The Beautifully Reckless

Chapter Thirty Two

Mila-Rose's POV

I wake up curled into Jonah's side. "Morning babygirl." He says, his voice slightly raspy. "Did I ever tell you how sexy your morning voice is?" I ask, rubbing an eye. He smiles. "No. But I wouldn't mind if you told me again." He says. I chuckle. "Your morning voice is extremely sexy." I say. "You are extremely sexy in the morning babygirl." He says. I kiss his cheek. "I love the sound of that nickname." I say. He pulls me into his side and kisses my neck. I bury my face in his shoulder. "Part of me knows I need to get up because lord knows what your friends are doing. The other part of me wants to just stay here forever." I say. "I wouldn't mind staying here forever either." He says. I smile and kiss his forehead. "I do love you and that offer very much but I am concerned about the state of my kitchen." I say. He nods and we get up. We brush our teeth in my bathroom and get dressed. I put on a rosy pink cropped tank, black ripped skinny jeans and black low top Vans. I French braid my hair and put on some mascara.

Jonah walks out of the bathroom in black jeans with rips on the knee, a yellow tee shirt and black Vans. "Did I ever tell you how good you look in yellow?" I ask. He chuckles. "No but I have a feeling you're about to." He says. "You look amazing in yellow." I say. He kisses my nose. "Did I ever tell you how much I love you?" He asks. I shake my head. "I can't. There aren't enough words to tell you how much I love you." He says. I smile and peck him on the lips. "I could say the same to you." I say. He grabs my hand and intertwines our fingers. "Ready to see what your house looks like?" He asks. "Not really but I need to." I say. He chuckles and we walk downtown hand in hand. We walk into my kitchen to find Zach, trying his hardest to be quiet but also make breakfast. I smile. "Zach, you are a true angel. But you don't need to do all this." I say. He turns around and his shirt is covered in all types of things. "I just wanted to try and make breakfast. After what we talked about yesterday, it made me realize how little I do for you." He says. "How little you do for me?" I ask. He nods.

"Jonah is always there for you. He knows what to do and when to do it. Daniel can give you help on you music. He knows more about that stuff than any of us. Corbyn has always pushed you mentally. You always say how he makes you think of things in a different perspective. Jack can make you laugh and you guys bicker like brother and sister. He's good at distracting you when you need it." He says. "Zach you do so much for me. You care for me when I feel like no one else cares. You love me no matter what. And you care. Which is more than enough. Now why don't we try and fix up breakfast?" I say. He nods. I walk him through some steps and he ends up making pretty decent pancakes and eggs. I make bacon and waffles. We set the table and Zach goes to get everyone for breakfast. "Everyone is on their way. They need to finish getting ready." Zach says, walking back in. I nod. "Thanks for the help Zach. You did great." I say. He smiles. "The pancakes were easier than I thought. And thank you for letting me help." He says. "You were the one who wanted to make breakfast in the first place." I shrug. He nods. "Zach come here." I say. He walks up to me and stands in front of me. "You are an amazing friend. You may not be able to do what the other guys do but you do what you do best. I know I can turn to you if I need to smile. You are one of my best friends and I love you. You don't need to try harder. You've been perfect since day one. Don't compare yourself with the others. You are Zachary Dean Herron and that's enough." I say. He smiles and I pull him into a hug. "Never doubt yourself." I mumble into his shoulder. "Only if you promise to stop doubting yourself. You make amazing music and your YouTube videos are great. And I know Jonah tells you this all the time but you're beautiful." He says.

