Hotbox (10 page)

             
Adams
… Did I know of any prominent people with that last name?

“No, I don’t. Who is he?”

             
Aaron laughed. “Joe Adams. He’s like…the big head honcho of the
courts. I’m not talking about sports, my friend. I’m talking about the kind that slams the gavel
.
At least that’s what Everett told me.
”

             
I let the information settle for a moment. Jayden’s dad was a
judge
? Huh. It hadn’t even occurred
to me what he did for a living;
I only knew that he was pretty protective of his only kid.

             
“You better make sure those skeletons want to come out because her dad will rip off the closet door. I guarantee it.”
He
seemed proud of his unveiling, so with another smirk, he
headed for the bathroom to shower.

I thought
about the people my father associated with; people that
I
associated with
because
of my father
.
Jayden’s
dad probably
dealt with
guys
like me all the time.
What was I even thinking? Could I seriously be dating
his daughter
while
knowing the comings and goings of a notorious crime family
at the same time?

My phone rang, interrupting my thoughts, and I knew
who it was before even looking.

“Hey, did you get back safe and sound?”
Jayden
asked.

Whatever worries I just had completely disappeared with the sound of her voice.

“Yeah, we’re back. I
was just heading for the shower
.”

“Are you still okay with meeting me here? I’m already here
with my friends
,
taking care of something.”

“Oh, uh,
n
o, it’s fine
.” Taking care of something?
I
did
n’t know what
that mean
t, but I didn’t question it.

“Okay. W
e kind of have a section reserved, so Silvia will send you the right way. Oh, and there’s room for
two or
three more if you want to bring some friends.”
             
I
chuckled
. “Is that something you
want
me to do? Because Aaron’s already going to be there and I don’t think you really want him at your table.”

“Aaron?”

“My roommate. Our second baseman?”

She sort of laughed. “Oh
yeah, I’ve met him before.”

“That’s what I’ve heard. Apparently
you’re
not his type
,” I teased.

With another laugh she said, “
Good.
His approach is a little…
unpleasant
. But you can invite him if you want
. It’s up to you. But I gotta go for now. I’ll see you in a bit
, okay?
”

“Okay,
see you later
.”

I h
ung up and headed down the hall, just as
Jesse came out of his room, already showered and dressed.

“Hey, you going with Aaron tonight?”
I asked him.
“Yeah, I think so.
Why, what are you doing?
”

“Jayden has tables reserved. Do you want to sit
with us
? There’s room for you.”

“Yeah, that sounds cool. What about Aaron?”
he asked
warily
.

“
Doubtful
,” I said with a smile.

He laughed as I closed the door to my room.

Zero
was
already
pretty crowded when
Jesse and
I got there around
nine
.
Aaron left to pick up some other friends and was coming later, so I was glad he’d probably be too busy to sit with us.
I recognized Jayden’s friend Silvia when we entered. She was friendly and reintroduced herself
to me
in case I forgot, and
then
I introduced her to Jesse. She walked us across the club to a table off to the side. Cali was there with some of her other friends, so after everyone was introduced, she
invited
us
to
sit down.

“So where’s Jayden?” I asked her.

With a smile she said, “She’ll be out here in a bit.”

“What do you mean ‘out here’? Where is she?”
             
“She’s backstage with Shawn, a really good friend of ours. His band is playing tonight.”

“Oh,” I nodded. I realized the part of this night that was ‘very much Jayden’ was going to be live music.
I knew that was one of her passions, so I wasn’t surprised.
“Hey, I ha
ve a question for you,” I
decided to add
.

“What’s that?”
             
“Earlier at the game…those two guys? Were they bothering
you?”

She
smiled
. “You mean were they hitting on your girlfriend?”

I kind of shrugged.
“Yeah, I guess.
But Jayden didn’t say anything.
Was there a problem? She seemed a little… I don’t know… It was
just
something one of them said. What happened?”

When s
he asked what was said
,
I told her, and
Cali sighed. “Get used to it. She has to put up with a lot of crap from guys. Obviously she’s gorgeous and she’s very sweet—she gets hit on everywhere she goes
, es
pecially if she’s not
part of a large group or doesn’t have one of her guy friends around,” she smiled
.
“
It’s not enough for her to
nicely
say she’s not interested. Certain guys just have to be jerks. So…yeah, the ones that don’t take rejection well, they can
get a little…mouthy, I guess. H
e called her a stuck up bitch
when she wouldn’t talk to him anymore
.”

