Numbered

Chapter Twenty-One

Kylie spent the night thinking. She couldn't sleep, not when tomorrow she was going to die. Jared knew. He did everything to make her comfortable. His hands kneaded the tense muscles in her back, his words calmed her mind, and his lips soothed her heart.

She woke in the middle of the night, confused that she had managed to fall asleep. Jared had his arm around her and he was sleeping softly. She watched his chest rise with each breath.

She wanted to talk all night long with him but he needed the sleep. He wasn't going to get a lot of it in the next few weeks.

She turned on her side to face Jared and moved her hand down the well-defined muscles of his back, careful not to wake him. She let her hand settle between his shoulder blades and closed her eyes. She could feel his warm breath on her cheek. She was almost in a deep slumber when she felt a hand on her waist. Jared's fingers grazed her hip as he traced the outline of her body. Her eyes flicked open to meet his.

Immediately, he withdrew his hand, uttering an apology.

"I'm yours," she whispered, shuffling closer to him. He pulled her face towards his, capturing her lips in a searing kiss. She wanted to replay this moment over and over and stay trapped in it forever.

She wanted to memorise every feature of him; have his face imprinted in her memory.

His long dark eyelashes which framed oceanic, fathomless blue eyes, the sharp contours of his face, the strong jaw which was clenched when he was disappointed, the little muscle which jumped in his cheek when he was angry or upset, his olive skin so like hers, his lips and the way they felt, his soft voice, his laugh, his smile.

As she put her hands on his face, she realised his cheeks were wet with tears.

"Jared?"

When he didn't answer, she pecked his mouth softly. "Jared, I love you," She said. "Please don't cry...I..I don't know what to do."

She truthfully didn't know what to do. She'd seen him angry and disappointed but she hadn't seem him so visibly upset. She wasn't used to it.

"I know you're scared because we don't have much time left but we're together," she said. "That's what matters."

"You truly love me, don't you?" He fixed her with an impenetrable gaze.

"Yes," she smiled. "Why do you ask?"

"The fact that you're trying to cheer me up, when you're the one who needs it most."

"I've cried too much and been comforted enough," she said. "It's going to be harder for you in the end. You need it."

"Imagine if we did manage to escape..." Jared wondered aloud.

"Jared..." Kylie warned.

He shook his head. "Hypothetically speaking," he smiled. "Where would you want to live?"

"The leafy suburbs," she murmured, imagining a friendly neighbourhood with little white and blue houses and picket fences. "Outside of some city. Not Topaz."

He chuckled, his chest reverberating with the movement.

"Okay, not Topaz," he agreed. "Somewhere near the coast would be nice."

"A beach!" Kylie added, her eyes lighting up.

"And there would be an ice cream parlour a few blocks down," she continued.

"Michel would open up a restaurant,  and we could go there every night," Jared said.

"Yes! And my grandmother could come and live with us. She would love you," Kylie replied.