Page 99 of Solo

I’m not sure how long Kevin Kilpatrick’s been trying to get my attention when I finally hear him calling my name out in the parking lot. I stop to see him sitting in a white car, driver’s door open, one leg in and one leg out. He’s parked right next to me. He’s waiting for me.

Son. Of. A. Bitch.

“You fucking douchebag!” I yell before I can help myself. I fly across the ten feet that separate us. He’s holding up his hands as I drag him out of his BMW and push him hard against the front quarter panel. So hard that it dents under his weight.

“Dude! The car!”

“The car? You better pray to every god you know that I don’t put your fucking face through the windshield of this car!”

He’s laughing. The motherfucker is actually laughing. “Okay, okay! Calm down, Doc, chill!” he says, holding his hands up in gesture of mock surrender.

“When did you know? How? Have you been following me this whole time?” I demand, my fists wrapping hard around the lapels of his jacket.

“What? No! Doc, I didn’t know,” he protests. “Not until yesterday.”

“Yesterday?”

“Yesterday. She told me where the two of you would be. Where I could find you for a photograph.”

“She told you?”

“Aw, I’m sorry, Doc. You didn’t see that one coming, huh? I told you, Kate Brenner isn’t the innocent little ray of sunshine she pretends to be.”

“She told you about us?”

He shrugs. “Who else would tell me? I mean, who else knew where you’d be? Who else knew who’d you be with?”

I feel as if someone has punched me in my gut. I let the slimy creep go and step back, raking a hand through my hair and trying to process what he’s telling me. That she’s betrayed me. That is what he’s telling me, isn’t it?

“But, why?” I mutter, more to myself than to him.

“Revenge, Doc. Pure. And. Simple.”

I spin on him again and this time he’s smart enough to move just out of my reach.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I spit.

He shrugs. “Kate Brenner hates her father. He kicked her out when she was a teenager and cut her off. She wanted to ruin him. Nothing like a good old-fashioned scandal to ruin a politician.”

“But she and I…we were…I…” the words just won’t form in my mind or in my mouth.

All of a sudden Kevin Kilpatrick looks sympathetic. “In love? Right? Is that it? Maybe you were, Doc. But her? Well, from what I hear, you gave her plenty of reasons to not love you over the years. Honestly, I can’t totally blame her. Apparently you treated her like shit because she reminded you of your ex. Is that a lie?”

I can only stare at him. The only way he could know that is if she’d told him herself. Jesus Christ. She did this to me. Kilpatrick takes my silence as assent.

“You embarrassed her. You threatened her. I mean, it was pretty fucking brilliant, actually. She gets you to fall for her. Maybe even call in a few favors to help her get into that swanky music school up north? Then she lowers the boom. Kills two birds with one stone. Destroys your career and your heart. It’s not her father’s fault, but it certainly opens up a can of worms about their relationship and makes him look like a real shit heel in the process. In fact, if little Katie Brenner spins this just right, she comes out looking like the girl who was abandoned by her father and forced into a relationship with a professor who took advantage of her.”

“Drew?”

I jump at the sound of my own name and a soft touch on my shoulder. I grab the hand and yank. Tessa comes stumbling into my field of vision.

“Drew! Hey, stop it! What’s wrong with you?” she shrieks at me.

“Oh God, Tess, I’m sorry, I thought you were…” I can’t even say her name.

“Hey, aren’t you that reporter?” she says, suddenly turning her sharp tone and narrowed eyes on Kilpatrick.

“At your service,” he says with a crooked grin and a mock bow.