Lightning Strikes (The Almeida Brothers Trilogy #3) (7 page)

“Once again, Nina, the definition of the word marriage has eluded you. I don’t remember the specifics of the day I made the worst decision of my life, but the gist of it was, ‘for better or worse, richer or poorer, death do us part, as long as we both shall live.’   It will never matter when you had it, or who gave it to you, or how much it is.  No matter what you say or do, half of that money is mine.”

“What kind of a man are you, huh?  What the hell kind of man takes from a woman? I worked for that money,” she said through clenched teeth, jamming her finger to her heart.  “I gave up
everything
for that money.  I put it in a private account for a reason, before your blood-sucking vulture of a lawyer dug it up.  It was because I knew what a sham of a man you were, even before I married you.  I knew you would use it to hurt me one day.”

“No one is using anything to hurt you; I’m taking what’s rightfully mine.”

“I need that money for him.” She covered her nose and mouth with the back of her hand.  “I need that money for
him,
and you’re just… shitting all over that.  You don’t give a damn about him, at all.”

This time, a silence stretched in from the other end of the line.  So long, she was sure he’d hung up.

“I think about him every minute,” he said.  “I love him more
every single minute,
but I can’t let it own me anymore, Nina, and I’m not going to let it own you anymore either.”

“That is
not…”
her voice rose to ear-splitting levels, “your choice, Anthony.  That is my choice.  How dare you try to take that choice from me?”

“I’m hanging up.”

“Yeah, hang up.  Turn a blind fucking eye.  That’s what you do best, isn’t it?”

“I’ll see you in court.”

“Yeah, you will—” He hung up before she could finish, and she stared at the ‘call ended’ notification on the screen in shock.  She stood statue-still, eyes widening.  She finally jolted back to the present, kicking her boots into the pavement while flinging her fists through the air.  Soon she was entrenched in a boxing match with the Chicago morning air, grunting the whole way.  It wasn’t until she’d convinced all of the people around her that she was, indeed, completely insane, that she allowed herself to stop.  She bent down on her knees, struggling to calm her heaving breaths.

She risked a look around and found that most of the people outside hadn’t even noticed her rant.  With the hell they’d all endured, her little tantrum was likely one of the tamer ones they’d seen in the last 24 hours.

Collecting herself, she stood and turned back toward the station, gasping and stumbling backward at the sight of Jack standing behind her with his hands pushed into his pockets.

He watched her with calm eyes, raising his brows.  “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said with an extra hitch to her voice.

“Seem upset.”

She tightened her grip on the phone, squinting at him.  “Since when do you give a damn?”

Jack chuckled.  “I don’t.”

She scoffed when she realized that he was now
purposely
being an asshole.  A day ago, she’d been convinced his asshole tendencies were simply in his nature.  Now she was beginning to suspect it was a cleverly executed act.  A ruse.  One that was no longer attracting her to him the way it had the day before.

“Have a good life, Jack.”

She pushed past him, but not before she saw something change in his eyes.

As she walked away from him, she snuck a look over her shoulder, just in time to see his chin fall into his chest.

***

They were canceling a lot of trains.  And the trains that weren’t being canceled were being delayed for hours.  Nina sat at the end of a wooden bench, trying to ignore the stench of the homeless man sleeping next to her, and glared up at the departure board.  It was one of the old school departure boards that moved.  Panels turned and every second with new information, some of it good, some of it bad.

Nina watched the panel for her train, waiting for it to spin and tell her that it was going to be late or wasn’t coming, at all.  After an hour, it was the only thing keeping her sane.

Well, that, and him.

She couldn’t stop her eyes from moving to him.  He was still standing in the same place he had been for the entire hour.  She wondered what train he was waiting on, and then chided herself for even caring.

He stood with his hands in the pockets of his gray slacks, his white button down straining ever so slightly under his muscled arms.

A smile was teasing his lips, but in true Jack form, he didn’t allow it to come to fruition.  Not even as he enjoyed the classical tune a homeless man was playing on a beat up keyboard.  In the keyboard case next to him, a few dollar bills peeked out, but Jack was the only person who’d hung around, staying to hear him play.

Nina remembered Jack being taken by the classical song playing in the cab yesterday as well.  She’d even caught his fingers tapping against the seat in perfect time with the music.

Leaning on the armrest of the bench, she squinted at him, watching as he nodded his approval when the homeless man played the final note.

