We're going to go a little backwards to get Apollo's point of view right after Klavier left and get a little insight into his mind. Apollo's got some things to say about them having sex. He's got a lot of things to say.

Chapter Five – Don't Want to Think About You

Apollo

So, I totally knew that Klavier Gavin was bull-shitting me.

I didn't even need to read his tell to know that he had been lying through his teeth. He had such a bad habit of twisting his rings on his fingers when he was lying and had been doing it the entire time I had been in his office that my bracelet had almost caused me actual physical pain. His tone had been casual, but you didn't need to have a heightened sense of perception to see the sadness in his eyes or the stutter in his voice.

The thing is, Gavin always came off as the cool, calm and collected rock star who slept around a lot. I didn't think he was capable of anything but one night stands. Even if he had legit feelings for someone, I never suspected he would think of me as anything more than a friend or sexual partner. And then I saw the pain in his eyes.

He hadn't even tried to defend himself or asked if we could still be friends. He hadn't pleaded with me; hadn't tried to claim otherwise. But he hadn't looked me in the eye the entire time I was in his office.

I supposed I should have worded my questions a little better, but to be fair, this was all incredibly new to me. It wasn't like he had said something like "We really must have another rendezvous again sometime" when he left my apartment. He made it sound like our whole affair had been a one-time thing…right?

I had been mulling it over as I went to work that morning. I had really hoped that Mr. Wright wouldn't notice how disheveled and sleep-deprived I was. Or even notice me at all, for that matter. But, as luck would have it, he and Trucy had been waiting eagerly for me at the door.

"So, how was your date with Prosecutor Gavin last night?" Mr. Wright had asked in an obnoxious, all-knowing voice.

"It wasn't a date," I had hissed, not looking at either of them as I made my way over to my desk. I should have known they would have been asking about that the next day, but for some reason the thought hadn't crossed my mind.

Of course, it had actually ended up being a date, but there was absolutely no way in hell that I would ever actually admit that to either of them. I just hoped neither of them asked for details. Trucy also had the ability to detect lies, so there was really nothing I could hide from her if she chose to ask.

Thankfully, the Wrights could pick up on my tone of voice and tell from my appearance that I really didn't want to talk about last night and kept their distance. For the moment. I had more important things to worry about anyway.

I had found it hard to concentrate on the paperwork for Mr. Highnote's case. The case had been standard enough, despite the actual murderer not being found yet. But what happened after… I really wished I had rejected Gavin's offer of dinner.

The problem was that I didn't know what last night meant. I knew very well how I felt about last night, but I had no idea what it meant. Could what happened last night been completely the fault of alcohol? I didn't know. I only had about one and a half glasses, but I wasn't really paying attention to how much Prosecutor Gavin drank.

If I had been willing to talk to anyone about it, I knew they would all have said the same thing. I just needed to talk to Gavin about it. But I had been reluctant to do so. I still didn't want to confront the fact of what we did last night (or that morning), nor did I want to think about the strange look he had in his eyes the entire night.

By around lunchtime though, I knew I had no other choice. I couldn't concentrate on my work and it was going to drive me insane if I didn't talk to Gavin about it. I felt so terrible when I knocked on his door and he looked so happy to see me. For a moment, I had the feeling that maybe I was making a mistake. But I pressed on anyway.

Almost the moment he started speaking my bracelet started tightening on my wrist. And the longer he talked, the tighter it got, practically causing me physical pain. I could see all of his nervous habits. His playing with the many rings on his fingers, his inability to look me in the eye as he spoke…

Then there was the moment when he suddenly became dismissive and practically angry with me. I hadn't even gotten the chance to offer that we still remain friends before he was shoving me out the door. There was more going on with Prosecutor Gavin than he let on.

I returned to the agency still completely unable to focus on work. It didn't help that my lack of sleep the night before was starting to catch up to me. It was a good thing that we didn't have any more clients since Mr. Highnote, and I had pretty much finished all the paperwork for that case.

I heard voices coming from inside the office as I approached it. I could make out Trucy's voice, but the other one – a deep, booming male voice – was new to me. Opening the door, I found Trucy talking to a stout gentleman with a thick mustache whom I recognized as the head security guard from the arena. Mr. Wright was fast asleep on the couch with a hat over his face and a half-drunken bottle of grape juice dangling from his hand.

Trucy was currently showing the man a magic trick that involved a live chicken and a potato (don't ask) when I walked in.

"What's going on?" I asked wearily, looking around. Trucy immediately dropped the chicken, which wandered away, and turned to me with a smile.

"Oh, Polly! You're back!" she greeted me. She looked over at the head of security. "Don't worry, sir. Polly will hear you out. He's very good at what he does." I gave her a confused look.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Trucy," I told her. "Especially on someone else's behalf." I let out a sigh and glanced over at the man. "You're the head of security at the arena, aren't you? The one who tried to frame Mr. Highnote. What are you doing here?"

