Oxterionn: Of Love and Fast Cars

Marrying Gavin Montgomery had seemed like such a good idea at the time. He was the star of the latest superhero movie franchise, he was fun and hot (just Emme’s type), and best of all, he was all too willing to be Emme’s arm candy at races. Many of Emme’s fellow racers were dating or married to models or gorgeous actresses, so why should Emme be left out?

Being the only girl in a male dominated sport, the press often speculated she was dating nearly every man she was seen with. Her personal trainer, her team boss, her teammate, every other driver on the grid – literally any man seen within a ten-foot radius of Emmeline Saxon was considered her ‘secret lover.’ While it was true Emme had many ‘lovers,’ nearly none of them were the aforementioned men; in fact, not all of them had even been men – a detail the press seemed to ignore.

Regardless of her past romantic involvements, Emme’s new agent practically set her up with Gavin Montgomery and made sure they were seen acting cordially together in such stereotypical ‘date’ situations that it would not be surprising to see a press agent standing just out of shot holding cue cards for them.

* * *

A bird slowly flew by their balcony, his wings beating no more than a few times a second. Kat was sure of it, as she felt all the blood leave her body and her heart slowly gush it back out into her veins again with torpid flow. Her eyes focused on the slow-winged bird as it made its way across her field of vision. According to one of the many environmental courses she had taken, the pigeon should beat its wings about ten times per second. After the fifth beat Kat looked away. Callum was frozen with his eyes on her, as if willing her to say yes. Trapped in slow motion, she continued looking down, to the item he was offering her in a black velvet box.

It was a ring, as expected, with a diamond. The two smaller diamonds on either side of the main jewel were each flanked by a small sapphire. The trio of diamonds were affixed to a silver band with a slightly ornate detailing. As the pigeon slowly raced by with six.... seven.... eight...beats of the wing, Kat looked at the band with puzzlement.

"Does that say 'Liz'?" She broke the enchantment as her eyes zeroed in on the words engraved on the band. Her brain refused to accept what she was seeing. 'Three diamonds and two sapphires...' Kat could not believe it. Callum froze as she reached forward to grab the ring for closer inspection.

He stood up and realized this was not the 'yes' he had been hoping for. While he knew it was probably too soon, this was not at all the reaction he had planned on getting. His heart melted and the mask he was able to hide behind for so long was starting to fall apart in large chunks. First, the dazzling smile disappeared into an utterly lost remark of hopelessness. Then the eyes, drained of confidence, sought to capture Kat's sense of compassion as he clawed at his last chance. Cal's entire countenance deflated like a punctured tire as he met her eyes and saw the look of betrayal and hurt glaring back at him.

"This is my mother's engagement ring! What are you doing with my mother's engagement ring?" Kat yelled and shoved the box in her pocket. Not waiting for an answer before running inside, she found her clothes scattered around the room and shoved them in the bag she carefully packed the day before. Cal fluttered around and tried to say something, anything, that would make sense of the situation, but it sounded crazy, even to him.

“Did you steal it?” Kat angrily accused and thought of the many times he had been alone with her at the house. He could have easily taken it from wherever her father kept it hidden. Honestly, Kat was not quite sure where that hiding spot was; last she knew, Albert carried the ring with him on his person at all times.

“No, and I swear I didn’t know!” Cal tried to explain, but nothing he could say would stop Kat in her mad pursuit out of The Plaza. Callum knew he had no right to chase after her, instead he watched as Kat stormed on the elevator without a glance back.

Hot, angry, disappointed tears were running down her face by the time she reached the lobby. She rushed outside, hoping to see the black Oxterionn waiting for her, but Red was nowhere to be found. ‘This is what I get for sneaking out and not telling my driver where I’m actually going,’ she rubbed her eyes and found a bench to sit on and quickly sent Red a text. She buried her face in her hands, and a few moments later she heard the familiar sound of the Oxterionn decelerating.

