Authors: Heidi Ayarbe

Wanted (33 page)

BOOK: Wanted

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Calm down. It’s okay. You’re going to be fine
.

But he can’t hear me. Or I’m not talking. I can’t feel if my lips are moving—everything’s become so still.

Josh is lying next to me, his face pushed to the crimson tiles with rough hands. Tears drip down his cheeks mixing with the sticky dark floor—slippery, smeary gray. The color is gone now. Except for Josh’s eyes—bright green.

Don’t cry
.
It’s all okay now
.

It’s not like in the movies where everything flashes before you—scenes of regret or happiness. It’s like becoming a fish—slipping underwater.

Josh frees his hand, reaches it out, lacing his fingers in mine.

It’s so clear. I am wanted.

Acknowledgments

IF ONLY GETTING A BOOK

out there was as easy being as a wizard standing behind a curtain, or clicking your heels in snazzy red shoes. . . . This book is in your hands because of a slew of people who worked incredibly hard to make sure it got there.

Thanks to the phenomenal team at HarperCollins and Balzer + Bray, including: Caroline Sun, Olivia deLeon, and Emilie Polster—publicists and marketing director extraordinaire.
Huge, giant, never-ending
thanks to Renée Cafiero, who has to be the most brilliant mind in copyediting south of the North Pole. To Michelle Taormina in Design, who created a breathtaking cover. Sara Sargent, for seeing this through. And finally to Alessandra Balzer and Donna Bray for taking a chance on an unconventional western.

This book would be nowhere without the exceptional insight, editorial eye, and patience of my editor, Ruta Rimas. Thank you so much!

I have the fortune and privilege to work with the best agent south of the North Pole as well. Thank you, Stephen Barbara, Super Agent, without whom my odd ideas wouldn’t get very far.

Thank you to the amazing children’s writing community and my critique group.

I’m so grateful for my friend Gwen, who not only let me hide in her house for days on end to work on this novel but also offered full-on catering and twenty-four-hour coffee service. You’re a writer’s secret weapon.

I thank Dad and Rick for being the most gentle giants I know.

And if there
is
a wizard behind a curtain, it’s my husband. Cesar lost me to a world of online gambling and crime for much of 2010 and 2011. Thank you for your patience and support and patience. I’m back!

About the Author

HEIDI AYARBE GREW UP IN NEVADA AND

has lived all over the world. She now makes her home in Colombia with her husband and daughters. She is also the author of
Compulsion
,
Compromised
, and
Freeze Frame
. You can visit her online at www.heidiayarbe.com.

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www.AuthorTracker.com
for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins authors.

Also by Heidi Ayarbe

FREEZE FRAME

COMPROMISED

COMPULSION

Credits

Cover design by Michelle Taormina

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Balzer + Bray is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

Wanted

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Ayarbe, Heidi.

Wanted / Heidi Ayarbe. — 1st ed.

p. cm.

Summary: Seventeen-year-old Michal Garcia, a bookie at Carson City High School, raises the stakes in her illegal activities after she meets wealthy, risk-taking Josh Ellison.

ISBN 978-0-06-199388-6 (trade bdg.)

[1. Gambling—Fiction. 2. Crime—Fiction. 3. High schools—Fiction. 4. Schools—Fiction. 5. Nevada—Fiction.] I. Title

PZ7.A9618 Wan 2012

[Fic]—dc23

2011032650
CIP
AC

12 13 14 15 16
CG/RRDH
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

FIRST EDITION

EPub Edition © MARCH 2012 ISBN: 9780062114655

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