Hotbox (23 page)

Great. So she really had been told that.

“
B
ut to be honest,” she continued,
“
I haven’t believed a word of it
. It takes time to get to know someone, and I’m trying to learn things for myself. So far there are so many things I love about you
, Ty.”
Her eyes remained fixed on
me, and what she said made my heart beat faster. Finally she looked at the
ground
and sighed.
“
I feel like I’m just…babbling and nothing is coming out right.”

“No, you’re not babbling…”

I honestly didn’t know what
else
to say. How was she so good at communicating and I just…sucked? I
led her over to
sit on the
bench
with me.
“
I’m sorry I’m being such a jerk. I have no idea what I’m doing. I just… You happened so fast and everything that was once one way, is now different, and I don’t know…what to think.”

With a smile she asked, “You know what
I
think? I think you love me.”

The words made my heart
race
in my chest
and I had to swallow
. “I do love you,
”
I admitted.

I could tell by the look on her face that it’s what she’d wanted to hear.
“
Well,
I know how you feel bec
au
se
…
Ty,
I love
you
, too. A
nd I’ve hardly known you for
very
long
. I mean
what is that about?
” she softly laughed.
“
But all I do know is that I can’t stand being away from you. I love how you treat me, how you look at me, how you talk to me, and most importantly…how you make me feel.”

Until the day I die I will never forget that moment. Never in my life had a girl ever said anything that meant so much to me. Here was the most beautiful girl in the world—sweet,
understanding, and
amazing
—telling me that she loved me. How was it possible? I thought I was crazy for falling in love with her so fast, but now she was telling me she felt the same way.

“Jayden… E
verything you said is exactly how I feel, too. I
’m in
love
with
you and…I really nee
d you in my life. I just don’t know
if it’s a life you want to be
a
part of,” I chuckled
sadly
. “I don
’t have a great family, I don’t really do anything except
play
baseball and work on cars, and the rumors about the girls…I’m sure most of them are partially true.”

“Partially?” she asked with a
cautious smile
.

I sighed. “I have no idea what’s been said, but the truth is…I just don’t
have
girlfriends—at least not many. I don’t find any that I want to stick with
, so maybe it does seem like I date a lot of ‘em. Not really, though. They’re just…around
. I seem to have more girls that…”

“
Pursue
you?”

I smiled
. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Yeah, I heard about Holly.”

I
eyed
her curiously.

“Jesse,
”
she admitted.

“Hmm. Y
eah, I
went out with her
once
. She drove me nuts.”

She smiled and placed her hands behind my neck. “Jesse also told me that all these girls
chase
you, and all you do is run.”

Jesse, I owe you one buddy, for setting the record straight.
“It
doesn’t mean I’ve resisted them all—”

“I don’t care. A
s long as you don’t resist
me
. As long as you don’t run from
me
.”

I studied her perfect face—her
beautiful
eyes that were staring back at me, her lovely mouth—and I wondered how I could find someone so incredible. She loved me. She said so. And from this moment on I would live my life knowing that.

“
Jayden… I love you so much.
I want it all with you. Everything. And I’m so afraid of…screwing it up.
I’m so afraid of
not being good enough, or
doing one thing wrong that will just…leave me with nothing.
”

“Ty, n
obody’s perfect. We’ll both screw up—guaranteed. But as long as we’re honest with each other…and trust each other
…that’s where we start. And I don’t think it will be hard to forgive you,” she smiled. “You’re pretty
dang
cute and you have a heart of gold.”

I kissed her, like I had done a hundred times before, but it held a different meaning.
We
sat
there for quite a while, alone in the night, and the one question that kept running through my mind was: when can I marry her?

And the other thought lurking in the back of my
head
was her loathing father. Would that situation ever change?
Like Tucker said: she loved me;
her father didn’t have to. But boy, it sure would make things a lot easier…

Chapter Fourteen

By the end of the weekend, I truly believed that for every good thing that happened, something equally as bad would happen as well.
It was the story of my life; it was so predictable.

Saturday was another
pair of games
about an hour
south
. Jayden did go riding with her father and a
bunch
of
her
friends that morning, and I was really glad they
could spend the time together.
I saw her just before the
first game at
one
o’clock
when she smiled and blew me a kiss. Megan had ridden with her and they sat in their usual spots above our dugout. We ended up
losing the first game but winning the second,
with only one more game
left
to go
in the season
.

