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

that’s not it.” He taps his chin with his finger. “Oh, I know. It wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with the fact that you had it written into the contract with her father, that when your father wrote over his company to Mr. Chambers, it was under the impression that his daughter would be the prize?”

“Is this true?” Palmer asks.

“Yeah, I found it when we were at my dad’s.” My eyes are glued to Breaker and Tripp. Everything is finally coming to a head.

“That whore is supposed to be mine!” Tripp screams, his face growing red with his anger. The possessive way he stares at me has me on edge, making me fidget in place.

“She was never going to be yours. No matter what that contract said,” Breaker says.

“She’s slipping!” Byron hollers, reminding us about Madison.

“You have a choice to make. Our family’s business spread all over the news, or Byron drops her. Public humiliation,”—Breaker holds out his hands, mimicking a scale—“or the blood of your sister.”

“You wouldn’t!” Tripp says.

“How much is this little bit of information worth to you?” Breaker grabs the USB drive from Dixon and waves it in Tripp’s face, goading him. “I mean, she may only break both her legs, if she falls just right.”

Tripp paces between his minions and Breaker, his hands clasped on top of his head.

“Doesn’t feel good, does it?” I yell.

“You could stop this.” Tripp spins on his heel, and he’s on me in a second.

I hold up my hand to stop the boys from pouncing on him. “It doesn’t feel good not to be the one in control. You thought you had it, but you never did.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“You thought it would be easy to charm your way into my bedroom. You found me at my most vulnerable. My guess is you staying with my family over Christmas vacation wasn’t a fluke. It was part of the plan.” Fear hardens on his face, and I wish I could snap a photo. “I’d just been through hell, so you knew it would be a lay-up. The crazy thing is I understand the appeal”—I ghost my hand over his front— “of all of this. You’re charming. Gorgeous, even. If it wasn’t for that damn personality, though. Make your fucking choice, Tripp. I’m ready to go home.”

“Fuck!” Tripp screams.

“She’s getting heavy!” Byron yells.

“Tripp, please!” Madison shrieks. “Don’t let them do this.”

“Tripp, you can’t. Whatever is on that, that’s your sister up there,” Richards argues, attempting to get past Marek and Dixon, but Tripp grabs him.

Well, at least one of them cares about this poor girl.

“I’m sorry, Madi,” Tripp says.

“NOOOO!” Madison screams.

“Holy shit!” Patrick whispers. “You guys are fucking lunatics.”

“And there she goes.” Byron lifts his empty hands in the air.

A loud thud jars each of us. Instead of a scream of agonizing pain, silence takes over.

Tripp rushes past Breaker, but Breaker knocks his feet out from under him.

“That’s my fucking sister. At least let me check on her.”

“It’s over, Tripp. You made your choice.” Breaker flicks the USB drive into Tripp’s chest. “I hope it was worth it.”

“She’s not moving,” Byron announces, shrugging as he walks down the stadium steps, looking every part of the monster.

Police sirens erupt in the distance. Dixon and Marek share a look, a certain kind of confidence in their sly grins. Breaker’s face hasn’t broken. He has blood thirst in his eyes.

“What are we going to do?” Reagan whispers over my shoulder.

“Nothing.” Palmer grabs my hand and squeezes it.

“What do you mean nothing?” Her anxious tone tells me she’s unsure of what part she’s playing here.

“What I mean is it’s time to start trusting them,” I answer. “They have a plan.”

“You better get out of here,” Breaker says calmly to Tripp. “They’re getting closer.” He shoos him towards the opposite side of the stadium.

Tripp and company leave. The rest of us are frozen in place for a few seconds. As if something signals us, we sprint in the same direction.

“What the fuck did you do, Byron? I said not to hurt her!” Palmer shouts.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” Reagan whisper-yells.

We round the corner and stop in our tracks. Madison is leaning against the wall, a wild fucking grin on her face. I run past everyone and wrap my arms around her, running my hands over her back.

“You’re okay,” I say, unsure if what I’m seeing is true. When I ease away, she looks surprised at my affection. “How are you okay?”

“A duffle bag full of clothes and bricks sounds awfully like a body hitting the hard grass,” she explains, moving next to Byron. He winks at her.

“What the fuck!” Marek says. His laugh says a lot more than his words, though. He’s amused and thrilled with the plan we’re seeing played out.

“Nice touch, by the way,” Madison says to Byron.

“How’d you get down?” Palmer asks.

“I’ve been doing gymnastics since I was three.” Madison points at the metal bar on the rear of the stadium. “Byron dropped me, but I caught myself.”

“That’s a lot of trust to put into someone you don’t know,” I say, in awe of their plan.

“Sometimes you have to. There’s no other option,” Madison says, bumping her shoulder into Byron.

“So, he obviously told you the plan before dragging you up there,” I point out.

“We all knew, except you, Palmer, Reagan, and Marek.”

“Not fucking cool by the way,” Marek grimaces.

“We knew you’d tell Palmer without even thinking,” Breaker says.

“I’m going to hold off on yelling at you for not telling me,” I say to Breaker.

The sirens are almost on top of us.

“Shit! The police!” I say, grabbing Breaker’s hand and tugging him to the corridor. Everyone follows tight behind us.

We reach the parking lot at the same time two police cars swerve to a stop. My heart starts to race. Hollow Hill security must have heard us yelling.

The door flings open, and none other than Officer Franklin gets out of the car.

“Long time, no see,” he says. “Not going to