Meant to Be (The Saving Angels 1)

I assessed his words, he was right, I did feel energized. Maybe it could be left over from the adrenaline rush from earlier, but even though we were locked up and facing a threat, I felt oddly happy, almost like everything was okay.

“I think it’s because I’m with you. Even though I know we probably won’t make it through the night, I’m okay with it as long as I am with you. It’s only when I’m away from you that I feel so lost. The only thing that would make this better is if I had a chocolate candy bar,” I said playfully.

Mark smiled at my comment.

He pulled me even tighter into his arms; it would have been painful if it didn’t feel so right. I felt him brush a kiss across the top of my head. “I’m glad you’re with me too.”

I looked around the room for the first time and laughed. Mark must have had many fits of rage. The bed, which was no longer sitting normal, had countless restraints still hanging off it. It looked more like it had been tossed in a trash compactor. The metal was bent at odd angles that made it look more like a jungle gym than a cot.

“Rearranging your room?” I asked with another giggle in my voice.

Mark smiled slightly embarrassed. “That’s why James pointed the gun at your head. They don’t trust me; he thought I would rush him even with him holding a gun. They have tried to weaken me, but the more time that passes, the more frequent the rage comes on. I think I scare them,” he said with a smile as he bent the metal of the bed as close as he could back to its original position.

I sat on the edge of the now rickety bed as he held my hand. I filled him in on my morning excursion; making it outside of the building and discovering that we were being held at some kind of storage hangar for airplanes. I then told him about finding the phone, but being cut off before I could tell Sam more about our location.

“I’m proud of you, but I can’t believe you put yourself in that kind of danger, you should have fled as soon as you hit daylight.”

I looked at him with disbelief. “You think I would have left without you? I told you before, I can’t live without you. Would you have left me?”

“That’s different. I’m the guy, it’s my job to protect you, and in case you missed it, I’m doing a lousy job of it. You’re out there trying to find a way out for us while I sit in here cooling my heels,” he said with barely controlled frustration.

I placed my hands on his chest to neutralize his anger. “We may only have a few hours left. I don’t want to spend them in anger and frustration. I want us to make the most of our time together,” I said in a pleading voice.

Mark rested his hands on top of mine. I could feel the heat of his body. I felt a light blush approach as I thought of how alone we were. I was suddenly filled with the feeling of wanting to be with him as much as I could be. I had always said I would wait until marriage, but what if they did kill us tonight. We would never discover the true feeling of being together in the fullest sense.

I looked up and could see the same thoughts mirrored in his eyes as he reached the same conclusion as me. He leaned forward and placed his warm lips on mine. It was like being lost in the desert and finding an oasis waiting for you. I locked my arms around his neck and pulled him closer. Drinking greedily, I took everything his kiss had to offer. I felt more in tune with him than ever before. I opened my mind finally finding the key and our thoughts merged. The kiss deepened and without even realizing it I was lying down with Mark sprawled on top of me. My lips parted as he deepened the kiss even further. My thoughts were wrapped around Mark’s as we discovered the joy of each other’s lips. We had never kissed this intensely. I saw his desire in his thoughts mirrored my own.

Mark left my lips and found his way to my neck. I leaned my head back as his lips found the pulse in my neck.

“I hate to break-up the love fest,” a snide voice said behind us.

It took us a few moments to return from the place we had journeyed to with the kiss. Finally, we realized we were no longer alone. Mark pulled back and looked behind him. I looked over his shoulder and saw James standing in the doorway.

I should have been embarrassed that he caught us in such a compromising position, but I didn’t. Instead, I felt disappointed that we were interrupted. I knew I told my mom I wanted to wait, but that was before all of this. Besides, half the girls in my old school had already done it numerous times; I was one of the few that had waited. This was probably the last time we would ever be together and we had been interrupted.

My mind picked up Mark’s thoughts and I saw that he was disappointed also. How ironic that we had figured out how to read each other’s thoughts when it was too late.

“Get up,” James said, pointing the gun at us.

I sat forward and felt something dig into my back. The screwdriver, I had forgotten about it. I spent half a second trying to figure out how to send the signal to Mark until I realized he already knew. I felt his hand slide into the back of my pants and dip below the waistband.

“I don’t want to distract you,” James said pointing the gun at us.

By the time we were on our feet, Mark had successfully stashed the screwdriver in his pocket. His pants were baggy enough with oversized pockets, that the screwdriver was almost completely concealed.

James kept the gun pointed at my head. He was smart enough to know that Mark would not risk my life that way. We shuffled out the door and made our way down the rest of the hallway and into the lab.

Amanda was in the corner with Mark’s dad.

Mark paused, willing his dad to look our way. If he was reading our thoughts he gave no indication. I couldn’t help wondering if he would still destroy us. Hadn’t we given him what he had strived for? We had shown him we could become stronger. >There was another bottle of water at the last work station. I picked it up and curiously glanced at the computer screen to see Mark locked in a cell similar to the one I had occupied. I moved the mouse hoping to enlarge the screen and was surprised when a different room came into view. The room was definitely not in this building. The rich exterior and massive size of the room made me think of a ballroom you would find in a mansion on television. The room was richly decorated, but that was not what grabbed my attention.

The image showed two individuals reclining on leather sofas that sat in the far corner of the massive room reading. Could they be the missing pair that Russo raised as his own children? I stared at them for a few minutes wondering what their fate would be. Finally, I dragged myself from the screen; getting out of here was more important now.

I cautiously headed down the hallway, pausing at each door to listen for any signs of the goons that were holding us hostage. If it was silent, I would try the door knob. The first one I tried was locked. I made a mental note that Mark might be locked in there and moved on to the next one, but it was locked also.

“Crap,” I said, quietly moving on. The next three were also locked. Finally, trying the fifth door, the knob turned. I opened the door and recognized the room I had spent the first thirty six or so hours locked-up in. Moving on, I tried the next door which also opened when I turned the knob. The room appeared to be a supply closet. I gave the room a quick once over and then shut the door. I finally hit the end of the hallway which split off in two directions. I was just about to go right when I heard footsteps.

I quickly darted back the way I had come; I ducked into the supply room, and closed the door softly. I pressed my ear against the door and listened to the footsteps as they passed by. Another set followed closely behind with another behind them. I could hear their conversations as my captors headed back to the lab.