Hotbox (84 page)

I spent
two
weeks in Latvi
a with my family
.
It especially surprised me that those
two
weeks went by really fast.
I learned so many things about my mom and brother, and realized that they even knew everything there was to know about me. Even how tall I was.
She
had asked, already knowing, but my
mom
claimed it was better to hear me share things instead of reading them.

For nineteen years my mother was only able to dream about what I was like. As Trevor got older, she began to introduce him to the idea that he had a brother in the United States. But she really didn’t know that much about me all those years. She was given a tiny piece of information about me maybe once a year—Tyler made All-Stars, Tyler grad
uated high school with a 3.6
GPA
, or Tyler
was attending college—but it was not enough to satisfy her need to know me more. Once she and Trevor were safe with Kristof, they
spent hours upon hours on the I
nternet to find out everything they could—pictures and articles—and they printed it all out to save in a book. They showed me the book
—actually there were
three
of them—
and I was blown away. I don’t think I had even seen half of the stuff they had. However, we spent days going over everything, and they listened to every word and every story I had to share.

Trevor was one of the smartest
eighteen
-year-olds I knew, and his knowledge was sometimes endless. Because he wasn’t allowed to u
se technology most of his life, he admitted that he sometimes studied encyclopedias in the Derevenkos’ library. But when he moved in with Kristof, the World Wide Web was the most fascinating thing he’d ever come across. My mother said that he’d spend several hours a day on the computer just researching things
, sometimes staying up through the night
. I wasn’t dumb, and Trevor certainly had more trivial facts memorized than
me
, but I had still experienced way more of life than he had. I felt sorry that he
had missed out on so much. He’
d never even had a girlfriend before, and when he saw a picture of Jayden he almost keeled over. “Whoa!” he had said. “Does she have a sister?”

I spoke to my father twice via the
Internet. It was really odd to video chat
with him, but it was good to see him and I was glad that Kristof made it possible. My dad was really worried about me by week two, but I assured him that things were well and I promised him that the trip was worth my time. But for everyone’s safety, I didn’t reveal what was really going on. When I informed him that I was coming home, he was
pretty
excited
.
I had an amazing time with my mom and brother, and even though I hadn’t seen Jayden
for almost
nine
months (besides my torturous sighting of her in May)
, I was desperate to at least be in the same state as her.

The flight home was really exhausting. I spent plenty of time thinking about my time with my new family, wondering how different my life was going to be from
then
on. Boris was a crack
up and he kept me entertained for the time that I was willing to socialize. His formalities were always present whenever anyone else was near, but the moment it was just the two of us, he relaxed a little. This was our new agreement, and after two weeks of him being my ‘right hand man,’ I was almost disappointed that I wouldn’t see him again.

My father was desperate to know of the things I had learned from Olevsky. I kept it on the whole Olevsky/Meinikov/Derevenko scenario, leaving out anything that had to do with my mother or brother. He was a bit suspicious that the information took
two
weeks to be divulged,
and that I was so vague,
but he eventually let me hold on to my secrets. Since my new relationship with my father, he had subjected himself to believe that he only deserved what I was willing to give him. I
t
was sad he felt that way, but I used it to my advantage
that
time
.

Even though I’d kept him updated while I was in Latvia,
Cole didn’t waste a second and immediately wanted a
face-to-face
report on my visit with Olevsky. I’d thought about it the entire way home. I had mixed feelings about everything now; I was confused and worried. I’d wanted to bring these people down
because they had caused me so much misery. Drawing the line between good and
bad didn’t seem so easy anymore.
Kristof had reunited me with my family again. It seemed that he truly wanted me to be happy, and he told me he was willing to do what he could to make things right. On the other hand, it was because of him that I was in
the
situation to begin with.

Cole was actually
considerate
. I was hesitant to share my true feelings, but when I did, he claimed to understand. I feared he would disregard my confusion entirely and insist that Olevsky was still the villain we were trying to bring down
. B
ut whatever his opinions were, he kept them to himself
.

“I have some good news,” he said. We were sitting in his truck at the diner again, and we had been talking about the case for almost two hours.

“Good news, huh? The only good news I want to hear is that all of this is over,” I replied
sullenly
.

“Well, I can’t make that happen just yet, but I can get you to see Jayden.” He was trying to hide a smile.

“
What
? Are you kidding me?” My heart was racing at the thought of it. “
Wh
- when? Soon?”

“This weekend.”

I was spe
echless. I even wanted to cry. B
ut Cole’s presence kind of deterred me. Plus he kept talking. I listened carefully
to
how it was going to work; Jayden and her new “boyfriend” were going out of town for the weekend.

