When Lightning Strikes (The Storm Inside Book 3)

by Alexis Anne

  I was finally starting to understand why it all hurt so much.

  “You know, I have a funny thing I always think of when I remember you as a kid.”

  I looked up into her eyes. Kathleen was smiling. I could see the sadness, but there was also joy. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

  “You loved to jump. You would build platforms and ramps. I’d find sand pits in the woods where you’d been jumping off a fallen tree. You were nuts. All you wanted to do was jump. I always figured you were a junkie for the fall.”

  I grinned and shook my head. “Nope. It wasn’t the fall I was looking for.”

  Her eyes lit up a little more. “Oh yeah? What was it then?”

  “The landing. You get this rush when both your feet land solidly underneath you. You did it, you’re safe, all is right in the world. You did this crazy thing, but in the end you got both your feet on the earth. It’s comforting.”

  Kathleen studied me long and hard. “When was the last time you jumped?”

  The one thing I’d avoided since Hargrove was taking chances. The first one I took was starting my company—and that had been a rush. A beautiful, successful, rush.

  “It’s been a long, long time,” I replied.

  She smiled. “I think it’s about time you jumped again.”

  *****

  “Welcome home, asshole!” Eve laughed at me as I came in the door. She couldn’t breakup with my stubborn ass like Marie could, so instead Eve had resorted to harsher than usual insults. I didn’t want to tell her, but she was cutting deep.

  “Thanks. Good be home.” Despite her words, Eve hugged me hard and long, and I took every second of it. Going back to Hargrove had been as hard as I imagined it would be.

  In the kitchen Jake handed me a glass of Knob Creek and we all stood around the counter while I tried to figure out how to feel around them again.

  “Kinda makes you feel like a stranger in your own skin, am I right?” Jake tossed back the rest of his drink and looked me in the eye.

  “That’s exactly how it feels. Yeah.” I shouldn’t feel weird around these two. Jake knew exactly what it was like to go home after years of hiding from your past. “It was like I was moving through water the whole time. Everything was in slow motion.”

  He nodded. “And now? Did it help?”

  Seeing how Jenn’s family had banded together and moved on with Jenn’s memory in everything they did was a huge wakeup call for me.

  I cleared my throat and took another sip, staring at the bare countertop. “I thought they hated me. I certainly hated myself, so why would they feel any different? It was more than a little shocking to find out that I was completely wrong.”

  Neither of them said anything. They just stood there waiting for me to find the words.

  “They don’t hate me and they don’t blame me. Fuck,” I took a deep breath and blew it out. “They miss me.” My hands started to shake so I stopped talking and tried to pull myself back together.

  “They said I was always the son they never had, and after the accident they lost both of us. They fucking want me to come visit. Like, on a regular basis.”

  “That’s good news, Greg,” Eve said quietly. “Why do you sound upset?”

  This was what was so hard to explain—that the way I ran away and refused to move on turned out to be the worst thing I could have done. “Her sister has a daughter named after Jenn. It was surreal to see her.” I cleared my throat and took another sip. “Jenn is in everything they do. She’s everywhere. You were right, Jake.” I looked up and caught his eye. “I liked the burn and I didn’t know how to live without it. Not until recently.”

  Not until Marie. I’d royally fucked up the one good thing I’d done in years—all because I was scared.

  Eve slid over next to me and rested her hand on top of mine. “Think of where you’d be right now if Marie hadn’t accidentally stumbled into you. You certainly weren’t going to go out looking for her.”

  I glared at Eve and she smiled. “What?” she asked. “Something you want to say?”

  “One,” I set down my glass and held up my finger. “Meeting Marie was no fucking accident. She was meant to meet me.” I may be a self-absorbed, miserable asshole, but I knew fate when I saw it. Now that I was out of my own way, I could see it clearer than ever. There was no woman more perfect for the man I was now than that woman. And she’d been so close to me for so long…we were meant to meet. It was fate. She was mine.

