‘Love?’ Her eyes widened at the word. ‘You love me?’ May’s voice broke on the last word but she didn’t care. Inside, her heart was soaring as high as the highest bird on a cloudless day.
‘Yes.’ His grey eyes were intense, his words quiet and sincere. ‘Problem?’
‘No. No.’ She shook her head, a wide, silly grin pulling on her lips before he kissed her. She kissed him back, deciding that this was most definitely the best night of her life. Arthur loved her. Arthur loved her and she loved him back. It was as though her life was finally starting to make sense—as if she’d found the one place where she belonged.
‘You know I love everything about you,’ she said a moment later, the two of them a little breathless. ‘Except for the fact that your knee is digging into my leg.’ She tried to shift a little, to get comfortable so she could take his weight on top of her, but as she did so he shifted as well, almost tumbling off the bed. In order to stop himself, he reached out a hand to his bedside table for support but in the process accidentally knocked his clock off.
The clattering noise as it fell onto the polished floorboards made them both freeze. Holding their breaths, they stared at each other, waited to see if his parents had heard the noise. With the sound of a door being opened and footsteps heading towards Arthur’s room, they both scrambled like wildfire, moving fast. May headed towards the window, whilst Arthur righted the clock and picked up the scattered biology papers they’d previously knocked to the floor.
May just made it out the window and over to the branch of the tree, completely out of sight, when his father opened the bedroom door.
‘You all right?’ his dad asked.
‘Yeah, yeah. Just dozed off while trying to cram this i
nformation into my brain,’ Arthur remarked, shaking the biology papers with his hand. ‘The sooner this exam is over, the better.’
His father laughed then said goodnight to his son, closing the door behind him. May waited, almost willing Arthur to come over to the window. He did just that and she edged off the branch to meet him there. He kissed her through the open frame. ‘You’d better go.’
‘I know.’ She kissed him again, putting all her love and heart into the action. ‘I love you, Arthur Lewis.’
‘And I love you, May Fleming. Now go. Get to bed and I’ll see you tomorrow.’
With a giddiness of epic proportions, May shimmed down the tree, climbed the fence and was soon scaling her balcony as though her feet had wings. The instant she stepped inside her bedroom she froze, her giddiness turning to ice as she saw both her parents were standing in her room. The light was on, her mother’s face was ashen and her father’s jaw was clenched more tightly than she’d ever seen before. She was in trouble now!
‘May. Oh, my goodness. There you are.’ Her mother dragged her close and hugged her so tightly May thought she might pass out.
‘We thought they’d got you already.’ Her father wrapped his arms around his two girls. ‘Don’t ever scare us like that again.’
May wasn’t sure what was going on except she was positive this wasn’t the way normal parents disciplined their child for sneaking out of the house. A moment later she realised her mother was crying and her father was shaking.
‘What’s...?’ She stopped, not sure she wanted to ask what was going on because she wasn’t sure she wanted to hear the answer. Instead she said, ‘Why are you crying?’
‘Oh, May.’ Her mother kissed her head. ‘I’m so sorry.’
‘We need to get things organised,’ a deep voice said from the doorway, and that was when May realised they weren’t alone. The dread that had caused her to run to Arthur in the first place returned with full force as she eased back from her parents and stared at the dark-suited figure.
‘Pack only what’s necessary for now. The agency will pack the rest once you’re safe.’
‘Safe?’ May swallowed, trying to control her rising panic.
‘You’re all in danger. You need to leave here. Tonight.’