Page 26 of Broken Rock

He slams the cup onto the counter with more force than he intended. Of course he’d forgotten. ‘Right.’

The silence continues behind him. Slamming the cup down would have caused a few raised eyebrows and knowing looks. ‘I have a few things to do in town so I’ll drive you.’

He takes a calming breath before he turns to look at his mother. ‘It’s fine, Mum. I’ll drive myself.’

‘Your car and bike are at your house. It’s really no trouble. I’ll drive you.’

‘Fine. Can you drop me at my place instead? I’ll pick up my car. I’d prefer to have it here anyway.’

And there’s the look again. His father takes the lead in the negotiation. ‘Okay, how about you take my car and Becca can drop me at your place and I’ll pick up your car for you. It’ll be here for you when you get back later.’

Guilt and shame are bastards to live with. Any other time, he’d have laughed at them and done his own thing. Scrap that. Any other time, there wouldn’t be an issue with him going back to his own fucking house to get his car. But after what happened, they don’t want him to go back there. Or they don’t want him alone there. Or maybe they don’t want him to have a car he can escape in. Whatever the reason, he’s all out of fight. Admitting defeat, he nods and slumps down in the chair.

‘You should still have a spare set of keys to the truck in the drawer in the hall.’

His breakfast arrives and he forces it down, not tasting any of it. In the background, conversation continues between his mum and dad, with him giving a nod every now and again when the silence tells him they were expecting something from him.

7

‘Whoa, fellow.’ Tatebrings Jove to a stop and looks over at the grass along the edge of the sand further up the beach. He smiles when he spots Chloe at the far end, sketchpad on her knee. Jove takes a step towards her but Tate holds him back. Is he really ready to make an ass of himself again? Then again, it’s not like he has anything to lose. She probably already thinks he’s a little odd. It can’t get worse than that.

He leans over and rests his head against Jove’s neck. ‘If it looks like I’m about to say or do anything stupid I fully expect you to stop me.’

Jove snorts.

‘Yeah. Cheers for that. C’mon then. Let’s see if I can do this without making a complete eejit of myself... again.’

He brings Jove closer to Chloe and climbs off. He pulls the stirrups up and leaves Jove at the bottom of the grass bank as he climbs up the path to the top. He peers over Chloe’s shoulder at the drawing she’s working on.

‘That’s good.’

Chloe screeches and drops her pencil in the sand. She blows out a long breath when she sees Tate standing behind her.

‘You scared the hell out of me.’

‘Sorry.’

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