Hotbox

by Delia Delaney

  The shop was pretty slow on Thursday so I cut out early around three o’clock. I knew Jayden wasn’t done until five, but instead of calling her to tell her I was done early, I stopped by instead. As always she was happy to see me, and she took a short break to walk outside and talk since it was a beautiful day. I was walking her back inside the building when two fully uniformed police officers were coming out the door, walking right past us.

  I almost lost my breath when I recognized the taller one. It was him again, the guy that was meeting with Dean. He was a cop.

  His eyes looked at me as we went by, but then they shifted and looked right at Jayden. I heard her say a polite hello to them both and she continued talking to me about the upcoming weekend as we made our way to her office door. I went through the motions of kissing her goodbye and telling her I looked forward to seeing her at five-thirty when she came over.

  When I was alone with my thoughts, I sat in my truck and took a long, unsteady breath. That guy was a cop, meeting with Dean Conlon, one of the biggest criminals in the area. There were only two possible reasons why they were even together, and neither one of them looked good for me. Whether he was a good cop or not…I knew I was screwed.

  I got home and began mowing my lawn. I needed physical exertion to help my mind think. After that I did some other things around the yard and in the house, trying to force myself to understand what was going to happen next. I was waiting for the cops to break down my door any second, to arrest me and haul me to jail for associating with known criminals.

  He was a cop. I couldn’t get it out of my mind. What was going to happen? I had finally rid myself of Olevsky’s organization. I hadn’t talked to any of them for weeks now. My father had called me shortly after his visit to get more details about my leaving the business. He had warned me to not get too comfortable with how things were because it wasn’t possible to be completely out of the organization. Knowing what I knew was going to keep me tied to them forever.

  I sat on the couch in silence. I had showered and dressed, but I didn’t even remember doing it. What was Jayden going to think when she found out I had been associating with Conlon? I had never wanted to be a part of that world; I was roped into it without an option. Would she understand that? Would she give me another chance? All I knew was that I had been right all along. My life had become too good; too good to last.

  The front door opened at five twenty-five and I nearly jumped out of my skin. Jayden entered the house with her usual smile and carried a bag of Chinese takeout in her hand. She was chattering about barely making it out of the office because Betsy was talking non-stop about me.

  “She thinks if she were ten years younger she could steal you away from me.”

  I vacantly smiled at the comment as she took the food into the kitchen.

  “Are you hungry?” she called to me.

  I got up and followed after her. “Yeah, I am,” I replied. But I wasn’t. The thought of food made me sick.

  “You edged your yard?” she asked me with a smile.

  “Uh, yeah, I did. The walkway is about a foot wider now.”

  “I didn’t know you had a walkway,” she teased. “It looks really nice. I was just joking about the perfect yard, you know. Were you trying to get a head start? If that’s the case, maybe you should plant some flowers next,” she smiled.

  “Oh, uh…I’d probably kill ‘em off.” I took a silent breath and tried to focus on my time with her. Who knows how long it would be before the cops hauled me away and she’d never want to talk to me again? I sat down in a chair and said, “But if you remember to water them, I’ll plant flowers for you and make everything look girly.”

  She laughed as she made her way to where I was sitting. “I always find better things to do when I’m here,” she said softly, straddling my lap. She began to kiss me and it felt so good to be with her again, but I couldn’t help feeling so guilty. I felt horrible, like I was a lying, deceitful person. How could I be with her when I knew it was going to come to an end? I felt like I was using her because I knew it would be the last time, and that feeling completely sickened me.

  I didn’t know what I should do. I didn’t know what I could do.

  Later that night, when Jayden had gone home and I was left alone with my miserable thoughts again, my phone rang. It was the call that I’d been dreading.

  “Ty, long time no see,” Dean’s voice said through the line. My heart dropped into my stomach. “We have some things to discuss. Meet me at The Riverside. Right now.”