Then, Jack leaned down, reached out, and motioned to the keyboard.  Hesitantly, the man turned the keys toward Jack, after deciding he wouldn’t steal it.

Jack pushed the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbows and played a few notes, meeting eyes with the man every now and again.

It hit Nina.  Jack was teaching him.  Giving him tips on the song.

For the first time, she saw him, and she was transfixed.

***

“All aboard!”

Jack’s knees bounced as the two words he’d been waiting to hear all morning finally blared down from the train’s loudspeaker.  The scattered, facetious cheers from his fellow passengers rang through the cabin, waning to the kind of quick death only a halfhearted celebration could.

The wheels of the train complained to life, making his seat vibrate, and even when it began a slow roll forward; he couldn’t stop his knees from shaking.

“Come on,” he mumbled, staring out of the window. The train was moving, Amtrak station disappearing into the distance.  “What’s next, huh?  I know you’re not through with me yet.”

“You know, talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity.”

Jack’s eyes flew to the aisle, and when he locked eyes with Nina, he nodded with a smirk.  “I was just wondering why the karmic gods hadn’t yet begun punishing me this fine morning, but sure enough, here you are.”  He turned away, heard her sigh, and did everything he could to disengage.

“Every other seat is taken.  Do you mind if I sit next to you?” she asked.  “We only
slept
together after all.”

Without looking away from the window, he gave a halfhearted wave, scoffing softly.  He was never going to be rid of this woman, was he?

He waited for her to plop down, and it wasn’t until the silence stretched on that his eyes flew to the aisle, only to find it empty.  He jolted, taking in the elderly couple sleeping in the row across from him.

Blinking rapidly, he leaned across the seats and took hold of the armrest, craning his neck to see down the aisle.  He found her.  Or rather, he found her black boot, just as it cleared the last step of the staircase that led to the roof of the train.

“What the hell are you doing, Almeida?” Jack mumbled to himself, minutes later.  He’d tried to stop.  Tried to say no.  Tried to fight it.  “What the hell are you
doing?”

He cleared the last step of the train’s ladder with a groan, hissing when a pain he was sure hadn’t been at the base of his spine the night before made it’s presence abundantly clear.  He’d only gotten four hours of sleep.  Being stuck in a hotel room with an army of ants, a homicidal rat, and that…
woman;
had made sleep nearly impossible, and his body was beginning to pay the price.

He stood tall on the train’s rooftop, but kept the ladder railing in a death grip, feeling like his feet and knees no longer belonged to him as he tried to find the courage to let go.

She sat at the other end of the car with her knees to her chest, curls freer than ever as they fraternized with the wind.  The gold cast of the sunrise touched her blonde highlights like it was rising just for them, and before he knew it, Jack had released the bar.

If she saw him wobbling toward her, she didn’t show it.

Only when he was less than a foot away, kneeling down like a geriatric patient, did she speak.

“If I had died in that crash,” she said, never once looking at him as she raised the iPhone she still clutched in her hand, squinting at the orange sky.  “There isn’t a single person in the world who would wonder if I went down with it.  Who would even care.  Not a single person in the world who would even
notice
I was gone until they needed something.  And even then, if I didn’t pick up when they called, my absence wouldn’t worry them or prompt them to take action.”  She jabbed the phone at him.  “But you. You have three hundred people calling, clamoring, and begging just to know that you’re alive.  Do you have any idea how blessed you are?”

“Listen.”  Jack laughed, tugging his fingers through his hair, cringing at its texture.  The secondhand shampoo in the hotel room had left his hair curlier than he cared to share with the world, and rough to the touch.  His curls couldn’t compete with Nina’s in terms of blinding shine and volume, but they made their presence known nonetheless.  He scooted up next to her, pulling his knees up and resting his arms on them as he opened his palms.  “Listen.  I’m aware that I have a problem.”

She sniggered with a shake of her head.

“Am I working on it?  No, not really.  Have I sought therapy?  No, I have not.  But I am aware.”

“So we’re both aware that you’re an asshole.  Awesome.”

“We’ve been through a lot together in a very short period of time.  Traumatic events have a knack for getting into people’s heads, painting beautiful images of connections that aren’t really there.  I understand where your head is, but try to remember, Nina, that I don’t know you.”

Nina straightened, still refusing to look at him.

“And you sure as hell don’t know me.”

