Glass Heart Savage: A Dark High School Bully Romance (Glass Heart Academy Book 1)

by Lindsey Iler

  Until her.

  Palmer changed everything. She changed me before I had a chance to stop her.

  “He took it too far this time,” I whisper, leaning back in the chair, fixed on Breaker’s reaction.

  “You think?” He gestures to Palmer’s lifeless body. “His intentions were in the right place. The delivery ended up being a bit fucked in the end.”

  “You think?” I scoff, angry and discouraged.

  We’re no saints. No one is looking at us with hero worship. We are the guys you call when you need something discreetly handled, and at our own discretion. Pain isn’t something we shy away from, and we certainly don’t buckle at our knees to anyone.

  But this? For the first time, I’m ashamed of us.

  “You’re in love with her.” Breaker breaks me away from the flood of emotions taking over at the memory of the last few months. Every game of cat and mouse between us. Orchestrating hatred with our classmates to alienate her. Treating her like she was nothing, when, without realizing it, she became everything without even trying.

  “I don’t know if I’m capable of loving anyone.” If there aren’t any truer words in the world, I’d be stunned.

  “But . . .” He knows me too well.

  “She consumes me,” I admit, watching her tiny chest rise and fall. “She has since we found her on the floor of Reed’s dorm, covered in her sister’s blood. Since that moment, I’ve wanted to wrap myself around her to keep her safe, and now, look what I’ve done.”

  “Good thing you were there to save her then, huh?” He stands, pats me on the shoulder, and leaves, nonchalant like the rest of them, because it isn’t theirs in the bed, broken and beaten.

  This is new to us, a foreign territory to navigate. We may be a unit, but at some point, we’ve started making our own individual decisions. The others be damned. Byron made his. I cemented mine the second I went to Palmer’s dorm after we’d humiliated her in front of an auditorium full of people.

  I lean my head back on the chair. A little bit of sleep will do me some good, I think. When she wakes up, I’ll be here.

  Allowing the darkness to take over isn’t easy though. I’m haunted by my own choices. Some demons don’t go quietly.

  “When it comes to her, I’ll always choose her. Even over all of them!” Byron shouts.

  I stand back, held in place by Breaker, watching the shiny blade lift and pierce into Palmer’s thigh. She struggles to stand, and I push forward, blocked by Breaker’s body. He holds me by the waist, and I fight to get to her. Her body wobbles, descending towards the edge. Byron is in reach of her, able to grab her.

  He stands, unmoved, watching her fall. Maybe he’s too stunned to actually do anything. Perhaps this has been his twisted plan all along. Breaker loosens his hold in time for me to rush across the rooftop. Palmer’s calves catch the side of the roof, and she stumbles, her body lost over the edge.

  Halfway dangling off the roof, I wrap my hand around her forearm, catching her before she falls from the two-story building. She dangles, lifeless, now a part of me, connected in a way we’ve never been before.

  Breaker mirrors me, helping me pull her up. We lay her down on the cold rooftop. I peel off my coat, covering her body, and apply pressure to stop the bleeding. She goes in and out of consciousness, pleading with me not to let her die.

  Breaker pulls out his phone, calling 911. Byron stands close to Dixon, their heads tucked in close, him reeling from what he’s done while his brother tries to talk him down.

  “I’ll handle this,” Byron explains through a sharp tone. The knife coated in Palmer’s blood is still in his hand.

  “You’ve done enough,” I bark. With my ear next to her mouth, I listen for a breath. They’re shallow, barely there. When I straighten, I glare at Byron. “If anything happens to her . . .”

  Something tightens around my hand, and I jerk, startled out of slumber. I push out of the chair, panicked to get closer to her. Her face contorts in disgust at the sight of me.

  “Don’t.” A tear sneaks out the side of her eye, slipping down her cheek. Her trembling hands ghost over my arms. I’ve destroyed her, broken what little faith she had in me.

  “You have questions,” I whisper, checking every inch of her face, closing my eyes, and opening them to make sure she’s real. She’s awake and alive in front of me.

