Free No Easy Way Out by Dayna Lorentz Page B

with the rest of the
chicas
.
    Shay nodded against his chest.
    Marco used his iPod as a light, flashing it for brief moments to find landmarks—a name on a door, a corner—and managed to wind his way through stockrooms and passages to a door marked JCPENNEY . Shay clung to him like she couldn’t take a step without support.
    “Why did they kick you out?” he asked, trying to take her mind off whatever had happened to her in the tunnel before he found her. He prayed it was just the dark. If it was something worse, he would find whoever hurt her and kill the bastard.
    “No room,” she said, her voice barely hissing beyond her teeth. “I’m all alone in there.”
    Marco slid his card through the reader and opened the door. “It’s safer in here,” he said, leading her into the stockroom. “Just stay the night, and tomorrow, I’ll find us someplace to hide.”
    She nuzzled closer to him. Warmth flared over his skin.
    “And Preeti?” she managed. “We have to protect her.”
    Marco stopped in front of the door leading to the sales floor. “And Preeti. I am going to take care of you both.” He liked saying the words. It was as if by saying them, they could be true. A dream blinked into his brain, him and Shay and Preeti hiding out in a stockroom, all the food they needed, no one bothering them, safe until whenever this nightmare ended. Him and Shay. Together.
    Shay leaned her head against the door frame. “’Til tomorrow, then,” she said.
    Marco, unable to control his lips, leaned forward and pressed them to her forehead.
    Shay stiffened. “Please,” she said, pushing him away. “I can’t.”
    And a part of Marco seethed.
She can’t with me
. But the better part won out.
    “Okay,” he said, pulling back. “I’m sorry.”
    “I’ll see you tomorrow?” Shay said, smiling.
    “I’ll find you after Lights On.”
    Shay nodded and slipped back into the neat, quiet rows of sleepers.
    Marco tracked back to the service door only to hear voices on the opposite side. Not wanting to risk another encounter in the black, he padded to the opposite side of the stockroom. There were several different large rooms back here, all of them stuffed with the original contents of the sales floors. Sequins sparkled in his dim light, and his pants caught on errant hangers and poles from the haphazardly disposed-of racks.
    • • •
    Lexi sat on a desk in an office of some sort. She’d wandered after leaving Maddie and found her way into the stockrooms. When Lights Out was announced, she’d stumbled into this office, closed the door, and flipped on the light. Searching the room, she came upon two significant prizes: (1) an old CD player with a cache of not-too-terrible CDs, and (2) a bag of peanut M&M’S. Satisfied this was the best the place had to offer, she’d turned the lights off and enjoyed her feast with a Beatles accompaniment playing softly. She was halfway through
Revolver
and had two M&M’S left when someone slammed into the other side of the wall against which she was leaning.
    Unable to leave well enough alone, Lexi slid off the desk and tiptoed to the door. Peeking outside, under the dim light of the one bulb left burning in the stockroom, she saw a boy wrestling with a display rack.
    And not just any boy. A lanky, nerdy-looking guy. And judging from the amount of space he’d covered before becoming ensnared in the racks, at home enough in the dark that he probably spent too much time indoors, perhaps playing video games; this was his element. This was also Lexi’s element. This boy was her people.
    She suddenly wished she was back in Maddie’s outfit. She wanted to look hot for this guy, even if it meant breaking out in a sweater-induced mega-rash.
    What would Maddie do?
Say something flirty, be confident.
    “I think you won,” Lexi said.
    The guy gave his cargo pants one final jerk and freed himself from the wretched rack. Looking up, he squinted at her, then smiled—he wasn’t wearing a