Chapter 1

Phil Warner closed the door and gritted his teeth. He did not relish what came next.

“Five hours in a car with my rival,” the college freshman groused to himself.

Rival was probably the wrong word. So far things had been decidedly one-sided.

Nemesis was a more apt term. Hailey Warren had won every battle. In fact, she had won them so easily that she didn’t even realize Phil Warner was in the game.

Phil eased into the driver’s seat of his five-year-old sedan – the “sensible” car his parents insisted he own. Since they offered to foot the bill, Phil hadn’t turned them down.

His parents were like that. They insisted every day be a new lesson for Phil – or Philip as his mother called him. They had insisted he get a job as soon as he was old enough. It didn’t matter if it was shoveling snow, mowing grass, or nuclear physics. They expected him to work.

Then they insisted his money go into a bank account. For the first five years (until he turned 18), his mother and father’s name rested on the account with his. That meant he needed their signatures to remove any money from it. They refused to allow him an ATM card so he could access “his” money. They wanted to know what he spent his earnings on and generic answers would never suffice.

If Phil would tell them he wanted to go out, the questions would invariably come:

Who is going? What do your plans entail? Where will you go? When will you return? How will you get there?

Some of Phil’s acquaintances – especially those he had met through his parents – were given a Gold AmEx card and free rein as soon as they were old enough to drive. But not Phil. He was never permitted to be out past 11 p.m. on a school night. His parents wanted to know where he was, who he was with and what he was he doing at every instance.

There was a great deal of resentment during Phil’s early teen years. Then he had watched as some of his “friends” had self-destructed in their middle teens. He knew a girl who went into drug rehab at 15. He knew a boy with a DUI arrest at 16. He knew a couple who wound up pregnant at 17. And he knew a young woman who had committed suicide on her 18th birthday when she found out she had not been admitted to the college she had set her sights upon.

All in all, Phil decided, he turned out pretty OK.

But not OK enough for Hailey Warren. That much was obvious.

He had been shocked a few days earlier when she approached him in the student union. Hailey always walked as though she owned the campus. She might be a freshman, as Phil was, but she was clearly intent upon running the show by the time her junior year rolled around.

It sickened Phil that she had used him to help her along.

“Hi,” Hailey had said as she stood at his table. Phil had glanced up at her and then back at his sandwich. “I hear you live in the city and will be going home next weekend. I need a ride.”

Phil had felt his jaws clench involuntarily.

There was only one place nearby that could be classified as a city so he knew where she had meant.

“I don’t live in the city,” he had said flatly. “I live outside the city. And I probably won’t have room for you. Sorry.”

“Oh, come on,” Hailey had said with a laugh. “I don’t take up much room. Surely someone will be willing to stay here. It’s important that I get home.”

If Hailey Warren knew anything it was how to make a guy do her bidding. Just as Phil’s parents had made sure he knew the lessons they deemed important, Hailey’s mother had done the same. But the lessons were far different.

“I have two friends at State who get first choice,” Phil had answered. “If they don’t want to go, I guess you can. If they are going home, there will be no room. Sorry. You should probably look for another ride.”

Hailey had fought back a huff. She had encountered this sort of attitude before. People either loved her or they hated her, it seemed. She usually simply ignored it but there were no other rides, at least none that she could locate on short notice.

“Can’t the people from State find another ride?” she had asked in her sweetest tone. “I mean, there must be tons of people there heading that direction.”

“Maybe,” Phil had replied. “But why should they? They made arrangements for transportation in plenty of time. I’ll give them a call early next week. That’s the best I can do.”

This time she had been unable to stop the huffiness.

“I made arrangements, too,” Hailey had said, louder than she wanted to, “but they fell through. My mother has a very important business meeting and can’t get up here to get me.”

Phil had held his hands apart.

“Sorry for your luck,” he had said, insincerely. “But that doesn’t change the facts a bit. My friends get first dibs. If they don’t want to go, I guess you can. If they do, you can’t.”

