Glass Heart Broken: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Glass Heart Academy Book 2)

by Lindsey Iler

  “She has to be okay. I just got her back, Marek. I can’t lose her again,” I plead, wrapping my arms around his waist. The beat of his heart plays like a song in my ear.

  “She’s going to be okay,” Marek promises. To comfort me, he runs his hands up and down my spine, subduing me into a puddle of tears and frustration.

  ******

  I wake up with a startle. I clutch at my chest, unsure if I’m having a panic attack or last night was a bad dream.

  Next to me, Marek sleeps soundly. As I watch him for a few minutes, his eyebrows scrunch up in this cute way I’ve never seen when he’s awake. He appears so kind and gentle when he’s asleep. I run my thumb over his forehead, loving the feel of him under my finger.

  “Hey, baby,” he says with his eyes still shut. “Did you get much sleep?”

  “Sort of, what about you?” At my question, his arms wrap around my stomach, bringing me down to the mattress to spoon me. His hand grips mine like a lifeline.

  “I could get used to sleeping with your ass grinding into my cock.” His smile can be heard through his voice. When I glance behind me, all his teeth can be seen. “But for real, you’re like my own personal sleeping pill.”

  At the mention of sleeping pills, Marek and I spring from the bed, coming to the same realization.

  Reed.

  We rush down the hallway to an empty guest room. The bed isn’t made, so she clearly slept there. On a rampage, we shuffle down the staircase into the kitchen. There are no signs of anyone being awake.

  “Breaker!” Marek yells.

  Breaker comes out of his bedroom, sleep in his eyes, and his hair a wild mess. “I’m trying to sleep.”

  “Have you seen Reed?” I ask. He searches my face and must see my worry because his begins to match mine.

  “No, why, what’s going on?” He looks at Marek.

  “Reed!” I shout, but there’s no answer.

  A quick sweep of the house proves no one is here except us. As I pass Dixon’s room, Reagan sticks her head out.

  I haven’t seen her much since we demanded she stay here. She’s been quiet, unwilling to talk to anyone except Dixon, and even then, I don’t think she’s told him much.

  “Everything okay?” she asks.

  “You haven’t seen my sister, have you?” At my question, she retreats just enough to have me question it.

  “Reagan, do you know Reed, personally?” I cross my arms over my chest, observing her face, hoping to catch the lie.

  “I’ve only crossed paths with her a handful of times,” Reagan admits.

  “Oh, yeah?” My eyes are unmoved. “Where at?” Reagan’s eyes dart behind me. I follow them and see Marek and his own uncertainty. “What are you two keeping secret?”

  “You can tell her,” Reagan says as Dixon pokes his head out.

  “Everything good?” he asks.

  “Yeah, I’m just going to go try to get a little more sleep.” Reagan disappears from sight.

  Dixon follows her into the room, shutting the door behind them.

  When I turn, Marek’s already preparing to make excuses for keeping secrets from me. Before he can open his mouth, I stop him.

  “Spill it!” I say, stomping past him to the living room.

  Breaker and Marek sit across from me. I lean forward, staring Marek down.

  “Reagan is one of Declan’s victims. She started dating an older guy, who I’m assuming is Henry, and he started to sell her.” He shakes his head. “He kicked her around a bit. She also told me Dillon is the leader of this chapter. He’ll pass the torch at some point, but for now, he’s after Palmer.”

  “How do you know he’s after me?”

  “They offered Reagan her freedom to help them trap you.”

  “And she didn’t do it,” I state, clenching my eyelids tight. I open them to see Marek moving towards me. “She knows my sister through Declan. Jesus Christ. How twisted is this web?”

  “You don’t think Reed was . . .” Breaker’s face scrunches up, not believing his own words. “No, that wouldn’t happen right under our noses.”

  “What?” I ask, angrily.

  “She wouldn’t have been kidnapped under this roof. Dixon has the place rigged. The alarm would have gone off.”

  “You should see this!” Dixon yells.

  The three of us walk into Dixon’s room. Reagan is in his bed, her eyes shut. I want to make a comment, but I keep quiet.

