Fake Summer Boyfriend

He reached out to squeeze my hand. “I’ll try to be more careful. I know you must be jumpy. Don’t worry, it’s going to get better. I promise.”

Leif slipped on his seatbelt, then fussed with a few controls in the car. It almost seemed like he was taking his time for some reason.

Finally he started the engine, but instead of driving forward to pass Craig’s car, he drove in r

everse.

Just as Craig’s running lights turned on, three skateboarders came out of nowhere, swarming the black car as one of them stumbled into the back bumper on the passenger side.

Before I could see anything more, we had backed around a corner onto another street. Leif reversed into someone’s driveway so that he could turn the car around, taking off away from my building.

“Wow, usually the getaway driving happens at top speed,” I joked.

“I will never speed with you in the car, Hayden,” he said, taking my hand.

Although I had a distinct feeling that he had orchestrated the skateboarders’ ambush on Craig’s car to help us get away without being followed, I didn’t mention it.

Leif drove north, to a neighborhood I didn’t know very well. I was impressed as he pulled up to a huge metal gate which immediately began to open.

“Hey there, Gavin,” he said, waving to the security guard.

“Good evening, Mr. Martin,” the older man said with a nod.

We drove up a beautiful street with huge old houses set on enormous plots of land. The farther in we went, the more the homes were obscured by high stone fences and tall hedges.

Leif tapped a button on a clip attached to his sun visor, which opened another heavy black gate. At first I thought it was another street, then I realized this was his driveway. The house wasn’t quite as big as the first few we passed, but it was still extremely large.

“Who lives here?” I asked.

“Just me. My youngest brother lived with me for a while, but he decided to move to New York to study acting.”

“Wow. Has he been in anything yet?”

“Remember that credit card commercial with the string of bad things that happen to good people? And one of them was a guy pouting because he had to be at his daughter’s tea party instead of the big game?”

I laughed a bit too loudly. “I love that one. That was him?”

“Yup, That’s Jamie. He was in the security business with me and our older brother Julian for a while. He wired up a whole bunch of actors’ homes with new security systems, and I guess he got talking to some of them. Caught the acting bug. Started taking classes. We’ll see if it goes anywhere.”

The garage door opened automatically as soon as we were fifty feet away. Leif ran around to get my door, then pulled my duffel bag from the backseat. We didn’t even have to go outside, since there was a door from the garage into a massive foyer, once he entered a lengthy-sounding code.

He set my bag down, then held my hands in his. “I want you to take a few deep breaths, Hayden.”

Nodding, I did.

“There’s no way in hell that Gavin down there is letting Craig in. This house has motion sensors, triggered flood lights, and cameras. The entire neighborhood does. But even if it didn’t, there’s no way that he could possibly know to come here, since he doesn’t even know my name.”

“Wow,” I whispered. “You’re right.”

“So I want you to relax completely. We’re going to have a chat tomorrow about restraining orders, and how it would be illegal for his father to penalize you in any way, and all that. But for the moment, I want you to think of this as a vacation from all the stress. All right?”

I squeezed his hands. “I can’t thank you enough.”

“It’s purely selfish,” he said with a smirk. “I can’t stand seeing such a beautiful girl upset. It causes me pain.”

He took my hand, using it to poke the side of his upper abdomen, which was surprisingly firm. “Right here. There’s a spot that hurts whenever you’re upset. So I really need you to be relaxed and happy. Okay?”

Bursting into laughter, my arms flung around his neck as I hugged him. “Okay. Thank you.”