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

like a normal teenage girl, running off to cause trouble. Except my trouble should consist of flirting with boys and being nervous about who’s going to finally ask me to prom.

“We don’t even know where he’s at,” I point out. Headlights come out of nowhere in the side rearview mirrors. “Fuck, we have company.”

The car is so close to our bumper, I think it will hit us, but it swerves at the last second and comes up on the driver’s side. In the passenger seat, Marek rolls down the window, motioning for Palmer to do the same. She offers him her middle finger.

The stereo system cuts to a blaring generic ringtone. Marek’s name appears on the screen. Palmer clicks the button and singsongs, “Hello, how can I assist you today?”

“Don’t be cute with me, baby girl. Pull the fuck over,” Marek commands. At this point, he should know it’s pointless to boss Palmer around.

“Not a chance,” she says, the equivalent of stomping her feet. “How about nerd alert over there tells us where Breaker is, and then maybe I’ll think about letting you escort us?”

“Nerd alert?” Dixon shouts. “Fucking rude! How about you pump the brakes a bit and follow us.”

“Not a fucking chance in hell!” Marek shouts at him.

“What?” Dixon’s voice is muffled but clear enough to hear. “They’re going to figure it out. We may as well be there when they do.”

“We can handle ourselves.” I lean forward.

“There’s that confidence we’re going to need, Chambers.” Dixon leans over Marek, managing to stay on the road, while smiling at me through the window. “Now, follow us. I’ll lead the princess to her prince charming. Bloody and all.”

“Fine.” Palmer taps the brakes, allowing them to get in front of our vehicle.

Blood.

There’s a real possibility Breaker has already beaten Tripp to a fraction of the man he was before.

“How are we going to get onto Hollow Hill’s campus?” I ask, knowing damn well that’s the roads we are taking.

“My guess is Dixon has a plan.” The uncertainty radiating off Palmer’s grimace doesn’t give me much confidence.

We drive, guided by Dixon’s taillights. He stops at the gate, and I catch his thumb jabbing at our vehicle. He shakes the hand of the attendant, then drives through the campus as if it’s his own personal playground.

We aren’t going to Tripp’s dorm. When we finally stop, I have no idea where we are.

“What the hell is going on?” I ask, jumping from the SUV and circling to meet Marek and Dixon. Palmer is greeted with a heated shake of Marek’s head. “Don’t be mad at her. It wasn’t her idea,” I lie.

“Who the hell do you take me for? This has Palmer written all over it.” Marek grins at me and then hugs Palmer tight to his chest, his anger simply gone. “So, what’s the plan?”

“I thought a Trojan horse would be fun, but we don’t necessarily have the time for theatrics,” Dixon jokes. “We’re going old school.”

“Which is?” I question.

“Catch up, sweetheart. Sometimes it’s just as fun to use the front door.”

“Or the back door,” Palmer jokes, sticking her tongue out at Marek.

“Eww!” Dixon and I say in unison.

Marek and Palmer are too lost in their own laughter to notice Dixon leading me to the front of the building.

“How about we stick to the front?” He tugs on the door handle, but it’s locked. “Fuck. Never mind.”

“Back door it is.” Palmer raises her hand in the air, giggling as she leads us around the corner.

“What is this place, anyway?” I ask Dixon.

“It’s one of the original buildings that’s used for storage. Ever since the other buildings were updated, it’s a place some of the students go.”

“You’ve been here?”

“Hollow Hill girls have tighter pussies,” Marek adds.

“And how would you know?” Palmer glares at him.

Marek’s reputation is no secret. I’m sure his body count is higher than our graduating class. No girl likes to be reminded of the tail her man caught before her.

“It’s because the boys here have shrimp dic—” Dixon’s insult is interrupted by the door flying open.

Tripp stumbles out, a girl barely hanging onto his arm.

“Speaking of shrimp dicks.” Palmer shoves the girl when she stumbles into her.

“What the hell are you four doing here?” Tripp’s glossy eyes instantly find me.

Marek and Dixon have the same look of misunderstanding and confusion on their faces as I feel. If Tripp is here, where the hell is Breaker?

“We’ve seemed to have lost something,” Palmer answers, shrugging.

“Fucking smooth, babe.” Marek smiles at her. “What she means to say is that the gauntlet is done. Finished. You’d be smart to realize that.”

“Is that so?” Tripp sways in his drunken stupor, poking his finger into Marek’s chest. “Last time I checked, it wasn’t up to you.”

“Forget you saw us. We’re leaving,” Dixon says, trying to deescalate the situation.

“What? No, we aren’t,” I whisper-yell at him. “What about—?” My mouth is covered by his hand.

“Get in the car.” Dixon opens the door, gesturing for me to slide in.

Once the four of us are inside, staring at each other, Dixon taps the button to bring his engine to life.

“You care to explain?” I ask, worried about Breaker. What if we’ve left him there, unknowingly?

“He had no idea why we were there, which means Breaker didn’t show up here. If he did, then Tripp would have been a bloody mess.”

“So, where the hell is he? I thought you were some computer genius. Shouldn’t you be able to track him?”

“Oh, he’s here. He didn’t come to see Tripp though.”

“Then who the hell is he here to see?” I question, unsure where this is going.

“Promise not to lose your shit?” Dixon glances at me through the rearview mirror. I cross my finger over my chest, making a big deal of the gesture. “He’s here to see DuPont’s baby sister.”

Chapter Fifteen

Breaker

As I stand outside and peek through a window, I witness Tripp snorting a line of cocaine from a table. A half-naked girl is snaked around his body, her hand inching closer and