HEARTS CAN BREAK
Chapter Two
Brains weren't working. Rose's
practical streak and Jack's sensible mind were turned off. As the minutes
blazed into hours, they only thought of each other. Jack was so gentle with
Rose that it shocked her. He moved his hands softly to the small of her back
and then up again, making her shiver with happiness as she responded thoroughly
to his actions.
Tenderly, he stroked her and
continued to enfold her in a lost night of unbelievable passion and love. The
inside of the car became warm, then hot, then boiling. Sweat poured off of
their bodies, beading over every inch of them. Rose threw her hand against the
steamy back window. It pulsed against the glass as Jack began to brush his lips
against her breast, sending waves of tangible and unbearable emotions through
her body. Finally, he moved back to her upper body and the hand fell onto his
skin.
Exhausted, he moved his head from
the hollows of her neck as she moved hers from his side. They looked deep into
each other's blue eyes, trying to solve a mystery that didn't have an answer.
Jack was gasping for oxygen as he
lay on top of Rose. It was she who first spoke.
"You're trembling."
It was true. His whole form was
shaking from the ardor of the night. Yet he didn't want her to feel guilty. He
swallowed.
"Don't worry," he
managed to whisper, his voice changing tones with the extreme of it all.
"I'll be all right." He kissed her again, shorter this time. However,
she knew he was fatigued from their experience. She gently brushed his sticky
hair out of his face, kissed his forehead slowly, and pressed his head onto her
chest. He sighed, full of bliss, and let his eyes flicker closed. Suddenly,
they heard footsteps echoing in the steel hallways into the cargo room. Rose
gasped. They were going to be caught. This was it. She had put everything she
owned on the line for this one man, just to be caught by a couple of crewmen.
Jack heard them, too. He looked
up and straightened. "We've gotta--" He stopped to gulp. "We've
gotta leave." Rose couldn't nod. She lay frozen, like a deer caught in the
headlights. "Now," Jack whispered. He shifted a little and began to
inch his way into his clothing as voices began to float around the room.
"You are sure you saw two
people in here? You're sure they didn't belong here?"
"Aye," a man answered.
The words shocked Rose back into
action. She slipped on her dress as Jack threw on his coat and grabbed her
hand. They slid silently from the Renault and managed to dash behind a tower of
crates, all the while moving slowly to the door out on the deck.
"They ran down there."
The chief stoker gestured.
"Right." A steward
nodded.
Jack and Rose watched cautiously
as two men slowly entered the room, shining the beams of their flashlights into
every nook they saw. Soon the ray would hit the lovers. They ducked further
behind a box.
The blonde-haired man examined
the car more thoroughly and found the steamy handprint. His cheeks turned red
as the knowledge hit him. Nonetheless, he signaled his partner and jabbed his
head at the glass. Both of them raced to the door, breathing heavily, while the
first man tore it open. "Gotcha!" he cried. The look on his face when
he was left with an empty seat was one of such shock and surprise that it was
all the couple could do to keep silent as they made their way to the boat deck.
Jack banged the door shut behind
them as clear, cold, icy air filled his lungs. He began to twirl Rose around
the deck as they laughed so hard they couldn't breathe.
"Did you see those guys'
faces?" he asked, gasping. She giggled. "Did you see?" Rose put
one perfect finger to his lips to gently silence him. She looked deep into his
face. She had never been so serious and so nervous in all her life. Yet under
all these mixing emotions was love, the only feeling she could believe in.
"When the ship docks,"
she whispered, her voice full of wonder, "I'm getting off with you."
His eyes widened with disbelief and confusion. Rose was born into the highest
society known to man. How could she throw away it all for him?
He looked at her and knew she was
telling the truth. Jack's insides flip-flopped. His life would never be the
same. It didn't matter that it was impossible for them to be together, that she
was engaged to another man, or that they were stranded on Titanic.
"This is crazy," he
replied. It was. Their love was crazy and strange and deep and beautiful and
amazing.
"I know," she bubbled,
reaching her hand behind his head and running her fingers through his hair.
"It doesn't make any sense. That's why I trust it."
The sensations flooding through
Jack's body were indescribable. She pulled him to her and their lips met as
they kissed again and again, desperately, moving against each other. Everything
was blurred as they became lost in each other again, dreading the moment when
they would have to break apart.
A minute later, the deck started
to tremble beneath their feet almost as much as Rose's heart. They had not
heard the clanging of an emergency bell, but now a hideous scraping sound
filled their ears. As they turned, they were shocked at what they saw.
An iceberg.