"I'm not going through with this. If you want to rob this bank so badly, you can do it by yourself," she said.
"Sam, don't be this way." He set the nitroglycerine in the knapsack to take her in both hands. "I love you. I'm doing this so we can be free. So we can be together forever without having to worry about scrounging enough money to pay the bills. I don't want that kind of life for us."
"There's nothing wrong with doing an honest job," Samantha said. "At least then you don't end up in jail."
"An honest job? Like my father, with that shitty old truck of his and that shitty old house where Mom died? I'm never going to end up like him. Never!"
"Fine. Do what you want. I'm leaving."
Joseph pressed down on her arms until she yelped with pain. "You aren't going anywhere. You're going to stay with me. I'm never going to let you go."
"Stop it! Leave me alone!" She squirmed until she got one arm free, which she used to slap Joseph across the face.
"You bitch!" he shouted. He punched her in the face, sending her tumbling to the ground. He stood over her, the muscles in his neck tensing with rage until she thought his head might explode. "You don't leave me! You're mine!"
Samantha lay on the ground, one hand pressed against her left eye and the other raised in supplication. Joseph had hit her. Tears squeezed out of her swollen eye to run down her cheeks. He hurt me. Why?
Joseph knelt down beside her, taking her hand. The muscles in his neck had stopped trembling, his face going back to its usual color. "I'm sorry, Samantha. I shouldn't have done that. It's just that I love you so much. I'm doing this for us, don't you see? So we can be happy." He kissed her eye. "I'm sorry. I'll never do that again, I swear."
She looked into his eyes, which had begun to water. He didn't mean to, she thought. He loves me. "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have made you mad. I know you're doing your best."
"That's my girl. Here, I think I know how to make you feel all better." He kissed her eye again and then moved his lips down her cheek to her lips. He loves me, she thought again as his hands reached back to undo her bra.