“
What
?”

“Don’t worry about it,” she smiled. “
Jayden’s sweet, but when the point isn’t getting through, she can hold her own. Besides,
I told him her boyfriend could kick his ass. He finally left her alone.”

I
scoffed
. “Yeah,
so
he was waiting for me.”

Her eyes grew big. “He didn’t- you guys didn’t—
?
”

“No, he left.”

“Aw, poor Jayden. Don’t tell her about it. She’d feel horrible.”
             
“I didn’t plan on
bringing it up
;
I just wanted
to know if something happened. And w
hy would she feel horrible? It’s not her fault.”

“It happens all the time. That’s why my brother is so protective of her—”

“Hey!” Jayden’s voice rang
.

I was glad to be sitting because t
he si
ght of her nearly knocked me over.
I really did love the way she dressed, and tonight was no exception. W
hen my legs managed to work for me,
I did stand in order to accept a hug and kiss from her.

“You look incredible,” I told her.

“I do?” she laughed, looking at Cali. “Incredible? Is this guy for real?” She took my hand and we sat down.

“T
his is Jesse, my other roommate.
Jesse, this is Jayden.”

“It’s
great
to meet you,” Jayden said, shaking his hand.

“
Great
to meet you, too,” he replied.

She narrowed her eyes at him and asked, “
Center
field,
seventh
batter?”

He
grinned
and answered, “Yeah, that sounds about right.”

“
Do you know his batting average
as well?” I teased.

She tilted her head and
replied
, “
Three
twenty
-
something
?”

Jesse laughed. “Wow. You got her reporting stats?”
             
I stare
d at her and said, “Seriously, h
ow did you know that?”

She smiled and replied,
“
When I realized how much there was to learn about baseball,
I had to start somewhere, so I
read your team’s stats.
But…I do have a few questions, though. I’m sure there’s someone that could help me out,
”
she winked at me.

“She could memorize a text book,” Cali informed me.

“Well, I’m very impressed.”

“What’s Ty’s batting average?” Cali asked her.

With a very c
onfident smile Jayden replied, “
Four-
eight
een
.” She looked at me and said, “
And I also know that he’s ranked the number one catcher in their division
. You have all
kinds of awards and records to your name
.
You are quite accomplished.
I’m
impressed,
”
she told me
with an unbelievably beautiful smile
.

I’m in love,
I thought. I almost wished she’d stop
being so amazing all the time.

The group talked longer and even more people joined the three tables that were apparently reserved for Jayden and her friends. I did see Aaron arrive with
Brian
and Jerome
, two other friends of ours. He didn’t see us at first and I was really glad, so I spent another half an
hour without his interference. But i
t wasn’t a surprise when
they
eventually made
their
way over.

“Is this the VIP section?”
Aaron
smirked
.

Jayden stood up and said,
“I think we can fit a few more people if you want to join us.”
Before they said anything (or before I could decline
for
them) she
retrieved some empty chairs
. She introduced herself and her friends, so Aaron introduced his group of three.

When everyone was talking I quietly told her, “You didn’t have to be that hospitable. Aaron would have slithere
d his way into some other group
somehow.”

She
smiled
and said, “I try not to judge. Besides, I have you here. I don’t care about anyone else.”

With her close proximity I was able to kiss her easily, but I wasn’t really comfortable doing it for long because Aaron was
staring at us
. If that was
n’t enough, guess who showed up…

“Hey, Chris!” Stacie hollered over the noise.

I looked up to see him practically standing over us. Jayden said hi to him and she and Cali scooted their chairs to make room, but it was a pretty tight squeeze.
Finally
Aaron stood and said, “Uh, w
e’re gonna go mingle.
Nice meeting you all.
”

T
here was
probably
too much testost
erone at the table for him.

“It’s hotter than hell in here,” Chris announced
, fanning himself with his shirt
.

“It is getting hot,” Cali agreed.
With a giggle she added,
“Jay, you better
go up and talk to
Chuck. Shawn will have a tizzy if he has to sweat
too much
.”

“Good idea. Will you come with me?” she asked me.

“Sure.”

She led me away from the table, but not before I noticed Chris say something to his sister with a scowl on his face. It could have been me being paranoid, but I knew they were talking about us—or
me
, at least.

Jayden brought me in front of an office
upstairs
and knocked on the door, but she opened it
without waiting for a response
and peered inside.