“That was fast. I have never been happier to see you,” she said as she got into the car and ignored Red's questions. “Let’s go. But not home, not yet at least. I need to calm down.” Red took off into the city and Kat closed her eyes, letting the sound of the car’s revving engine distract her. After a while she realized they were out of the stop-and-go traffic and heading on a long straight stretch at some speed. Slowly opening her eyes, Kat saw trees and other signs that they were out of the city.

“Where are we?” She asked. “Is this Connecticut?”

“Yes, I hope that’s okay,” Red said as they pulled off onto a side road. Kat looked out the window at their surroundings as they came to a relatively secluded area.

“Wait, I know where we are,” Kat said. “Are we going to the country house?” By ‘country house’ Kat meant a small manor in the countryside. Her father sometimes spent weekends there, and it was one of her favorite places. “How did you know?”

“Your father requested I take you here,” Red paused. “Actually, he told me to pick you up at The Plaza this afternoon. I was almost there when I got your text.”

“What?” Kat looked at him and tried to figure out what he meant. “How did he know I was there? And why would he think I would want to come here after…”

“I don’t know, but he said he thought you might need ‘some cheering up’ or something. Either that, or you would be celebrating. I don’t remember.” Red parked the car. “It’s not your birthday, is it?”

Kat shook her head. She sat in the car for a few minutes lost in thought. ‘How was her father a part of this? Did he give Callum mom's ring?’

“Kat?” Red asked. He was leaning over the car door waiting for her to get out. She quickly exited the car and mumbled an apology. He trailed behind her, carrying her bag, as she unlocked the door and turned on the lights.

“He’s not here?” Kat turned to Red.

“Albert? No, he’s away in…. Singapore?” Red looked at her questioningly as he tried to remember what foreign city his employer was visiting. Kat slumped down on a couch and Red sat in a chair next to her. He could tell something was wrong, but he did not know if he should ask, or let her tell him about it.

“Did he say anything else?” Kat asked suddenly. “Like how he knew I was at The Plaza?”

"No, he just told me when and where to pick you up. As a rule, I don’t ask questions.” Red was starting to regret not inquiring more, but the task had seemed so ordinary he had not questioned it. However, it was usually Kat who told him when and where to pick her up after a date, not her father.

“Did he know why I was there? Or who I was with?” Kat leaned forward and eyed him curiously.

“I don’t know, I’m sorry…” Red wanted to ask her what was wrong, but it was not really his place. He wanted to hug her and tell her everything would be alright, even though he had no idea what was bothering her or whether or not it would be alright. Well, he had a slight idea of what, or who, might be upsetting her.

. . .

Gavin Montgomery was a good southern boy from the state of Georgia, and had the accent to prove it. He had the reputation for being a kind farm boy who always seemed bewildered by the glitter of Hollywood. He seemed nervous in every interview, thanking the interviewer two or three times and shaking their hand longer than necessary, but this charm made America fall in love with him.

However, the more attention he got, the more his charm seemed to unravel. At first it was just a few remarks here and there, which some wrote off as stress. But when a fight broke out between him and his co-star, the video went viral and nothing his PR representative could say would make it disappear. Gavin would not publicly apologize, still citing he had done nothing wrong, so his co-star eventually quit while shooting the third installment of their trilogy. Luckily, his character wore a mask, due to his superhero status, and was easily replaced. However, fixing Gavin’s reputation was not so straightforward, which led to his sudden involvement with Ms. Saxon. It is rumored that when his PR agent described Emme’s occupation, he interrupted and asked, “formula what?” and did not understand there were different types of car racing outside of NASCAR.
* * *

The more Kat thought about it, the less it made sense. Slowly, tears began rolling down her face, and she reached into her pocket for a tissue to mop them up before Red noticed. Along with a tissue, the little black jewelry box also came tumbling out of her pocket and landed on the floor at Red's feet. Before she could move or say anything he reached down to pick it up.

"What's this?" He asked, although he was quite familiar with the item usually housed in a small black box like this; he had once spent a lot of time and money picking one out. He eyed Kat with concern, and when she did not try to take it back from him, he opened it. A ring, he knew it. His heart deflated like a popped balloon and images of Kat in a white dress with that fake Callum started flashing through his mind. "Is this-"

"My moms," Kat answered. Red's image of the Brice/Knight wedding shattered.

