Page 12 of Beautifully Reckless

Shit. Will running hurt my baby?

I don’t even know. I barely know anything about pregnancy, let alone childbirth. The only thing I do know is I want to keep my baby safe.

As we near the top floor, I shift away from Jared’s hold and lean against the handrail.

He frowns down at me, his lips parting like he’s about to ask if I’m alright.

I shake my head and wave him off before he gets the chance.

While the lift ascends the last few floors, I finally get a proper look at my childhood best friend and his girlfriend.

It’s only been a couple of months since I last saw them. It was at the worst graduation ceremony of all time, thanks to the pandemic restrictions limiting everything. But that was the last time I saw them.

So why do they look so different in only a few months?

Then again, I guess the same could be said for me.

Jared’s blond hair is messier than usual, but that could just be from tonight’s chaos. His blue eyes, though… they look harder. Like he’s had to toughen up fast. Like he’s carrying something heavy.

And I suppose he is.

He knows loss.

He knows what it’s like to be at the receiving end of a fist.

He knows violence.

But there’s more. So much more.

The last eighteen months have changed us all.

Dee, on the other hand, looks anything but stressed. Her mousy brown hair is long, her huge brown eyes relaxed. She’s still short, and still has a smattering of freckles across her nose that makes her look younger than her eighteen years.

Despite her innocent looks, she held a knife to that man’s throat tonight. A huge knife.

She also held a gun. And she didn’t even flinch when the bullets rained down on us.

It’s almost haunting how calm she is after everything that just happened.

Who are these people?

The ding of the lift arriving on the top floor has me dragging my gaze to the doors as they part, and I peek out to find a small passage with a stairwell leading up to another door.

Jared gestures for me to step out, and as much as I want to hesitate, I force my feet to move as Dee follows before rounding me and making her way up the stairs first.

I have no clue where we are, but I follow anyway, because I’m with my friends and they wouldn’t harm me… right?

As I trudge up the stairs, Jared’s presence looms behind me, close enough that I can feel the warmth of his body at my back.

Nerves coil around in my chest, squeezing tighter with every step. The unknown waits beyond that door, and for the second time tonight, my grip tightens on the strap of my backpack like it’s a lifeline, as my pulse hammers in my neck.

Pressing her hands to the door, Dee pushes it open revealing the night sky, and a warmly lit rooftop alfresco area.

The second I step out onto the rooftop, the cool night fans over me in a refreshing relief after the suffocating tension in the passage.

Jared and Dee move ahead, Dee gesturing for me to follow, and as we move, I take in the space around me.

A rooftop garden stretches out, with hidden nooks partitioned by bamboo walls and each retreat housing cocoon-shaped loveseats.

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