
“I guess,” he murmurs. “It’ll just take a while to sink in.”
I nod my head and push up off the table. I take his hand in mine. “Come on,” I say as I start leading him towards the den. He follows on with a sigh and we fall down into the couch together, tangled in each other’s arms.
I rest my head against his chest as his thumb rubs back and forth over my shoulder. “Do you think Jess will be ok?” I murmur.
A scoff sounds at the opening of the den and I look up to find Jesse standing with a bottle of bourbon and three shot glasses. “I’ll be fine after this,” he explains.
“Speak of the devil and he shall appear,” I grumble as Jesse flops down into the couch beside us. We push ourselves up and untangle our limbs as Jesse starts pouring drinks. “You couldn’t have gotten something a little nicer than bourbon?” I question as I look at the brown liquid.
“Nope,” he grunts. “You want to party with the big boys, you got to drink what we drink.”
I scrunch my face up as a body appears before us, holding up my preferred drink of choice. “Don’t be ridiculous,” Trish says as she hands me the bottle of Vodka. “If you’re going to party, you party right.”
“I’ll drink to that,” I tell her as she drops down beside Jesse and steals one of his unused shot glasses.
Nate raises a surprised eyebrow at his mom, but nonetheless, accepts what’s happening. I mean, a lot of shit has gone down tonight and after dealing with it all for the past year, the woman deserves to drown her sorrows. “Um,” Nate says to his mom with a cringe. “There’s probably a few things you should know.”
She holds up a hand stopping him. “Nope,” she says as she grabs the filled glass of vodka and throws it back. “I heard the whole thing, I don’t need to hear it again. I was at the top of the stairs listening and from now on, he’s Voldemort. We don’t speak his name.”
“Deal,” Jesse says, slamming his empty glass back down on the table and instantly refilling it before sliding one down to Nate, making wonder how the hell we’ve all lost our fathers in such a short time and how I ended up drinking with our moms when in usual circumstances, they’d both run for the hills if someone suggested getting wasted with their kids.
Half an hour later, both bottles are nearly empty and when we hear the sound of the garage opening before the distinct sound of a car backing out, we all burst into uncontrollable laughter. “Shit, he’s actually gone,” Trish says with tears in her eyes.
“Yeah,” I grunt as my head starts to spin from the vodka. “Look at it this way,” I tell her. “Nate now has somewhere to park his Mustang.”
Trish’s face drops and her mouth pops open as she looks to Nate. “Tell me you didn’t buy a Mustang?”
Nate shakes his head as he grins at his mom. “I didn’t buy a Mustang,” he tells her. Relief fills her features. “I’m buying one tomorrow.”
I can’t help but smile. Even though the world has crumbled around me, I’ve never felt so good. I’ve lost my Nanna, I’ve lost my dad. I’ve had my most shameful secret exposed in front of hundreds of people, but no matter what, I always came out the other end.
My heart has been broken so many times over the past few weeks but at the same time, it’s also never been so full. I feel like with Nate by my side, I could conquer the world. He’s shown me a love that I don’t think I could have found on my own, and when he looks down and smiles at me with his eyes sparkling, I see my future laid out before me.
I can’t wait to see how the rest of this year unfolds. I’m sure Phoenix isn’t going to sit back and let her perfect little high class life crumble around her. She now has her little family and I’m sure will feel pretty damn proud of herself, after all, in her eyes, she’s taken something from Nate and Jesse.
Jackson… I don’t know what’s going to happen there either. Like Nate said, an eye for an eye. He got what was coming for him but the problem there is that Jackson doesn’t strike me as the kind to admit defeat. So, I can only imagine what kind of bullshit is coming our way.
Let them bring their worst. We’ve proven over and over again that the Ryders always come out on top and I like to think that includes me.
I look around from Jesse to Nate and know that from now until forever, these two boofheads are stuck with me and I wouldn’t have it any other way. “You good?” Nate questions as his eyes linger on mine.
“I’ve never been better,” I tell him.
A moment later, his lips are pressing down on mine.
Thanks for reading!
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Author Biography
Sheridan Anne is a wife to a smart-ass husband, Mumma to two beautiful girls, twin sister, daughter, and friend who lives in beautiful Australia. Sheridan writes both romance and young adult fantasy books on a variety of topics and can be found on most days with her family or writing during nap time. To find out more or to simply say ‘hello’, connect with her on Facebook - www.facebook.com/SheridanAnneAuthor/
Other Books by Sheridan Anne
Teen & Young Adult - Paranormal Romance
DESTRUCT – The Guard Trilogy (Book 1) www.amazon.com/dp/B07GPHDDMM
DECIMATE – The Guard Trilogy (Book 2) www.amazon.com/dp/B07GVFMM6T
DOMINATE – The Guard Trilogy (Book 3) www.amazon.com/dp/B07H2HFNMN
An Angel’s Trust – Warriors of Light (Book 1) - Coming 2019
An Angel’s Soul – Warriors of Light (Book 2) – Coming 2019
An Angel’s Destiny – Warriors of Light (Book 3) – Coming 2019
Young Adult / New Adult - Romance
Broken Hill High – The Broken Hill High Series (Book 1) www.amazon.com/dp/B07N1C7DMJ
Broken Hill Halo – The Broken Hill High Series (Book 2) www.amazon.com/dp/B07NCVT2QZ
Broken Hill Hurt – The Broken Hill High Series (Book 3) www.amazon.com/dp/B07NL38FRH
Broken Hill Hearts – The Broken Hill High Series (Book 4)
Broken Hill Havoc – The Broken Hill High Series (Book 5)
Broken Hill Honor – The Broken Hill High Series (Novella 5.5)
Romance
Miller – Kings of Denver (Book 1) www.amazon.com/dp/B078LCCRWJ
Jaxon – Kings of Denver (Book 2) www.amazon.com/dp/B078MWD25M
Xander – Kings of Denver (Book 3) www.amazon.com/dp/B07928QNNF
Tank – Kings of Denver (Book 4) www.amazon.com/dp/B079Z49YFD
Logan – Denver Royalty (Book 1) www.amazon.com/dp/B07F7YZVGB
Carter – Denver Royalty (Book 2) www.amazon.com/dp/B07FMZVCJH
Sean – Denver Royalty (Book 3) www.amazon.com/dp/B07FZLLDCH
Cole – Rebels Advocate (Book 1) www.amazon.com/dp/B07K5XQXWZ
Caden – Rebels Advocate (Book 2) www.amazon.com/dp/B07KB36XXS
Luke – Rebels Advocate (Book 3) www.amazon.com/dp/B07KKJB8CP
Jace – Rebels Advocate (Book 4) www.amazon.com/dp/B07KSGQLJY
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Broken Hill Halo (Broken Hill High #2) Page 21
