Free Deadly Captive by Bianca Sommerland Page B

. . . ." I closed my eyes, shook my head, and finally just blurted it out. "Are you a virgin?"
    Mary blushed, glanced over at Joe as though embarrassed that I'd brought up something so personal in front of him, and then simply nodded.
    Joe blinked and shook his head. "You are? You mean they didn't . . . before they brought you?"
    Mary shook her head. "No. They scared me with it. One of the men, a tall guy in a weird red coat, told me it would happen, soon." She inhaled sharply. "He said he wanted to make sure the time was right."
    Both Joe and I turned our heads to stare at the food. I took a step forward and put my hand on Joe's arm. "Joe . . . ."
    Joe's head whipped toward me. He knew what I was going to say. "No."
    I couldn't believe I was about to push this, considering my earlier reaction to thinking Joe and Mary had had sex while I had been unconscious. My feelings were different now. I liked Mary. She was sweet, once you got used to the fact that any agitation sent her into a nonstop ramble. At this point, all I could think of, all that mattered, was sparing her as much suffering as possible.
    But how to get Joe to go along with it?
    "Joe, you're the one who told me you'd do it if you had to." I kept my eyes on his face, even after he'd turned it so I could only see his profile.
    His eyes showed how tired he was. "I said I'd do it to save her life. I don't think they'll kill her."
    Mary frowned at him. "You don't think they will? Wow. That's reassuring."
    Joe reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her to face him. "Do you know what Lydia's suggesting, Mary?" He gestured to the food. "They only give meals like this when they want us to be fit to feed from. The last time they came, they didn't just feed. They—" He glanced at me, then bowed his head. "Lydia wants me to . . . make it a little easier for you."
    Mary had no idea what he was talking about. Passing over his vague implications, she went right to his first remark. "Feed?
    "Stop avoiding the issue. You're not as clueless as you like to pretend." Joe gave her a little shake. "Why do you think Lydia asked if you were a virgin, then looked at me? We might be pleasant company, but I've no doubt you know our wardens aren't monks."
    Mary shook her head, desperately grasping for ways to avoid the reality that Joe was trying to make her see. "It's the food, isn't it? I was freaked out because I was thinking of my mother and how she used to make that—" She pointed at the bowls.
    "She made it for me 'cause it was always my favorite. But it means something else, doesn't it?"
    Shaking his head, Joe pulled Mary into his arms. "Mary, please."
    Mary wrenched away from him, eyes burning with rage. "No! You guys are in love! I'd have to be blind not to see it! I can't! No, I won't do that!"
    With that, she walked away from him to the corner of the room farthest from the bed, braced her back against the wall, and then slid down. Hugging her knees to her chest, she began to cry. "Let them do what they want."
    Joe and I exchanged a look. Drawing in a deep breath, Joe gave a curt nod. I watched him go to her.
    The stark whiteness of his flesh against her dark golden brown seemed to accentuate how much bigger he was. The grim lines on his face, strained with regret and concern, made her youth much more apparent.
    Only once had her age been brought up. She was eighteen. Hard to believe, but Joe's strange tests had proved it. The rapid fire of questions, sprung at her from the moment she'd made the claim, tended to make her grumpy. Finally satisfied when she'd recited the numbers for her driver's license, social security number, and visa, and somehow knowing how to identify her birthday among the numbers, Joe dropped the issue. It made me feel very old.
    There was no way I could be just a year older than Mary. Her fresh-faced innocence felt like something left so far behind. Even without my memories, there was an edge to me, a conditioning from having truly lived. Mary lacked it;