Free RECKLESS — Bad Boy Criminal Romance by Anna Aletto

inaudibly.
                  The young man lifts her by the arm and she almost falls forward.
                  “What’s wrong?” the Dad asks.
                  Angela sits back on the bench and stares at her feet.  “Nothing.”
                  The Mom and Dad look at each other.
                  “Why don’t the two of you go out and eat?” the Mom suggests to the Dad and young man.  “I’ll stay with her and you can bring us back something.”
                  The young man sighs.  He and the Dad get in a Chevy Suburban and drive out of the lot.
                  The Mom takes Angela by the arm and helps her stand.  Carefully she guides her into the elevator and up to their room.
                  My cigarette perched on my lip, I walk down the street.
     
    The next morning at ten-thirty I walk down the beach and up the boardwalk of Ocean Breeze West.  Alongside the building is a fenced-in swimming pool for condo residents.  I’m wearing board shorts, a black T-shirt and Wayfarers.  I recline on a long white beach chair and light a cigarette.
    At the pool is a family consisting of a thirty-something father and mother, their five year-old son, and the boy’s sixty-something grandmother.  The grandmother and the boy swim and play together in the shallow end.  The father and mother sit nearby in beach chairs, fully-dressed.
    Away from them by the deep end is the teenage girl Angela from the previous night.  She is sprawled back on a beach chair wearing sunglasses with large round white frames, a blue bikini, and blue sandals with a print of red lollipops on them.  Her head is cocked downward toward her chest.
    “We’re going down the street to a few stores,” the mother of the young boy says to the grandmother.  “I’ll leave you the key.”  She drops their condo key into a large cloth handle bag beside a chair by the shallow end where the grandmother’s purse also sits.
    The grandmother and boy play some more.  Almost finished with my cigarette I contemplate leaving.  Angela is motionless except for the rhythmic up and down of her chest.
    “I need to go to the bathroom,” the boy tells the grandmother.  They both step out of the pool.  The grandmother pulls a towel out of the handle bag and dries herself and the boy off.  She drops the towel on top of the bag.  She picks up her purse and escorts the boy to a restroom inside a small lobby.
    I toss my cigarette and walk over to the handle bag.  I shuffle through a couple towels, several bottles of sun tan lotion, and a pair of goggles.  At the bottom is a key with the number 302 carved into it.  I take the key, return the rest of the items, and walk to the elevator.  I push the ‘up’ button and wait.
    Suddenly someone grabs me by the arm.
    I flip around.
    “What are you doing?” Angela asks.
    I take a breath.  “You’re not with them, are you?”
    “No.”
    I stare at her.
    “I want to go with you.”
    “Fine,” I concede.
                  In condo 302 we quickly search all the rooms.  We sort through the suitcases, the dresser drawers, in the closets, under the beds, and anyplace where we think something of value could be hidden.  Afterward we close the front door and relock it and I drop the key into a trash can by the elevator.
                  “What condo are you in?” Angela asks.
                  “None.  I’m staying down the street.”
                  Together we walk to the Sand Dunes Motel.  We set everything on my bed: cash, a box of jewelry, and one of the mother’s belts.
                  “I love this,” Angela says and picks up the belt.  “It’s so cute.”
                  “You can have it,” I say.  “You should probably go ahead and leave now.”
                  “This stuff isn’t yours,” she