Page 27 of Lost
“Aren’t you Zack Bennett’s son?”
Lysander’s eyes snapped open. That was the last thing he had expected to hear, and for a moment he wondered whether he’d imagined it. But there was the source of the voice not five steps to his left — a girl a few years his senior, wearing a fluorescent green bikini and a curious expression. She smiled widely when their eyes met. Lysander was so stunned by the intensity of her gaze that he almost took a step back.
“Oh my God, itisyou!” she gushed. “I had no idea you were in California!”
Lysander baulked. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
His mind shot back to the message that Zack had posted online. He’d said he wasn’t ready for people to know about him, and Zack had respected that. He hadn’t told anybody. He’d seen the message himself, and there was definitely no mention of him in it. Had Zack gone behind his back and posted another? No. He wouldn’t have, not without asking. He trusted his father that much, at least.
But then how did this girl know who he was?
“You’re Dakota’s brother,” she went on. She nodded emphatically, as if she were trying to convince herself as much as she was him. “You guys are twins, right? That’s what the captions said.”
Lysander’s mouth was dry. “What captions?”
“On the photos. The ones on her socials!”
Lysander didn’t have accounts on the sites Dakota had frequented, and he didn’t know every little thing that his sister had posted to hers. But of course she had photos of him, photos of the pair of them together. It wasn’t a stretch to think she might have posted them for her friends to see. And now, for all the world to see.
His stomach flipped. His head spun.
“What’s it like?” the girl asked. She didn’t bother trying to hide the eagerness in her voice. “What’shelike? Zack. Christ, he’s such a goddamn ho—”
“I have to go.” The words came out in a rush. Lysander could barely hear them, muffled by the rushing sound in his own ears. “I’m sorry, I… I’m gonna be late for something.”
He was running for the highway before the disappointed look had finished spreading across her face, kicking up sand in his wake. So much for feeling free. Now it felt like everybody he passed was staring at him for a different reason. He found himself looking at them more closely. Did they know? Dideverybodyknow?
He ran the same path back to the house, practically flying through the front door the second he had it unlocked. It snapped shut a little louder than he’d intended, but neither his father nor Georgia called out from upstairs. He stood with his back to the door for several moments, taking the time to catch his breath, to calm his racing heart. The wood against his back let him know that he was safe.
He hadn’t bothered to put his shoes back on after leaving the beach. His feet would be paying for it later, but there was nothing to be done for it now. He gave his toes an experimental flex. They felt fine. His feet had been put through worse, anyway. And anything was better than being back on the beach with that girl.
It’s fine, he assured himself.It was just one girl. Probably a one-off. She didn’t even try anything.
He felt stupid as soon as the thought hit him. It probablywasa one-off. And it wasn’t like it had been that bad. The girl hadn’t tackled him or anything, just…surprised him. Hardly something to get worked up about. He’d probably made things worse by running off the way he had. She probably thought he was a maniac. What an idiot.
Pull yourself together, Maverick.
He was careful not to make a sound as he headed back upstairs, first depositing his sneakers in his room and then heading for the bathroom. A shower would help him clear his head. And he was going to need it to get through the rest of the day. He had people to meet — something he wasn’t particularly looking forward to, especially after his morning encounter, but he’d agreed to this. Better to get it over with.
Neither Zack nor Georgia emerged from their room until almost midday, by which time Lysander had pushed the morning’s meeting with the girl to the back of his mind.
The Harmons' house was exactly as Lysander had expected: as grand as Zack’s, spacious and open, but also child-proofed for the benefit of their baby daughter. She was the first new face he saw when the door was opened. She squirmed gleefully in her mother’s arms, evidently thrilled by all the people showing up at her house.
“Hey, guys,” a blonde greeted them, a genuine smile crossing her face as she opened the door wider to grant them access. “Glad you could make it.”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Georgia said as she stepped inside. She was quick to take the squirming child from her friend’s arms. “I could never pass up a chance to see this little darling!”
Zack motioned for Lysander to go in ahead of him. Lysander did, smiling politely at the woman he presumed was Brendan’s wife as he passed her. Zack gave the woman a swift peck on the cheek by way of greeting.
“Good to see you, Nat,” he said earnestly as she shut the door behind him. “Not late, are we?”
“Of course not. Pat and Vicky are the only ones here.”
Pat. Lysander felt a twinge of relief. Pat had been around to the house a handful of times since the first time they’d met, and he’d come to be comfortable around the man. And another familiar face at the party wasn’t a bad thing. So far, Pat and Brendan’s wives were the only ones he didn’t know. Them, and the bouncing baby in Georgia’s arms. Maybe today wouldn’t be as bad as he’d anticipated.
Zack placed a hand on his shoulder, and Lysander straightened at once.
“This is my son,” his father introduced him, “Lysander.” To Lysander he said, “This is Bren’s wife, Natalia.”
