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

Delaney shuts the passenger door and gawks. “Yeah, no, it’s not about the size. It’s straight out of a storybook.” Her eyes glisten with wonder.

I lean against the hood and stare at the same house Delaney’s seeing.

A beautiful story is waiting to be told within these walls. Man, I miss my mom.

“She was right.” Delaney wraps her hands around my waist, making me realize I’ve said it out loud.

“That’s what she said when she first showed me the house.” I shake my head, suddenly overcome with grief.

“It’s okay to miss her.” She kisses the underside of my chin. “Now, you plan on introducing me to your sisters or what?”

I’ve never had a girlfriend, not like this. Hell, Delaney and I haven’t even had the conversation, but as we walk up to the house, her hand in mine, that’s what this feels like.

The door swings open, and Charlie appears, her hands on her hips and an attitude tweaking at the corner of her mouth.

“What are you doing here? When we said to come back, we didn’t mean this soon.”

“Very funny.” I walk past her and Delaney follows. Before I make it very far, skinny arms wrap around my waist, holding on for dear life. Her little face presses into my spine. “You okay?” I grab her tightly bound hands on my stomach, spin around, and duck down to her height.

“Dad wants to see us,” she says, tears forming in her eyes. I clutch her to my chest. “We don’t have to go, do we?”

I caress her hair, trying to calm her. “I’ll figure it out, okay?” I promise, knowing I will never let anything happen to her. She won’t know the pain I did.

Aunt Emily enters the foyer, watching Charlie in my arms. Her eyes shift behind me to Delaney, a stranger in her home.

In typical Delaney fashion, she circles Charlie and me, offering her hand to my aunt. “I’m Delaney Chambers, Breaker’s”— she pauses for a split second— “I’m his girlfriend.”

I grin, tightening my lips, making them practically disappear. Charlie must see the amusement in my eyes because she giggles.

“Breaker has a girlfriend. Breaker has a girlfriend,” Charlie singsongs.

“Wait, Breaker has a girlfriend?” Tatum comes down the stairs. Her twin sense must have been on high alert. “Are you okay, Charlie?”

“Dad stuff,” Charlie answers and releases her hold on me. She squares her shoulders, acting tougher than she is.

“That’s why I’m here, Aunt Emily. Can we talk?” I ask her.

“Sure, honey. Why don’t you girls take Delaney into the den and try not to embarrass your big brother, huh?”

Side by side, Tatum and Charlie walk out of the room. I kiss Delaney on the cheek. “I won’t be long.”

“Take your time.” She smiles and follows the girls.

“She’s pretty,” Aunt Emily says.

“She’s far beyond pretty.” I gaze in the direction she’d disappeared. My Aunt Emily is grinning from ear to ear. “What?”

“Nothing. I never thought I’d see the day.” She chuckles, heading through the foyer, straight for the kitchen.

“What are you getting at?” I trail behind her and jump up on the island, picking at the friendship bread warm from the oven. The gooey cinnamon dough is delicious.

“Come on, Breaker. You know what I mean. You may be at that school, but I’m fully aware of who you are. People talk.”

“Please elaborate.” I pop another piece of candied bread into my mouth.

“What happened with that Weston girl,” she starts. “You don’t exactly toe the line with morally correct behavior, and neither do any of the kids at your school. We, as the adults, are to blame. We’ve thrust you into this cruel lifestyle, where greed and power reign over all. It’s no wonder you sometimes do things that are corrupt.”

“Aunt Emily.” I beg out her name, hoping she understands my worry in her belief in me.

“No, it’s okay, Breaker, because deep down I know who you are. You’re the boy who stands up for those who can’t stand up for themselves. You’re protective to a fault to those who have earned that special kind of loyalty, and those that haven’t, well, they deserve their fate.”

“Like my father?” I inquire.

“If it’s his time to pay, then yes.” She shrugs, nonchalantly. She’s never been a fan of my father. She once told me she’d warned my mother of the type of man she had decided to marry. Unfortunately, sometimes the ones that love us most see things we aren’t willing to see ourselves. For my mother, it’s too late.

“When’s the meeting with the girls and him?” My palms start to sweat, and tension laces up and down my arms. The very thought of that man sitting across from them, rips at places inside of me.

“Two days.” Her mouth drops open like she wants to say something else, then her shoulders slump in defeat. “I couldn’t stop it from happening. I tried.”

“The courts are playing in his favor.”

“Technically, he has every right to see them. In the court’s eyes, he has full legal rights to them, Breaker. I have them because he gave them up.”

“That has to be worth something.” My anger grows, and unable to sit still, I jump down from the counter and pace in front of the large window facing the rear of the property. “Right? He can’t bail on them and suddenly decide to reinsert himself into their lives as if nothing happened. He can’t, can he?”

“Breaker, when it comes to families, the legal system is difficult.”

“But they’re yours. She would have wanted them with you where she knew they are safest!” I yell. The tightness in my chest aches harshly. I clutch at the pain, trying to regulate my breathing, but there’s no hope.

“Take a deep breath, Breaker. It’s going to be okay.”

“What if he wants to take them?”

“My guess is it has nothing to do with them, and everything to do with you.” She clenches her teeth tight before explaining. “He knows you would never let them see him alone.”

He’d be