  “And two?” Eve asked innocently.

  “And two, just because I didn’t go looking for her before, doesn’t mean I’m not about to go looking for her now.”

  Eve grinned and bounced her eyebrows at Jake. “I think this trip did our boy some good. He’s got a fire in his belly.”

  “About damn time,” Jake grumbled with a grin. “It looks good on you, by the way.”

  It felt good. For the first time in my life I had a purpose driving everything I was thinking and feeling. “I messed things up good, though. I don’t think it’s going to be easy to get Marie back.”

  Eve shrugged her shoulders. “Might be easier than you think. I happen to know that when you love someone with all your heart and soul that it’s pretty impossible to ignore them when they never leave you alone.”

  I shook my head at the two of them. “I seem to remember Jake having to work pretty hard at getting you back, Eve. You were seriously pissed off at him.”

  She nodded quickly with a huge smile on her face. “Thermo-nuclear angry. Throw vases at his head, angry. Chase him with a baseball bat, angry.”

  I raised my eyebrows. I’d heard about the vase, but not the bat…

  “If you were so damn angry at the asshole, why did you forgive his sorry ass and marry him?”

  Eve bit her lip and made those stupid eyes at Jake that made me feel like I was watching something I shouldn’t. “Because, my dear Greg, when you love someone passionately, it goes both ways. I love Jake fiercely, but I hated him just as intensely when he broke my heart.”

  “I’m confused. How is this a good thing?”

  Eve rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to me. “It means you have a shot in hell of winning her back.”

  I was still lost. “How do you know this?”

  “Oh yeah, details help, huh?” She smiled at me again. “Because every time we go out and your name gets mentioned, she peels the paint off the walls with her eyeballs—she’s that angry.”

  I was trying to follow Eve’s girl-speak. Really I was. “So you’re saying that Marie is really angry at me, and that’s a good thing because it means she really loves me, and if she really loves me it means if I’m an annoying pain in the ass like Jake, I can win her back?”

  “Yes, exactly. Duh.” Eve threw her hands in the air. “How do you not follow this?”

  I just shook my head and laughed. I might never understand exactly what Eve was saying, but I got the point. Marie was still mine. I just had to show her that I was worth the pain and effort.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  “You put up a banner?” Natalie stared up at the “Welcome Home” banner I’d hung in the kitchen. I hadn’t gone all out like when she was little—there were no balloons or streamers.

  But there was still cake—I mean come on, its cake.

  “Would you rather I acted like I didn’t miss you at all? Would you prefer that I look despondent that my freedom is gone?” I put my hand to my forehead and faked a fainting spell.

  “Okay, enough with the hysterics. I feel very loved.”

  And she looked older. France suited her. A little piece of me was jealous that it seemed to bring so much vitality to my daughter.

  Stupid France.

  “I have your favorite dinner in the fridge, and then you’re going to tell me everything that happened.”

  “Mom,” she groaned. “I talked to you every day.”

  “And now, I want to hear it again.”

  Despite her complaining, Natalie was actually
really excited to relive her summer vacation with her dad. We went through her pictures, she told stories, and I asked questions. We stayed up late and fell asleep in my bed. By the next morning I barely remembered that she’d been gone.

  We always had this way of falling back into a pattern, but I had been prepared for fireworks, just in case. Natalie was at that age where I was starting to walk on eggshells. Hormones were hard to handle and something as simple as coming home to boring old Mom after weeks of European adventures could set off a newly independent teenager.

  But so far she seemed happy to be home. In a way I wanted her to get mad and transform from sweet daughter to a teenager I didn’t recognize now, when I was ready for it. But I knew she would do it when I wasn’t looking, the little buggers always did it when parents were unprepared.

  Sunday afternoon I stayed home while she caught up with Clarissa. I ordered takeout for dinner and was eating in front of the television when she plopped down on the couch beside me. “Can I have some?”

