Hotbox (66 page)

That Friday I
had
to lie to her. Dean wanted to meet with me and there was no way I could get out of it. I told Jayden the only thing I knew she would believe: I told her I was going to visit my dad. I told her that I was happy he was making progress and he’d remained clean and out of trouble,
so
I felt that he deserved the attention.

She was thrilled and actually agreed with me. “I think I’ll finally be able to read a book,” she laughed, after assuring me she didn’t feel like doing anything else. She was just getting off work and was going to head home
to
take a bath. I talked to her for a few minutes longer until I told her that I loved her and would call her later.

I met Dean somewhere new, somewhere I’d never been before. It was a billiards lounge downtown near a lot of the restaurants and social scenes. It was a little odd to me because there were so many people meandering the streets, but I slipped down the alley and made it through the b
ack entry like I was instructed.
I immediately saw Cue, and my heart began to race. I knew I was meeting Dean, but Cue was the boss’s
personal
bodyguard
. Why would he be
t
here, too?

Cue led me down a set of stairs into a
dimly lit
private lounge.
It gave me a sick feeling, like all the other times I’d entered establishments just like this. I’d be summoned to the conclusion of an underground poker game, only to find my father in a pitiful, helpless state. I was
always
there to settle his debts.

This time m
y heart began to
feel like a heavy brick
when I took stock of who was there. Dean was there, along with
his
henchman, but
Olevsky
was there as well. I swallowed
,
not used to seeing the two of them together. Whatever this was couldn’t be good.

“Have a seat, Ty,” Dean instructed me. I slowly sat in the chair he’d pointed to. “We have some things to discuss.”

“What’s going on?” I couldn’t help but ask.
Olevsky
was silent, and he remained on the couch with his legs crossed, smo
king a cigarette. I had never seen
him smoke
before
.

Dean motioned to
Dax
and he walked across the room to someone sitting in the shadows, pulling him up out of his seat and leading him over.

It was Bobby.

“I’m- I’m sorry, Ty. I
- I
really am,” he practically trembled.

“Sorry for what?” I asked him. I looked at the other men but they didn’t say anything.
Dax
forcefully sat Bobby into a nearby chair and took a couple of steps away.

Dean leaned forward in his seat. “It’s come to my attention that there’s been a breach in our
organization
,” he said
to me
.
“I give you a second chance, Ty, and you screw it up.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I replied, looking between him and
Olevsky
. The boss was still sitting there, motionless.

Dean sort of smiled and sat back in his seat again. “Bobby, refresh Ty’s memory.”

Bobby looked scared out of his mind
,
slouched
in the chair like a little boy
. His hands were shaking and he swallowed several times. “I’m- I’m sorry,” he said again.

“Get to the point!
” Dean growled at him.

“Uh…for
- for
talking to you…in
- in
the street…for breaking the
code
and
- and
talking to you…uh, in front of her.”

I tilted my head to
peer
at him, still trying to understand what
was going on
. I held my hands up and looked at Dean. “I don’t know what he’s
worried
about. Yeah, he passed me on the sidewalk last week and said hi, but that’s it. We didn’t talk about the
organization
. Not a word.”

Bobby seemed to flinch for a second, seeming utterly confused. And then I understood.
Dean must have coerced out of Bobby what he wanted to hear.

“Is that true, Bobby?” Dean asked
with a hard look
. “Is Ty lying to me, or are you?”

“Lying to you?” I asked. “There’s nothing to lie about.”

“Bobby?” Dean pressed.

Bobby swallowed again. “Uh, I don’t- I don’t…”

“Bobby, what’s going on?” I asked him. “Did you tell him I did something wrong? Did he
make
you think
you
did something wrong?”

“Shut up, Ty,” Dean glared at me. “You actually talked to him on the street when your girlfriend was with you? You’re an idiot.
So much for keeping everything separate
.”

I scoffed. “She already knows
him
. They’re acquaintances. She was the one that talked to him for
a few
seconds, and
then we left. Nothing was said;
she’s not suspicious about
anything
!”

Dean smirked. “Bobby, didn’t you tell me that Jayden threatened to turn you in?”

“She wasn’t serious!” I exclaimed. “Bobby, you know she didn’t mean that, right?”

“Well, yeah, she’s always joked about stuff like that—”

“Are you changing your story now, Bobby?” Dean asked him. “We had a nice little chat about what happens when you lie to me. I’d hate for something bad to happen.”

“I didn’t- I’m not—” He took a deep breath. “I’m not lying,” he said quietly. “I’m just… I think I’m confused. I don’t really remember.”

“You didn’t have a problem remembering earlier.”

“Well you—
” He stopped short and then shra
nk back down in his seat. Dean was giving him a look that suggested Bobby better not accuse him of a single thing.

“Look,” I said. “We came out of the restaurant, he was there, he said hi, Jayden mentioned getting him clean, he asked if we were together, and then we left. No harm done, nothing was—”

“
Roy
,” Dean called.

Out of the shadows came another figure and I didn’t even know he had been sitting there. It was the dirty cop.