“You said it was only two friends,” Hailey had insisted. She had needed to get home. It was important to her mother that Hailey be there. “Surely your car will fit four people.”

“Normally it would,” Phil had answered. “This time I have some things that have to go in the trunk. The bags will have to share the backseat. Look, you’re begging a favor here. I have no need to justify myself. I told you how it is. Whining won’t change it. Now, do you want me to let you know Monday or Tuesday or not?”

“What dorm are you in?” she had asked. All freshman and sophomores were required to live on campus unless special circumstances were met.

“I’m not,” Phil had said. “I have an apartment on Fourth. Just give me your cell number and I’ll let you know.”

Hailey Warren did not give out her phone number indiscriminately. She had hesitated.

“Jesus Christ!” Phil had seethed. “You’re going to be in a car with me for five hours. If you think I can’t be trusted with a fucking phone number, what are you going to do when your only choice is to leap from a moving car?”

Hailey had pursed her lips.

“I don’t appreciate that language,” she had scolded.

“Tough shit,” Phil had shot back. He pulled out a piece of paper and wrote his cell number on it. “Here’s my number. Don’t call before Tuesday evening.”

He had stood to empty his tray and left without a backward glance. He felt like he might have earned a tie in this portion of the battle.

Another thing Phil’s parents had taught him was the value of honesty. He gave serious consideration to simply lying to Hailey, telling her that his friends were going so she couldn’t.

But his mother had always told him: “Lies beget lies.”

“Beget,” Phil muttered. “Who in the hell talks that way?”

Still, he called his friend Scott at State, a mere 60 minutes away, to see if Scott and his girlfriend still needed a ride. He kicked himself when Scott replied in the negative.

“We’re going to hang here,” his friend told him. “We’re saving our cash for Spring Break in a couple of weeks.”

“I’ll pay your way to Florida if you come home next weekend,” Phil said. Scott laughed.

“Seriously,” Phil countered. “I will pay for you and Lisa to go to Florida. But you need to come home.”

“C’mon, Man,” Scott replied. “You know I won’t take your damned money. That’s not why we’re friends. Look, Lisa’s roommate is finally going home for a weekend. OK? Get it. Since my roomie is from fucking Japan and hers is practically a nun we never have a weekend alone. God knows my dad would never permit that if we head back.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Phil answered sadly. He regretted offering Scott money. Scott’s beliefs ran similarly to Phil’s parents’: You work for anything you get.

“Why’s it so important?” Scott wondered. “I know you got some shindig with your folks but it’s not like you were ever going to convince me or Lisa to come.”

“What? I’d lose my two best friends if I dragged you to that,” Phil said. “It’s a girl problem.”

It was Scott’s turn to laugh. The only problem Phil Warner had with girls in high school was picking which one to go out with. The list was never-ending.

“So you got some hottie on a string over there and she won’t go home with you without a chaperone?” Scott asked.

“Opposite,” Phil said. “You remember that bitch I told you about at Christmas? The one who thinks she owns the world?”

“It’s not nice to call her names just because she didn’t fall for your fake charm,” Scott joked. “Here I thought Lisa was the only one immune to you.”

“I’m serious,” Phil lamented. “She wants a ride home. I told her the spots were taken but I’d check to make sure you were going. Now that you’re not, I’m stuck.”

Scott burst into laughter.

“Tell her to fuck off,” he suggested.

“Tried it,” Phil countered. “Didn’t take.”

“I’d help if I could,” Scott told him. “But, well, it’s like this. I can spend five hours beside Lisa in a car or two nights beside her in a bed. Guess which way I’m going to go.”

“Besides,” Scott added, “it probably won’t be that bad.”

Twenty minutes into their five-hour trip, Phil decided Scott was absolutely incorrect. It could be that bad. In fact, it was that bad.

It started on Tuesday afternoon when Hailey called his cell. She didn’t identify herself and the number was blocked but he knew who was calling. Still, she barely waited for him to answer.

“Well?” she asked. “Do I have a ride?”

“I suppose,” Phil answered.

