Hard Wired Trilogy DeAnna Pearce (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud txt) 📖

the switch. It hissed slowly. Ari jumped as an alarm rang loudly in the truck.

“Reed,” she yelled over the noise, but she couldn’t hear anything in response.

The back door lifted, and the truck pulled to the side of the road. Ari knelt on the floor as light seeped into the truck. In Tessa’s car, Reed followed on the shoulder of the road a few car lengths behind her. The door continued to climb up, and Ari sat down on the edge with her legs dangling below in the open.

Her heart raced as she watched the dark road beneath her. Other cars flew past, some honking in warning. The alarm still blasted overhead, and the wind whipped her hair wildly around her face. Before the truck could come to a complete stop or common sense could catch up with her, she jumped.

She lost her footing in the jump and tumbled in a somersault along the rough gravel. She would have bruises to show for that tomorrow. By the time she got up, Reed was at her side, helping her up and rushing her to the car.

After a couple steps, Ari managed to steady herself. “I got it.”

With a worried look, Reed let go and went to his side of the car. Before she even shut the door, Reed spun out into traffic. Cars honked, blaring their annoyance as he cut across traffic headed in the opposite direction.

“What in the world?” Ari gripped the edge of her seat.

“Sorry. You didn’t see the size of the guy getting out of the truck.” Reed’s knuckles whitened as his eyes focused ahead. “Turn on the computer. I want to find the side streets in case that guy decides to follow us.”

“Why would he do that? I don’t think he even knew I was in there.”

“Maybe not. But that might be Garrett’s cruel idea of a joke to let that guy drive you to who-knows-where.”

Ari didn’t have a response as she wasn’t quite ready to believe Garrett did that to her. “Let’s find Tessa.” Ari turned on the car’s navigational system.

“And here I thought you’d forgotten about me.” Tessa’s voice amplified through the car.

Ari and Reed glanced at each other. A slightly guilty look crossed his face, mirroring how Ari felt.

She reached for his free hand and squeezed. “How could we ever forget about you, Tessa?”

“You better not.” The sound of Tessa’s voice, even if annoyed, made Ari smile.

With the help of the computer in Tessa’s car, which Ari drooled over, they found themselves back at the mini-mart. Tessa’s purple hair stood out amongst the older customers. Bags filled her hands, while she sported a large pair of obnoxious yellow sun glasses.

Tessa crawled into the back of the car. “Have the car drive for a bit while I go through my bags.” Tessa’s bags were filled with a wide array of clothes and food spilling out of them.

“I thought we were on the run,” Ari said, turning back to face Tessa. “Who knew it was a vacation.”

“Poor, Ari. You’ve probably never had a real vacation,” Tessa said the words with a sarcastic edge Ari didn’t like, but somehow expected from her. “I would feel bad for you if I hadn’t seen your contract.” Tessa stuck her tongue out, sporting an electronic ball studded in the middle of it.

“When did you get a that?”

Tessa shrugged her shoulders. “I got bored waiting for you. I did buy some stuff for you guys.” She threw a bag of beef jerky to Reed.

He mumbled his thanks as he dug into the jerky. Darkness had fallen, and they hadn’t eaten since their meeting with Dave which seemed like days ago.

Tessa popped a bottle and passed it up to Ari. “Here’s some caffeine. We have a long drive.”

“Thanks,” Ari said, realizing how much Tessa had done for her. It would be hard to say goodbye.

“No problem.”

“No, really,” Ari continued, playing with the lid on her drink. “I wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without you. You’ve helped with the agent, the car—”

“I love you too, now shut up. You’re more exciting to hang out with than anyone else in school, even if you do suck at gaming.”

“I don’t suck.” Ari protested, bringing up the ongoing debate.

“Hey, the fact that I hang out with you regardless says a lot.”

“Thanks ... I guess.”

“Wake up Izzy so we can listen to some tunes.”

“Izzy?”

“My in-car computer,” Tessa replied. “Or you can lose to me again. I have my game loaded on Izzy too.”

“Bring it.”

The trip flew by with gaming and never-ending cans of caffeine while Izzy drove. They joked, laughed, and slayed fictional monsters. While Ari enjoyed her friends, part of her knew it was the last time they would be together. It was hard to imagine leaving those two.

“Izzy,” Tessa spoke to her computer, “I need a pit stop.”

“Searching for the closest restrooms,” Izzy replied in an English accent.

“We only have thirty more minutes. Can you hold it?” Reed asked.

“Yeah, but my bladder can’t.”

Izzy pulled over at a public restroom stop. Neon orange lights lit the seedy parking lot in the middle of the night. Ari could tell home wasn’t far away. She had to give Tessa credit though—Tessa didn’t balk at the graffiti-lined block, or benches that looked like a bird’s toilet.

Ari didn’t like to think of Tessa going alone, and she did need to go to the bathroom too. “I think I’ll go too.”

Getting out of the car, the smell of rain hit her. They must have missed the storm, but the puddles still littered the road and sidewalk. She had a slight pang of homesickness, of popcorn on rainy days, and her mother who she hoped to see one more time.

“Might as well.” Reed got out of the car and headed over to the men’s restroom.

Tessa grabbed the old metal door and the stench hit Ari first.

“This is a dump,” Tessa protested as they walked into the barely lit bathroom. “At least we only have to pee here.”

The girls