  “I checked out the cameras to see if she did anything before she left. Wait until you see this.” Dixon pushes a button on his screen and the feed comes to life.

  There’s Reed dragging her feet through the house. Her eyes are beady under the night vision and she appears possessed, searching anything she can get her hands on. The cameras shift with every room she enters. The timestamp says four-thirty-six this morning when she snuck into Marek’s bedroom. She walks far enough inside, but not too far.

  The oddest part of watching her watch us sleep, is how long she does it. Dixon pushes the fast forward button until the time stamp says five-forty-five.

  “She watches us sleeping for over an hour? But why?” I beg the question.

  Marek, Breaker, and Dixon stay quiet.

  “She’s tweaking.” Reagan’s voice startles us. Breaker and Marek move to the side to show me Reagan sitting up in the bed. “See the way her hand moves the way it is. She’s contemplating a decision, and she’s stopping herself by moving her hands like that.”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I’ve been fed the same lethal cocktail. I know how she feels. My guess is she’s trying to decide which one of you to kill. If she kills you, Marek, she’ll get to watch Palmer mourn your death, but if she kills you, Palmer, she’ll have the privilege of eliminating the one thing she can’t live up to.”

  “That’s dark, baby girl.” Dixon grins, watching the computer.

  On the screen, Marek rolls over, startling Reed out of the room.

  “That little tussle may have saved both of your lives,” Reagan states.

  “How do you know she’d want to kill us?” I ask.

  “Because when you’re given those drugs, it’s either kill someone or kill yourself. Most of us are selfish by nature. Kill or be killed.” Reagan shrugs, dropping to the mattress and closing her eyes. “Now, can you three leave?”

  Dixon shrugs and stands. Wanting to respect Reagan’s needs, he pushes us out, shutting the door in our face.

  A few minutes later, Marek is pouring me a bowl of cereal, topping it off with a healthy serving of milk.

  “So clearly, she wasn’t kidnapped,” Breaker says over the kitchen island. “Anyone else feel like we’re living in the Twilight Zone? Nothing seems as it is, and nothing is as it seems?”

  Marek and I stare at each other. He pushes the spoon across the marble, silently telling me to eat. As I take the first bite, he slides his hand over mine, holding it the entire time I shovel the sugary flakes into my mouth.

  “If you talk to your best friend, tell her to call a guy back.” He grabs something from the fruit bowl. “She’s starting to give me a complex, and I don’t like her being on campus by herself.” Breaker leaves the room, tossing an apple in the air.

  “You okay?” Marek whispers once we are alone.

  “Not even a little bit.” I drop the spoon into the bowl, pushing it away.

  Marek takes the spoon out and holds the bowl to his lips, drinking the sweet milk. His features soften when he drops the bowl from his mouth. “Yeah, me neither.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Palmer

  Marek’s been behaving strange, lurking around the house at strange hours of the day and whispering with Breaker and Dixon. No one has seen Byron in weeks. Ever since the fallout, there’s been a substitute in his classroom. Reagan leaves the house to go to class and then scurries into Dixon’s room the moment she returns. He keeps telling me to give her time, that when she’s ready, she’ll talk to me.

  What I want to
do is thank her for putting herself in front of me, for shielding me when I didn’t know I needed it.

  It seems as if everyone who comes through the doors is walking on eggshells. A big part of it centers around Reed’s disappearance. No one wants to admit it. Saying it out loud would give our worry truth. Like final nails in my sister’s coffin, she’ll forever be trapped in a place where her safety is uncertain to us.

  Instead of worrying about it, I direct my attention to my schoolwork. College acceptance letters should be coming in soon. If my plans play out the way I hope, I’ll be attending Hollow Crest University. I don’t have a single clue as to what I want to study, but college has always been in the cards for me. It will be a new start, to leave these brick walls in my rearview mirror.

  “You’re deep in thought,” Breaker says, walking into the living room. “What’s got your forehead pinched so tight?” His finger grazes the spot between my eyes as he sits down.