  When he hung up I dropped my head into my hands. If the police hadn’t come to my door, and Dean was the one now calling to meet with him, the conclusion was clear to me. The cop I saw with Dean was actually working with him. They had a player on the inside. I had no idea what this meant to me. At least I knew I wouldn’t be arrested. There’s no way they’d want anyone to know who I had been associating with.

  I got to the café within fifteen minutes. It was closed down for the night, but Dean was still sitting at his usual table in the corner where no one could bother him. He didn’t look very happy.

  “Sit,” he commanded, even though I was already beginning to sit. He stared at me for a while, until finally he said, “A little birdie tells me you have a girlfriend of prominence.”

  It confused me for a second and my heart began to race, trying to understand why he was bringing up Jayden. “I don’t know what you mean,” I replied honestly.

  He laughed cynically. “Nice, Ty. Play dumb. Fine. Let’s just talk openly, huh? You’re seriously dating Jayden Adams?” He said it with such disdain that I didn’t know what to say. “You’ve got some balls, kid. I’d think—”

  “Wait a minute,” I interrupted. “What does she have to do with anything? Why am I even here? I no longer work for you. I’m done; I’ve been dismissed.”

  “Yes,” he said with a snide smile. “So I’ve heard.”

  “Then we shouldn’t even be having this conversation. I don’t care about your dirty cop, okay? It’s not my concern. I’m done with all of this.” I stood up to leave but Dax was blocking my way. One look into his sinister eyes gave me the chills. I hated that guy; I hoped he didn’t touch me because all I could think of was how many people he’d killed with those very hands.

  “Dax, chill out,” Dean told him, and Dax stepped away from the table. “Ty, sit back down.”

  I clenched my jaw but did what he said.

  “Roy is a little unsettled—”

  “Roy?”

  He smiled. “My cop. Anyways, Roy is very uncomfortable about what you know.”

  “What I know is under lock and key. Anything happens to you guys, I’m screwed too. Why would I want to risk that? And my terms are with Olevsky, not you.”

  “The boss is out of the country, so now you’re dealing with me—”

  “No, I’m not. I’m not dealing with anybody. I don’t want anything to do with you. My connection is done, the conditions were already set, and my silence is guaranteed. You have nothing to worry about, and neither does your cop.”

  He was quiet for a while as he sat there with a smirk on his face. “My worry is who you’ve been spending your time with. I don’t think you’re grasping how detrimental this little piece of information is. Do you understand what is at risk here? As it is, Roy already thinks Jayden knows something.”

  “What?” I exclaimed. “That’s bull. She doesn’t know anything.”

  Dean shrugged. “That’s just what Roy feels.”

  “Well Roy is wrong. I’ve never told Jayden anything. And if she knew I spent time with people like you, do you really think we’d still be together?”

  He paused for a moment, and then slowly nodded his head. “Yeah, you’re right. Jayden’s a little too…good. Okay,” he lightly laughed, “she’s too virtuous to be with someone like you.”

  I felt really uneasy that he seemed to know her.

  “Why the surprise, Ty? You don’t know that I went to high scho
ol with her?”

  “I didn’t know you even went to high school,” I retorted.

  With a laugh he added, “I did for a bit. Wasn’t my cup of tea. I think Jayden’s…two or three years younger than me? Anyways, I know who she is. Every girl wanted to be her and every guy wanted to bang her.”

  “Are we done here?”

  “I’d bet she’s the hottest chick in this city.” He looked across the room at Dax. “You know Jayden Adams, right? Pretty nice stuff, huh?”

  A disgusting smile spread over his face and I turned to Dean and said, “We’re through here. And Jayden is off limits. Anything happens to her or anyone she cares about, you’ll have Olevsky to deal with.”

  His face took on a noticeable change, but he quickly tried to conceal it. His smirk returned when he asked, “And why’s that, Ty?”

  “Because he knows we’re together and he likes her,” I replied evenly. “If he doesn’t have a problem with it, then you shouldn’t either. If I were you I’d let him know what’s going on. And when you do,” I added, standing up, “have him call me.”