"Oh," he finally said as he mentally swept away the pieces and realized he obviously over reacted. He closed the box and handed it back to her. "It's a nice ring."

"Cal...tried to give it to me," Kat sounded confused, and she was not sure any of that had really happened and hoped it was just a bad dream.

Red felt his ears turn red, although he was not sure if he was more angry or confused. "What? Why did he have your mom's ring? He's been at the house quite a few times, did he steal it?"

"I don't know," Kat wiped her eyes again.

“He's tricking you! I knew he was trying to use you for your money, but this? This is disgusting.” He replied, not hiding the anger in his voice. Kat stared blankly back at Red, not knowing what to say.

“What do you mean?” Kat started to sit up, and she could see the anger and pain in Red’s face.

“He stole your mother's engagement ring, and now he's trying to give it back to you and ask you to marry him! Did he think you wouldn't notice? He's a thief, and he's been after your money all along.” He looked Kat in the eye, and watched as she slowly realized what he was saying.

“My mom's engagement ring...” Kat started laughing before she could finish her sentence, and Red looked at her with interest.

“You never stop surprising me, Miss Katherine,” he said with a smile, although he was mildly irritated. She was not taking this as seriously as he thought she should. “Why, exactly, is that funny?”

“It's not funny really, I guess it's ironic,” Kat started. “I don’t know if anyone’s told you this, but my mom kind of... tricked my dad into getting married by getting knocked up.” Red was shocked and started to stammer an apology, but Kat continued. “She got him to knock her up because he was rich and she wanted his money. They ended up falling in love and getting married or at least that’s the story I’ve been told.” Kat bit her lip. This was not something she talked about very much, and it felt weird telling Red.

“Honestly, the things people do for money. No offence to your mother, I’m sure she had a good reason, but really, that’s…” Red trailed off, not sure what else to say. He had never met her mother, and no one ever talked about her, so he was starting to think this was why.

“It’s kind of obvious why she did it, and I’d ask her about it but she died shortly after I was born,” Kat explained quietly, and interrupted Red when he started to say something apologetic again. “I never knew her, and my dad’s always been there for me in some way, so I never really missed having a mom. Although, I could really use one now…”

“Miss Katherine, I am really sorry, I didn’t know-” he was cut off by a sharp, but gentle nudge in the arm from Kat.

“Stop calling me that! How would you feel if I called you Master Redington?” Kat giggled, but her eyes were still sad.

“Okay, I get it, I’m sorry,” he smiled. He opened his mouth and was about to say something else, but stopped.

“I know you tried to warn me about him, but I was stupid; I thought I was grown up and I could take care of myself….and he was just so gorgeous and perfect. Too perfect, I should have seen it coming.”

“Kat it’s not your fault. Anyone would have fallen for him, he was very convincing,” he put his hand on hers and tried to seem reassuring. Kat looked like she was either going to cry or laugh; either way, he wanted to be there for her. “We don’t have to talk about this if you don’t want to. Perhaps you should call your father, maybe he can help you.”

Kat thought about it for a minute before sending her dad a text, asking how he knew she was at The Plaza. She did not mention the ring, not yet, and watched her phone waiting for a reply

“He’s probably busy, or asleep; it’s like 4AM where he is,” Red slowly took her phone out of her hands and placed it on the table. “Why don’t we watch a movie or something, to take your mind off it?”

Kat sighed. She wanted her dad to respond immediately and explain that everything was alright, and he had nothing to do with Callum having her mother's engagement ring. She wanted to believe Cal was innocent, and for things to go back to normal, but the more she thought about it, the more scared she became.

“You’re right; I need to stop thinking about this. Why don’t you pick something to watch and I’ll go make some popcorn?” Kat handed Red the television remote before leaving for the kitchen.

As he scrolled through the channels trying to find something good, he thought that perhaps under different circumstances, this might be considered romantic, almost like a date. Almost.