Glass Heart Hero: A Dark High School Romance by Lindsey Iler (read with me .TXT) 📗

“Are you sure? You can stay the night if you want.” He grabs my hands, massaging them with his thumbs, while swinging them lightly.

“I should be getting back. Campus security is going to start catching on to me sneaking in at the wee hours of the morning.” I smile, hoping he’ll buy it. “But we’ll talk tomorrow, okay?”

I head for the door, but Tripp brings me tight against his chest. “Are we okay? Because it doesn’t feel like we are.”

“Don’t worry so much.” I cup his face, give him a quick kiss again, then grab my bag off the floor at the foot of his bed and leave.

In the parking lot, my pink Mini Cooper sticks out like a sore thumb in a sea of black SUVs and sports cars. It’s like no one on this campus believes in color.

I hate driving, and I’m reminded of that when it starts to rain. Winters are a bitch here. We never know what we are going to get. Lucky for me, today has been warm, so I don’t have to worry about sliding over an icy road.

The night watch stops me at the gate, asking for my identification. He hands it over, offering me a good night as I drive away. Students have a sticker on their window, but since the “incident,” security is working overtime. While I appreciate it beyond belief, I miss the days where we could come and go as we please with no one being none the wiser.

At the next intersection, I come to a dead stop in the middle of the road. Five, ten minutes pass as I look from my left to my right, trying to decide my next move. I grab my phone and open my music app, then choose playlist and click shuffle. This song will tell me what to do.

“Hurricane” by Fleurie pops up on the screen. With my eyes closed, I listen to the lyrics. The melody is haunting, digging deep into my bones as the story unfolds. The sound of the storm mixed with this song shoots a shiver right up my spine, and I know what I need to do.

I spin the wheel harshly to the right and head up the hill, realizing I may regret this, while hoping later I’ll look on the choice with understanding and grace. The windshield wipers work overtime as the rain beats down on the glass like heavy drums.

After I park, I close my eyes again, trying to calm my nerves. When they open, at the end of the hood is Breaker. His clothes are drenched. His hair falls in his face, covering the eyes I need to see. He leans forward, his hands on my hood, staring at me.

I turn the car off, toss the keys in the passenger seat, and kill the headlights, casting Breaker in darkness.

What am I doing here?

Breaker raises his hands, then slams them down, startling me. I open my door, and with no remorse, I run at him. He catches me in his arms, my legs wrapping tight around his waist. The cold deluge slams against us.

“What are you doing here?” Breaker asks.

“Following the hurricane,” I answer, grabbing his face and pressing our lips together in a kiss. It’s slow to start, but like a fire, it builds quick until it’s uncontrollable, proving a kiss with Tripp will never compare and coming here, following my heart will never be a wrong move.

Breaker walks to the house, and our kiss continues through him bending down and opening the door.

“Oh,” Palmer hisses from somewhere inside.

Breaker rushes to his room and kicks the door shut, ignoring that we’ve been seen. I’m lowered to the floor, our bodies heating each other. There’s no end in sight for the grin on my face as we take each other in. The eager look on his face slowly fades as I stare over his shoulder. A perfectly folded piece of paper lies on his nightstand. He follows my eye-line, realization forming in the corner of his eyes.

“You’re curious, aren’t you?” Breaker goads.

“Tripp planned on using it against you, and if it in any way involves me, I deserve to know how far this gauntlet will go.”

“It has nothing to do with you,” he explains, crossing the room, making me miss his presence near me. When he returns, he fiddles with it, twisting it between his fingers.

“Then what is it?”

“A secret I prefer to keep, Delaney.”

“Do you trust me?” I ask, knowing this is an unfair question.

“Do you ride his dick every chance you get?” He snarls. “See how the question isn’t necessary, but we’re both curious of the answers.”

“Breaker,” I say sternly.

“If you want to know what it is, go ahead and take a peek. I don’t keep secrets from you. If you want to know every dark piece of my past, it’s yours to consume. I warned you though.” He shakes the paper that holds his secret.

Do I take it? He said it’s a secret he’d like to keep. It’s unfair to demand to read it. If he’d wanted me to know, he would have divulged the information freely without conditions.

“Second-guessing it now, baby girl?” He wiggles it between us. “Go ahead. I’m giving you permission.”

My fingers take the paper and twist it as he had, flipping it from one hand to the other. Prolonging the inevitable, I slowly peel the folds back until I see printed words across the entire paper.

“What is this?” I glance between Breaker and the document that looks like an intake form for a hospital.

“It was freshman year.” Breaker bites the inside of his cheek, debate rolling through his eyes as if he’s frantically trying to form words. I hate to see him struggling.

“What happened?” I ask, almost too afraid to know the answer, but desperate to understand the boy who’s struggling.

“The records have been scrubbed clean. I don’t know how he even got ahold of these.”

“Why were they scrubbed?”

“Money talks louder than the law.