Hotbox (82 page)

“I’m covering all the bases.”

“That’s bull. And until you can tell me the truth, I can’t even believe a word you say. Maybe that’s not even my mother! Maybe you found someone that looks like her, implanted her with the memories of my life, and stuck her in front of me just to see how I would react! This is all a bit of a soap opera to me. Faked deaths? The Russian Mafia? A brother? Oh, I’m sorry…
half
brother. For all I know,
he
could be fake as well!”

“I assure you that I a
m not.”

I whipped my head toward the hallway. My mother was standing there with her hand covering her mouth, and standing next to her was…my brother.

He entered the room slowly and
dipped
his head slightly. “Hello, Ty. I’m Trevor. I really am your brother. Excuse me,
half
brother.” The corner of his mouth lifted into a smile.

“What did you call me?” I asked.

“Uh…I called you ‘Ty.’ Isn’t that what you prefer?”

I eyed him warily, still slightly on the defense, but fully aware that he looked like me. Okay, not
exactly
like me, but he had the same
light
brown hair, the same brown eyes, and he was even about the same height as me
, but with a slightly
leaner
build
.

He
walked cautiously until he was standing
five
feet in front of me.
After a closer look I could t
ell he had a different nose
than me
, and his face was a bit narrower
.

“So? You prefer to be called Ty, right? Not Tyler,
al
though that is what certain adults choose to call you?” He glanced behind him at Kristof, who was quietly
making
his way out of the room.

“Yeah, I like to be called Ty.”

I looked him over again, dressed in khaki pants and a polo shirt. He looked like a preppy rich kid, and I cruelly wondered what happened to the
Izod
sweater that should be draped over his shoulders. He spo
ke with an accent
, but it was faint, like he had been very schooled in the English language, or he was trying hard not to sound Russian. I knew Kristof could speak entirely without an accent when he wanted to, but I attributed that to all the time he had spent in the United States.

“Well,” Trevor said, and for the
first time he seemed to lose his confidence
. He looked down at the
floor before looking at me
again
. “I’
m, uh, sorry…for all the trouble this has caused you. I understand that this is all…quite a
surprise
. But forgive me if I say I’m- I’
m very happy to finally meet you.”

I realized how defensive I must have looked. My arms were folded across my chest and I was still watching him care
fully. But really I was just…so
stunned
by the whole thing that I didn’t know what to do. Trevor looked almost hurt that I was being so distrustful, but he also looked as if he truly desired to have me as a brother. I decided—despite every crazy thing that had happened—I really did have a mother and a brother now, and what happened from
that
day forward could possibly be something good if I let it be.

I relaxed my arms at my sides and took a deep breat
h. “Well, it’s nice to meet you
too, even though I didn’t know you existed.”

He smiled when I offered
to shake his hand
, and then he unexpectedly stepped to me and gave me a hug. After the first few seconds of surprise wore off, I guess I hugged him back. I saw my mother still standing in the hallway and she had tears streaming down her face.

I pulled back from Trevor and said, “I think our mom is slightly emotional.”

He laughed. “She cries at the drop of a hat. I
s that the right expression?”

I smiled. “Yeah, that sounds right.”

She came into the room with her hands clasped to her mouth. “I’ve waited so long for this,” she whispered. She approached us and tentatively put her hand on my arm, so I took her
in my arms and
gave her another hug. She broke down and
cried
against me for quite a while. It caused me to be emotional too, and I allowed myself to finally accept that my mother was back in my life
.

Chapter Forty-Three

“So you seem to work the English language pretty well,” I said to Trevor.

After giving me a tour of the mansion, the three of us were now sitting in… I guess he called it the sitting room.

“Yes, I’ve been speaking English my entire life.”

“Well, when you drop the accent you sound pretty American.”

He grinned. “It’s all about the contractions.”

I smiled. “Yep. Throw in a ‘yeah’ occasionally, or ‘uh-huh’ and you’ve got it made.”

A servant brought us some tea, but only my mother accepted it.

“You’ve definitely had a different life
than me,” I said
to her
. “Not that it’s been
wonderful or anything,” I quickly added, “but…definitely different.”

“It’s amazing what experiences a person goes through to get to a particular point in their life,” my mom said. She hadn’t spoken much—she said she was content with just listening to her two sons talk—but
her comment
made me think of Jayden.

I slowly nodded. “Yeah, I guess we can’t always pick and choose what experiences we get.”

It was quiet for a moment and then she asked, “Tell me about your dad.”

Wow. That could take a while.
She was already pretty sensitive about the
things that had happened
in our lives; I wasn’t sure how she was going to react to the life I had lived.
But I figured I’d better be honest since everything else was being lain out in the open.

“Uh, the basic version, or the lengthy and complicated version?”

She see
med a little surprised. “Well…w
hatever you’d like to share.”

