Unbroken

when he finally turns to me again. His eyes are dead, no sign of the fierce devotion I usually see there.
    “I don’t understand.” I whisper. “Why are you doing this?”
    “I told you.” Emerson’s jaw is clenched. “We’ve been kidding ourselves, thinking this can last. You don’t belong here.”
    “I belong with you!”My voice catches on another sob. “Emerson, please!” I beg him, desperate. “I need you!”
    I reach for his arm, clinging on to the solid stretch of muscle I’ve felt pressed against me all summer long, but he shakes me off. “Don’t!” Emerson voice is harsh, and it ricochets through me like a blow.
    I cringe back. “I don’t understand,” I whisper again. “You love me. I know you do!”
    Emerson’s eyes flash black. “Love isn’t enough,” he tells me with an angry sneer. “Maybe when you’re older, you’ll understand.”
    Tears flow down my cheeks. “You don’t mean it,” I insist. “I don’t know why you’re saying these things, but it’s not true! We’re meant to be together, you told me so!”
    “I lied.” Emerson grips the steering wheel with both hands, so hard his knuckles turn white.
    Suddenly, I have to get out of here. I feel the panic sweep through me, the iron bands clenching tighter around my chest. I grapple with the truck handle, then swing the door open and scramble down from the cab, gasping for air. I trip, falling to the ground, but I don’t stop, I scramble to my feet and stumble blindly into the rain.
    “Jules!” I hear Emerson call after me. I fight for air, but it doesn’t come. My whole world is gone, nothing makes sense. I fall to my knees, my whole body wracked with desperate sobs.
    “Jules!” I feel Emerson’s hand yank on my arm, and then he’s on his knees in front of me, holding me up. “Breathe,” he orders me. I gasp, but it doesn’t stop. The ache in my chest is all-consuming, a dark wave of pain crashing over me again and again. Emerson shakes me, determination clear on his face. “Breathe!” He says again, cupping my face in his hands. “You can do it. Come on, baby!”
    I sob, drowning in the panic.
    “I’ve got you,” Emerson promises. “Please, Jules. Just breathe with me. You can do it!”
    I gasp one ragged breath deep into my lungs, and then another. I stare into Emerson’s eyes. The distance is gone, replaced with the fierce tenderness I know so well. He does love me, I tell myself. He has to. He wouldn’t be holding me like this if he didn’t. This is all a big mistake, he’ll see that now. We’re going to be OK.
    Slowly, the panic ebbs away.
    Emerson breathes with me, one sweet gasp of air after another. I crumple into his arms, weeping, clinging to him with everything I am. He strokes my hair gently, cradling me against him, until finally, my breathing returns to normal.
    I can feel his heartbeat thundering through the damp fabric of his shirt. If I hold him hard enough, maybe I can pretend the last ten minutes never happened. We can wipe them from history and never say a word about it again.
    Then Emerson slowly detaches my arms from around his torso and firmly pushes me away from him.
    I look up at his beautiful face. Water runs in rivulets down from his wet hair, dripping from his thick eyelashes and flowing down his jaw. My dark, damaged angel. My forever.
    “It’s over.”
    His eyes close off again, a barrier crashing down between us.
    “No!” I scream. “I don’t believe you!”
    “I’m sorry.” Emerson’s face flashes with something tragic, an ache that has no words. He gets to his feet. I grab for him, but he steps back. “I’ll take you home.” He says blankly, holding out his hand to me.
    I ignore it, scrambling to my feet all on my own. “I’m not going anywhere with you. Not until you tell me why you’re doing this to us.”
    “You want a reason?” Emerson flares with anger. “Hell, try a hundred! We wouldn’t make it, Jules, any fucking fool could see that. We were crazy to think we could even try!”
    “You’re wrong.” I shake my head stubbornly. “I love you!”
    “And what good does that do?” Emerson yells back. “Look at our parents, at your mom. You’ve been telling me all this time how loving your dad destroyed her. Love drags you down, if it lasts at all. All the good turns to shit in the end, and then there’s nothing left but misery!”
    I stumble back, sick to my stomach. He thinks I’m a dead weight around him? That I would hold him