“You want a ride somewhere?”
I didn’t really feel like dealing with her, but I was wet and cold. The rain had gotten worse, and I wasn’t completely sure where I even was.
I shook my head, letting my wet hair fall in front of my face.
“Come on,” she said. “You’ll get pneumonia. Get in.”
Warm air was coming out of the open window; I could feel it when I leaned in. The seats looked like real leather.
“I’ll wreck your seats.”
“Don’t worry about the seats.”
I opened the door and got into the car, feeling the bass vibrating through the seat under me. The windows slid back up as the engine hummed and she zipped out into traffic.
“Rough day?” she asked. I shrugged.
“I guess.”
“That why you’re walking in the rain?”
“I guess.”
“What happened?”
“He slapped me.” I meant to say more, but that’s all that came out. It was the only thing that seemed relevant. She looked over at me out of the corner of her eye.
“Who?”
“Nico. He slapped me in the face.”
“What the hell did he do that for?” she asked.
“I don’t know why he did it,” I said. “I had this guy under—I mean, way under. He was totally …”
I was going to say “at my mercy,” but I didn’t like the way that sounded.
“What guy?” she asked.
“I can’t say.”
“If it was going so good, why’d he hit you?”
“Well …he slapped me.”
“Slapping is hitting.”
“I …”
I was confused. I couldn’t think straight. The first thing that came in my mind was that Nico wasn’t like that. He wanted me to stop for some reason, but I was so mad, and it was hard to explain, but taking it out on that guy made me feel a little better. Nico was trying to get me to stop, and I didn’t listen. I thought that might be what happened.
I wanted to tell Penny that, but the words didn’t come out. Saying that it was really my fault I got hit sounded like the kind of thing Karen would have said.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “Just relax. We’ll be there soon.”
“Be where soon?”
“Your new place,” she said. Not “your place,” but “your new place.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Remember this morning? I said we wanted to set you up in a new place, and you said okay? It’s a done deal.”
I did remember that, sort of. She was sitting on my couch when I woke up, and she did say something about that. She said something about getting me out of my place and into a new one. Did I agree to that?
“What do you mean, it’s a done deal?”
“Hey, sorry, but you don’t have much choice at this point; Ai paid off your old landlord and sent people over to move everything. They kept your security deposit, but to be fair, you kind of trashed the place, and anyway, you won’t need it.”
“Wait a minute. Are you saying my place is—”
“Gone.”
“Wait,” I said. “You can’t just …”
Penny looked over at me, and all of a sudden I felt really tired. Something didn’t feel right, but I didn’t have any strength to argue anymore.
“Just relax,” I heard her say, as I slumped back into the seat.
I felt like the whole thing should have freaked me out, but for some reason it didn’t. The more I thought about it, the more okay it seemed. Penny made the whole thing sound so reasonable, and I really wanted to get dry and then get into bed. I could worry about the rest of it later.
“This is a good thing,” Penny said as I started to drift off. “Relax.”
I yawned, settling back into the seat. It was really comfortable and the low hum the car made, with that faint whistle over it, was kind of relaxing. I felt dizzy, and my eyes closed. I felt my head get heavy, and the next thing I knew, Penny was shaking my arm gently. The engine noise had stopped and I could hear the rain on the roof.
“Hey,” she said. I cracked open one eye.
“How long was I asleep?”
“Not long. We’re here.”
It seemed more like a second, but I felt a little better. When I looked out the window, the people outside looked better dressed than they did when I closed my eyes. The sidewalks were clear and there wasn’t any graffiti anywhere.
“Where are we?”
“Alto Do Mundo.”
“Why?” Rich people lived there.
“Because this is where you live now. Come on.”
She opened the door and got out. I followed her, kind of in a trance. We were in a little private lot in back of a huge, fancy building with shiny glass panels. Alto Do Mundo was one of the tallest buildings, and ritziest places, in the city.
“Wait. This is where you moved me to?” I asked.
“Yeah. Come on. You’ll like it.”
When I looked around, everyone looked rich and well dressed. They looked clean. One old guy across the street was looking at me like he thought I was a hobo or something.
“Don’t worry about them,” Penny said. “Trust me. You’ll fit in fine. Follow me.”
She took us inside, through a lobby that looked like it must have cost a million dollars, then up a fancy elevator to the sixty-first floor. She turned left in the hall, and then left again before stopping at a door with a bronze number 11 on it. She flashed a key badge at the scanner, and the lock snapped open.
“Here we are,” she said as she walked through the door. She stood there, holding it open with one hand. “What do you think?”
I walked past her and looked inside as she turned the lights on. My mouth hung open.
“Nice, huh?” she said, shutting the door. I nodded.
Nice was kind of an understatement. It was amazing. It was too nice for me.
“This is for me?” I asked. It was all I could think to say.
“Yes.”
“How much …I mean, how much does it cost? I—”
“Rent’s taken care of. Don’t worry about it. Ai’s putting you up. All expenses go through her.”
“But …”
“Oh, come on. You’ve got to admit it’s great. Ai’s richer than God. This is nothing to her. Believe me. It’s not even on her radar. You lucked into something good. How often does that happen?”
“Not very often.”
“So live a little.”
I looked around. The apartment was five times the size of my old place, and every inch was spotless.
“My place is kind of a mess,” I said, still staring.
“Your old place. I’ve seen it. I was in it.”
“I …can’t keep this place like this.”