  I was glad that Dax remained where he was, but even from a distance his gaze fully creeped me out.

  I left quickly and took a deep breath when I got into my truck. As I drove home I couldn’t believe what I had resorted to. Dean had always rubbed me the wrong way. He worked for Olevsky, but I had never felt so…exposed to him before. With Olevsky gone I didn’t trust Dean to leave me alone. He never liked me and I was sure he wanted to do something to make me suffer. Now I had used my connection to Olevsky to protect myself. I knew it would work, but just the idea of having to rely on him was unsettling.

  He was, in some form, doing me a favor again, and now breaking free of his influence wasn’t an option.

  I was in a hotbox again…

  PART TWO

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  I was more than relieved when Friday rolled around and it was time to go camping again. It was Labor Day Weekend, and most of us even had Monday off, so the last camping trip of the year was going to be for three nights.

  Just being out of town with Jayden helped me relax a little. Even though I knew Dean would leave her alone until he spoke with the boss, I still constantly worried about what might happen in the future. I wondered why in the world Roy would think Jayden knew anything? I had no idea if it was a truthful statement, or if Dean was trying to see how I would react. I also wondered how or why I even had to see Roy meeting with Dean that one night. Usually everyone was kept separated so no one could be linked to anyone else. My only conclusion was that it happened completely by accident. Mistakes like that were rare, but this particular one was going to complicate things.

  There were a lot of benefits to having a dirty cop working for you. Dean was probably given all sorts of information, particularly about surveillance teams that were sometimes posted, and any undercover officers that were often used to get close to Conlon’s business. Drugs, gambling, weapons, cars, and then some… It was quite obvious why the organization had been so successful for so long. And Kristof always seemed to know when to just lie low, or when to move on for a few months. I had no doubt that Roy had been helping them out for a while now. And what was even scarier… There were probably more just like him.

  I put my thoughts aside and just focused on my time with Jayden. Besides the usual friends that were always present—Chris, Cali, Matt, Stacie, Shawn, Josh, and Silvia—there were also about eight or nine other people that came up for parts of the weekend as well.

  I was shocked that Nick and his family ended up camping with us too. Jayden invited them to come, and apparently Nick loaded up their SUV and drove north for a trip with his family. Jayden didn’t even go riding on Saturday. She spent most of the morning playing with little Sam, running around with him, exploring the woods together, and playing down at the water. Jayden had even brought some things for him to play with, like bubbles and different balls and outdoor toys. I’d never seen her so glued to a kid before. She spent time with Cali’s nephews here and there, and we had even baby-sat them a couple of times, but they were a bit older and had their aunt and uncle, too. At eighteen months old, Sam was really attached to Jayden.

  Nick’s wife, Bree, seemed pretty happy that she could have the break. I wasn’t even sure she watched the kid very often, anyway. Sam never even seemed to want her. But I didn’t know what kind of arrangement Nick and his wife had. Maybe he was in charge of their son any time he was around. And Bree was about six months pregnant, so maybe that warranted the time off.

  Bree really enjoyed being manicured and pedicured by Cali, though, and she was delighted to find out that Cali loved doing the girls’ hair whenever they’d let her. I got the feeling that Bree wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of going camping, but she was relieved to know she could sleep in the cabin with Cali in an actual bed. Nick didn’t seem to mind and was content with sleeping in a tent with their son.

  “Are you sure you’re not for hire as a nanny?” Nick asked Jayden that afternoon. She had helped get Sam to sleep and laid him on the bed in Nick’s tent.

  Jayden smiled. “I’ll be busy with my own kids one of these days.”

  It might have been my imagination—or perhaps my insecurity—but I swear hearing that made Nick a bit disappointed. He only nodded in response, but my paranoia couldn’t help but wonder if he wished Jayden were his wife instead. It was really awful for me to think that; I instantly felt bad. Nick really was a decent guy and he treated his wife very well, but I just got an odd vibe from the two of them. But maybe it was just his wife that I got a funny feeling about.

