Cliffhanger (The Belinda & Bennett Mysteries, Book One)

Chapter 23

Belinda could feel the world rocking around her. Movement like a car, but it wasn't a car. It was like being sloshed around...in water. On a boat. She opened her eyes, panicked and relieved at the same moment. Panicked because she was on a boat - Sea Stud if she was right - on the water. And relieved because she did wake up, which meant she was alive.

But her relief quickly passed as she came to and felt something sticky and tight on her mouth. Her hands were behind her back, wrapped together. And when she tried to move her legs, her feet were bound. Her impulsive behavior was coming back to bite her. Without meaning to, she heard a whimper escape her taped mouth and tears formed in fear.

A pendant in the shape of a knot encrusted with tiny diamonds descended in front of her face like a spider, swaying from side to side. Lily stepped over Belinda, lying on her side on the floor of the cabin, and kneeled down, tilting her head to the side to look her in the face. Belinda couldn't hide her fear, her eyes wide with it. Lily sneered.

"Not so uppity without a roomful of people to come to your rescue, huh?"

Belinda breathed hard, barely controlling herself from bursting into tears.

"I bet this is the first time in your whole life you can't say a word. So let me set something straight for you." Lily leaned closer, her dark eyes wrathful. "Nobody takes what I want from me. Especially not some spoiled trust fund baby whose pathetic life I can stamp out. Mark learned that the hard way. And so will you."

A tear slipped across Belinda's cheek. Lily wiped it away gently, Belinda recoiling at her touch.

"If you'd only kept your hands to yourself," Lily said, "you wouldn't be here." She stood and Belinda listened to her footsteps trail up to the deck.

Belinda closed her eyes tight, breathing in and out deeply to steady herself. As badly as she wanted to lose it, this was no time to fall apart. If her life ever depended on her sanity, it was right then. What had she been thinking about before she blacked out? Mark. And that first and last time they kissed. What was that day like? It was hard to remember under the circumstances, but Belinda forced herself to recreate it in her mind.

It was August, the end of their fun time as all three of them had to get ready to start college. But nobody was in a rush for that summer to end. The weather had been perfect and Belinda was glad they'd used every spare minute to be on the water. Especially looking back. Kyle was always with them, but that day he'd had something going on, but Mark asked Belinda to go out with him anyway. It was a perfect day to swim so she didn't argue. They stayed out all afternoon and watched the sunset on the Atlantic.

That's when Mark told her...he told her he'd broken up with Lily. That he was going to study engineering, but he and Kyle were going right on ahead with their plans to sail the world. And Mark couldn't wait for the holiday break so they could see each other again. The way he'd said it kind of sounded like he wanted to see them both. But then he'd looked straight at her, his deep blue eyes saying something completely different. His brown hair curled up around his forehead and he'd smiled. Mark didn't have a compartment of smiles like Kyle. He just had that one, but it made her heart gush.

Then he gave her the knot pendant and they'd both laughed because it was a silly thing, but it still meant so much to the both of them. Before she had time to process any of it, Mark kissed her. Soft and hard at once, and Belinda wrapped her arms around him as he brought her closer, inhaling the mixture of sunscreen and salt always emanating from him. They stayed out until twilight, finally forced to separate to get back into the harbor before dark. The last time she saw him was on the dock when he promised he'd call the next night and they'd go out again that coming weekend.