“I know.” I whisper.
“What?”
“I said, I know.” I look back up at him and sigh. “He made me promise him that I would move on and find someone who’s worthy of me.”
“And then?”
“What?”
“And then what happened?”
“Then I came.”
His mouth falls open, making me laugh this time, the tears that are still there springing out but no longer feeling the ache as Ro stands speechless by what I just said. “What?”
“Um, it was the last time I slept with him. We knew what was coming. So, he made me promise that I would move on. That I would live my life. That I wouldn’t dwell on what was to come. No pun intended.” He laughs out loud with me, and we both stare at one another, slight smiles still in place. “I think most men wouldn’t like hearing about my past lover.” I wiggle my eyebrows on the last word making him laugh again, shaking his head.
“Then they wouldn’t be worthy of you, would they?” He finally turns around and starts to walk. “Come on.” My legs start to move on his demand as I fall in close behind him. We move down a tunnel in the cave before I follow Ro to the right and he pulls out a flashlight.
“Are you trying to say that you’re worthy?” I ask him trying to make him say it out loud, but he doesn’t.
“Not men.” He says to me.
“What?”
“They’re not men, the ones who would be upset about listening to you talk about him. He’s a part of who you are. No amount of jealousy is going to change that.” He shines his flashlight down at what looks like a hatch on a boat. He stops looking back at me. “I don’t know how it’s going to be down there.” I just nod, knowing what he means. “I hope that they didn’t find it, but I can’t say until we’re there. I’ll go in first and when I tell you it’s clear come down.” I nod again. “Don’t forget to close the hatch.”
“Okay.”
“And whether it’s me or anyone else,” His hands comes up cupping my cheek. “No one should tell you how to feel about him. A part of you will always love him, but every love is different. And just because you love him doesn’t mean you are in love with him.”
“I thought you’ve never been in love before?” I ask him smirking up.
“That’s exactly how I know that you can love someone without being in love.” He smirks as he leans into me and presses his lips to mine. I sigh into him. Letting my arms move up around his neck and he pulls me closer. His tongue slips into my mouth and I meet it with my own. My heart slams into my chest. I’m not even sure how we went from talking abouthimto making out. Pulling away, he looks at me and smirks. “And I told you, I’m learning.” My stomach clenches as I smirk back at him, for a second both of us, knowing what he’s insinuating, but not wanting to admit that the other one does.
Leaning in, he kisses my forehead before he crouches down and starts down the ladder, as his head is about to disappear, he looks back up at me. He bites down onto his lip as he tries to hide a smile and he moves down the ladder. I see him move the flashlight around the tunnel before where the beam of light is coming from moves to the right. Then the entire tunnel is illuminated.
“Come on.” He says to me, looking up and smirking.
Carefully, I move myself to the edge of the cave floor and lower myself until I step down onto the ladder. As I slide my body down, I make sure to reach up, grabbing onto the door and closing it behind myself.
I can feel his hands on me as soon as I get close enough to him and he helps me the rest of the way down. Not that I needed help, but I’m sure it’s more of a gesture than anything else. Reaching up under his kutte he surprises me when he hands me the gun and I look at him, curious. “What? I trust you to have my back. You’re a good shot, right?” I nod again before he smiles. “I’ll have a better idea if they found this place as soon as we get there.” He whispers as he moves down a piece which is split off from the rest of the tunnel.
“What is this?” I ask him as he smiles.
“It’s surplus.”
“What?”
“When I was with the Marauders, we ran guns for years.” As the room opens up and I see the metal cabinets, with the locks still intact. “This was partial payment from the recipients.”
“Is that something you can do?” I ask him and he laughs.
“Absolutely not, but they didn’t know that.”
The cabinets line the walls, I’m sure every inch of space inside filled with weapons and ammo. I watch him as he pulls the keys out of his pockets and then moves over to the first, slipping the key into the locks and it opens.
He tosses his head back and laughs as if he’s relieved. Then pulls out a rifle and hands it to me. Reaching back in for one for himself. Moving over to another cabinet, he unlocks it as well, and I see the vests revealed. “They should still be good.” He turns around handing me one and there’s a light to his eyes, I’m not sure I’ve seen before. “Try this one.”
