Chapter Five

"You didn't have to fix my tire," I say.

"Are you mad that I did?"

"No. Not really. It's just..." I look out the side window. "I was just surprised."

"Hey." He reaches over and takes my hand. "I was just trying to help. When I see a problem I fix it. That's just who I am. But I should've asked first, or at least told you I did it."

"Yeah, that would've been good."

"Tell you what. Next time I get a flat, I'll let you fix it. That way we'll be even. You don't even have to tell me you did it."

I laugh. "Yeah, that's probably not going to happen. I don't know how to change a tire. Actually, I'm surprised YOU do."

He glances at me. "And why is that?"

"I'm not saying you couldn't do it. I'm just wondering why you would, when you can afford to hire someone. How'd you even learn how to change a tire?"

"My grandpa taught me when I was 13. Just because my family has money doesn't mean we hire people to do everything for us. Like I said, my dad grew up with nothing so he's used to doing things himself."

"Even now?"

"Not so much now. He doesn't have time, but if he had to change a tire, he could."

"Do your grandparents live nearby?"

"My grandma passed away a few years ago so it's just my grandpa. He lives in Hartford in the same house my dad grew up in. It's a shitty house in a bad part of town but he refuses to move."

"Do you see him much?"

"I stay with him for a week or two every summer. Other than that, I only see him a couple times a year, but now that I'm going to school here in Connecticut I'm hoping to see him more."

"Does your dad see him much?"

"No. They don't really get along."

I don't ask why. I don't want to pry. But the fact that Niles lives in a mansion and his dad insists on living in a run-down house tells me Niles wanted out of the life he grew up in and his father didn't approve.

"How about your family?" he asks. "You see them much?"

"I visit my mom in Florida a couple times a year, usually summer and Christmas. And she'll come up here a couple times. As for my dad, I haven't talked to him for a while. Last time I did, he was drunk, after promising me he'd stopped drinking. I got angry and we had a fight and I haven't talked to him since."

"How long's it been?"

"Two years, which is way too long. I need to get in touch with him. I'm just afraid of what I'll find when I do. If he's drinking again...I don't want to know."

He squeezes my hand. "I'm sorry. That's tough."

"Yeah."

"When did your parents divorce?"

"When I was five. My mom got custody of me. My dad wasn't really around back then." I look at Gavin. "Could we talk about something else? This is kind of depressing."

"Sure." He smiles. "You pick the topic."

My mind wanders to last night and the party at his house.

"So last night...why were you there?"

"I went home to pick up some stuff. I moved in the dorms last Saturday but didn't bring everything. I was waiting to see how much more I could fit in there. Those dorm rooms are really small."

I don't remember seeing anything in his car last night but maybe he had it in the trunk.

"What was going on last night?" I ask. "At the party?"

"What do you mean?"

"The women left after the cocktails. Only the men had dinner."

"Um, okay." He chuckles. "I don't know what you're getting at here."

"You don't think that's strange?"

"Not really. I don't pay attention to that stuff. My parents have parties all the time. Maybe my dad was having some kind of campaign dinner last night."

"If it was a campaign dinner, shouldn't you have been there?"

"I don't attend all his events. He has so many I can't even keep track of them. I go to a few but I don't have time to go to them all. I'm too busy with school."

"I thought you were helping with his campaign."

"I do. I help by sending out mailers, working on his website, doing social media promotions to get people our age to vote. Doing that stuff is more useful than attending all his campaign events." 

"I don't think last night was about the campaign. Holton Kensington was there. Isn't he Republican?"

Gavin smiles at me as we stop at a red light. "What's going on here? Are you one of those conspiracy people? Or an undercover reporter looking for a story?"

"Neither. I just thought it was odd that the women didn't stick around for dinner."

"I think you're reading too much into it. Why the women didn't stick around, I don't know, but I wouldn't worry about it. And as for Holton being there, he's a friend of my dad's. They got to know each other a few years ago at an event. And my mom got to be friends with his wife, Eleanor."

"I'm surprised they'd be friends with people who have such different political views."

"You don't have to share the same political views to be friends."

"So you have Republican friends?"

"Tons. And some who are Democrats. We debate each other all the time. I don't always agree with them but I respect their opinions."

"But you must get along better with your friends who are Democrats, given that you share the same beliefs."

"Not always. I share beliefs with both sides. I'm registered as Independent."

"Really? And your dad isn't mad about that?"

"It's not up to him. But no, he's not mad. It actually looks good to voters. It shows that my dad isn't afraid to let me be my own person. Have my own beliefs. People respect that. By the way, we don't have to talk politics. It's a big part of my life, but I get that talking about that stuff can make people uncomfortable."

