PART ONE
Prologue
Wesley
Age 15
It was the thrill that got to me every time. The anticipation of getting caught, and the need to keep going anyway. Maybe it was sheer stupidity, or maybe I was just an adrenaline junkie with a bit of a felon complex, but bathing in the shadows of darkness, shrouded in black from head to toe, made me feel invincible.
The cold metal glinted off an overhead streetlight as I whipped out my trusty Slim Jim from my pocket, mouth salivating over the shiny Nero Black Maserati Ghibli sitting in the driveway just waiting to be boosted.
There was a few grand waiting for me back at the shop if I could pull this off, so I wasn’t about to turn around and lose out on a good paycheck. It wasn’t an honest way to earn a living, but it sure paid the bills, since Pops wouldn’t fucking give me shit when I asked for it.
“Alright, pretty lady, be nice for Daddy,” I cooed, gently fingering the shimmering paint job that glittered and twinkled inthe over-cast light. I’d never driven a car this expensive before, but I hadn’t boosted one either.
There was a first time for everything.
The red light blinked inside, almost like it was goading me on, taunting me to try to take it. I’d disabled complex alarms before, faster than most. But I was also young and stupid, and felt invincible when I wasn’t even close.
I was either seriously fucked, or about to be the richest bastard in Reno.
The metal scraped against the glass, moving fast but coming in a bit shaky. What I didn’t anticipate was how touchy she would be, because immediately the alarm sounded, scaring the fuck out of me.
With the reaction of a striking cobra, I fidgeted with the metal, hoping to hook the door just right in order to pop it open and get in before being detected.
That’s when the airbags deployed inside, whipping out the side of the door frame with a bang so loud, it sounded like a fucking gunshot. Immediately, I was on the ground, my heart thundering inside my chest like I was on a never-ending hamster wheel.
“Fuck!” I yelled, just as the front door swung open, and someone came rushing outside.
“Who’s there?” a young female voice cried out, searching the darkness for me.
I didn’t know what compelled me to look up, or why my heart was suddenly inside my throat, but the girl who blinked back at me from behind those wide, way too big for her face, glasses, took my goddamn breath away.
Thin from head to toe, her gorgeous ebony hair with a strange red tint, dangled behind her back in a long ponytail, a stark contrast to the flawless, tan-kissed skin that was barely covered by her short jammies and low hanging tank top. She wasprobably about my age, maybe a grade younger, but the fact that she was outside in the middle of winter, protecting her parents’ car like it was hers to defend, made me even more attracted to her.
She pushed up her glasses; those round, chocolate-colored eyes bore into me like I was the worst person in the world. “What on earth are you doing?” Her nose scrunched in anger in the most adorable way, showing off a spattering of freckles most girls would kill for. If she thought she was being menacing, she was far from it.
“I’m just out for a stroll,” I said casually, though my heart was pumping wildly in my chest, knowing my time was too limited for chit-chat.
“You’re a thief, aren’t you?”
She looked at the metal sticking out of the car window and the extended airbags, then suddenly backed toward the door, eyes already panicking. “I’m calling the police.”
“I’m leaving,” I told her, holding up my hands in surrender, even though she had nothing to hit me with. “You don’t have to do that.”
She stared at me strangely, head slightly tilting as a manly voice shouted from somewhere behind her, “What the hell is going on out there?”
We shared a look. The kind that wished for mercy but was only met with wrath and rage. Should her father find me out here, I’d be cooked, and this wasn’t my first offense. If the cops came, I’d be locked up for sure this time.
She didn’t have to save me that night, or let me go, but she did.
“It’s nothing, Daddy.”
And it was in that moment that I fell in love for the first time in my life.
She waved me off with her hands, giving me the few seconds I needed to escape and flee into the darkness. It was the two minutes of mercy I desperately needed—two minutes to get as far away from that car as I could.
Two minutes that weren’t long enough…
