“I know you spent a good c-c-chunk of that cash you’re holding to b-b-bail Jack out.” He clutched his cane. “Why you holding that k-kind of money?” His gaze traveled to her black eye, which he’d been too polite to bring up at the table. He lowered his voice. “You in trouble?”
She sighed. “No. No. The eye was an accident. And the money is to pay for my divorce lawyer once I get back to New York.”
“Finally leaving that ingrate?”
“Yeah, I am.”
“It’s about d-damn time. Son of a bitch never knew what he had with you and Noah.”
Her eyes fell, and she nodded.
He reached out and took her arm. “I’m sorry if I overstepped, bringing him up back there.”
“Of course you didn’t overstep,” Nina beamed, tears coming to her eyes. “God, he worshiped you. He was the main one waking me up at six on the dot every morning, asking if he could go across the hall and make sure you were doing your exercises.” She sniffled, slapping away the tears falling from her eyes. “He loved you, Rudy. Don’t ever be sorry for asking about him.”
“Has he been getting better?” Rudy frowned. “Been so long since I seen him, but he was always a fighter. My little firecracker.”
Nina took a deep breath. “Everything was supposed to be okay, and then the kidney didn’t take,” she said, shaking her head. “It just didn’t take, Rudy. It’s been six years, but it’s still so hard for me to… to talk about him…”
Rudy gave his wobbling cane all his weight before reaching out and squeezing her arm, tears coming to his own eyes. “Okay, Nina,” he said, his voice soft. “That’s okay. That’s good. You don’t have to say any more.”
She nodded, pushing her hands into the back pockets of her pants as she struggled to compose herself.
Rudy sniffled and jammed his eyes shut. He breathed deep and took his own moment before he claimed her gaze. “Will you let me give you a c-couple dollars? Please?”
“No.” She laughed through wet eyes, grabbing his arm when he reached into his pocket. “No, Rudy. It means the world to me but… I’ll be okay.”
He begrudgingly removed his hand from his pocket. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“You always have a home with me; you know that.”
She nodded.
“I mean it. If you won’t let me give you some money, at least know that. You’re family to me. Always will be.”
Nina wrapped her arms around his neck.
“I’m so sorry, Nina.” He embraced her in return.
Nina jammed her eyes shut and nodded against his shoulder. She waited until the tears had completely dried. Until the threat of them popping up again was close to zero, before pulling back. Her eyes searched Rudy’s and then she looked toward Jack with a laugh.
Jack jolted the moment their eyes met, and like an anxious puppy, his eyebrows rose in question.
Nina waved him over. “Let’s go, Runaway. Come and say goodbye.”
Jack skipped into a run, not even looking both ways before he was jetting across the parking lot with his palm out to Rudy.
Rudy took his hand in a solid shake.
“It’s been an honor. A true honor. You have no idea.” Jack spoke a mile a minute. “This might be completely presumptuous, but do you think I could get a picture with you? Just for the mantle in my living room?”
“Of course, of course,” Rudy laughed.
They both looked at Nina, who was pulling Jack’s phone out of her bag with a shake of her head. She unlocked it while mumbling under her breath, and nearly laughed out loud when she saw the photos that Jack had on his phone.
Zero. He had zero photos. It didn’t surprise her, he never had struck her as a picture taker, but it was still hilarious to her that a photo of him and Rudy was going to be the first and only one.
“Smile,” she said, holding up the camera.
Jack did smile, so bright she was sure he was causing permanent damage to his jaw. Rudy smiled as well, but it struck her as the kind of smile a hostage would give to a stranger who happened to be passing by, smiling while his eyes screamed out for help.
***
“That. Was. Ridiculous. That. Was. Insane.” Jack was still on another level long after Rudy had departed. He and Nina had waved him off before making their way back into the casino in search of a television so they could get an update on the strike. It was a Saturday, and the casino was packed, so they had to weave and wag their way through the crowd once they’d spotted a bar. “That. Was. Epic.”