"Honestly, I don't really follow politics." I glance out the side window. "I didn't even vote in the last election."

"Then I guess that ends the date. I'll turn around."

"What?" I whip my head back to him. "Are you serious?"

He laughs. "I'm totally messing with you. I don't care if you voted or not. And I don't mind if you don't follow politics. Actually, it's good to be around someone who doesn't. Between my classes and my dad running for office, politics kind of consume my life right now and sometimes I could use a break from it."

"Then we'll make that topic off limits for at least tonight."

He smiles. "Sounds good to me." He takes his hand from mine as he turns a corner. I wish he'd hold my hand again. I liked it. Kurt never held my hand.

"So, um, I wasn't going to tell you this but I probably should."

His statement makes me tense up. "Tell me what?"

"There was nothing wrong with your tire."

I turn to look at him. "What do you mean?"

"I went to change it and found there was nothing wrong with it. There wasn't a nail it it, or a tear, or any kind of damage. Someone had just let the air out. I keep an air pump in my trunk so I used it to pump up the tire and that's what fixed it. It just needed air."

"Wait, so you're saying someone purposely did this?"

"I'm guessing it was your ex. Was he mad when you broke up with him?"

"Not really. And when I talked to him this morning he was totally fine. In fact, he's already moved on with someone else."

"You talked to him this morning?" Gavin almost sounds jealous but maybe I'm just imagining it.

"I thought he was the one who fixed my tire so I called to thank him but he didn't know what I was talking about."

"Huh. Then someone else let the air out. Any idea who it might be?"

"No, but now I'm worried. Why would someone do that?"

"Maybe it was kids just messin' around."

"But why me? Why my car and nobody else's?" I shake my head. "It had to be someone I knew." I chew on my lip, trying to think who would do this. I don't have any enemies, at least none that I know of.

He takes my hand. "Hey, don't worry about it. If this person really wanted to do harm, he or she would've slashed your tire, not just let the air out. And they would've done all four, not just one."

"Which doesn't make sense. None of this makes sense."

"If you're really worried about it, you could go to the cops. File a report."

I sigh. "Maybe it was like you said. Just some kids playing a prank."

We pull into the restaurant parking lot. He parks and shuts the car off. "You gonna be okay?" he asks, sounding concerned.

"Yeah, I'm just a little shaken."

"Let's go in and have dinner. Talk about something else. Maybe you'll start to feel better."

I nod and he comes around and opens my door. We go in the restaurant, which is dimly lit with candles on every table. Classical music is playing softly in the background. It's very romantic, the type of place Kurt should've taken me. But I'm glad he didn't. I'm glad we broke up. Gavin is so much better. Our date just started and I'm already having a better time than I had on most of my dates with Kurt.

Kurt's an outgoing, life-of-the-party type of guy so it's not like we didn't have fun on our dates. But he didn't care about me. Some part of me knew that but I wouldn't admit it to myself until we broke up.

Gavin just met me and already seems to care about me. That's why he fixed my tire. And why he offered to help when he saw me crying at his house.

"Right this way," the hostess says.

Gavin puts his hand on my lower back as we walk to our table. We take our seats, and as the hostess hands us the menus she smiles at Gavin and says, "Your father was here just last week."

"Oh, yeah?" He smiles back. "I'm surprised he was here. It's kind of a long drive from his house."

"He was meeting some men for dinner. They ate in the private dining room. I assumed it was about his campaign."

"Yeah, probably." Gavin opens his menu.

"Enjoy your meal." Her eyes linger on him before she walks away. She's older than us by at least a few years, but she was definitely checking out Gavin. I'm sure he gets that a lot. He's hot, rich, charming. I'm surprised he doesn't have a girlfriend.

"What?" He's looking at me, smiling.

I realize I was staring and pick up my menu. "Nothing."

He chuckles. "Why were you looking at me that way?"

"I wasn't." I open my menu and scan the short list of items. It's not a big menu.

"Kate." He reaches across the table for my hand. "Just tell me. Do I have something on my face?"

"No. It's not that. I just..."

"You just what?"

I set my menu down. "I just noticed the hostess checking you out and I was thinking that probably happens a lot, so...why do you not have a girlfriend?"

His eyes, which are a beautiful shade of light blue, zero in on mine. "You really shouldn't be thinking about that while on a date. Besides, why do you care?" His lips turn up a bit. He's teasing me. Baiting me. Wanting me to admit I like him.

"I was just wondering." I slip my hand from his and pick up my menu.