She sniffled, gazing off into the distance with a soft shake of her head, holding up the phone again.  “I know that I would kill to have this many people loving me and worrying about me.”

Jack scratched an eyebrow, and when the urge to claw it straight from his skin nearly overwhelmed him, he told himself to stand up and walk away.  To walk away from her and never look back.

“Out of those three hundred calls.” He was amazed at the sound of his own voice.  “There are four, four
people, who genuinely give a shit whether I lived or died yesterday.  And even
four
is being more generous than I probably should.  Alright?  So you’re not the only miserable, lonely person in the world, Nina.  Surprise.  Do you feel better?”

“How in God’s name do you land on
four
when you’ve got three hundred missed calls?  Pretty big jump.”

“The only time one man finds himself surrounded by three hundred people showing their ‘concern’…  is when that ‘concern’ is completely contaminated.  The only time three hundred people will
ever
clamor around one man is because, and only because, people are deeply attracted to pain by nature.”

Nina lifted her eyebrows.

“Deeply, sadistically attracted.  To suffering.  To
death
.  Just as long as none of those things are happening too close to home.”

“So two hundred and ninety-six people, out of three hundred.”  She shook the phone.  “Are clamoring to see you in pain?”  She shrugged.  “Why? Over what?”

Jack’s eyes widened.

Nina watched it happen, and her eyes widened as well.  “What in the world are you running from, Aries?”

Jack nodded at her.  “What are you?”

Nina looked away.

He watched her, eyes running along her delicate jaw, her full, puckered lips, and her naturally long eyelashes.  He watched a smile pull at those lips, not a genuine one, but one that almost perfectly mirrored everything he, himself, was feeling inside before her eyes fell.

“Maybe you’re running from the cold-blooded man you called this morning?” he asked.

She threw him a look, but this time, it was full of warning.

“The one who can breathe underwater?” A smirk pulled Jack’s lips.  “He picked up, didn’t he?” He reached out and pinched her elbow, his smile blooming when she snatched it away.  “So that’s at least one person who gives a damn, right?”

She bit her bottom lip.

Jack looked away from her; only because it was occurring to him that looking at her was making it harder to shut the hell up.  When he looked at his feet and mumbled, “Boyfriend?” he knew it was too late.  His eyes rose to hers, and he was riveted again.  “Husband?”

“Lawyer,” she said, meeting his eyes once more.  “And he only answers my calls because I pay him to.”

“Why are you speaking to a lawyer?”

“What a curious bird you’ve suddenly become.  I hardly recognize you.”

“You’ve been interrogating me since the moment we met; I think it’s only fair I return the favor.”

“Yeah well…”  She crossed her arms.  “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

“I’m a pretty good lawyer myself—”

“I thought you were a great lawyer?”

“I
am
a great lawyer.”

“Ego’s just as healthy as ever, I see.  Never change, Aries.”

“I could offer you some advice.  Free of charge, of course.”

“How kind of you, but no thank you.”

Jack nodded.  “So you killed someone, then.”

She laughed heartily.

He shrugged.  “That’s the only time anyone in their right mind would turn down free legal advice.”

The wind picked up.  He felt her long curls tickling the side of his face and the back of his neck and knew he was too close.  Still, he scooted closer, leaning deeper on his knees.

She crossed her legs Indian style, sighing into the distance.  “He’s my divorce lawyer.”

Jack’s eyes flew to her.

“Anthony has made this entire process hell on Earth.  It’s been three years, back and forth, with this guy.”

“Anthony.  Your husband?”

“Ex-husband.”

“Not until the divorce is finalized.  At best, you’re separated.”

“Can you stop being a lawyer for two minutes and allow me to live in my fantasy world?  Am I still married to Anthony on paper? Yes.  But he stopped being my husband a long time ago.”

Jack clasped his hands and brought them to his face, leaning his chin into them.

“The trial is in three weeks, and I just want it over with.  I just want my money,” she said.  “I had to call my lawyer, the only person who cares that I’m alive, to make sure Anthony doesn’t see this plane crash as an opportunity to push up the trial, knowing that I’ll miss it—”

“And the judge rules in his favor by default.”

Nina nodded, cutting a look at him.  “I have to get back to New York.”

“No judge would rule against you when Mother Nature has taken hold like this.”

“You don’t know my judge.”

“Once we get back to New York, if he gives you shit—”

“She.”