I got home close to eleven o’clock that night. I was pretty tired and decided to just shower and get to bed. Before I went to sleep, I gave Jayden a call just to make sure she was home
safely
—something I always did. It went to voicemail, so I just left a brief message
that I was checking on her
and
that I loved her. Maybe she was asleep and had her phone on
mute
.

My phone ra
ng in the middle of the night. I
t was two a.m. I didn’t recognize the number but I decided to answer it anyway.

“Is this Ty?” the voice
asked
.

“Uh
yeah, who’s this?”

“Joe Adams.”

I froze for a second.
I couldn’t even imagine why he was calling me in the middle of the night, but my stomach automatically felt sick.

“I’m calling to let you know that Jayden was in a car accident last night.”

My heart stopped. “What? Is she- is she okay?”

His brief pause
scared the crap out of me.
“She’s in the hospital, but she’s okay. She insisted that I call you so…I’m calling you.”

Could he be any
more obvious that I was the last person in the world he wanted to talk to?

I asked him which hospital she was at as I was trying to get dressed with one hand. After he told me where to find her
,
he just hung up. I didn’t have time to think about what a cold and
inconsiderate man he was; all I could think about was Jayden.

When I got to her room, my heart was pounding. Just the thought of her being hurt in any way caused me to
panic
. If she was “okay” like Joe said, why was she in the hospital?

I opened the door cautiously and peered inside. I first saw her father sitting in a chair. He glanced at me briefly and then loo
ked away. Then I saw Jayden
and I prayed to God that she was just
sleeping
. I went to the side of her bed to look at her clos
er. In the dim light I could tell t
he lef
t side of her face was bruised along her
cheekbone. H
er
left
arm
had bruises
too,
and it looked like
it
held some stitches.
But I didn’t see her hooked up to any machines, so I took that as a good sign.

Joe stood up and said,
“She’s on some pain medication for now, so she’s a little sleepy.” He was making his way to the door.

“What happened?” I asked quietly.

He paused before he finally turned
around
to look at me. “Her car was broadsided by a drunk driver, sending her across the median where another c
ar t-boned her into a tail spin. Then
she was rear-ended and sent into the ditch.
She
may have
a mild concussion… The doctor wants her to stay a couple
of
days for observation.
She’s very lucky,
”
he added, giving me a hard glare.

He left the
room
, shutting
the door
behind him.

My heart sank into my stomach. Joe knew that my dad had been arrested for a DUI and public drunkenness. He knew my father was an alcoholic and he wanted to throw it in my face.

I took a deep breath and shook my head.
Why did this have to happen?
I pulled a chair up to Jayden’s bedside and watched her sleep. After beating myself up for a half an hour, I thanked God she was okay and laid my head against my arms on the bed.

I felt something
soft running through my hair… S
omeone’s fingers? It felt good so I just stayed
where I was
. Then I realized where I was and sat up.

Jayden was smiling at me.

“Hey,” I said, taking her hand and kissing it.

“How long have you been here?” she asked.

I glanced up at the clock; it was
just after
seven
.

“A few hours, I guess. Anyways…how are you feeling?”

She
barely
shrugged. “A little tired. They drugged me to shut me up,” she sort of laughed.

“You were in that m
uch pain?”

“No, I was in that much need for
you
,” she smiled.
“
I think they got sick of hearing your name.”

I had to smile, but I shook my head
with sympathy
and
held her hand against my
lips
.

“My car is totaled,” she
said.

I nodded, but I realized there was a lump in my throat. I couldn’t imagine what I would do without her…

“Sorry you wasted the time to fix that little dent.”

I smiled again and shook my head to disagree.

“I took Megan home.
I’
m so glad she wasn’t with me.
”

I nodded my head again. “
I’m so glad you’re okay,” I managed to say
.

“Yeah, you can’t get rid of me that easy,” she smiled. “When I was sixteen I had a fortune teller inform me that there would be
a lot of
calamity
in my life.
She said I would survive
it
all.”

I chuckled. “I don’t take much stock in fortune tellers, but I might consider
hoping for that one to be true.
”

She nodded her head. “Could you help me up?”

“Uh, are you supposed to get up?”

“Do you want me to wet the bed?”

“No,” I
smiled
, “but maybe I should call the nurse, just to make sure it’s okay.” Plus
,
I didn’t want her
father
after me if I did something wrong.

“
Fine,” she said, pressing the call button on her bed.