I pull back and nod. "I'll try. I'm just so used to doubting myself and questioning if I'm good enough." I say. "You're Mila-Rose Ophelia Brinley Paul. You are more than enough." He says, nudging my arm. I smile. "Thanks Zach." I say. We sit at the table and wait for everyone. People slowly start filing in and soon we have a full table. We start passing around food and conversation fills the air. I start to laugh at something Jack said but I'm cut off by my doorbell. "Expecting someone?" Daniel asks. I shake my head and stand up. I make my way to the front door and open it. There's no one there. I step out and look around for anyone. I don't see anyone so I turn to go back inside. Before I go in, I notice my door is covered. There are pictures of me, from a toddler to now, all in black and white. They have the words 'I'm coming for you.' on them. I yank the pictures down and bring the back inside. "Who was it?" Corbyn asks. I hand him the pictures and he looks through them. Zach sensed something was wrong so he came over and pulled me into a side hug. Corbyn passes the pictures around the table and everyone voices their concern.

"Guys chill. Mills is spooked right now." Zach says. Everyone stops talking at once and looks at me. I'm leaning into Zach's side and my hands are shaking. Zach gently grabs my hands to stop them from shaking. I lightly smile at him. "So what are we going to do?" Mariana asks, setting the pictures down. "I'm staying with her." Jonah says. "We'll all stay with her." Jack says. Daniel and Corbyn nod along. "Someone has to be with her at all times. Unless you're in the bathroom." Daniel says. I nod. "Do you know anyone who would do this to you?" Rosa asks. "My mom has tons of people working for her. It could be a number of people." I say. "Don't worry Mills. We'll protect you." Corbyn says. "I don't doubt that for a second. I'm worried about protecting you guys." I say. "Protecting us?" Jack asks. "My mom and her minions are brutal. I couldn't live with myself if one of you got hurt." I say. "If we get hurt protecting you then we get hurt. You know you'd take a bullet for each of us. You'd do more if we asked. Let us do that for you." Zach says. The other guys nod. "Fine. If that's what you want." I say.

"So what happens now?" Mariana asks. "We carry on with life as usual. Don't let whoever did this know that it's bothering us. That will let them know we're vulnerable and as soon as they see us as vulnerable, they'll strike." I say. Zach rubs my hand. "We'll get through this." Jack says. I nod. "Let's finish breakfast and then we can talk about how we're gonna deal with this." Corbyn says. I nod and Zach and I sit back down. Although we try to finish breakfast, we don't. A nervous feeling hangs in the air and we can't do much besides push food around or nervously fidget. "I can't do this." I say. I stand up abruptly and walk out of the kitchen. I lock myself in my planetarium and step out on the balcony. I grip the railing and take a deep breath. Suddenly my phone rings. I answer it, not knowing what to expect. "Hello Mila."

"Hello Charles." I spit. He laughs. "How have you been?" He asks. "Just fucking dandy. Thanks for the pictures by the way. Say hi to my mom the next time you visit her." I say. "She loves to hear about you." He says. I roll my eyes. "It's not nice to roll your eyes dear." He says. I grip the railing a little tighter. "Are you watching me?" I ask. "Have been since your court day. Just decided to make my presence known now." He says. "Just don't hurt my friends. For the love of god. You can hurt me all you want. Hell you can kill me. But don't hurt them. I wouldn't be able to live knowing I was the cause of their pain." I say. "I'm only getting paid to hurt you anyways." He says. I sigh. "I'll see you soon Mila." He says. And then the phone call is over. I squeeze my eyes closed and take a couple deep breaths. I leave the planetarium and head back down to the kitchen. "I know who's doing this. He's been watching me since the court day and my mom's paying him to hurt me." I say. "You were gone for five minutes." Jack says. "Charles Smith. He's close with my mom. And he's watching me as we speak." I say. "We have to report him." Corbyn says. "We can but he won't be caught. He's sneaky in what he does. He won't be caught unless he wants to be." I say. "We can still report him. It won't hurt." Daniel says. I nod and let him call the police. As he's on the phone, I head up to my room and collapse on my bed. I pull the blankets over my body and shove my face into a pillow. I let the tears come. And I don't bother trying to stop them.

A/N: it's short and shitty. I know. Don't fight me.