Jack clicked his tongue.  “What’s her name?”

“The Honorable Eleanor Perkins.”

He whistled.

“Sounds like you know her,” she said.

“Unfortunately.”

Nina laughed.  “I was five minutes late to the preliminary hearing—totally not my fault, by the way. She’s hated my guts ever since.”

“Regardless.  If she gives you a problem, call me.”

“Who are you?”  Cutting a look at him, she pressed the back of her hand to his forehead.  “Well, you’re not
warm.”

“Come on.  Just one traumatized Delta Airlines Passenger giving advice to another.”  He moved closer.  “Look.  I spent my first five years in the industry at the largest firm in Manhattan.  Straight from Harvard Law and into the shark tank.  There isn’t a single judge in the city that I can’t reach, not even Perkins.  She’s tough, but it’s all smoke and mirrors.  As a woman in her field, she has to be tough.  I know how to wear her down.”

“Why would you do that?”

Jack went to answer, clapped his mouth shut, and then met her eyes.  “Neither of us are shouldering the strongest numbers are we?  Maybe we could turn your zero into a one.”  He shrugged.  “And my four into a five.”

Nina forced her eyes away, and when she finally looked back, it was clear she’d fought back tears.   “Thank you, Jack.”

“Wow.  Jack, huh?  Not Aries?  Or Aries Lawyer? Or Fucking Aries Lawyer? Or
Unimaginable
Aries Lawyer?”

“For now.”

They shared a smile, but just as quickly as the sweet moment was there; it was sliced in half, dissipating into the passing air when the train slowed significantly, making them both teeter and lose their balance.

Jack took hold of her arm, and she did the same to him, drinking in the smile that spread on his lips.

“It’s just a turn,” he whispered, his eyes falling to her own smiling mouth before licking his lips.  “You had to climb to the roof of the train, right?”

“You acted like you didn’t want me sitting next to you.”

“I told you.  I’m aware that I have a problem.”

“A problem you have no plans to address.”  She laughed.  “Whatever.  The view’s better up here anyway so…”

Jack’s breathing deepened.  He searched her eyes before letting his gaze fall to her lips.

Their hands didn’t leave each other’s arms, and Nina tightened her fingers around his biceps, swallowing.  “Why are you being so nice to me?”

Jack’s eyes, which hadn’t yet left her lips, grew hooded.

Nina gasped when he leaned in close, parting his plush lips and letting his eyes flutter closed.  She pushed out of his hold, with a little more force than necessary, just as the train cleared the turn and began to speed up.

Jack’s eyes popped open at her retreat, just in time to find her scooting backward, away from him, her eyes wide with alarm.

He leaned forward when she kept scooting away, hoping she could see how close she was to the edge.  “Be careful!”

But it was too late.  If he thought he’d scared her a moment before, it was only because he’d yet to see the horror flashing across her eyes when she reached a hand behind her and realized it had nowhere to go.

“Shit!” Jack screamed, lunging for her when she tumbled over the edge of the train, flying onto his belly in his haste to catch her before she fell.

He did catch her, getting her around the wrist just as her body disappeared over the edge, but with nowhere to plant his feet, he couldn’t use his weight to his advantage, and she wasn’t exactly svelte, so her weight overwhelmed him and pulled him over the edge, too.

This is it,
Jack thought, as they went careening into the dirt and tall grass below,
this is how I’m going to die.

It wasn’t how he’d imagined it happening, being pulled off the roof of a moving train by a woman who he’d, quite appropriately, named after a natural disaster.  As they went screaming to the ground, he was thankful that, at the very least, his sudden death would not be by his own hand.

***

Nina hit the ground first, the hard impact stealing a horrified scream from her lungs just as Jack landed next to her.  The toe of his dress shoe connected with her eye as he crash-landed a few feet away from her.  Her head flew to the side at the impact, and the pain was so sudden and severe she couldn’t even scream.  She covered her eye with her hand and rolled onto her side, her mouth hanging open in shock.

Unaware that he’d just kicked her square
in the face, Jack moaned as he rolled back and forth next to her, clutching the small of his back.

For a moment, there was silence.  Shock.  Disbelief.  When they finally rolled toward each other, and their gazes met, realization hit, and their eyes widened.

“Stop!” they screamed, stumbling to their feet in unison before turning toward the train, which was rapidly moving away from them, horn tooting in the afternoon air.