  “Why?” She reaches for the pink cup on her bedside table. I hold it to her lips, helping her to take a sip. “Why did you all do what you did?”

  “It’s not that simple.” I set the cup down and rest on the side of the mattress. “There’s too much to tell you.”

  “Simplify it then.” She shifts a little bit away from me. Her reserve isn’t a surprise. She’s earned it, the fear she feels this close to me, under my watch.

  “Before Reed died or whatever, we were certain she knew something. We didn’t know what it was. She kept hinting at something, became skeptical of everything and everyone on campus. When we found you in her dorm, and the blood splattered everywhere, we knew it wasn’t an accident.” I swallow the lump in my throat, reliving the past year. “We isolated you for a reason. I wanted to reach out, to make you understand we had your back, but . . .”

  “Let me guess, Byron?” She shakes her head, a flood of memories taking her mind hostage.

  “Partially. He can’t be blamed for everything, Palmer. We all played our parts.”

  “Keep going.” She circles her finger, eager to know the truth that’s landed her in this bed with knife wounds and several other injuries.

  “We realized pretty quickly that whoever murdered Reed had access to our campus. Your sister was targeted right under our noses.”

  “Why, though? Who would target her?”

  “That’s where you came in.” I scrub my hand down my face. “We thought that maybe we could use you as a way to draw whoever it was out.”

  “I became your bait.” She shifts, attempting to find a comfortable position. When I try to help, she hits me with an icy stare. “Don’t touch me.” She braces herself, using every ounce of upper body strength to find a spot where she no longer winces with each move she makes.

  So, she believes what I’m saying, but that doesn’t matter. She knows what these hands are capable of, and all trust is lost.

  “Yes, and at first, we were all fine with it. We could live with whatever happened to you because we’d have answers. We’d finally know what happened to Reed.”

  “You pulled me in, then publicly pushed me away, knowing that whoever targeted my sister would think I’d be an easy next target. Whatever she knew, they had to know she’d tell you, but she never got the chance.”

  “And maybe, if she knew, then her sister, her heart, would also know.” I shrug. “For this past year, you thought you were invisible to us because that’s what we wanted you to think. I kept close, just in case.”

  “No one seemed to care about me. That is, until you started bringing me closer.”

  “Whoever hurt Reed wasn’t coming for you. You stayed untouched until the night of the football game. I should have known then. I shouldn’t have let you walk through campus alone. I saw you leave in the middle of the game. Whoever attacked you had to have been there as well.”

  “There’s a lot that can be said about should haves, but we can’t think like that. For instance, I should have pushed you away, seen through your show.” The heart monitor speeds up, a warning of Palmer’s heightened anxiety. “You should have stopped Byron before his psycho ass could have been unleashed on me.” The beep gets louder and faster.

  A nurse walks in, silencing Palmer’s argument, and then quiets the machine. She glares at me, instinctively knowing I’m the cause of Palmer’s stress.

  I hiss out a breath once the nurse leaves. “After the attack, I forced Dixon to look at the report at the police station, but there wasn’t one,” I divulge.

  “Well, security wasn’t much help. Told me I should expect a phone call from the detectiv
e from the police station, and I still haven’t heard anything, so I’m not that surprised.” She fidgets, and I offer her my hand. She stares at it, only to ignore my offer and scoots higher in the bed on her own. “Tonight, when one of you cornered me between the buildings—”

  “What? Wait, what are you talking about?” My spine stiffens. What is she talking about?

  “When you all rushed me out of the bonfire, I walked through campus. One of you cornered me between two of the buildings. Said something about being after more than my money, that something I had was more valuable.”

  A shiver runs up my spine. “Palmer, that wasn’t us.”

  She pulls the blanket to her chin, like it will protect her. “Then who was it, Marek? Because someone was after me. He stopped following me once I went into the woods. I assumed it was you guys because you showed up just a few minutes later.”

  “I have no idea.” Our expressions match. We’re both worried.