I couldn’t concentrate on much for the rest of the week. All I could think about was what it was goin
g to be like to see her again. But m
y worst fears were taking over, and I pictured her becoming very hesitant to be
around
me again.
From everything that Cole told me,
she
was still in love with me, and knowing that should have made me feel more confident. But…my luck in life hadn’t been so great, so it was easy to fear the worst. I was scared of losing her. Again.

Friday came around. I had spent
two
hours in the truck with Cole, driving
east
to a destination in the mountains that
seemed to be
in the middle of nowhere. When we pulled up to a cabin deep in the
woods
, my heart accelerated beyond my control. The passeng
er door to another car opened
…

A
nd there she was.

Chapter
Forty-Four

Seeing her took my breath away
—
I
seriously
couldn’t breathe at first
.
I g
ot out of the truck tentatively;
I was still worried about how she would react. But the second she saw me, her hand went to her mouth and she began to make her way toward me, slowly at first, and then she ran right to me, throwing her arms around my neck
and nearly knocking me over
.

“Oh, Ty,” she sobbed.

I held her tighter than I ever had before, almost afraid that I would
never get to
again. Just the smell of her, and the feel of her hair, and the way she
held
me… I thought my heart was going to
burst
from how much I loved her. I took her face in my hands just so I could look into her eyes again. Leaning my forehead against her
s
I whispered, “I love you so much, Jayden. I’m so sorry for all of this—”

She kissed me, and the passion I felt from her lips completely mended my broken spirit. I hardly even noticed that Cole and the other car had left, heading to stay at another cabin down the road. We stood there for a long time, I’m not even sure how long, but I was content with the world just stopping right then and there. I was where I wanted to be, and nothing could make me happier.

It started to rain
, lightly at first, and then it turned into a downpour. We finally went inside, wet from the rain, but not even car
ing. I continued to kiss her, and everything seemed to fa
ll into place again, like nothing had changed.

“So how’s your new boyfriend treating you?” I asked wryly the next
morning
.

She was cuddled up against me
on the couch
and she laughed.
“Brandon? He’s p
retty great,” she replied. “Did you see him? He’s
hot
.”

I lightly laughed. “No I didn’t see him, but I guess he’d have to be to make the story believable. They had to find someone to match your beauty.”

“You’re not jealous, are you?”
she smiled.

“That depends on how often he has to kiss you for the sake of ‘appearance.’
”

She chuckled. “Mmm, just now and then.”

“Like how often? How many times has he kissed you?”

“Fine. We suck face constantly.
Our lips are locked day and night and people
always tell us to get a room
—”

“Knock it off!” I laughed, and she laughed with me.

“Okay, so it’s not that bad. He’s kissed me on the lips probably
…a dozen
times.
We’ve been together for a few months, you know,” she teased. “
Other than that he’ll just hold my hand, or put an arm around me. Occasionally he’ll kiss my cheek or the top of my head.”

“How tall is this guy?”

“Mmm, I’d say six-four.”

“Hmm, so he’s bigger than me,
” I replied, pretending to plot.

She laughed and kissed my neck. “But you are way sexier.”

“Oh, okay. I can handle that.”

“And a lo
t sweeter.” She kissed my cheek, and then
moved to my lips
to kiss
them
, too
. “And
most importantly
…you have better taste in music.” 

With a chuckle I replied, “Thank goodness. Leave it to you to factor in something so trivial.”

I thought she was going to reply with a witty joke, but her expression was completely somber. “I’ve missed you so much, Ty,” she whispered
before she kissed me
again
. “
I
can’t live without you. I just-
I died when you left…” Her eyes filled with tears. “I swear I’m not going to ask what’s going on, but I need for you to promise me something, okay?”

I nodded automatically.

“Please don’t ever expect me to accept a life without you. Ever. It’s not possible. You have to believe how much I love you, and that I will always be yours… No matter what.”

Her eyes studied mine for several seconds, and just the amount of love they held reminded me that I couldn’t live a life without her
,
either.

“Promise me, Ty.”

“I promise
b
ut—”

She put a finger over my
lips
. “But nothing. Promise me.”

“I promise.”

She nodded. “I know things
aren’t exactly ideal right now
but… You gotta have faith, okay? I know we belong together, and I believe that we can make it through this.
Ty, n
othing is going to keep me from loving you. We’re going to be together no matter what
we have to do to get there
; we’re going to have a family and live a happy life. I
truly
believe that.”

She sealed it with
a kiss, and from that point on,
I had no question whether or not my life was meant for her.
I did, however, feel it was necessary to talk abou
t
some stuff, especially since there were things she already knew
.

“Jayden,
I don’t know how much Cole has told you, but there are some things I want you to know, okay? It’s what I wanted to tell you before I left town…before…before that night.”