Even as the cartoon chimes of slot machines crashed together and sent a tumultuous racket floating through the air, Nina could hear Jack loud and clear.
“Incredible,” she said, voice dry. “Unfathomable. Inconceivable. Mind-boggling. Insane. Epic. Pretty soon even you are going to run out of adjectives, Aries.”
“But…” Jack shook his head, still processing everything. He pointed toward the exit doors. “That was Rudy Kalveeno.”
“Yep.” Nina nodded.
“Rudy Kalveeno.”
“Yes, Jack, I know his name. Just in case you’ve forgotten, he was my friend first—before you stole him from me.”
Jack’s hands went into his hair, and he gazed forward in awe. “I can die today. I can, literally, die today, happy.”
“I have no idea who you are right now. I feel like I’m witnessing an exorcism.”
Jack stopped and faced her. “Maybe our luck really is turning around. What are the odds that we chose his boat, Rudy Kalveeno’s boat, out of all the boats on the marina?”
She shot him a look.
“Don’t tell me…” Jack’s face fell. “You knew. You knew it was his boat all along?”
She shrugged, fighting a smile. “Back when we were neighbors; before his back went bad, Rudy used to take me out on the water every weekend. Taught me how to sail. It was kind of our thing.”
“Why the hell didn’t you tell me that from the beginning? Why did you pretend it was just some random boat?”
“I don’t know. I guess I just like fucking with you.”
“But we got arrested.”
“I knew Rudy wouldn’t press charges. And a couple of hours in jail did you nothing but good. You came out a little less buttoned up than you were going in.” She elbowed him, wagging her eyebrows. “And you got to meet Rudy Kalveeno!” She beamed, nudging him harder. “Eh? Eh?”
Eventually, after several nudges, the beaming smile Jack had been fighting split his face, once again, showing all of his teeth. “Yeah, it was worth it. It was so worth it.”
Nina chortled.
“And I ain’t that buttoned up, doll,” he said, giving her a suggestive look. “Don’t let the handsome face fool you.”
“I see half a day in jail has done nothing to tarnish that herculean ego,” she said. “So I guess that’s good news.”
He cast a smile at her once they finally made it to the bar, leaning against it next to each other. After they denied the middle-aged bartender’s drink offer, Nina squinted at the various TV screens above the bar, shaking her head.
Jack didn’t move his eyes from her.
“I can’t believe this strike is still going,” she cried. “If it continues for another day, our entire country is going to collapse—” When she looked at him and saw the intense stare he was giving her, she tripped over her words. “What are you looking at?!” She beamed, eyes wide.
“You’re beautiful; you know that?” Jack asked, unmoved by her shock. “You walk into a room, and everything stops. The most incredible part is you don’t even realize it. You don’t even see that every man in this building has completely stopped what he’s doing, just to take a second look at you.”
“It’s the hair,” she said.
“No, doll. It’s you.”
“It’s the hair. Never underestimate people’s fascination with big, afro textured hair. It’s taking every ounce of self-control they have not to reach out and touc
h it.”
“Do people really do that?” Jack cringed.
“All the time. Sometimes I wonder if I should set up a booth on the corner of a busy intersection, and just sell my hair. One dollar per stroke. I would make a killing. I’d be a millionaire by thirty.”
Jack’s face lit up. “It can’t be that bad.”
“It is that bad. Make sure to get the memo to all of your white friends and family members, okay? Stop touching people you don’t know. It’s weird as hell.”
“Please understand that as long as you look like this…” Jack motioned to her, up and down. “Every man you interact with will be entrenched in a constant mental battle not to touch you. It’s a brutal battle, doll, and it has nothing to do with your hair.”
“So you don’t want to touch my hair?” she asked.
Jack’s eyes instantly went to her curls, and even though it seemed like he wanted to refute, he couldn’t make himself do it.