  “Do you feel the energy in the house?” I ask him, plunking my feet on the coffee table.

  “You know I’m not into that hippy shit.” He chuckles, resting his hands behind his head and settling into the couch beside me.

  “It’s just that I feel something happening. I don’t know what it is.” My eyes squint as I try my hardest to come up with an explanation that makes a little bit of sense.

  “Everything good with you and Marek?” He shoves his arm into mine, trying to lighten the mood, but it doesn’t work.

  “I don’t know. He’s been off lately.” Frustrated with my current situation, I sigh. “Breaker, you don’t think he’s upset over Reed, do you?”

  He sits up abruptly and glares at me over his shoulder. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “He sneaks out in the middle of the night. He’s been spending some serious time at the gym. Not to mention, the other day, he told me he was going to work out, and he ended up at some strange house.”

  “You followed him?” He scoffs, trying to stop his laugh, but it’s no use. I hear how ridiculous he thinks I am.

  “Not my proudest moment, but it’s like I’m living in this house, a trapped princess, and I’m starting to be afraid it’s not Prince Charming next to me.” There it is. The cold, hard truth.

  Marek’s never been the knight in shining armor type, and if I’m being completely transparent with myself, I don’t want him to be. My soul reaches out for his bared teeth and grizzly disposition. There’s nothing about him I would change, except maybe his willingness to keep secrets.

  “You’re here because it’s the safest place for you, Palmer.”

  “It’s starting not to feel so safe.” Nowhere feels safe anymore.

  “Do you honestly believe that?” Breaker’s playful eyebrow perks up. “Because I don’t think you do.”

  “My sanity is being tested, and I don’t know what to trust anymore.”

  “Trust your gut.” He shrugs. “It’s always right.”

  He’s right about one thing. My gut is typically right, and currently, it’s telling me to get the hell out of here to clear my mind.

  “Can you drive me to campus?” I stand and plaster on a smile that screams I’m okay, I swear when I feel anything but. “I just need to recharge, and I can’t do it here.”

  “Sure, but Marek won’t like this.”

  He’s right. Marek will hate to find his bed empty, whenever he decides to crawl up the hill.

  “Marek doesn’t need to know. It can be our secret.” I offer my hand to Breaker and tow him to his feet. “Just for a short time, okay, and then I’ll trek my ass up the hill.”

  Breaker’s smile is frozen straight and screams with apprehension. He doesn’t like this idea, but I see in his eyes, he won’t deny me something I’m in desperate need of. Right now, all I want to do is lie in my bed, in my own space, and feel a fraction of normalcy.

  Twenty minutes later, Breaker is walking me to my dorm room. His eyes flash to Delaney’s door. Ever since she returned from visiting her parents, she’s been quiet. We offered to let her stay at the house, but she refused, demanding she needed her space. She won’t say it, but I think the Declan event is affecting her more than she wants to admit. There’s no world where a young girl would be able to walk away from that situation and not be changed in a monumental way.

  “She’s around and safe,” I state, tipping my chin towards Delaney’s door.

  “I didn’t ask.” Breaker widens his eyes just enough to try to sell his lies.

  “You didn’t have to.” I nudge him with my elbow.

  “I’m used to wanting to help women who don’t want help,” he states. A dark history takes physical form in his eyes, casting his brightness with shadows. “It’s literally the story of my life, Palmer.”

  “Well, don’t give up on her. When she’s ready, she’s going to need you, whether either of you want to believe it or not.” I unlock my door.

  Before I can put a foot over the threshold, Breaker pushes past me and enters the space. “I’m just going to check things out.”

  “Living in fear is getting a little old, if you ask me,” I say.

  He laughs and looks at me skeptically. “Well, until we crack this CW mystery series we’re currently living, I suggest you get used to it.” He checks under my bed last, which makes me shake my head.

  “Everything look good, no monsters under there, right?” I walk in and drop my bags on the table.

  With a deep breath, I take in my space.

  “You can go now, Breaker. I promise, I’m okay.” I shove him towards the door.

  “If anything comes up, and I mean anything, you call me.” He taps the end of my nose. “Immediately call me, Palmer.”

