Hotbox (69 page)

Dax
actually spoke this time. “Obviously not enough, though.”

“True,” Dean
nodded, “v
ery true. So Ty… I think maybe we need to…convince
you…that I’m not fooling around
here. The tires… T
hat was k
id stuff, h
armless. It was a simple warning, but I guess it wasn’t enough. See, tomorrow is the due date, my friend. It ends for good. So I’ve decided—just in case you need some motivation—to remind you what you’re doing this for.” He rolled the partition down in front of us. “Oliver?” he called to the driver.

Oliver flashed his lights once
, and I nervously watched as a man got out of a car several houses down.

“That’s
Little Lars,”
Dean
smiled. “But…obviously he’s not so little.”

I watched the man
sneak
his way along the sidewalk
out of
the streetlights.

“Lars just got out of prison yesterday. He’s a
bit
…anxious to get back to his old habits,” he smiled. “Jayden
’s all alone.
Her dad
is working late
, and he probably won’t be back for anoth
er hour or two—
”

My heart took off into overdrive and I made a break for the door, but
Dax
grabbed me and slammed me against the seat.

“Leave her alone!” I yelled.

Dean was laughing when he said, “I don’t know, Ty. You’re one stubborn kid. I don’t know what else to do to make you take me seriously. Well…I guess there are lots of things I could do,” he smiled, looking at
Dax
again.

“Leave her alone,” I demanded again. “She has nothing to do with this.”

“She has everything to do with this.
If you had used some common sense and stayed away from her, we wouldn’t be in this little predicament.
Because this relationship is still lingering,
I’m kind of getting a little nervous that she’s going to figure out something she shouldn’t,” he smirked. “She’s a bit too close to the wrong people,
if you know what I mean,
and the slightest tipoff
would screw
us all.
”

“I told you that she do
esn’t know anything, and if you’d
just let this go and stay away from me, there won’t be anything for her to figure out. Come on just…let this go. You don’t ever have to talk to me or see me again.”

He looked ahead to where Lars was standing outside of Jayden’s house,
just
out of the cast of the porch light.
Ignoring my plea completely, he said,
“Jayden will just think it’s you when he kn
ocks on the door, since she’s
expecting you.
And if
she doesn’t open the door… Well,
it’s nothing that will get in
his
way.”

I could see Jayden through the kitchen window and I think my heart broke in half. Lars took a couple of steps toward the front porch and glanced around the neighborhood quickly. Then he took another step…

“Stop. Please, just leave her alone.
I’ll do whatever you say, just
leave her out of this.” I tried to get out of the car a second time, but I was held back again.

“Ty, I’m not kidding. Quit screwing around with me. You break it off with her, or her life will never be the same.”

“Her life already won’t be the same! What is this all about, Dean? You got
Olevsky
to do what you wanted, why can’t you just be happy with that? Do you think he appreciates having to deal with all this crap, just because you have a personal vendetta against me?”

“You’ve got some balls, Ty.”

I could tell he was really pissed. I groaned to myself, sure that I just dug the hole even deeper. I kept my eyes on Lars, but he hadn’t moved any further. Hopefully he was waiting for another signal, but I
’d
probably just sealed Jayden’s fate myself.

“Look,
” I sighed, trying not to panic.
“
I don’t know why this is happening, other than the fact that you hate me and want to see me suffer. And if you must know…it’s worked.
” His lips offered a smile of satisfaction. “But if there’s something I can do to end this—I don’t care what it is—just tell me.”

“The bottom line, Ty? Your girlfriend’s a problem
. Yes, I hate you, and yes
I like to see you suffer. But what it really comes down to is business.
This comes from the boss.
I have a huge job to do and I can’t do it when I have to worry about things I shouldn’t be worrying about—”

“I guarantee you have nothing to worry about—”

“You can’t guarantee anything,” he retorted. “This business doesn’t allow for personal relationships. Especially with the daughter of a
judge
! Look at Kenny… He’s got a wife and three kids… Do you know what he’s gone through just to keep them alive?” He scoffed. “I don’t think you
want
to know. This is the life, Ty, and you’re a part of it whether you wanna be or not. I don’t care if you’re ‘out’ of the organization. There is no out. If you want complete freedom, go kill yourself. That’s the only out for you.”

“Leave Jayden alone. That was the deal,
right? I break it off with her,
you leave her alone.” I looked ahead at Lars, still waiting outside of her house. “If something happens to her, you know her father will never stop—”

“Don’t threaten me
. I know all about her
father
. He’s a pain in my ass.
But I won’t hesitate to do what I need to do if you don’t comply. This
might not
be
your last warning.
I don’t even care what you tell her as long as the organization stays out of it, but y
ou make this happen or I guarantee sh
e’ll suffer one way or another.
Get out of the car.”

