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

At the trail opening, the bright sun makes it impossible to see little more than the tall, dark figure circling the mouth of the path.

He came for me.

My pace quickens as I prepare to jump into Breaker’s arms and kiss him senseless.

“I was being stupid!” I scream.

“At least you can admit it, Laney.” The voice sends a chill up my spine, and my feet freeze as if I’ve walked into quicksand, completely taken over by my surroundings. “By the look on your face, I’d say I’m the last person you expected to see.”

“What do you want, Tripp?” I ease into the same light that had hidden his identity until I was almost on top of him.

Without waiting for an answer, I attempt to walk around him, trying to put as much space between us as possible. I’ve been alone in these woods with untrustworthy people. Nothing good comes from it.

I’m almost free.

Tripp reaches out and squeezes my bicep, halting my escape. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“As far away from you as possible.” I jerk my arm away. “You’re a piece of fucking work, showing up here, after that shit last night.”

“I’m surprised to see you on your feet so quickly. Your friends rushed you away like you’d died.”

“Don’t you get it? I could have, and even if jumping from that bridge was perfectly safe, you knew what you were doing,” I scold.

“You looking for me to apologize, baby?” Tripp sidesteps, blocking me. The pet name sends a shiver up my spine.

“An apology?” I laugh, making a joke of his words. “Don’t kid yourself. It takes having a heart to utter words like that, Tripp, and we both know, me a little too late, that you don’t have anything inside your body that resembles a human.”

“This doesn’t change anything.” The harshness in his voice has me clenching my jaw. “You know that, right?”

“This changes absolutely everything.” I hurry away, moving closer to the dorms with every wide stride I make.

“He’s not the right guy for you, Laney.” Tripp’s voice echoes around the buildings. “You and I both know that.”

I hear Tripp’s voice like he’s whispering right over my shoulder. I’m leaving with him believing the reason I’m mad at him is because of what he did to Breaker. He has no idea I’m aware of his business with my father.

A familiar SUV speeds towards my dorm parking lot, screeching to a complete halt a few feet away, blinding me. I shield my eyes with my forearm. A door slams, and an arm wraps around my middle, hauling me against a familiar body. The space around us goes dark.

“Are you okay?” Breaker asks, releasing me when I nod. I love the way he holds onto me until he is certain I’m unharmed.

“Tripp,” I stutter the name of a boy who helped draw me out of the darkness, while secretly creating more.

“Where?” His eyes search the lawn.

“He caught me right outside of the running path,” I explain, holding him as he strains against me. “You aren’t going after him.”

“Like hell I’m not, Delaney.” His blind rage trying to get around me is sweet and typical of Breaker. He’s protective by nature. “I can’t sit here and do nothing, baby,” he pleads.

“Okay, and let’s say I move out of the way and let you at him. What’re you going to do then? Because we already know what happens when your fists get involved. What does that solve?”

“It’ll make me feel better.” His smile is slow to appear, but when it does, I can’t help but mirror it on my own face.

“Instead of killing him, how about you come up to my dorm and we talk?” I reach for his hand, and he begrudgingly takes mine in his.

I lead Breaker inside, holding tight to him. Once we are in my room, he relaxes on the bed and settles me between his legs.

“Talk to me,” he says.

“I run away,” I confess. “I ran away from you after that night. It was too hard to look at you, knowing what happened.”

“You lived to run away, Delaney. Don’t forget that.” His attempt to make me feel better is admirable.

“Don’t dismiss how I treated you. I was heartless, and I didn’t think I needed a hero. Sure as hell didn’t think I needed you to be mine.”

“I’m no hero.”

“A hero is someone who runs towards danger, unconcerned about what could happen to themselves, because their own wellbeing doesn’t even register.” I cup his head in my hands. “Trust me, that night you were a hero.”

My mind is foggy. I imagine this is how someone feels after being knocked out in a boxing ring. Surroundings are blurry, and every sound is muffled.

What the hell was in that needle? I trace my fingers over the skin Reed had punctured.

“Better not.” A hand presses into my chest, forcing me flat on the mattress.

Declan Dumas.

I flounder around, hazy-brained but alert enough to know the drugs in my system are dissolving fast. My vision clears a little more with every blink.

“Don’t do this,” I plead, knowing there’s no use.

The mattress ripples. He’s gotten off the bed, but where has he gone? It would be nice if my head would follow my brain’s command to track him.

“Now, why wouldn’t I?”

A disgusted tingle runs through my body when his palm slides up my calf.

“Don’t touch me!” I scream. This is it. Get up and run.

My body won’t move. Why can’t I run?

“The cocktail coursing through your veins makes you incapacitated”— Declan climbs over me, using his hips to pin me against the mattress— “but leaves you completely aware. It’s exactly how I need you because this isn’t worth it if you don’t have to live with it.”

“Stop!” I thrash back and forth. My arms are useless, but the strength in my legs is returning.

“You’re right.” Declan climbs off me. I concentrate on raising my head enough to see him messing with something on a shelf. “We can’t do it like