  “I’ll be home tonight,” I promise.

  The way Breaker’s eyes widen, I suspect he caught my little home slip-up.

  Breaker tosses the keys to me. “Dixon’s going to come pick me up.”

  I shake them in the air. “Thank you for this.”

  “If Marek asks, I’m going to tell him you carjacked me, just so our stories are straight,” he rattles on as I push him into the hallway. Without a second thought, I shut the door on him. “Don’t open this for anyone, and there’s a can of mace and a switchblade in your purse.”

  “Jesus, Breaker.” I laugh, shaking my head at his overprotective brother skit. “I think I’m going to be okay here for a couple hours.”

  “No one has ever uttered the words I wish I didn’t over-prepare like I did when danger strikes.”

  “You’re stressing me out more than I was up at the house.” I turn the lock, ensuring he can’t get in.

  “I have a key, so nice try.” His deep, pleased laughter slowly fades.

  Maybe that means he’s finally decided to give me the space I’m desperate for. On my tiptoes, I peek out the peephole and find the hallway empty. I sigh, relieved to have some time with no eyes on me. No one is worrying about my mental state. No cautionary glances as if they’re waiting for me to break. In this room, I don’t have to pretend like I don’t feel the emotional shift between Marek and me.

  I grab my phone and send a text to my mom. It’s the sixth one since Reed has gone missing again. The first three went to my mom and the other two to my father. They haven’t responded to any of them, but a part of me will always stay hopeful when it comes to them.

  What is it with children and our desperate need to please and find comfort and acceptance in our toxic parents? It’s no wonder most of us at Glass Heart Academy are completely incapable of trusting another human being.

  After an hour of cleaning every inch of my room, I tuck the supplies under the sink. It’s still light outside and a light snow is falling, reminding me of the upcoming holiday. Christmas. Reed’s favorite.

  I grab my coat from the hook on the door and slip it on. I send a text to Delaney, telling her to meet me at the cafeteria. Three blinking bubbles pop up and quickly disappear. I send her another immediately, telling her I’m alone and to meet me. She’s g
rown so accustomed to my entourage following me around, she’s been avoiding me, I’m certain of it.

  I need my best friend is the last text I send as I open my door and lock it behind me. Mere seconds pass when my phone rings. Delaney’s goofy-ass smile pops up on the screen when I push accept.

  “How’d you ditch your watch dogs?” she asks.

  “With determination and a lot of promises.” I laugh, but it’s short-lived. Being reminded of my constant babysitters brings a wave of guilt for doing exactly what I’d told Breaker I wouldn’t do.

  “One I can only assume you’re breaking by leaving your dorm?” She shakes her head through a laugh. “I’m coming from the library with Damien tailing me.”

  “Want to ditch him?” I only say this out loud because I see her headphones poking out from under her blonde hair. He won’t be able to hear me.

  Since the boys rarely let me out of their sight these days, I insisted Damien’s full efforts be on keeping Delaney safe. If she knew it was my idea, she’d hand me my ass.

  “You know I do.” She grins. “How do you plan on doing that?”

  “A trained dog will run when called,” I say. “Now, hang up and meet me at the cafeteria in ten. He’ll be gone before you get there.”

  Once the screen goes black, I wait a few minutes, walking through campus while being careful of my surroundings. Old habits die hard, and one thing I’ve learned is that I need to always be on my toes, especially when I’m alone.

  I lean against the side of the building adjacent to the cafeteria, and immediately spot Damien several yards behind Delaney. I enter his number Marek programmed for emergencies.

  “Palmer, is everything okay?”

  The blatant panic in his voice doesn’t surprise me. I’ve never had to use his number. When Marek finds out what I’m doing, he’s going to be angry as hell. Will it be worth it? More than likely. A few minutes of normalcy with my best friend are what she and I are desperate for.

  “I . . . I need you . . . your help,” I whisper.

  “Palmer, where are you?” He searches the area around him, already on high alert.

  “I’m in my dorm. I’m really scared. Someone tried to get in.”