Nina leaned on the bar, facing him and searching his eyes. “So go ahead then,” she whispered, taking in his parted lips.
Jack faced her too, leaning one elbow on the bar. He studied her face for a while; matching every shy smile she gave him with one of his own. Eventually, with a deep breath, he reached up and took the bottom of one of her curls between his fingers. He curled the tip of it around his pinky and pulled. Though her curls appeared to stop at her collarbones, as he pulled, he was enraptured to see it stretching past her ribcage, her breasts, all the way down to her belly button.
“Jesus Christ,” he breathed. Just when he was sure the curl would stop stretching, it seemed to go another inch, and then another. “How long is your goddamn hair?”
“It’s pretty long.”
“Do you ever—”
“Straighten it? No.”
He released the curl and watched in awe as it boinged right back up. It lingered on her breastbone for a moment before it continued winding up, inch by inch, until it rejoined the rest of her curls at her collarbones.
He watched it happen, and then his eyes rose to hers. “You’re just beautiful.”
“So, you’ve pulled my curls. I’m sure you’ve been dying to do it since the moment we met. Are you satisfied now?”
Jack looked at her hair, and then back to her eyes before answering, “No.”
Nina swallowed and had to force her eyes away when the expression in his became too intense to bear. She looked through the casino with determined eyes. This time, she didn’t miss the curious eyes or come-hither smiles of all the men around her, but there was only one smile in that room that meant something to her.
And, at the moment, she was too fearful to look at him.
When she felt his fingers in her hair again, taking a different curl this time and stretching it out as far as it would go, she bit her bottom lip, fighting a smile.
“I’ve got to figure out a way to make my money back so we can go home.” She shot him a look just as he released her curl from his finger, amused at the amazement in his eyes when, sure enough, it shot right back up. “I spent most of it bailing your ass out. Thank God, Rudy refused to let me pay him back for bailing me out, or I wouldn’t have a dollar to my name. If I don’t have the cash to pay my lawyer once I get home, then there’s no point in me going home at all.”
“I’ll give you the money.”
Her eyes widened. “I would never take that kind of money from you. That would be like accepting a Rolex from Al Capone.”
“Or accepting a loan from a friend,” Jack said, shrugging.
“So you and I are friends now?”
“I hope so,” he laughed.
“I can’t take your loan, Jack.”
“Okay. What if I just gave it to you instead?”
“No.”
“What if I agreed to represent you myself?”
“Are you a divorce attorney?”
“The bulk of my experience is in criminal defense, but I could still help you.”
“You can’t help me.” She sighed. “This divorce is going to decide my entire future, and I need a seasoned divorce attorney. The guy I have waiting for me in New York is the best in the city. He has a flawless track record representing women in divorce cases, and I need to win this case, Jack. He is a winner. Unfortunately, he knows it, and charges accordingly.”
“What’s his retainer?”
“Ten grand. That’s why I’ve been carrying that money. I was going to pay him in cash the moment we landed in New York.”
“Is divorcing your husband really worth that kind of money?”
“I need to win this.”
“Why do you need to win?” Jack asked. “Are you truly done with your husband? Or is this just a way to drag all of this out because of anger and resentment?”
“He is my husband on paper, but not in my heart. I couldn’t give a shit about him. I’m not angry, or resentful. This is about money. A few months ago, he was two seconds from signing the divorce papers and ending this marriage for good. Then his lawyer found out about some money I’ve been holding in a secret account. Now Anthony is after half.”
“Why don’t you just give him half, then?”
“Because it’s my money,” Nina said, shooting him a look. “It’s a lot of money, and I need every last dime, which is why I’m willing to pay ten grand for a lawyer who can help me protect it. It’s a small price to pay compared to the amount I’d lose if Anthony took half.”
“Money is fluid, Nina. It comes and goes like water. The moment you make everything about money, you’ve already lost.”
“Spoken like a true rich boy. It’s easy to diminish the value of money when you’re drowning in it.”