He sits back. "I had a girlfriend for two years. It was serious. We'd talked about marriage."

Surprised, I look up from my menu. "What happened?"

"Her dad didn't like me."

"Why not?"

He shrugs. "He just didn't think I was good enough for his daughter. But honestly, he'll never think anyone's good enough for her. He's really protective of her. Too protective, in my opinion."

"So he told her to break up with you?"

"Yeah, and if she didn't, he threatened to disown her. Her parents are wealthy. She needed their money, or she thought she did. The truth is, she would've been fine without it. She already had a scholarship for college and I'm sure she'll get one for grad school. She has perfect grades and all her professors love her. And if she needed money for other stuff, like rent, I would've given it to her. But she chose to follow Daddy's orders and broke up with me last May. I didn't see it coming. I never thought she'd do that to me."

"Wow. I see why you didn't want to talk about it."

"I don't have a problem talking about it, just not on a date with a girl I'm trying to get to know. I'd rather talk about you than Leighton."

"Leighton. That's a pretty name."

He leans across the table, a stern look on his face. "Stop talking about her."

"I like her name. That's all. You don't hear that name very often."

"I like the name Kate. I assume your full name is Katherine?"

"Yes, but Katherine sounds old. I prefer Kate."

"Any reason why your parents named you Katherine?"

"It was the name of my mom's favorite soap opera character. The character ended up being pushed over a cliff by the married man she was having an affair with, which totally bummed out my mom."

He laughs. "That's quite a story."

"Yeah, it's funny. My mom kept hoping they'd bring Katherine back to life, like they do on some soap operas, but they never did. So what about Gavin? Any reason why your parents chose it?"

"My mom chose it. She thought the name sounded brave and distinguished. Gavin is a form of Gawain, who was the nephew of King Arthur and a knight of the Round Table."

"That's a lot more impressive than a soap opera character."

"Maybe, but Katherine is also the name of queens, including one of the wives of King Henry the Eighth. Some say she was his most influential advisor."

"You know your history."

"I've always liked history, especially the history of kings and queens. There's so much drama, especially within families. The more you read about them, the more you realize their lives were like one big soap opera, which brings us back to the Katherine you were named after."

As he talks, I'm realizing how different Gavin is from Kurt. We're actually having a real conversation that's interesting and engaging. Kurt only talked about himself. His workouts. His job. What movies he liked. What he did that day. I don't think he ever asked me about myself.

Gavin notices the waitress coming toward us. "You ready to order?"

"Not quite. I need a minute."

"No problem." He smiles as the waitress stops at our table. "We're not quite ready."

"That's fine. I'll be back." She winks at him.

"Now the waitress is flirting with you," I say. "Does this always happen?"

"What are you talking about? She wasn't flirting."

"She winked at you."

"She probably just had something in her eye. Anyway, I'd suggest the braised tenderloin if you're not sure what to get."

I shouldn't keep comparing Gavin to Kurt, but I can't help it. Gavin just ignored the waitress' flirtatious wink whereas Kurt would've flirted back, then told me he was just joking around. Now that I know he's a cheater, it makes me wonder if he ever hooked up with any of those waitresses.

Dinner continues and it's perfect. Couldn't be any better. I'm sure Gavin has flaws but so far I'm not finding them. He's polite, funny, can talk about anything, and is nice to look at. More than nice. His hotness is starting to affect me, or it could be the wine. Whatever it is, whenever he touches my hand and looks in my eyes, a heat fires up in my core.

"Ready to go?" he asks after paying the check.

I check the time on my phone. "It's almost eleven? I didn't know it was so late. Do you have class in the morning?"

"Yeah. At eight."

"That's early. We should get going." I get up from the table.

"There's no rush," he says as we're walking out. "We could go get a drink somewhere."

"Maybe some other night."

"Like tomorrow?" He stops at his car and I hear it unlock.

"You want to go out tomorrow too?"

"It wouldn't be just us. Some of the guys on my floor are going to Hadley's tomorrow night. I was planning to go with them. I could pick you on my way."

Hadley's is a new bar in town. It's right next to the Moorhurst campus so has become the new college hangout. Because of that, the townies tend to avoid it. They don't typically socialize with the Moorhurst students. We're from two different worlds.

"You sure your friends wouldn't care?"

"Care that I'm bringing a hot girl with me?" He grins. "Yeah, I think we're good." He opens my door and I get in the car.

Back at my apartment, he parks and walks me to the entrance. This time I let him in the lobby. It's late so nobody's there.

"Thanks for dinner," I tell him.

"You're not inviting me up?" He's standing close and his arms go around my waist.