  I shoved the second, untouched takeout box toward her. “What, did you think I forgot about you?”

  She laughed and opened her box. “My favorite hamburger and onion rings. Best mom ever!”

  While she ate, I zoned out. In fact, I did kind of forget she was there until she spoke up. “Um, Mom? You okay?”

  She had this puzzled and worried look on her face. “Yeah…what makes you ask that?”

  Somehow I doubted I was going to like what she had to say. “Well, you’re eating comfort food and watching Battlestar Gallactica. You basically have a teddy bear and a blanket right now.”

  “Did you just call my food a teddy bear and my show a blanket?”

  “Yes. Although I do love me some Apollo.” Natalie said. We both stared at Jamie Bamber. “Well, maybe not like this.”

  “Fat Apollo is my second favorite Apollo.” Seriously, how did they make such a hot man look like he’d gained fifty pounds? It looked completely real. “He’s so cute and adorable like this. I love Fat Apollo.”

  “True, but Hot Apollo is hot.”

  Yes he was. “Alright, enough about Apollo. Back to blankets and teddy bears.”

  Natalie frowned. “You’re different than when I left, but you’re still sad.”

  “Different but sad. Okay…”

  “I know you’re not telling me things.” She fiddled with her hands and didn’t look at me which was a sign she knew exactly what things I wasn’t telling her, but was too afraid to admit she’d gone snooping.

  “I’ve been on job interviews and am in talks with the Lightning. Is that what you mean?”

  She shrugged. “Part of it. You’re leaving your job?”

  I shrugged back. “I think so. Things are rough and I’m not happy. I’ve gotten a few job offers and if the details work out, I’ll take one of them. We won’t have to move and I shouldn’t be so miserable anymore.”

  She nodded. “I know things with Grandfather are difficult. I totally understand the work stuff and I’m happy for you no matter what.”

  “But?”

  “I like your run club. I’m really excited you found them.”

  “But?” I asked again.

  Natalie groaned. “You’re really going to make me say this, aren’t you?”

  “If I knew exactly what you were getting at I wouldn’t, but…” I honestly wasn’t sure where she was going. If she was okay with a new job and my new friends, what was she worried about?

  “Greg. I’m talking about Greg. You’re sad, Mom. I know you’re trying to hide it. Maybe you’re hiding it from yourself, I don’t know. I just know what I see in your eyes.”

  Awesome. I still looked sad. This was…awesome. “I guess it takes longer than I’d like to move on.”

  “I still don’t understand why you broke up. You were both happy.”

  I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Greg had some issues and he wanted to work through them.”

  Natalie’s whole face fell. “The car accident?”

  “How do you know about that?” I hadn’t told her anything.

  “Google, Mom. Seriously. I told you I looked him up. There wasn’t much, but enough to put two and two together. Plus Dad said something about Greg being unreliable.” Then she bit her lip and sighed. “I think this is Dad’s fault, actually. Based on what he said to me…I think he said something to Greg.”

  I genuinely wished Brandon was sitting here with us so I could strangle his throat with my bare hands. It was insane the reaction I had to hearing my suspicions confirmed. It was even more interesting how much it made me feel for Greg.

  I really hadn’t moved on at all. “I was worried about that,” I grumbled.

  “Mom?” Natalie waited for me to look at her. “I miss him.”

  That broke my heart. “I miss him, too.” I hated that he’d put up such a massive wall to keep me out. I wondered if there was any way up or through it.

  Or if it was even worth it.

  If Greg was so traumatized and broken, not to mention hell-bent on being alone for the rest of his life, there might be no point to fighting him.

  Especially if fighting to be with him meant having my heart—and Natalie’s—broken over and over again. I loved Greg, and my heart ached for him constantly. I wished I could take away all his pain, but I couldn’t. And in the end, I was so angry at him for pushing me away that I didn’t know what to do with all my anger, so I squashed it down.

  And I was going to keep it down until I figured out what to do with it.

