Heartbreaker (Unbreakable #1)(31)

An incredibly steep metal mountain.

Sucking serious wind, I reached the fifth-floor landing. But before I opened the door, I heard a low creak then a louder clang from somewhere above. I glanced up, contemplating. Only five floors total. That had to be the roof.

I inhaled deeply, trying to calm my breaths. Then I grasped the handle and eased open the fifth-floor door. I leaned my head inside the hall. All was quiet. No hum of the elevator. No footsteps or voices.

I chewed on my lower lip, then stared upward again. I figured the odds were fifty-fifty. Darren either went to the roof, or a tenant was up there smoking a joint—or growing an entire marijuana garden. Hell, maybe on Tuesday nights, the building threw a rooftop barbeque.

Steeling my nerves, preparing myself for whatever unknown lay ahead, I pivoted on my heel and jogged the last flight up to the rooftop. I’d already gone rogue by leaving the truck. No point in wimping out now.

Cool air feathered over my face as I climbed the last few steps. The door stood ajar a few inches, propped open with a weathered red brick.

Muffled voices filtered through the crack as I pressed a palm to the cold metal door and pushed it open. The familiar creak sounded out again after I stepped through, but I gripped the edge of the door, preventing it from crashing into the brick.

I moved away from the door, creeping forward, drawn toward the voices. A dark figure came into view, beyond a cluster of vent stacks.

Darren. I knew his posture anywhere: wide stance, arms crossed, which broadened his shoulders and made normally large him seem even more imposing. His head tilted slightly, expression softening.

He inhaled a slow breath before letting it out. “Please, Lo. Get off the ledge.”

My heart shot into my throat. Ledge?

A few more steps, and I reached the vent stacks. Five feet in height, they no longer hid me from view. Still, I hovered in the warmer air beside them, trying not to intrude.

“No, D.” A female voice. “You don’t need to save me. You can’t. I just…needed you here.”

Another couple of steps to the side, and I’d be able to see who “Lo” was. Well, her shape mostly. Two industrial lights on either side of the stairwell door behind me cast the pair hovering near the building’s edge in hazy shadow. All I could make out was that she had tousled dark hair and wore a faded jeans jacket.

He opened his arms, reaching for her. “You’re scaring me. I hate it when you come here.”

“No!” She blasted an open palm toward Darren.

I froze, terrified of what she might do.

A broken sob tore free from her throat. “I…just needed to be here with her. And you.”

One more step brought me a little closer. Then another. Some internal need drove me slowly forward, as if I could help more than just Darren.

A rock crunched under my shoe.

Both of them jerked around to face me.

“I told you to wait in the truck,” he growled.

“Who’s that?” The girl asked, brows furrowed. She twisted further around to face me.

My focus was stuck on her precarious position, and how she now had one hip hung over the edge of her perch. I’d done that. I’d made her turn, possibly worsening the situation.

In the dim light, her features struck me as familiar, but I couldn’t place from where. I swallowed hard, already committed. “I’m Kiki.”

“Sounds like a pet’s name.”

I let out a short laugh, mostly from nervousness. Then I clasped my hands together in front of my chin, silently pleading with her, Darren—the universe at large—that my presence in this unpredictable standoff would only be a good thing.

Darren narrowed his eyes at me.

I shrugged. “You asked me to stay in the truck. I took your request under advisement, then declined.”

Lo snorted.

I dropped my hands to my hips. “And it is a pet name. Kiki is short for Katherine.”

Darren recrossed his arms, continuing to glare at me.

“I’m Logan.”

“And she was just about to come away from the ledge,” Darren grumbled.

“No. I wasn’t. Kiki was about to join me.”

I was?

Unbelievably, his expression hardened further. “No, she isn’t.”

The challenge in his booming voice pricked the daredevil side of me.

“Yes, she is.” I had no idea what made me say that, or why I stepped the rest of the way toward them. But I went with the crazy idea, heart pounding faster and faster as I approached the ledge on the other side of Logan.

When I glanced down at her, a flash of bright pink glimmered from amid darker locks of hair. Recognition hit. The girl with the guitar from his garage band.

Only back then, I’d thought they were close, romantically. Now, I didn’t get that feeling. Too much irritation hummed in the air around us and none of it had to do with me being there.

Darren simply stared at me, jaw dropping with an incredulous expression, while I lowered myself down with tremendous care.

Yeah…no way in hell I’m biting it off the edge of a building tonight.

Logan gave him a put-out look. One that said trust me.

When Darren still didn’t move, I tilted my head, giving him what I hoped was a reassuring look. “I’ve got this.” I mouthed. Then I nodded toward where I’d been standing, where I’d been able to hear their conversation more clearly.