Snared

do and see everything all over again.”

They made their way through the encampment. Mark tried to smile and wave at the happy people enjoying their time on the beach. But he was leaning on her heavily for support. He was trying to make it look like they were a young couple in love. Lindsay tried to do the same, but with all of these strange eyes on her, she was worried. She kept her head down and to the side, as if in shame, nestling her cheek against Mark’s chest as she guided him to the other side of the trailer park.

At the point where the beach turned rocky, Mark paused. He turned to Lindsay and kissed her.

His soft lips pushed against hers, sending electric tingles through her body. This is the kiss, Lindsay thought. All of the other kisses in her life were bland and meaningless compared to this.

They held each other tightly, mouths joined, bodies fitting together perfectly like two puzzle pieces. Lindsay’s head was light with passion. She felt like she was floating, or rather flying, and Mark was the one making it happen. In his arms she felt safe and alive and happy. So happy.

Mark pulled away from her, smiling. “I’m starving,” he said. “Those guys haven’t fed me in like two days.”

Lindsay put the blue gym bag on the sand and unzipped the side compartment. She dug inside and retrieved an energy bar. Proudly she presented it to him.

Mark snatched it from her hand and tore into it. Once his mouth was filled with half an energy bar, his eagerness dimmed. He looked embarrassed. “Sorry,” he said. “I’m just really hungry.”

“Are they okay?” Lindsay asked. “I didn’t really know what to get.”

“They’re great,” Mark said. He swallowed hard. “What I really want is a steak. A big bloody steak with about three pounds of French fries. But I guess I won’t be having steak for a while. This is good, though. Thanks.”

He pulled her close for another kiss. She wrapped her arms around him, careful not to rub too hard on his back. She knew the circular wounds there would have to be treated. But she needed to get him safe first. Find someplace where he could hide for the night.

“Where should we go?” she asked once the embrace ended. “I can’t just leave you on the beach.”

“There’s a house on the other side of these rocks. It’s in a private cove. It’s been empty for weeks.”

“How do you know that?” Lindsay asked.

“Oh,” Mark said, his eyes twinkling, “you’d be surprised what I know.”

They stood inside, looking through a window.

Surrounded by high walls of black rock and facing the ocean across a vast, fan-shaped beach, the house was amazing. It was huge and modern, totally gorgeous and completely empty. On the beach side of the house, glass ran from the immaculate marble-tiled floors to the ceiling twenty-five feet above, giving a breathtaking view of the cove, the seething ocean, and the sky. Lindsay and Mark stood before this panorama, arms wrapped around each other’s waists. Lindsay was in awe. She couldn’t even imagine how wonderful the house must have been with furniture, lights, and well-dressed people walking over the floors, which were now frosted with a layer of dust.

“It’s just so beautiful,” Lindsay said. “But how could you have known? You’ve been locked in that house for so long.”

“I heard Jack and Doug talking about it. It was way too expensive for them, but they gave it some serious thought.”

“I can see why.”

“I used to live in a house like this,” he said. “Way up north in New York. The Hamptons. It seems like a hundred years ago. Everyone was just happy and cruel and oblivious.”

“Happy and cruel?” Lindsay asked.

“Happy to own anything they wanted. Happy to do whatever they wanted. Completely cruel to those who had nothing.”

“It sounds terrible.”

“Only if you had nothing. It was actually okay. You get a real sense of human nature when you hang out with people who never have to deal with the consequences of their actions. I knew one guy who strangled his wife, dumped her in the bathtub, and acted like nothing happened. The police knew he killed her. They knew damn well she didn’t drown in the tub, but since this guy had more money than God, no one lifted a finger.”

“It’s just not fair.”

“I could tell you a thousand stories like that. People aren’t really that good at heart, but they are afraid. That’s what keeps most of them in line.”

Lindsay didn’t know what to say to that. She believed people tried to be good, and didn’t think it necessarily came down to fear. No normal person actually wanted to hurt, really hurt, another person.

“What are we going to do?” she asked. “I mean, I can’t stay. Will you be all right?”

“I’ll be okay,” Mark said, putting his hand on the window. “But damn, I want to be out there. I’ve spent so much time looking at the world through glass that standing here, even with you, is making me crazy. I know we have to be careful, but I just want to run around in the sand under the moon and smell the ocean. Man, I can’t wait to be a thousand miles away from here so I can just be outside!”

“Once you’re better,” Lindsay said “you can go anyplace you want.”

“But I won’t have you,” Mark said, sounding sad and lost.

He kissed her again, a long and slow kiss. His tongue moved in slow rhythms against hers, making her heart tremble with excitement.

“It’s all because of you,” he said, pulling away. “You’re my salvation.”

Then they were kissing again. Mark ran his hands up her body, rested them on her breasts as he unfastened the first button of her blouse. A bolt of fear raced through Lindsay.

Was this really happening? Did she want this to happen?

Head swimming with crazy thoughts, her body alight with passion, Lindsay decided the answer to both questions was yes.

15

She woke up from a deep sleep, cold and aching. It was dark. Night had fallen. She reached out for Mark, but her hand found nothing but cool marble. Lindsay rolled onto her back and let out a small groan of pain. Her entire body felt bruised and stiff. Brushing a lock of hair from her face, she stared at the dark ceiling, unsure of the emotions colliding in her head.

She’d done it. They’d done it. They made love. It was hard to believe. It seemed like a strange, fluid dream to her. While it was happening, she wasn’t even thinking about the act, merely experiencing it. Oh, it was wonderful, but also frightening and painful and confusing. With so many conflicting thoughts, not once did she think about the fact that they hadn’t used protection. She was so caught up in the moment, the sensations.

It’ll be okay, she told herself. We only did it once. Next time we’ll be careful. But as she thought this, she felt a strange movement low in her body, a twitch, as if something already lived inside her. The feeling paralyzed her with panic. She breathed hard, in and out, telling herself it was just her imagination, her childish fear. It’ll be okay, she repeated to herself when the dread got too bad to manage.

Once the panic passed and she could again think clearly, Lindsay sat up on the floor and blinked. Mark stood at the window, the big glowing moon hovering just above his shoulder. He wore a pair of the shorts she bought him at the outlet mall. They fit perfectly, as she’d known they would. The muscles in his back flexed as he leaned forward on the window, pressing his forehead on the glass. The round wounds looked like black holes in his skin. Was he crying, or just relieved to be free at last?