  “I can’t fix him, baby.”

  Her face fell and she scooted across the couch to snuggle into my side. “I think we should watch Fat Apollo become Hot Apollo again.”

  I agreed. So I picked up the remote and hit play.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  I sat slowly sipping my whiskey as I watched the door.

  “You haven’t been around much lately. Busy?” Levi the bartender asked as he poured someone else a beer.

  “Yeah. Work, life, you name it.”

  “Better to be busy than bored, am I right?”

  “No doubt.” I’d been sad, bored, and directionless the night I met Marie, hoping to drown my inability to figure my life out with alcohol. A single laugh had changed all of that.

  And tonight I was taking my first step toward making things right.

  I saw Grace first. Dressed in a slinky red dress with matching heels, she looked like she was out to prove something.

  But then Marie walked in behind her. The blue dress clung to her in all the best places, hugging her hips and giving a splash of cleavage that was tasteful to everyone but me. To me it was tempting—I knew what was underneath.

  Her blonde hair was styled off to one side. Her eyes were vibrant, but her smile was not. She wasn’t any happier to be back here than she’d been the last time. I watched Grace lead her back to the same side of the bar and order drinks.

  This was phase one of my insane little plan.

  The plan was good, though I definitely had my reservations. It was more of a long-con than a short game, which I was fine with. I wanted to start back at the beginning—not necessarily starting over, but going back to where it all began. To give us a both a reminder, and a chance to see how far we’d come.

  I kept my head down and nursed my drink, giving Grace enough time to plant the seeds. She had been more than excited to join in. She even remembered what they’d talked about that night. The plan was to get Marie here, jog some memories, grease some wheels, and then I was to go over, just like last time, and stir the pot.

  Five minutes of waiting later, I heard the laugh that started everything. Marie tossed her head back and laughed hard, the musical sound carrying across the bar, hitting me just as hard as it had the first time.

  A minute later Grace left and disappeared down the bathroom hallway. And just like last time, Marie turned and noticed me across the bar. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened, but she didn’t run or get angry.
She just stood there, completely shocked.

  So I grabbed my drink and made my way around the bar. The sea of people seemed to part for me, like they knew where I was going and that it was important. She watched me the whole way around and didn’t close her mouth until I stopped in front of her.

  “That laugh doesn’t ever get old. How are you, Marie?”

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, quickly glancing around, and then toward the hallway.

  “This is my bar, remember? I drink here all the time.”

  She nodded slowly, still not buying my lie. “Does Grace know you’re here?”

  I faked surprise and hoped I pulled it off. I wasn’t good at lying. Bullshitting, sure. Telling people where to go? I was an expert. But lying to people I loved? Not so much.

  “Is she here with you?”

  Marie studied me and then finally relaxed, nodding. “Yeah, she’s in the bathroom.”

  “History repeats itself.”

  “So it seems,” she said quietly.

  “You’re looking good.” I took a second to appreciate the dress up close.

  She smiled tightly. “Thank you.”

  “I’ve been working on myself.”

  She glared at me. “Alone.”

  I nodded slowly. “Alone. I’m sorry I pushed you away. I didn’t handle things well.”

  “And what exactly were you handling, Greg?” Her normally soft, smooth voice was as cold as ice.

  Those must be the eyes Eve was referring to. I could almost hear the paint falling off the walls—it was that vicious. Eve was right: Marie was pissed with a capital P.

  And now that I knew Eve’s theory behind it, it made me excited instead of intimidated.

  “I didn’t want to hurt you.”

  She arched an eyebrow. “So you hurt me anyway?”

  Yeah, no win there. “I’m sorry, but yeah. I thought it was better to hurt you by breaking up with you, then hurt you worse by being near you when…” I swallowed.

  “When what?”

  I stared at my drink long and hard. “When I let you down.”

  Her eyebrows shot up. “Was there something specific you were worried about? Or were you just generally making up shit in your head.”