The man flinched. "Please, allow me to explain myself," he said. "My name is Ed C. Curity. You already know that I'm head of security at the Arena where Sparky was playing. I knew Night since our college days. We were close in those days. Very close. And I'm about to be arrested for his murder."

I took a step back in surprise.

"About to be arrested?" I asked. "What is that even supposed to mean?"

"After my testimony at Mr. Highnote's trial, I know I shall be the prime suspect now," Curity said. "I know my actions were suspicious at best. I tried to frame an innocent man for murder. They'll know I had access to all of the security footage."

I did have to admit that he did look pretty suspicious. I couldn't think of any other reason why he would have tried so hard to frame Sparky unless he was the real murderer.

"Ok," I said cautiously. "So, what are you doing here then?"

"Please, Mr. Justice," he pleaded. "I would never hurt Night. I loved him. He was more than a friend to me. I'll admit that I switched the footage, but I didn't murder him. I promise you, I never even saw him that day until he was dead!"

I couldn't help but stare at him in surprise. My head was swimming from this new information. My bracelet hadn't tightened at all during his story, so I knew he was telling the truth. Or he was a very good liar.

"If you didn't murder him, then why try to frame Mr. Highnote?" I wondered. "It's not like you were trying to cast suspicion away from yourself."

"I…I was being blackmailed," Curity admitted after a moment of hesitation. "I don't know who is doing it, but I had to switch the tapes, or they were going to expose all of my secrets to the everyone I knew."

"He was really scared, Polly," Trucy said, a sad look in her eyes. "He had to do what the blackmailer said. He didn't know what else to do."

"I am willing to pay double your rate," Curity added. "Just please, when they arrest me, I am begging you to be my lawyer. Please defend me and bring Night's real murderer to justice."

If Mr. Wright hadn't been hogging the couch, I would have sat down. It was all a little too much to take in one day. Part of me wanted to immediately send Mr. Curity on his way. But the other part couldn't let him fend for himself. Not when there was even the slightest possibility that he was telling the truth. I really wished I had gotten any sleep the night before.

"Ok, look," I started, leaning against the wall. "Trucy and I will look into it. I'm not 100% sure that you're telling the truth, but if it turns out that you are innocent, I promise I'll defend you. But I have to warn you that while trying to prove your innocence, we will be looking into this blackmailing matter and that might bring to light your dark secrets. Can you handle that?"

The head security guard hesitated for a long moment, thinking it over. Finally, he looked up at me, determination in his eyes.

"I'm tired of running from myself," he said. "If proving my innocence means uncovering my secrets, then I am willing to let them go. But only if necessary."

"We have a deal then," I said. He let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you, Mr. Justice," he said, shaking my hand. "You have my undying gratitude!"

"Who knows?" Trucy added with a smile. "Maybe the police will find proof that you didn't do it and you won't go to jail after all!"

"Yeah, but then he wouldn't need us and we wouldn't get paid," I pointed out. She gave me a sheepish grin but didn't say anything as we exchanged phone numbers to keep in touch with the man.

It wasn't until we were showing Curity to the door when Mr. Wright finally decided to wake up from his nap. He let out a snort and sat up, looking around for a moment before spotting us at the door.

"Oh, by the way, Apollo, there's a guy here to see you," he said, obviously still half-asleep.

I let out an annoyed sigh. "Thank you, Mr. Wright," I said, suppressing the urge to roll my eyes. Trucy smiled over at him.

"Polly and I are gonna go investigating," she told her father. "Don't wait up for us!"

"Have fun," Mr. Wright said, laying back down and plopping his hat back over his face. He was back to sleep by the time we left and this time I really did roll my eyes.


Investigating the scene of the crime went as well as I would have expected. Which is to say: not very well at all. None of the police on the scene were very helpful. They kept saying that they had plenty of evidence to convict Mr. Curity. I desperately wanted to ask if they had so much evidence, then why did they arrest Sparky in the first place, but something told me that they would kick us out if I even suggested it.

If I remembered right, Night Stick had been stabbed in the back. He had been found in the security office of the arena, one of the only rooms that didn't have cameras surrounding it. The murder weapon was missing and all the witnesses had testified that they hadn't seen Mr. Stick that day until the body was discovered. The victim knew both Highnote and Curity and, according to Mr. Curity, had helped out at the arena as a favor to him.

The crime scene itself was one of the cleanest crime scenes I had ever seen. The killer must have scrubbed the place from head to toe, because there wasn't a single drop of blood to be found in the security room. There wasn't a shred of evidence either. All we had was security footage and alibis. And now we had reconstruct those too.

About half an hour into our investigation, Mr. Curity called me to say that he had indeed been arrested and was officially hiring me.

"So, what now, Polly?" Trucy wondered when I got off the phone.

"Now we just hope that the truth will be revealed in the security tapes," I told her. "The real security tapes."