  “You four did all this because you think Reed’s disappearance isn’t a cut and dry, random act of violence? You think it was planned, that she somehow got herself mixed up into something?”

  “We did all of this for her, and yes, because she was our everything. I didn’t see you coming.” Damn, that’s painful to say out loud.

  “What about me?” Hurt creeps into her beautiful blue eyes. “What am I to you?”

  “It wasn’t supposed to go this far, to reach this point. I’m not here to make excuses for Byron, but when it comes to Reed—”

  “I’m blinded.” Byron walks into the room.

  Palmer visibly retreats into herself, and I stand, blocking the path between him and her. I catch her reaching for the nurses’ button and grab it before she can.

  “I’m not going to hurt her, Marek, but I would like to talk to her, if she’s willing to hear anything I’m needing to say.”

  “I’m not leaving her side.” I sit back down, shifting my chair closer to her.

  “I’m not asking you to, Marek.” He takes a small step, not to frighten Palmer.

  It doesn’t work. She looks moments away from screaming for help.

  “It’s up to you.” I cut my glance to her. “You don’t have to do this right now. Not yet. Not ever.”

  “What’s stopping me from calling the cops? Telling them everything?” She hisses through clenched teeth, leaning around me, staring into the eyes of her attacker.

  “You can call the cops. You can turn us all in.” I hand her the phone. “That’s your choice, but deep down, I don’t think you want to.”

  “And why the fuck wouldn’t I? He almost killed me.” She waves the phone between Byron and me.

  “Because whatever haunted Reed is still out there, and you know it’s not us. We did what we had to do. No excuses. Not bargaining with you, Palmer. It’s just how we work. Your sister understood that. We were wrong. You aren’t much different than her,” I explain.

  Palmer adjusts the bed until she’s more upright, everything about her set like stone. She glares at Byron as if I’ve given her permission to stand her ground. He’s smart enough to glance away, uncomfortable to be under her watch. He should be. He’s gone too far this time. Nothing he says can make this better or lessen the ache his actions have left behind.

  “You’re a monster,” Palmer says. “Everything about you is laced with hatred, and nothing you say can make that better. Don’t use the love you felt for my sister as an excuse for what you did to me. As far as I’m concerned, you died on top of that roof.”

  Byron’s head slowly nods as he listens and takes in her words. For the first time in our four-year friendship, our unbreakable bond is severed. We both know it.

  “I’m sorry,” Byron says, staring at his feet, too ashamed to face Palmer. “To both of you, I’m sorry.” He leaves the room.

  Hard, chest aching sobs break from Palmer’s body once we are alone. With my hand on her back, I try my hardest to comfort her, to prove I’m not a monster.

  But I am a monster. I did horrible things, and at times, I enjoyed it. What kind of piece of shit gets a thrill from scaring a girl he cares about?

  I stand from the chair I’ve taken over for the foreseeable future. I hover over her, and she flinches. Afraid I’ve lost her, I crouch down to mattress level.

  “Why? Why her?” A guttural cry shakes her words. “Why’d they have to take her?”

  She jumps when I place my hand on her chest, trying to calm her. Eventually, she settles. Her heart beats like a drum, telling a story of a broken girl who simply needs the basic thing she was given when she was born. Her sister. A connection to the world that is unconditional and unwavering. A sister’s love. This I understand too well.

  “I know, baby. I know,” I whisper. My chest splits open at her breakdown. Even the strong are weak for those they love. That’s something I’m coming to learn.

  She’s a broken girl, willing to let a broken boy try to fix the unfixable.

  She rolls over and tucks herself into a ball, giving me no choice but to drop my hand. She’s taken as much as she could handle, allowing me to be that something unwavering, if only for a few minutes.

  Unsure what to do, I linger where I am, watching her eyelids flutter as she lies helpless in the hospital bed.

  “You were playing a part. All of those things you said and did, it was to reach the end game?” She unfolds, needing to know more, to understand how we got to this point.

  “All my cruelty was me. Watching you melt into my body when I said and did those things only made me want to amp it up more.”

