Hard Wired Trilogy by DeAnna Pearce (smart books to read .TXT) 📕

“Maybe it was the water on the ground. What did you hit him with?” Reed asked.

“A little toy my dad got for me when I turned twelve, an amped up stun gun.”

Ari finally put all the right consonants and vowels together “Reed.” The words came out in a whisper. She tried again, louder. “Reed, I’m fine.”

He gave her a questioning look. “If you didn’t sound like a ninety-year-old stroke victim, I might believe you. But you’re talking, so that’s better.”

Ari hummed an agreement. Glad to see the fear and anger leave Reed’s face, she laid her head against the seat and stared at him from the back. Going over her last few conscious moments, she realized just how lucky they all were to have survived. She thought about the dirt bag saying that once she left she would never see Reed again.

She didn’t want to leave Reed. She didn’t want to leave his sweet smile, his soft lips, and his fingers that were rough and often ink-stained from his drawings. She loved every part of him. Maybe it was the near-death experience, but she didn’t want to lose him. Ever.

“Come with me,” Ari told Reed. Her own words sounded stilted in her ears.

He took his eyes from the road momentarily. “I am coming with you, Ari. Don’t worry, I think maybe we should go to my house instead of yours. In case whoever that was gets your address. Your mom should be okay. She’ll be at work. They’ll probably watch her, but if we don’t make contact, she should be fine.”

Ari must have been tired, too tired to remember not to worry about all of that. She pushed herself up to a seated position. After a moment the spinning subsided. Glad to be reminded her mom was safe at work, she repeated her request. “I mean, come with me to work for VisionTech.”

His brow crumpled slightly. “What? I still haven’t graduated.”

“Forget graduation and a job you hate. I’ll make enough money to pay off our schooling. You can do whatever you want, do what you love. You could draw.” Ari had been thinking about it for some time but felt too selfish, or maybe too scared, to mention it before. But after that night she didn’t care anymore.

“What?” The surprise on his face would have made Ari shrink normally, but she couldn’t seem to be bothered when she still couldn’t feel her toes.

“You hate school. You want to do your art. So, do it.”

“That isn’t a job.”

“You don’t know that. Dave might hire you when he sees your work.”

“There’s my mom to think about and school ...” He faced the dark road ahead of them. “I just don’t know.”

A cold spread through her body as Ari turned to stare out the dark window, unsure if she’d said the right thing.

Chapter Thirty

When Reed opened the car door, the cold air woke Ari to her surroundings. Dawn was still several hours out, and the only light came from the car’s interior lights. Ari slowly climbed out, and Reed pulled her into a hug. Her muscles ached as if she had been run over.

He kissed her forehead. “I was worried about you back there.”

She drank up his touch before he pulled away a few seconds later. Turning around, she realized they were back in their own neighborhood, more specifically at Reed’s apartment. The three-story brick building was painted brown with additions built on like an afterthought. It was chaotic, messy, and smelled like the cigarette butts littering the alleyway, but it was the closest to home she’d been in a while.

He motioned to Tessa, who was passed out in the front seat. “I guess we need to wake her up.”

“Yeah,” Ari agreed. “She saved our butts back there.”

“Yes, she did.” Reed stared for a moment as if he were somewhere else, momentarily lost in thought.

Ari leaned over and rapped at the window.

Tessa lifted her arm, covering her face to glare at Ari.

“Leave me here,” she shouted through the closed window.

“Not in this neighborhood.” Ari opened the door. “I like you too much.”

Ari reached inside and pulled Tessa out, while Reed grabbed the bags.

Tessa was on her feet, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “Are you sure my Izzy will be alright out here?”

“Do you have a good security system?”

“Yeah, she’ll be fine.” Tessa waved away her concern and headed to the building.

“Is your mom home?” Ari asked Reed as she held Tessa in one arm and her small bag in the other. As they approached his door on the bottom floor, Ari wondered if Reed’s mother was about to be startled awake.

“No, she’s been on the night shift for a while now. We can crash in my room.” Reed used his code to open the door.

Ari wished Reed’s mom was home, so she could hug her one more time. His mom was a staple in their neighborhood, one more person Ari wouldn’t see for a long time.

Reed lugged up their bags. “Take Tessa to my room. She looks like she’ll collapse any minute.”

The two-bedroom apartment had a small kitchen, living space, and a single bathroom. It was similar to all the other buildings in the neighborhood. Ari lived in a building only two blocks away, except hers was a three-bedroom apartment, due to their family size.

The girls shuffled down the hall, while Reed moved to the kitchen. Ari glimpsed pictures of Reed as a child in frames on the wall. She loved the one from elementary school, back when she first remembered Reed. He was all knees and elbows, playing in the street with Marco and Ari.

Leaving the memories behind, she pushed open the first door and knew immediately it was his bedroom. It smelled like Reed, with a musky scent that could only be his. It smelled safe.

Without a word, Tessa threw herself down on the only bed in the room. She didn’t bother pulling down the sheets or taking off her shoes, but face-planted