Snared

know if she liked them or not. The pity got in the way. Mel was kind of quiet, but nice enough. Tee was more outgoing, but still subdued. Char just didn’t like her, and Lindsay was fine with that. She knew the girl was jealous, though of all of Ev’s entourage, she actually seemed to understand that Ev was going to leave them.

Lindsay approached her uncle’s house, walking through the sand and smiling. When Mark’s house came up on her right, butterflies erupted in her stomach.

Lindsay slowed as she reached the alley separating her uncle’s house from Mark’s. She glanced along the sandy trail and stopped dead. A block of ice dropped into her belly when she saw the girl creeping along the side of Mark’s house.

Ev! The platinum hair, the bikini top. That bitch.

She crept along the side of the house toward the glowing light of Mark’s window. He was still awake. The shade was up, and Ev was going to make her move. Lindsay felt so stupid. She’d almost believed all of Ev’s “don’t waste your time on him” stuff. She wanted Lindsay away from Mark because Ev wanted him for herself.

Lindsay thought about yelling at Ev to get away from the house and the window and the boy next door, but she stopped herself.

If Mark was the kind of guy she believed he was, he’d send Ev away.

Please don’t bring Barbie back.

If he was just another classless hick like the boys at the bonfire, Lindsay wanted to know it.

Lindsay quietly hurried across the alley to her uncle’s porch. She tiptoed over the deck and leaned against the siding, listening, praying Mark didn’t flirt with Ev. Her heart was already aching to think he might invite her into his room.

But that didn’t happen. A sharp gasp came up from the side of the house. It was followed by another sound. Shrill but controlled. Muffled and quiet. Lindsay inched forward, wanting to see what was going on.

Ev raced along the sand, looking desperate. Her platinum hair whipped from side to side, slapping her face and shoulders as she stumbled and righted herself. She tore out of the alley, the sound of stifled sobbing rising from her. Wild eyes shone over hands clasped tightly to keep the cries in her mouth.

Moments later, the door of Mark’s house flew open and Doug, the leaner of the two guardians, charged out onto the porch. He jumped the stairs, hit the beach with a dull thud, and kept running, kicking up small clouds of sand as he sprinted along the shore. Lindsay watched the chase, her pulse thundering in her ears. Jack appeared a moment later. He similarly ran and jumped. He hit the sand and paused, looking up the beach. Doug stopped, too, forty yards away. He put his hands on his hips and just watched the girl’s flight.

Far down the beach, Ev looked back at the guardians. She screamed, a piercing, terrible sound.

But she never stopped running.

What the hell is happening? Ev was terrified by something. Something she had seen in Mark’s room?

Lindsay silently backed to the door. She didn’t want to be caught by Doug or Jack. No way did she want in on that. She slipped inside the screen door, then locked the heavy wooden door behind her.

Heart fluttering, she raced up the stairs to her room. At the window seat she cautiously leaned forward to look down.

A black shade descended over Mark’s window.

And Lindsay knew she was right, knew what drove Ev away in such a panic. Ev had seen Mark being punished. She’d crept to his house, hoping to hook up. She looked through his window and saw…whatever it was Doug and Jack did to Mark. The sounds Ev made weren’t loud, so there was no way the guardians could have heard her. No way. They had to see her looking in, witnessing their abuse. Once she was seen, Ev freaked.

It must have been so awful.

They’re capable of things you can’t even imagine.

9

The next morning.

“Are you okay?” Lindsay asked through the open window. She hadn’t even waited for Mark’s invitation to open it. She had to speak to him.

“What are you doing here?” Mark whispered, his voice breaking with anxiety. “Doug and Jack are in the next room.”

“You have to let me call someone for you. This isn’t right.”

“Lindsay, you can’t get involved in this. I told you. Go home. We’ll talk if they leave again.”

“If?”

“Something happened last night. I’m not even sure what, but they’re on red alert out there.”

“I know,” Lindsay said. “I saw it. Look, take this.” She handed Mark her cell phone. “Hide it under the bed or something. I programmed my number into the first speed dial. I’ll have my Treo. I can use that. You can call me anytime or call for help if you need to.”

“I can’t take this,” Mark said, lifting the device toward the window.

But Lindsay wouldn’t take it. “You have to,” she told him. “I want to know you’re okay.”

Lindsay sat in the kitchen, staring at her coffee. Her PDA rested on the table in front of her. When her dad came in and said “You’re up early,” Lindsay muttered “Couldn’t sleep.” Her dad bent over and kissed her forehead, stroked her hair, then went to the coffeepot.

“Your mom will be down in a minute.”

“Okay.”

She watched her dad pouring milk into his coffee mug. Last night at dinner his face had been red from a day in the sun, but now it was brown, and he looked more like a bear than ever.

“What are your plans for today?” he asked. “Your new friends dragging you off again?”

“I don’t think so.” She hoped she never saw those creeps again.

“You’re welcome to join us on the beach if you want. That is, if you won’t be too embarrassed being seen with your parents?”

“Of course I’ll be embarrassed,” Lindsay said, trying to make a joke. Her heart wasn’t in it, and it came off dry and nasty. So she added “How could I NOT be?” This time she put in enough flare to her voice to get the playfulness across.

Her dad chuckled, but it was a courtesy laugh at best. “You okay, honey?”

No, she thought. “Fine,” she said. “Just a little tired.”

“Well, some sun will do you good.”

Such simple answers to everything, Lindsay thought. According to her dad, a little sun, some sea air, and a piece of pie were all anyone needed to cope with anything. The world could be crumbling down, and he’d be there handing out beach towels and slices of Dutch apple to everyone, telling them not to panic.

What was she going to do? What could she do?

Nothing, a small voice said to her. You can’t do a damn thing.

She rarely listened to this annoying voice. It was a downer, a shot of pessimism she just didn’t need. For most of her life, she’d been able to fix things. Fixed them for herself. Fixed them for her friends. Even helped her parents every now and then. Why couldn’t she fix this? Why wasn’t there a simple answer? A plan to follow? Something?

After an hour on the beach, Lindsay decided to get something to drink and get out of the sun for a while. So she sat in the shade of her uncle’s porch, sipping an iced tea. She could still see her parents, who were closer to the water. Her dad’s belly rose and fell steadily as he napped with a baseball cap over his face. Her mom lay on her