“Tell
Ty
why you think he’s being naïve. Tell him why you think
she knows more than she’s letting on.”

The cop folded his arms across his chest and casually leaned against a post that supported the ceiling.
“Sh
e won’t even look me in the eye,” he said.
“
I try to talk to her at work, and she avoids me.”

I almost rolled my eyes. “She doesn’t
like
talking to guys. Period. Is this something new? Were you two buddies before, talking all the time and hanging out? What, did you all of a sudden decide to try talking to her more, to see what she knows? Of course she’s going to avoid you. She gets hit on all the time; she probably thinks you’re trying to—”

“Shut up, Ty,” Dean said.
“
I don’t like your attitude.”
He
folded his arms and
leaned back in his seat.

“Well, this is ridiculous. The bottom line is that I never want Jayden to know who I’ve been involved with. If you guys would just leave me alone
, we wouldn’t be here right now!
”

“And where does your pretty little princess think you are
at the moment
?” Dean inquired.

I paused for a moment and took a breath. “She thinks I’m visiting my father.”

Dean laughed
out
loud
. “Oh, that’s rich. Ty’s deadbeat daddy is now a good guy, willing to back up his son’s lies. That’s very sweet that you and Clifford have made amends, Ty. I’m very touched.”

The room was silent for several seconds as I sat there awaiting my execution. Not literally, because I knew
Olevsky
wouldn’t allow it, but Dean was out for blood in any way he could get it.
I knew this day would come. No
matter how many hopeful moments I’d had, I knew
my whole life
was going to come to an end.

Dean actually turned to
Olevsky
and said, “
He’s a risk. The more he’s with her, the sooner we’re all going to be screwed. She’s the daughter of Joe Adams! We all know what that means. We can’t get rid of her because her dad would turn this damn city upside down. She’s already seen him with Bobby,
Roy
i
s afraid she’s onto him… We can’t work li
ke this, afraid that some little princess
is going to be the undoing of us all!
We either pull her into this
our
way, or Ty dumps the broad. Hey, I tried to be the nice guy for once, but if you expect me to be out of the country, I can’t leave my end of the biz in turmoil.”

I couldn’t even believe what I was hearing. Was this really happening? They had all come together to conspire against me? Again.

“Just think about
what we have to worry about from now on
,” Dean continued. “
The Cramer case went down the drain
.
Roy
didn’t even get halfway through his testimony before he got completely shut down
.”

That found my voice. “Wait a minute. Don’t tell me you think Jayden had anything to do with
that
. You’ve got to be kidding me.”

With a laugh Dean replied, “
How are we supposed to know, Ty? Huh?
Your girl has more influence than you think.
You think I don’t have a right to worry about it?
”

“Influence? With
who
? What are you talking about?”

“Don’t be stupid
,
Ty. She’s got her father wrapped around her little finger. If she has
a problem with someone,
he’s right there to take care of it.”

I almost laughed. “She doesn’t have a problem with anybody. And she has nothing to do with her father’s work decisions. I have no clue why you would even think that.”

“Why would Joe Adams suddenly have something against
Roy
?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know.
If
Joe
thought there was so
mething going on, he would
surely
take care of it.
He wouldn’t be railroading someone in a courtroom.
Maybe he knows he’s been talking to her all the time,” I said, looking at
Roy
at the same time. “She’s engaged. Why would she want to be friends with you? I think you’re paranoid.”

“We have to be
careful
!” Dean yelled. “Do you know what this means? Do you understand how risky this has become? Oh my God,” he groaned, almost laughing to himself. “I can’t believe this. We’re all going down because of some chick—”

“Quiet,”
Olevsky
finally spoke. The room was silent again except for the deep breath he took. Finally he said, “I’ve had enough of all this. I should just have all of you removed and retire sooner.” He looked at everyone in the room
until he settled between Dean and
Roy
. “I think Tyler is right. The both of you are paranoid fools. You are blowing this way out of p
roportion. And Dean,
you’re making a mountain out of a mole hill
. I’ve got a business to run and we’re all going to go under if this next contract doesn’t work out as planned.”

Dean looked pretty pissed, but
Olevsky
ignored him entirely and silently dismissed Bobby. Bobby looked relieved and took off up the stairs
, tripping twice as he scampered up them
.

“However,” the boss continued, looking at me, “I can’t work like this, either. Tyler, you need to ditch the girl for good.”

“
What
?” I exploded. Both Dean and
Roy
had matching smug faces and I just wanted to beat them both to death. “You can’t be serious.”

“I am very serious. I wanted this to all just go away, but it hasn’t. And now I’m behind on my business endeavor and people are upset. That makes
me
upset. I need my employees back to work,” he almost growled. “
This nonsense has
gone on
long enough.
” He stood up and looked at me hard. “You
have a week and I want it done
.
Over with entirely.
Dean will make sure it happens if you decide it’s too difficult to take care of yourself.
And when it’s done, I don’t want you talking to her again. That’s an order.
”