Fire and Ice Read Online Free PDF Page B

the use?
    A sleek black Mercedes pulled up next to me. Get lost creep. I’m so not in the mood . I picked up the pace, but the car remained parallel. Eggplant tinted windows slowly lowered and I mentally braced myself.
    â€œLorelei, can I give you a lift?”
    I knew that voice. Peering through the streams of water running from my hair into my eyes, I stared into olive eyes. It was Adrius. My mind went into that internal debate mode. He looks like a bad boy, but he’s also a doctor’s kid. Although if they’re anything like preacher’s kids, I’m safer hitchhiking. And then I remembered my wallet… sitting nicely on my dresser… at home. Buses and cabs were out, and it was an hour’s walk in decent weather.
    â€œWell, are you getting in?” he pressed. “Or do you enjoy surfing without a board?”
    Seriously, how bad could he possibly be? “Not so much,” I said tentatively, reaching for the door.
    He jumped out and was at my side before I could lift the handle.
    â€œAllow me.” The door swung open as an umbrella popped up over my head, shielding me from the impossibility of getting any wetter and looking more like a drowned raccoon than I already did. He certainly didn’t need it, with hair as sexy wet as it was dry.
    â€œI don’t want to get your seats soaked.”
    He shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. Get in.”
    My fingers were starting to prune, so I didn’t need any more encouragement to slip into the buttery black leather seat — correction — heated seat. Nice . It still had that new car smell; I had an impulse to ask if it was stolen. Doctor’s kid, remember . With the rates Greenbalm charged, of course, his kid would drive a posh car. We sat in silence for a while, watching the wipers try futilely to the clear the view.
    â€œI didn’t know Dr. Greenbalm had a son.” There were no family photos lining his desk.
    Adrius didn’t say anything. So I kept up a nervous ramble. “So are you new here? It’s a pretty small town, and I don’t remember seeing you before.” Believe me, I’d remember if I had .
    He shifted. “You could say that. I’ve only been here a few days.”
    Well, that explained it. “Where were you before?”
    â€œYou wouldn’t know it.”
    â€œYou’re still in high school though, right? Oakland High?” Did that sound too hopeful?
    â€œNo.” He caught me staring at him. “…Drearyton Collegiate.”
    â€œThat’s where I go.”
    â€œI know.”
    It occurred to me to ask how, but he interrupted. “So, what are we doing?” He glanced in my direction and I had the strange inkling he was hinting at more than where I lived.
    â€œDo you know the Venti Terrace Estates?”
    He let out a low whistle. “Nice area.”
    I cringed. Gran’s little two-bedroom cottage by the beach had always felt more like home than Mom’s overly demonstrative Victorian. Of course, I’d take it over Camilla’s dilapidated shack any day. One of these days she’s going to have to trust me enough to stay home on my own.
    â€œYeah, it’s not bad if you like that whole cloned look.”
    â€œOh, I don’t know, black-and-white isn’t all that cookie-cutter. Although the red door might turn some heads.”
    â€œI know, but …” My head snapped toward him and the hair on the back of my neck rose. “How do you know my house is black and white? …With a red door?” On my street every house is some indescribable shade of beige… except for ours.
    He didn’t look at me, but his grip on the steering wheel tightened. For a moment, I didn’t think he was going to answer. It was more than a little freakish that he knew where I lived. Inching toward the door handle, I wondered if people really could jump out of a moving car.
    Finally, he looked over, seeming