Glass Heart Hero: A Dark High School Romance by Lindsey Iler (free ebook reader for iphone .TXT) 📕

harnesses the strength to ground the three of us with a single touch.

“We need you here more,” Tatum says in her most stoic voice.

“You’ll have me. Whatever you need.” At my promise, Charlie moves away. Her pink cheeks make her appear younger than she is. “Whatever you need.”

For the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening, I run around the house with Charlie and Tatum, ignoring the outside world. With their laughter, I can pretend life isn’t waiting to crush me.

We play hours on the Nintendo Switch and watch a movie. They ask me questions about Glass Heart Academy, proving they know how to use a search bar. They ask even more about the beautiful blonde photographed with me outside of the courthouse. What happened in that room, or what they wanted the public to believe, had been plastered all over the news.

At the mention of Delaney, my mind travels. The finishing credits roll, and the names are a blur.

“Barrett, you okay?” Tatum asks, nudging my knee to bring my attention to where it belongs, with Charlie and her.

“Yeah, I have a lot of things going on.” As if the universe knows this, my phone in my pocket vibrates. When I check it, Marek’s name lights up the screen with an incoming text, followed by one from Palmer.

My face must show my dread. Charlie shifts down the couch cushion, plastering herself next to me. “I’m sorry for how I reacted when you first showed up. I wasn’t being fair to you. I know you have your own things going on.”

“Your things will always be my things.” I ruffle her hair and squeeze her tight to me. “What this is, isn’t any of your concern. I know you’ll worry, but I promise I’ll be okay.”

“Don’t make promises, Barrett.” She flashes a sad smile at me. “Show up when we call.”

“Deal.” I stand and both girls follow my lead. My arms are spread wide, and they walk into them. I sigh, suddenly realizing that although I’ve chosen a family, there is one I have left behind. “You two be good for Aunt Emily, okay? Don’t give her too much trouble, and I’ll visit soon.”

Charlie lets go first. She falls onto the couch, and I wonder how happy she is. Does she wake up in the morning, with a mind full of possibilities? Does she know she’s loved beyond measure? Is she lonely in a house full of people?

Tatum searches my face. “She won’t ask you to visit, but she needs you.” Whispered pleas should never be ignored. They are words too afraid of being spoken too loudly, but strong enough they need to be told to the universe.

I lower my head to hers. “Take care of her.”

Tatum winks, trying to prove she’s strong enough for the job. It’s not hers to do, though. It’s mine. It’s Aunt Emily’s.

“I love you!” Charlie hollers before I’m out of earshot.

“Back at you, kid.” I wave and head down the hallway.

This house is immaculate. Somehow my aunt has managed to restore it to its original glory. White marble floors and beautifully decorated tables. Everything is in its perfect place, seemingly untouched, even though two twelve-year-old girls live here.

“You’ve been busting your ass, I see.” I knock on the office doorframe.

She sits behind the large mahogany desk. Papers are piled high.

“Being a lawyer looks tough,” I joke, walking across her domain and plopping down onto the caramel leather couch. “How do you manage to keep everything running like a well-oiled machine?”

“A daily dose of wine.” She shrugs, looking every part of the boss of her world. She shuffles some papers around and hands them across the table to me. “I need you to look these over. This is for the foundation.”

“My mom’s?”

“Yours,” she corrects me.

“I don’t want it.”

“Well, if you don’t take it, it will go to your father.”

“Fuck him,” I bite out. “Why can’t it be left to the girls?”

“It can, and it will, as long as you stay on in the meantime. I will take care of it until you graduate, but after that, it’s yours to handle. You can hire whoever you want to take over for you, hopefully someone you trust, and leave it to the girls when they become an appropriate age.”

“So, what you’re telling me is, if I don’t continue to hold ownership, it will go to that piece of shit?” I ask for clarification.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“Aunt Emily, how is that even possible?”

“There was no proof of foul play. No record of the abuse. Nothing.”

“Except the word of an eight-year-old, and lord fucking knows, the court system doesn’t work the way it should for children.” I lunge to my feet, gripping my hair and tugging on the ends in frustration.

“That’s not the only thing,” Aunt Emily says. The dread in her voice could be heard from miles away. She circles the desk, resting against it while she watches and gauges me for the reaction, she is certain is to come. “Your father—”

“Not my father,” I cut her off.

“Biologically, he is your father and those two girls. He’s asking to see them, Barrett.”

“Not a chance in hell will he ever go near them.” I point towards the doors, knowing somewhere in this house two innocent girls have no idea the kind of wreckage that man can leave in his wake.

“He never hurt them.”

“He may not have put his hands on them, but he’s the reason they’re motherless. Why I’m motherless.”

“I understand your frustration, sweetheart. I really do.”

“No, you don’t. If you did, you wouldn’t be bringing this to me. You wouldn’t even allow this to be a possibility.”

“I’ve done everything I can. Legally, he’s within his rights.”

“How do we make it so he has no rights?”

“It doesn’t work that way, Barrett, and you know it.”

“When is he seeing them?” I ask.

A train is barreling towards my sisters, and there is literally nothing I can do to stop it.

“I know you don’t like this, but I will be there the entire time.