It was several, both men and women. Hundreds of different names and area codes—most New York and Cambridge based—glared up at her.
“Who the hell are you, Jack?” she mumbled, laughing as she scrolled and scrolled. Even as she scrolled, calls were coming through, all of which she had to reject. Every call she rejected was followed up by a voicemail. “Why are so many people after you?”
Had he robbed a bank? Killed someone? Was he a fugitive on the run? Did he owe all these people money?
Ignoring the voicemails, she went to the home screen and dialed one of the only two numbers she knew by heart.
Unlike every person hunting Jack, Nina had the pleasure of her callee picking up on the second ring.
“Thank god you answered,” she said. “It’s Nina.”
“Jesus, Nina. Where the hell are you?”
Darkness swept in, even as the sun shone brightly. Her skin prickled with bumps, and her heart sped up to an unbearable pace, to the point that it became difficult to breathe. She crossed one arm over her chest while cradling the phone to her ear.
“I’m in Chicago,” she said. “Plane got diverted and almost crashed.”
“I know that, Nina. It’s all over the news. I’ve been calling you non-stop.”
“I lost my phone.”
“Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, and so is your retainer, so don’t worry.” She heard him sigh. “Look, I don’t know how long it’s going to take me to get home. All three airports are closed; trains are down. Bridges lifted. The news is saying the storm could shut New York down for weeks. If I can’t make it there on time, for whatever reason… do you think we can get a continuance?”
“New York is underwater. I assure you, everyone will be granted a continuance.”
“I know you lawyers are a different breed. If anyone can breathe—and argue—underwater, it’s you guys. The show must go on, right?”
“As much as I enjoy hearing what a cold blooded monster I am, like I said… New York is underwater.”
“I just wanted to touch base and tell you that I’m doing everything I can to get home, and if I’m not there by the time New York has toweled itself off, I will be as soon as I can. Do not let this case go to trial without me, Hank. I can’t let him win this. I need this money more than anything.”
“The trial is in three weeks. Just be sure you’re right outside the gates of this city the moment that day comes. I don’t care if you have to swim across the Hudson to get here, just get here. Your husband is relentless, and the judge lost patience with us a long time ago. She will not grant another continuance once this city is drained. So get here and be ready. With the retainer.”
“You’ll have it the moment I arrive. Thanks.”
She hung up and spent a long moment staring at the phone, having an internal battle with herself. Before she could change her mind, she dialed the second phone number.
“Hello?” a male voice answered.
Goosebumps tickled the skin of her arm once more.
“Hey,” she whispered.
At the sound of her voice, he responded with a laugh. “The restraining order says I can’t call you, but you can call me whenever the hell you feel like it right?”
She took a deep breath when the pain in her stomach exploded with a fury. She always forgot about the power of the fury until she was in the presence of this man, even over the phone. It was as if her body was turning itself inside out just at the sound of his voice. She could feel her sanity taking a back seat like it was happening in real time.
“Please,” she whispered. “Anthony. Please, please, please just give me my money. Why do we have to take this to court? Why the hell can’t you just do what’s right for a change?”
She could hear her voice rising, but couldn’t stop herself. This time, the curious eyes that hit her from every angle were no longer about her hair, but the tremble to her voice, the bend to her spine and the tears in her eyes. “You’re stealing from me, Anthony. That was my money before we even got married, and you know it.”
“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 watche
d 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.
5
“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 on
e, 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.
Lightning Strikes (The Almeida Brothers Trilogy #3) Page 6