“Great,” Hailey replied. “I hope we can leave early. I need to get to the mall Friday night.”

“I have a lab until 11 a.m.,” Phil said. “So, it will probably be about noon when we leave.”

“A lab?” Hailey hissed. “I don’t have any Friday classes. What kind of loser takes a lab on Friday?”

“Apparently the kind of loser who has his own car,” Phil said angrily. “Look, if you want to leave earlier, go to it. I’ll watch for you along the highway. I figure you should make a good four or five miles if you leave after breakfast. Otherwise, you’ll leave when I’m ready and not a minute before.”

“Can’t you skip your lab?” Hailey asked in her sweetest voice.

“No,” Phil shot back firmly. “Even if I could, I probably wouldn’t. So, I’ll meet you in the Quad at 12 p.m. If you’re not there, I think I’ll survive.”

“Fine,” Hailey said, then ended the call.

Friday was more of the same.

Hailey looked down her nose at Phil’s car then threw a fit when he said her things would have to go into the back seat.

“Why?” she asked angrily.

“I told you I had things I had to take home this weekend,” Phil replied in his calmest voice. “If you remember, I was upfront about where your bags would have to go.”

“Why can’t your things go in the back seat?” she insisted.

Phil shrugged.

“Best answer?” he said. “Because they’re mine. Truthfully, I could give a shit if your stuff is wrinkled, ripped or gone by the time we get there. My things need to get there in good shape. Now, you can stand around bitching and complaining or you can put your shit in the back seat and we’ll get on our way.”

Hailey took a deep breath but stowed her garment bag on the seat and her two bags on the floor.

She sat and stewed silently for the first 10 minutes before she started in on Phil’s radio selection. He was listening to an all-news station to get an update on the stock market. About a minute before the financial news came on, Hailey turned to him.

“You have got to be kidding me,” she said.

Phil didn’t understand the context so he ignored her. He knew his mother would ask him about the markets, particularly about certain companies. She had taught him early how to manage his money and she got a kick out of watching him fret about a point or two drop in a stock during his early teens.

Just before the market news came on, Hailey hit the scan button.

“I will break your god-damned hand if you touch that fucking radio again!” he seethed. “I swear to Christ.”

By the time the radio cycled through the channels, he’d missed what he was listening for.

“Son of a bitch!” he said. “I missed it.”

“I want to listen to music,” Hailey said, choosing to ignore the fact that Phil had threatened her with bodily harm and tuned the radio to a pop station.

“Buy a fucking iPod,” Phil groused. “I was listening for one specific reason. The very second it comes on, you turn the station.”

“News is boring,” Hailey said. “Lighten up. Have some fun. I brought some CDs.”

Hailey opened her purse and pulled out two or three discs. She popped one into the player and Phil almost vomited on his steering wheel.

“Absolutely not,” Phil said as the sounds of the teenage pop-singing flavor of the month emanated from his speakers. “I thought you said you wanted to listen to music? This is garbage.”

“She’s got the Number One song in the country on College Radio,” Hailey said.

“Which goes to prove that 95 percent of the people in college are idiots,” Phil said.

“Are you calling me stupid?” Hailey asked with real anger in her voice. “I’m the freshman representative. I am in Beta Club and I’m a finalist for an internship at Fielding and Sterns.”

“So you know the right asses to kiss,” Phil countered. “It doesn’t mean you’re a candidate for Mensa. Nor does it mean you have any taste in music.”

Hailey glared at him.

“Fine,” she said. “Listen to your old-man radio station. I need a nap anyway. I went to a party last night since I had to wait around for you.”

She reclined her seat backward and closed her eyes. Phil purposefully didn’t mention that she was probably wrinkling whatever was in the back.

Hailey wasn’t sleeping. She had her eyes closed but she was silently seething at Phil’s words. Of course, she didn’t know they had come from Phil Warner. In fact, she realized, she didn’t even know this guy’s name. She had asked another student about a potential ride and the guy had pointed to Phil. Hailey hadn’t bothered to get a name to go with the ride.

Chapter 2 »