Life After Theft Read Online Free Page B

idea of a good, sensible car. Something about them lasting forever? I turned to Kimberlee. “This way.”
    I headed to the farthest end of the lot, where almost no one parked. The spaces on both sides of my Z4 were empty. That was worth the walk.
    Kimberlee stroked her fingers along the black hood as though she could actually feel something. “I saw this yesterday when I followed you home,” she said, as if following people home was completely normal. “Daddy’s?”
    I put my shades on as I pressed the unlock button on my keychain. “Nope. She’s all mine. Kimberlee, meet Halle.”
    “Halle?”
    It’s not that I’m embarrassed that I named my car, but, well, it’s kind of personal.
    Kimberlee stood outside the door. After almost thirty seconds I rolled down the window. “You coming?”
    “I thought you were going to open the door for me.”
    “I thought I wasn’t supposed to do stuff like that for my imaginary friend .”
    She rolled her eyes. “Fine.” She slipped through the door and settled in the seat.
    I stared at her, everything I’d learned in physics screaming that this made no sense. “Why don’t you fall through the bottom of the car?” I finally asked.
    “I don’t know,” she said testily. “Why don’t you?”
    I shook my head and put the key in the ignition.
    “Should I put on my seat belt?”
    “Can you?”
    That shut her up.
    “Come on, why Halle?”
    Okay, not completely. “ Not telling you.”
    “Spill!”
    I didn’t have the stamina for another battle of wills with Kimberlee. “I named her after Halle Berry. She played Storm in the X-Men movies.”
    “You’re such a nerd. Why her?”
    I could feel my face getting hot. “Well, you know . . . ’cause she’s hot. And black. And my car is hot, and black.”
    Kimberlee smirked. “So you want to ride her all over town?”
    “ What? No, it’s a compliment! Like naming a boat! I just—it’s just a stupid . . . Forget I said anything. Can we just drop it now?”
    “Whatever you say, Grand Wizard.”
    I shook my head and started the car. She was just baiting me. Again. How did I keep walking into her traps?
    “You drive like my grandma,” Kimberlee said after a few minutes of inching along.
    “You think that’s an insult? Try harder.” I knew what this car could do. The first week I got it I took a trip to Vegas and made it from Phoenix to the Hoover Dam in just over two hours. My car is fast . And I admit, I roared into school moving pretty quick yesterday, but then I realized the kids here all drive like they’re on crack. Seriously. So after a near miss with a red Miata, I’d decided that slower was better.
    At least until I got out of the parking lot.
    Kimberlee pointed me down several streets, each wider and more stately than the last, until I pulled up in front of a huge white mansion.
    “Whoa, sweet.” Our house was supernice, but this was the kind of house you see on the home-design shows my mom watches. The feature homes.
    “Turn down that little road over there. It’ll take you to the beach,” Kimberlee said, clearly not impressed.
    “Are you sure nobody’s going to arrest me for being here?” Because I was most definitely not sure.
    “Nah. There’s a gate. I’ll tell you the code.”
    I pulled onto the drive on the right side of the house and stopped next to a keypad.
    “Eight-six-four-two-two, star.”
    I punched in the numbers, then my finger hovered over the star. I closed my eyes and pushed, expecting flashing lights and cops with their guns drawn. I could almost hear the megaphone. Step out of your car with your hands up! But all I actually heard was the quiet whir of the gate sliding open. So far, so good .
    The road sloped sharply before ending in a ten-space parking lot in front of a gorgeous white beach, surrounded on both sides by tall cliffs. “Whoa!” I said as I climbed out of my car, feeling more like I was on a movie set than what was essentially someone’s