Like I'm Supposed To

(continued from this post)

“What are you doing here?”

“I need to know something,” Bob said. “Just one thing.”

Carolyn searched his gaze. “Robbie, I can’t --”

“Please.” He caught her by the shoulders and leaned down, so close their foreheads were almost touching. “I need to know. I’ve needed to know since I watched you walk away. Do you love me?”

Carolyn reached up slowly and curled a hand around the nape of his neck, gazing into his eyes. A small sound caught in her throat, like a sob, and she closed her eyes. Then she looked at him again. “Yes. Yes, I love you.”

He covered her mouth with his.

She clung to him, fingers tight against his skin, and he held her. She loved him. All this time, she’d loved him. He couldn’t believe she was real,in his arms. Five years of missing her, of hating her and wanting her, and it all came down to never wanting to let her go.

He pulled back and buried his face in her neck, breathless. “I love you. Tell me you love me,” he whispered against her skin.

She took a deep, shuddering breath. “I love you.” Then she tugged on his shirt. “Robbie, we have to go, we have to get out of here. It’s not safe.”

“But you love me, right?” He pulled back and looked into her eyes. He had to make sure.

She was trembling in his arms. “I do love you. More than my own life. Now come on.” She tugged on him again, and he saw that the emotion in her eyes was more fear than love. “We can’t stay here. Please.”

“Why?”

“They’re coming to take you, and I - I can’t kill you.”

Ice crept through Bob’s veins. “Kill me?”

“Like I’m supposed to.”

(298 words)