I didn’t wait another second and barreled my way through
Dax
to get out the door. I heard them both laughing as I jogged across the street toward Jayden’s house. Lars saw me coming and stood there, watching me. I had no idea
how he was going to react
until
he turned with a smile and left down the sidewalk.

I stopped where I was
in front of her house and felt like dropping to my knees. Now what? How could I possibly knock on her door and pretend nothing happened? I just couldn’t do it.
Dean’s car took off down the road, and so did Lars in his car. I was stranded in Jayden’s neighborhood without a proper excuse as to why I didn’t have my truck.

I had to think fast because at that very second she looked out the window again and saw me. With a smile and a wave she left the kitchen
;
I knew she was heading to the front door. I took the deepest breath I could inhale and came to the porch as she opened the door.

“Hey, you’re late,” she playfully scowled. “I was just about to call you.” She held the door open and as I stepped through, she noticed what was missing
right away
. “Where’d you park?” she asked
,
looking down the street both ways.

“Uh, that’s why I’m late.
My, uh, truck was having proble
ms so…
I didn’t want to drive it. I got a ride.”

“Oh.” She cast me a funny glance and I knew she felt that sounded odd. I kept my truck running perfectly; I never had problems with it.

“Smells good in here,” I said, changing the subject. “What’d you make?”

She watched me for a few seconds before sh
e answered, “Um, just some stir-
fry…” She made her way back into the kitchen. “So who’d you get a ride with?”

My heart thumped heavily. I followed her into the kitchen and stood in the doorway. “Uh,
Brian
.” It made sense; he lived the closest to me. And Jayden hardly knew him, so any chance that she would ever try to verify my story was slim.

“I would have picked you up,” she said, placing a bowl of rice on the table and
the
pan
of stir-fry
.

“Well, I knew you’d
be cooking,” I said, forcing a smile, “and I didn’t wan
t anything to slow down the progr
ess of my dinner being made.”

She laughed. “Hmm, thinking with your stomach, huh? I guess that makes sense.”

We
stood there for a
bit, staring at each other,
and I could instantly feel the awkwardness of the moment. I was fighting a guilty conscience, battling with all of the emotions of the week and what had just transpired, and she seemed to be struggling with something as well.
I was just about to
speak
when she came closer to me and wrapped her arms around my waist.

“
You haven’t even kissed me, yet,” she said simply.

I never thought kissing her would be so difficult, but it was.
I felt like
it was going to be
the
last time and I became desperate for time to just…stop. I wanted eve
rything to freeze except for me.
I needed t
o do what I could to fix things,
to make my life right again. I h
ad no idea what that would take.

“Wow,” Jayden smiled, pulling away from me. “I think I’m a little dizzy. Do you kiss that way w
hen you’re hungry?”

“What way?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know…really,
really
passionate. You’ve weakened me.”

“I’ve never kissed you like that?”

“Yeah, you have.
But
this time
I think
something’s bothering you.”

She
’d said it deliberately, and she
looked right at me before she sat down at the table.
I knew that was my chance; she was giving me the opportunity to talk to her.

I just stood there for a second, wondering if she was going to press further, or just wait for me to share on my own. I decided it had to be now or never. I couldn’t do this anymore. If I felt dragging it out any longer would do just a little bit of good, I would do it. But my father was right. I needed to just get it over with and hope I could somehow pick up the pieces. I didn’t want to talk to her in person—I was still afraid of what I might
tell her
—but
I realized what I wanted to
say
, and I felt
it
would be
the
right
thing
to say
.

I sat down across from her. “You’re right. Something’s bothering me.”

She nodded, but didn’t say anything.

I said,
“I guess there are some things that I need to talk to you about.”

“Good…becaus
e I need to talk to you
,
too
.”

I figured her issues had everything to do with me
and my idiotic behavior
, so when she told me to go first, I wasn’t surprised.

I took a deep breath. “Well, uh, this isn’t anything that’s easy to say. I just…
I’ve made some re
ally bad mistakes, Jayden, and…
I can’t exactly fix them
right now
. I just want you to know—”

The phone rang and it completely intensified my nerves. Jayden remained in her seat and we both sat there, letting it ring. She wasn’t going to answer it and I knew I was still going to be breaking her heart in a matter of seconds.

The answering machine came on and Chris’s voice began to speak
with urgency
. “Jayden, if you’re home, pick up, okay? It’s important. It’s your dad—” a look of panic filled her face and she jumped up to answer the phone
“
—but I’ll try your cell—”

“What happened?” she almost shouted. She listened for a few seconds and I stood up to stand near her. “
What
?” she gasped. “Is—
?
” She listened again and then let out a deep breath. “Okay… Yeah, but I’m still coming
… No, Ty’s here
…
Okay, thanks for the call
.”

She hung up and let out another breath. “My da
d was shot at.”

I raised my eyebrows
with surprise.

“He was getting into his car
outside
the
courthouse
and a bullet went through the window.
They think it was just a warning and no one was actually trying to hit him but…
”