"Um, no. Not tonight." I must sound uncomfortable because he backs away.

"I didn't mean to imply anything. I just thought I could see your place. Maybe meet your roommate."

"Tonight's not a good night. Megan's probably asleep. And I didn't think you were implying anything."

"Not that I wasn't thinking about that." He grins and his arms go around me again, pulling me close.

I was thinking about it too. As I looked at him during dinner, I thought about what it'd be like to be with him. Wondered what he looks like without all those clothes. He isn't bulked up with muscles, like Kurt, but he's tall and lean, and when I touched his arm, it was solid muscle.

"So, um, what time tomorrow?" I ask, killing time, wanting him to kiss me but not sure if he will. He's had plenty of chances tonight, but hasn't done it.

"I don't know. I'll have to call you. Remind me to get your number before I go."

"Aren't you going right now?"

"No." He tucks my hair behind my ear and leaves his hand there. "I have to do something first. And once I do, I don't know how long it'll be before I'm able to stop."

"What are you—" I'm cut off by his lips gently pressing against mine. He continues to kiss me as he slowly backs me toward the wall. His tongue slips past my lips and he takes the kiss deeper, but not in a forceful way, like Kurt would do, or any of the other guys I've dated. Gavin's kisses are slower, sexier. Like a man, not a horny teenage boy. I've clearly been dating the wrong guys. I've never been kissed like this.

I lean against the wall and Gavin steps closer, pressing his body to mine. I can feel his arousal. The heat of his body. My heart's pounding, my body's tingling.

I'm about to suggest we go back to his car so we can continue this in private but then the elevator door dings. I push Gavin away just as Megan comes off the elevator. She turns and sees us there. I'm still standing against the wall with Gavin right in front of me. It's clear what we were doing.

Before Megan can say anything, I step away from the wall and say to Gavin, "This is my roommate, Megan. Megan, this is Gavin."

He turns to face her and she stares at him a moment. His hotness makes you stare, especially when you first meet him. It happened to me, then the hostess, the waitress, and now Megan. We all stared.

"Hey, Megan." He extends his hand to her. She's kind of mess, wearing sweats, a faded t-shirt, her hair in a partial bun held up with a pencil. And her black-rimmed glasses are halfway down her nose.

"Hi." She shoves her glasses up and attempts to fix her hair, which causes the pencil to fall. She quickly picks it up and holds it, her hair now going every which way.

Gavin flashes his perfect smile at her. "Kate said you're a reporter."

"Not really." She crosses her arms over her chest. I'm guessing she's braless under that baggy shirt. "I write for an online magazine, but I'm hoping to eventually be a reporter for a newspaper."

"There aren't many of those left."

"Yeah, I know. But I'm still going to try." She motions to me. "So you and Kate went out tonight?"

"It was last-minute," I blurt out. "Gavin asked if I wanted to have dinner."

He smiles at me. "It wasn't really last minute. I asked you last—"

"Yeah, I know," I say, interrupting him. "Megan, could you give me a minute to say goodbye to Gavin?"

"Yeah. I just came down to get the mail, but I'll get it later." She presses the elevator button. We all stand there watching as each floor number lights up. It's so slow. Megan hits the button again but it doesn't make it go any faster. Finally the doors open and Megan gets on the elevator.

When the doors close, Gavin turns to me. "You didn't want to tell your friend about me?"

"I wanted to, but she has this thing about rich people."

"What kind of thing?"

"She doesn't like them."

"She doesn't even know me."

"I know, so it's not fair and she shouldn't judge you that way but she does and it's hard to change her mind. I didn't want to argue with her about our date tonight so I decided not to tell her."

"But you were going to tell her eventually, right?"

"Well, yeah, but I wasn't sure if this was going to go anywhere so I figured I'd wait."

"So what do you think?"

"About what?"

"You and me. Is this going anywhere?" He leans down and kisses me.

"I'd like it to."

"I'd like that too." He kisses me once more, then backs away and takes his phone out and hands it to me. I put my number in then hand it back to him. "I'll call you tomorrow."

"Okay."

He walks to the door, then stops. "If you're worried about who did that to your tire, let me know. I can help."

"I don't want to get the police involved in this."

"Which is why I can help. My dad has connections outside the police. He can get someone to investigate it. Maybe find out who did it."

"Um, yeah, okay, I'll think about it. Thanks."

"No problem. Have a good night."

"You too."

Connections outside the police. I got a chill when he said it. I'm sure it's only because of Megan's comment about rich people having connections that help them cover stuff up. Obviously that's not what Gavin meant.

Or did he?