"Do you think they'll let us see them?" Trucy asked, scratching her head. I shrugged.

"We can only hope," I replied. "Ema probably has them at the moment. We can pay her a visit, I guess."

I hadn't put my phone away yet and decided to text Ema about it. I had almost finished when Trucy decided out of the blue to change topics on me.

"So, you've been acting kind of on edge since your dinner with Prosecutor Gavin," she said nonchalantly. "What happened anyway?" I almost dropped my phone in shock.

"W-What do you mean?" I asked, managing to catch myself in time. She gave me a look.

"I'm just curious," she said. "You always get kind of defensive and dodgy when it comes to your personal life, Polly. Every time we hang out, we always do what I want to do."

"I still don't know what this has to do with my dinner with Prosecutor Gavin," I pointed out, not looking her in the eye.

"Well, tell me," she ordered. "How was your dinner?"

"It was fine," I replied, looking back down at my phone to finish the text.

"What did you talk about?" Trucy pressed.

"Work, mostly," I told her, keeping my answers as short as possible.

"What was it like eating there?" she wondered. "What did you have to eat? What did Prosecutor Gavin eat?"

"The people there were kind of stuck up," I recalled. "Except our waiter. He was nice. I ordered the most expensive thing on the menu just to piss off Prosecutor Gavin. I think it was some sort of fish, but I didn't really finish it. Gavin ordered a salad and steak. He didn't really seem to care that everyone in the restaurant was glaring at him."

Trucy giggled. She tended to do that when I used swear words like "piss off." Her dad, Mr. Wright always kind of got mad whenever swear words were used around her. It was one of the only things he was diligent about. No touching his grape juice and no swearing around Trucy. Thankfully, Trucy didn't see fit to tell him just how unfiltered I was when Mr. Wright wasn't in the room.

"Did you do anything after dinner?" Trucy asked, getting back on topic. That was it.

"N-no," I stuttered. "We just went for a short drive on his motorcycle."

She cocked an eyebrow at me. Obviously, she was not convinced.

"Polly, I know you're lying to me," she sighed. "I don't even need my heightened senses to know that you are." I frowned at her.

"We really did go for a drive on his motorcycle, though," I told her. And what happened afterwards was really none of her business. But even saying that out loud would give the wrong idea, so I tried to leave it at that.

"Come on, Polly, that's what I'm talking about," Trucy huffed. "You just answer with the bare minimum and if I try pry further, you clam up."

"Well, Truce, it may be hard for you to understand, but some people just like their privacy," I snapped. "I am a private person. I thought you would know this about me by now."

"I just wanted to make sure you were ok," Trucy replied. "Like I said, you've been on edge since this morning. It makes me worry about you, you know."

I let out a sigh, forcing myself to relax. She was right, of course. Sleeping with Prosecutor Gavin was probably one of the worst ideas I ever had, and it hadn't even been an idea. I hadn't used my brain once during the entire night and now I was regretting it. But I knew I shouldn't take it out on Trucy. She was only trying to help.

"I'm sorry Truce, you're right," I told her. "But I'm ok. And I promise you that if there ever is something in my life that's gone wrong, I will tell you. Deal?"

"Deal," she said, a grin spreading on her face. "Now come on, let's go free our new client."

Ema hadn't texted back yet and we were all finished looking around the crime scene, so there was really nothing left to do except go back to the agency and wait. And hope that Gavin would not be the prosecutor for this case.

I mean, I had thought it was obvious that we made a mistake when we slept together, but it was obvious that Gavin didn't feel the same. I could still see him now, staring at me with blue-gray eyes of his. And his perfect white teeth and soft, long blonde hair. I couldn't help but imagine that beautiful face of his or his amazing abs…or how amazing he felt inside of me…

Trucy nearly ran into me as I stopped suddenly, feeling my face heat up and glad she couldn't see it. My heart was pounding as I shook those traitorous thoughts out of my head. I muttered that I was fine when Trucy asked and continued walking.

I had to stop thinking like that! I didn't care what Prosecutor Gavin thought or felt about me; I considered him an acquaintance at best. It had been a one-time thing and that's all there was to it. He wasn't going to convince me otherwise.

The only problem was that I could tell Gavin had some feelings for me. I could see it in his eyes and the way he would stare at me like I was the only person in the world who mattered. There was only one solution to my problem, as far as I could see. Until his feelings for me waned or he found somebody else, I was going to have to avoid Prosecutor Gavin. No matter what.

That's really all I have before I start just rambling, so I'm just going to end this chapter here. The next two chapters are going to be in Klavier's view point and we'll get to see how much Apollo can avoid him when he is indeed the prosecutor for the case. It took me a while to finish this chapter because for a while, all I had planned was Apollo explaining himself and his thoughts to the audience. Anyway, leave a comment on what you think and I'll hopefully have the next chapter out sooner.