The Unknown Road

48 - Tessa

THE WORDS RING CLEAR throughout the room.

"Tess... Tess, I want to go home," he says again, his voice full of surety and desire.

I look at him and bring my hand up to cup his cheek, now that he's dropped his hands. He's holding my other hand in both of his, and I love the way his hands are so soft and warm and safe.

"I know you do..."

My whole plan today had been to break him out, so why the hell was I hesitating now? I didn't want to put him in any danger, or hurt him any more than he already was. His ribs were still black with bruises, he gets out of breath with one kiss and I would never forgive myself if he passed out on the way home and something worse happened to him. There were now so many factors that I hadn't thought of, and now I was losing the nerve I had worked up to.

"But..." I continue. "You won't be in here for much longer," I say, although my voice is not convincing.

He leans his forehead against mine and tips my chin up so his big brown eyes are staring directly into mine, his gaze boring into me, with his adorable, stupidly irresistible puppy dog eyes.

"Dammit, Archie. Stop looking at me like that. You know I can't say no if you look at me like that."

He chuckles. "Like what?"

"You're going to get in a lot of trouble," I say, not answering his question because he knows the answer.

He raises his eyebrows in response.

"Correction. You're going to get me into a lot of trouble," I roll my eyes, already deciding to go back to my original plan. I'm breaking him out. Being grounded for a year would be worth him having his freedom for one night.

"I don't care. I need to go home. I can't stay here another night Tessa, I'll go crazy." He grits his teeth and his jaw bounces. "Tess?" He looks at me, his eyes full of longing. "Please."

I look into his eyes again and smile, giving him the subtlest of nods.

He sighs in relief as he leans forward to kiss me hard, making me gasp. When he pulls back again, his eyes are full of gratitude and my heart swells again at seeing him this happy again.

"Are you connected to anything?" I ask, pulling back the blankets and jumping down to get my shoes.

"Nope," he shows me his arm as he takes the pulse monitor off his forefinger. When he does so, both of us go silent, but nothing happens other than the machine beeping quietly. With no alarms raised, we both let out a sigh of relief and we start gathering the rest of Archie's stuff.

He watches me rush around the bed, putting the stuff back into all the pockets, smiling as I sling the backpack over my shoulder as I look at him.

"Arch, have you got any clothes?" I ask, but then I realise I'd packed some in the bag. "No wait, I have some."

I sling the bag back forward and open the bottom pocket of it to reveal the tracksuit and trainers I'd brought with me. He laughs and shakes his head as he extends his arm for them.

"What! I couldn't help myself!"

He gets dressed slowly, with me helping him with his shirt, and soon we're just about ready to go.

"Don't suppose you brought shoes?" He asks and I smile. I pull the bag round to get his trainers out and put them on the floor in front of him.

I look at him before he leans forward to kiss my cheek, leaning on my shoulder as he bends down gently to pick up his shoe. He grins at me and I roll my eyes.