Read Ann Marie's Asylum (Master and Apprentice Book 1) for Free Online Page B

his young passenger. He asked, “What were you doing stranded at The Pink Pelican? Don’t you and your mom live all the way in Lakewood?”
    “She loves the beach and wanted to have dinner in Palos Verdes,” said Ann Marie, looking quite bothered at that moment. “I thought I could meet her after work. I thought we could spend some time together.”
    “That didn’t work out?”
    “She got drunk and left me. Left me for some assholes.”
    Dade nodded as though he understood even more than she had communicated. “I see,” he said.
    “Does this car have music?” asked Ann Marie with her voice cracking and tears starting to force their way out of her eyes.
    “Of course.”
    “Can you put on some rap music?”
    Dade Harkenrider addressed the computer-controlled vehicle by saying, “Asylum One, music, ThugLUV, debut album, Killadelphia, track one.” He looked to her, saying, “I saw your poster. It’s what you like, right?”
    “Can you take off your sunglasses.”
    “Does that mean the audio track is acceptable?”
    “I want to see your eyes,” she told him. “It’s weird that you wear those things all the time. What are you, some kind of jazz musician?” She was surprised at herself and immediately regretted the snideness of her remark. “I’m sorry,” she told him. “I’m just upset. You’re helping me out. If you want to wear sunglasses around everyone, it’s your thing. I get it.”
    Harkenrider slipped his glasses down his nose. Suddenly she was staring directly into his big, haunted eyes. They communicated, she thought, a beautiful mixture of sadness and determination. There was something profoundly childlike about Dade Harkenrider. He looked like a boy on a mission, trapped in a body built for combat.
    She couldn’t take her eyes from his face. She felt something she could only describe as mildly hypnotic, a lightness starting in her temples and fanning out across her entire body. It felt like the beginning of a more pleasant cousin to vertigo. It was subtle but enough to make her put her head back against the headrest.
    Harkenrider put his glasses back on and the sensations went away. Ann Marie decided to chalk it up to overdosing that evening on diet cokes. She leaned her further back in her seat and tried to forget that she was going home. When they reached the front of her apartment building, she didn’t want to get out of the car. They waited for a few minutes before Dade asked her if she was upset.
    “I wish it was tomorrow already,” she said before finally stepping out and walking to her front door.
     
    ...
     
    Early the following morning, her mother stumbled through the front door of the apartment. She woke Ann Marie, who had fallen asleep on the couch while waiting up. “I’m so sorry, baby,” Lori said, trying not to let too much morning light flood the room. “I’m so sorry about last night.” She knelt down next to the couch and ran her fingers through Ann Marie’s hair. “I should never have left my baby. I owe you such an apology.”
    “It’s OK. I’ll live.”
    “I also have to say sorry about one other thing too.”
    “What?”
    “You’re going to be mad.”
    “What is it?”
    “I lost the rental car.”
    “You what!” Ann Marie shouted as she threw the covers off and started to run to the bathroom to get ready. “I have to call a cab! Again! It was costing a fortune. You were supposed to drive me today. I’m never gonna be able to get to work on time!” She dialed her phone and ordered the cab, which she was told would take forty minutes to arrive.
    Lori told her, “I’m the one that had to figure out the damn bus system with the worst headache. Let me tell you the public transportation system in LA sucks a big one compared to Philly.”
    “Fine,” said Ann Marie, running out of the bathroom and tucking in her blouse. “Did you at least report the car stolen or call the rental place?”
    “Well, I don’t know that it was stolen. I think I