If You Go Down, I Go Down With You

Safe

I woke up the next morning with James's arms still wrapped around me and my head buried in his chest. He was watching something on tv. He looked like he'd been awake for a while.

I pick my head up and look around the room, registering what I had woken up to. He grabs my chin and makes me look him in the eyes.

"Good morning." He says and plants a soft kiss on my lips. "Good morning." I whisper back. I curl myself back up into his chest, it's warm, comfortable. It feels like home.

"How'd you sleep?" He breaks the comfortable silence and pauses whatever he was watching. It was Season 2 of Tiger King. "Really good. It was the first good night sleep I got since..."

He kisses my head when he picks up on what I'm saying. "You remember what I told you yesterday?" He asks running his hands through my hair. This was so domestic and it felt odd, but nice.

"Yea. I'm gonna be okay." He nods. "Mhm. And even though they found the bodies, the can't trace the gun back to you. You will be okay. Even if the cops question you. Which they will because they're all your employees. Nothing we did points to you."

I nod and hold onto him tightened. I feel safe in his arms. And I hate it. But I love it. I feel warm in his arms. Like nothing can hurt me. "I could get used to this." He says. I swear he read my mind...and then my mind starts to wander to all the things that could go wrong.

"What if I fuck up James? What if I accidentally give myself away? I'll go to jail for life. And they'll connect it to you too. I don't want both of us going down for this. If something happens I'll tell them I did it. You weren't involved."

"You can't take all the blame." He says and sits up so we're both sitting in bed looking at one another. "I pulled the trigger. Five times."

"I threw all five bodies in the water." He counters. "I killed them. It's different. But it doesn't matter because we won't get caught. We'll figure it out. We have everything under control. Right?"

"Right." My phone rings. I pick it up off the nightstand and answer. "Hello?" James moves my hair off my shoulder and neck and places soft kisses on my neck.

"Miss Ridley. This is Daryl. There are some officers here wishing to speak to you and Mr. Barnes." My body goes cold. They figured it out.

"Okay I'll be right there." I had to stay calm. I hung up and looked at James. I was terrified and he could tell. "What? What's wrong?"

"The police want to speak to us."