  I talked to Jayden about it later on and she thought I was nuts.

  “They have a great relationship,” she informed me. “You just wait,” she pointed her finger at me. “When I’m pregnant I might not be so nice to you, either.”

  I think my favorite part about camping was hearing Jayden and Shawn play every night. But the more I heard her play, whether it was with Shawn or just sitting around at home, I couldn’t help but agree that she could easily make it big. Shawn was pretty talented as well, and I was surprised he wasn’t able to get any further like he wanted. He wouldn’t take Nick’s help—he’d offered everything from taking Shawn’s music to his own producer, to bringing him to L.A. to meet a few people. The only way Shawn wanted to succeed was if he did it completely on his own. The last thing he wanted was to become successful because he had the right connections. Jayden was the only person he’d allow to help him with his songs, but that was because she wasn’t in “the industry.” She already believed that he was going to make it, though.

  Adding Nick to their campfire jam sessions was pretty cool. He could play accompaniment to anything that Jayden and Shawn played together. The three of them played for over an hour until Bree almost seemed to get sick of watching Sam, so Nick took over the parenting. After a while Sam kept coming to Jayden, so she set him on her lap and put the guitar aside. Eventually he fell asleep as his dad and Shawn continued to play. But twenty minutes later Nick took Sam and laid him in the tent, and then the three of them played again.

  Earlier in the week I had given Jayden some sheet music and asked if she could play it. With a smile she had looked it over, but didn’t say anything, so I assured her it wasn’t necessary if she didn’t want to. But she did say she’d work on it sometime. That night she and Shawn ended up playing it together. When she began to sing it, I was completely blown away. I thought it was a song that she would sound really great performing, and it was cool when everyone suggested the two of them do it for a show sometime.

  Sunday we went riding. Jayden was done after an hour, so she and I headed back to camp with Chris while the others continued on. Sam practically rejoiced when she returned, and he became completely fascinated with her motorcycle. She sat him in front of her on the bike and took him for a slow ride around the camp and through the grassy field. He absolutely loved it, and whenever Jayden tried to stop, he wouldn
’t have it. Nick was about to make him come off anyway, but Jayden told him to give her just a minute. She parked her bike near the cabin and I heard Sam begin to protest. Jayden got off the bike but let him sit on it while she talked to him. He wasn’t crying anymore and, after a few seconds, he lifted his arms for her to take him off. Hand in hand they walked to where we were.

  “Sam is going to be a big boy and help me take a nap,” she told Nick with a tiny smile. “So we’re going to lay on his bed because it’s better than mine.” The two of them disappeared into Nick’s tent.

  “She’s amazing,” Nick said to me with a laugh. “I’ll have to try that one sometime.”

  I nodded, but my thoughts were focused on where the kid’s mother was. “Where’s uh, your wife?” I asked him as I grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler.

  “Oh, she’s down at the lake with Cali and the other girls. Sunbathing is a priority,” he smiled.

  “She doesn’t like camping much, does she.”

  He shook his head. “Oh no, not at all. I had to drag her here. She’s used to the high society of Hollywood. She’s never even been camping until this weekend,” he laughed.

  “So how’d you convince her?”

  “Guilt,” he smiled again. I softly laughed and he continued, “We usually do what she likes, which is fine with me, but I get sick of L.A. sometimes. This was something I really wanted to do, and I really wanted Sam to be away from the city for once.”

  “Do you plan on always living in California?”

  “I don’t, but I think my wife does. I suppose that’s going to be an issue one of these days, but for now my job keeps me there.”

  “How long do you think you’ll keep performing?”

  “I have no idea. It’s just one of those decisions that I’ll have to consider as things change, I guess. I’m twenty-five; my band…we’re kind of in our prime,” he chuckled.