I shrugged. “After you
‘
died,
’
he went off the deep end. Became an alcoholic, neglected me, eventually
got a little rough with
me, went several years being a zero, got clean and sober one day,
re-entered my life as a different man,
and now… Here we are.
I’m a million miles away from him and I kinda miss him.
”

Her mouth hung open, and she was completely aghast.

“I’m sorry,” I said, “I guess I could have been a little more tactful, but my whole life
feels like it’s been based on a lie.”

She slowly nodded and reached for my hand
as a tear slid down her cheek
. “I’m so sorry, Tyler. I had no idea. Cliff actually…
He
wasn’t a good father
?”

We talked about it for a
long time
,
a very long time,
until we came to an understanding about my
dad
. She was furious that he had hurt me, but with all the outside influences controlling our entire lives, it was hard to say who was accountable for what. She was, however, pleased that we were now on good terms, my father was healthy again, and that he had been there for me the
last nine horrible months. T
h
at led to
Jayden, and I just wasn’t ready to talk about her. It was too painful so I quickly deferred the conversation.

Late into the day I became completely exhausted. I wanted to spend more time with my family, but my body just wasn’t allowing me to.
From all the time spent travel
ing, to the emotional exhaustion of being reunited with my mother and brother, I just couldn’t function anymore.

“Just lie down for a while, Tyler, and then we can talk some more,” my mom told me. “The time change has messed you up,” she smiled,
reaching up to rouse
my hair.
“How tall are you?” she asked as we walked down the hall my “suite.”

“I’m six-
two
. And-a-
half
, if that counts,” I smiled.

“Of course it counts. Trevor is
also
six-foot-
two
.”

“But without the
half
,” he chuckled. “I guess my big brother is taller than me.”

“Well, you’re what—? Only nineteen? Maybe you’ll still grow,” I teased.

With a laugh he replied, “
I’m
almost
nineteen
. So maybe I do have time to grow. How tall is your dad?” he asked.

“
Six-one.” I would have asked him about his, but I wasn’t sure if the subject was off-limits. Neither of them had mentioned a word
about him. “How tall are you, M
om?”
She seemed to be
the same height as
Jayden.

She cast me a surprised look as she opened the door to my room. Calling her mom must have thrown her for one, but what was I supposed to call her? Olivia? Lady I once knew as mom?

“I’m, uh, five-
foot-
eight,” she smiled. “Okay, here we are. Boris put your things over
there,” she pointed, “and there i
s a closet full of items—anything you might need—over there,” she pointed again. “Uh, the bathroom is down there, and uh…there’s a small kitchenette
with food if you’re hungry again
, and uh… Well, I guess that’s it.”

“That’s it? Where
’s
the Jacuzzi and the wet bar?”

“Oh. The Jacuzzi is in the bathro
om—down there—and uh, I’m sorry,
there’s no beverage center in this room.
There are drinks in the refrigerator, but i
f you want—”

“Mom!” Trevor interrupted
with a laugh
. “He’s just joking!”

She looked at me with wide eyes. “Oh! I’m sorry!” With a smile her eyes remained fixed on me—kind of like a mother that hadn’t seen her son for two decades—and then she put her hand against my face. “Get some sleep, Tyler.
We’ll be here when you wake up. Well, not
here
here
, but…well, in the house.” She bit her lip for a second, debating if she should say more, but she just gave me a hug and left the room.

I looked at Trevor and he was smiling at me. “She’s been so nervous about seeing you again.”

“Why? She’s afraid I won’t like her or something?”

“Kind of. She’s afraid you won’t forgive her for what’s happened.”

I sighed. Everything was a little much to take, but I didn’t even know who
m
to blame anymore.
“Forgiveness is an essential part of life
.
We can’t
progress
if we’re unwilling to forgive others.
”

“Wow, that sounds a little deep,” he grinned. “Are you a religious boy?”

I shrugged. “Yeah, I guess I am now. Besides,” I said, dropping onto the bed, “she’s my mom. Of course I forgive her.”

He nodded slowly, seeming to contemplate. “Well, for all it’s worth, this is the happiest I have ever seen her. She really has been looking forward to this day for…as long as I can remembe
r. I’ve known I have
a brother
my entire life. Now…it’s finally good to have you in it.”

He offered one last smile before he left the room.

When I woke up it was still light out, but what I soon realized was that it was light out
again
. I had s
lept through the entire evening
and
the entire night. I stretched but remained in bed for a while. It was
eight
in the morning… Was it
Monday
? I wasn’t even sure.

I looked around the room, amazed that people actually lived in places like this. I’d grown up in a little shack of a home with a shattered, dysfunctional family. Trevor had grown up in a
place
much like this one, yet he was
also
held prisoner to a life he wanted no part of. Did he actually have a relationship with his father? Did he know that
man
had raped his mother? I had no idea, but it felt completely unfair to question him on it. We had, after all, just met. It wasn’t like I was anyone he could trust right off the bat. I was his brother, but he hardly knew me.