  “Why? Couldn’t you have just told me the truth from the beginning?” She rolls to her back, disbelief in her voice.

  Breaker walks into the room and leans against the wall across from the hospital bed, taking in the scene. His change of clothes tells me he’s been home. “It’s good to see you awake.”

  “What are you doing here?” she asks. Her defenses are up and alert.

  “I’m here on behalf of Dixon. He’s—” Breaker switches his glance from Palmer to me. “Right now, he’s a little fucked up. He’s destroyed the house.” Nothing else needs to be said. The boy is twisted up, and nothing seems to unwind him.

  “As he should be,” I suggest, beating Palmer to it.

  “That much I can agree with.” Breaker shrugs. “Delaney’s in the waiting room. They won’t let her back, her not being family and all. I promised her I’d let you know she was here. She doesn’t know what happened, but I figured you’d make that decision.” His head dips low, his mood contrite. The ramifications of our actions don’t end in this room.

  “How’d you manage to sneak past them, then?” Palmer asks, glancing at the door. “You didn’t kill my nurse, did you?”

  “Too public.” He shrugs playfully, winking at Palmer.

  I groan, irritated with his blasé attitude. “Come on, man. It’s not funny.”

  One thing I can say is Palmer is taking this all too well. Maybe she’s in shock or too drugged up on painkillers to realize how fucked this whole situation actually is. Come morning, we could be dealing with a completely lucid and aware Palmer. Our entire lives rest in her fragile hands.

  “This thing, you two”— Breaker waves his hand between us— “I always knew you had a fucked up little soul, Palmer Weston.” He starts for the door but stops near the foot of the bed. “Will you be coming home tonight, or are you planning on staying here? I’ll hang back if you need me to.”

  “That’s kind of up to her.” I gaze over, studying every feature I’ve taken for granted as she looks at Breaker.

  “Actually, I’d kind of like to be alone.” Her eyes dart straight to me and then back to Breaker. The corners of his mouth turn up because she’s kicking my ass to the curb.

  “Like I said before, don’t make it easy for him.” He grabs her foot, and I notice how she doesn’t retreat from his touch like she does mine. Damn.

  “I’ll get Delaney back here somehow.” I smile, knowingly.
There’s a hint of relief. “What? I know what my girl needs. Delaney and you don’t do alone.”

  “I’m not your girl, Marek.” Sorrow and anguish pass between us. “Maybe once I was, but not now, not after everything.”

  “I’ve allowed horrible things to happen to you. You won’t hear me ask for your forgiveness and grace because I don’t deserve an ounce of either of those things.” I fall to my knees and swallow the lump in my throat, afraid of losing everything. “You said Weston girls don’t break, and you’re right. Thank God for that.”

  Palmer’s blue eyes hold me captive. Under the cheap lighting, they appear dull. I know the truth, though. There is nothing dull about this girl.

  “If you need anything at all, Palmer, I don’t care what time it is, you call me. I’ll be here.” I stand and lean down to kiss her forehead. She zips her head to the side, protecting herself.

  “I made you promise not to hurt me before”— her thumb runs along her bottom lip— “and you broke that promise.”

  The cut on her throat is superficial, but it’s there for anyone to see. It’s proof of how savage I can be.

  “I’ll be back in the morning, and the next, and all of the ones that follow, until you can trust me again.”

  “Who said I ever trusted you?” She holds her chin high, prideful and stronger than she should be after the hell she’s passed through.

  “Then I guess I have a lot of work on my hands.” I rap my knuckles on the footboard before turning and leaving the room.

  Palmer isn’t looking for another promise. There is no point in giving her false words. She and I both know who I am now. I may hurt her again, but never like tonight. When it comes to love, lust, and all the shit that makes us do stupid things for another human being, pain is inevitable. But when someone is willing to pick up the pieces, to weather the fucking storm beside you, to forgive the unforgivable, you’ll know you found someone worthy of loving, someone who knows your soul better than you do yourself.

  I will spend however long it takes to convince this girl I’m that person for her.

  Breaker meets me at the elevator. “So, what now?”