Jack broke their gaze, looking up at the TV screens where the strike was being covered on almost every channel. “What about Rudy? Didn’t I hear him offer you some money at lunch?”
“I can’t take another dime of his money. He’s done… so much for me. Plus, I know he’s having financial troubles of his own. He’s too proud to admit it.”
“You’re too proud for your own good. You won’t take my money. You won’t take Rudy’s money. You’ve got…” He hesitated. “How long until the trial?”
“Couple weeks—”
“You got a couple of weeks to make ten thousand dollars.”
“Nine thousand,” she corrected. “I only had to pay ten percent to bail you out, so I have a thousand bucks left. All I have to do is figure out how to double my money five times over….” When she spotted something on the other side of the casino, her words slowed to a stop, and her eyes flashed with delight.
Jack followed her gaze, caught sight of what she was looking at, and then shot her a horrified look.
“No,” he said, the smile on his face vanishing. “Nina?” He waited for her eyes to meet his. “No.”
13
Moments later, with Jack on her heels, Nina approached the cashier cage that stretched across the entire north side of the casino. She met eyes with the stone-faced Chinese woman behind the bulletproof glass for only a moment before sliding her thousand dollar wad under the glass.
“Red,” Nina demanded; voice stoic.
Jack came up next to Nina a second too late, clawing for the money just as the cashier swept it out of reach.
On the other side of the glass, the cashier licked the back of her thumb and had the money counted in less than thirty seconds before sliding a red casino chip through the glass.
Bright Crayola red with a stark white $1000 inscribed in the middle, it was a chip most dealers saw only once in a blue moon—and from people a lot more financially stable than the woman who was taking it in a trembling fist.
Nina thanked the cashier and turned back to the casino, red chip clutched tight in her hand.
Jack followed, trying to take her arm, but she shrugged away. She didn’t appear angry, or sad, or even manic, but eerily calm.
“We can do something about this in a real way once we make it home,” Jack said, foll
owing her past the poker room, the penny slots and even the blackjack tables. When he saw her slowing her pace alongside the roulette table in the farthest corner, his heart sped up.
Nina stopped at the table and met eyes with the crater-faced, redheaded dealer. Returning his smile, she slammed her red chip down on the table.
The dealer’s mouth dropped. He clapped it shut a second later.
“Black 15,” Nina said.
“35 to 1,” the dealer informed, swapping out her red chip for a baby blue roulette chip of the same value, centering it on the black 15 column.
“Let’s go,” she said.
“Nina,” Jack begged. “This isn’t even a game of strategy. This is entirely random. If you’re going to spend your last dime, at least do a quad bet. Are you really prepared to lose your last dime on one number?”
Nina didn’t even look at him, nodding her head in silent response to the concern that was also painted across the young dealer’s face.
“No more bets,” the dealer said. “No more bets.”
“I’m not letting you do this.” Jack leaned over the table to swipe up Nina’s chip.
“Please don’t touch the table.” The dealers voice grew deeper, booming with a new authority, an authority that froze Jack’s hand right over the chip. He contemplated taking it anyway, and making a run for it. Nina would thank him later.
“Please don’t touch the table, sir.” The dealer held Jack’s eyes. He must have sensed the thoughts going through Jack’s head because his eyebrows lifted.
Jack searched the kid’s eyes, and then his gaze flew to the exit to his right, on the farthest end of the casino. A burly black security guard was ready at those doors. Jack’s eyes went to the doors on the opposite side. Two guards were collected there. His gaze flew skyward, where hundreds of black globes littered the ceiling. Whoever was watching from that eye in the sky had not missed the red chip Nina had just dropped on the table, and Jack had an inkling they hadn’t wasted a single moment getting a guard at every exit. Just for her.
Her. His eyes went back to Nina, and he removed his hand from where it was lingering over the chip, setting it on the small of her back.
Lightning Strikes (The Almeida Brothers Trilogy #3) Page 16