One More Day (22 page)

Just then, Nick hit the wall with his fist.
 

“I know what you’re trying to do. You screwed with my head and I let you. But leave Jackson alone. I mean it. Stop fucking with my brother’s head.”

Ridley looked afraid and Jackson’s fists clenched at his side. He knew Nick was just trying to protect him but this was taking things too far. He wouldn’t let his woman be threatened in their own home. He opened his mouth to yell out a warning.

Then Nick leaned down and kissed Ridley.

Kissed Ridley.

“What the hell is going on here?” Jackson barked.
 

Nick jumped back and ran his fingers roughly through his hair. “Jack, I can explain. I should have just told you from the beginning.”

Ridley stayed in her position by the wall, her hands over her mouth. When she looked up at him, two tears slid down her cheeks.
 

Jackson hadn’t moved from his position at the head of the stairs. He descended the stairs slowly, taking each step individually.
 

One. Two. Three. Four.

He counted the steps, holding the numbers in his head. Anything was better than the image of Ridley pressed against the wall, fear in her eyes. While his own brother…

He looked at Ridley directly. “Can you go in the family room for a minute, please? I need to talk to my brother alone.”

She nodded mutely, her hands still over her mouth. She edged past them, giving Nick a wary look as she passed. As soon as she was out of striking range, Jackson flew across the room and tackled Nick.

“What the hell?” Nick held up his arms to ward off the blows but more than a few connected because Jackson felt the satisfying crunch as his knuckles hit bone.

Ridley screamed in the background but he barely heard her. All he could see was Nick, pushing himself against Ridley. Touching her. Kissing her.

He growled and threw another punch at his brother’s head.

“Jack, stop!” Nick wasn’t even trying to fight back at this point, just trying to protect his face from the raining blows.
 

The front door banged against the wall and the next thing he knew, he was being hauled backward. Matt grabbed Jackson and pulled his arms behind him. He managed to get an arm free and lunged forward again, dragging Matt with him.
 

Nick reared back and fell into the entryway table. It fell to the floor with a resounding crash. Ridley jumped back as pieces of the wood went flying.

“Are you okay?” Jackson asked her. Everything in him stilled waiting for her answer. When she nodded shakily, his shoulders sagged. Matt used the opportunity to pull his arms behind him again, more securely this time. His hold felt like being encased in iron.

“Hold on, man! Just wait a second,” Matt muttered.

“I’m not waiting for anything.” Jackson strained against Matt’s hold. He glared at Nick, who stood in the opposite corner, wiping the blood from the edge of his mouth.
 

“What the hell is your problem, Jack?” Nick stared at his bloody hand and then at him. “You’ll fight your own brother for
her
.” He glared at Ridley as he said it, making Jackson strain against Matt again.
 

Jackson couldn’t even hear what his brother was saying. He was practically frothing at the mouth, just the image of Nick with his hands on Ridley,
all over
Ridley, making him see red.
 

“Yes, I would. If you ever touch her again, I will break you.”
 

Matt looked at Nick. “I have no idea what just happened but it’s probably better if you go.”

“Fine.” Nick sent a scathing glance at Ridley.
 

Jackson lunged forward again and Matt cursed as one of his arms almost slipped free.

“Don’t even look at her. I can’t believe I almost listened to you.
Just stay away from her
!”
 

“I’m not Raina!”

Everyone stopped moving at Ridley’s shriek.
 

“God, please stop fighting. Don’t fight over me. Not when I’ve been lying to you all.”

Jackson broke away from Matt. “It’s okay, Ridley. I already told them your real name and about what happened.”

“You don’t understand. Raina Winters is my twin sister. She’s currently overseas on a modeling job.”

Ridley shook her head, tears spilling down her cheeks.

“I’ve been lying to you, too.”

*
 
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*

RIDLEY ACCEPTED THE glass of water Mara handed her gratefully. Her insides felt as dry as a desert after all the tears she’d shed.

Nick stood in the corner with his arms crossed. “Okay, so run this by me again. You aren’t Raina. You’re her sister.”

Ridley nodded. “Yes. I’m so sorry I lied. I just didn’t know what else to do.”

Jackson hadn’t looked at her since she’d blurted out the news. He sat on the floor with his knees drawn up and his head resting back against the wall. Mara handed him a pack of frozen vegetables, which he rested on his right hand. She handed another pack to Nick. He pressed it against his cheek and then flinched.
 

Matt stood looking out the window. She could understand not wanting to get involved. This whole situation sounded like the plot of a movie. A bad one.

Mara took pity on her and sat next to her on the couch. “You were scared, so you decided to hide out at your sister’s house?”

“It seemed like the only option I had at the time. After the accident, weird things started happening. Things weren’t in the same place I left them. Finding my car doors open when I knew I’d locked them. The final straw was when my apartment was trashed. Raina’s the only family I have. I didn’t have anywhere else to go. Then when her security code didn’t work, I was so scared. That’s part of the reason I passed out.” She looked at her hands, willing herself not to start crying again.

“You really passed out? Before we found you on the ground?” Matt spoke up.

“Yes. I took a train and two buses to get here. I didn’t want to take a plane or anything. You can buy a bus ticket with cash. By the time I got here I was exhausted and had been living off of vending machine snacks and gas station food. When I couldn’t get in the house, it all just kind of caught up to me at once.”

Jackson sat up and looked at her for the first time. “So, you really were locked out? That wasn’t just a ploy to get us to help you?

“I had no idea anyone else was even outside. Except for the kids, of course. They wanted to know what I was doing in the pond.” She smiled at the memory.

“So, you actually were ill. You really were locked out. The only thing you lied about was—“

“My name.” She met his eyes. “When you called me Raina, I realized the easiest way to hide would be to literally become someone else for a while. Raina changed her name as soon as she started modeling. No one connects us since our names are different, and I never tell people what she does. She always said it was safer for me not to.”

“It’s actually a good plan.” Nick commented.

Shocked, she looked up. He was the last person she’d expected to defend her.
 

“Don’t look so surprised. I’m not saying it was right. I’m just saying I understand why you did it. You probably figured you wouldn’t be here long enough for anyone to have to know the truth.”

“Exactly. I didn’t count on any of this. I didn’t count on liking it here so much,” she admitted. She sneaked a glance at Jackson. He was staring at her. Unable to hold his gaze, she dropped her eyes back to her hands.

“Or on me attacking you like that. I am so sorry about that.” Nick hung his head sheepishly. “I’m sure you’ve guessed that your sister and I have a… complicated relationship.”

She grimaced. “Say no more.”

“What I don’t get is why didn’t you just tell me the other day?” Jackson stood and walked over to the couch. He sat next to her and grabbed her hand. “When you told me your real name you could have just told me all of it.”

“I was going to. But then you said—“

“How much I hate liars.” He pulled her into his arms. She exhaled and grabbed him around the middle. “I’m sorry I said that. I didn’t mean about things like this. I’m sorry I made you feel that you couldn’t tell me the truth. I seem to have a knack for saying the wrong thing around you. It’s like you bring out the worst in me.”

There was a moment of silence and then they all started laughing. Nick held up his pack of frozen peas as if toasting them. “Wow, little brother. You really have lost your swag, haven’t you?”

Jackson winced and looked at Ridley apologetically. “You know what I mean.”

“I do. Besides, it’s my own fault. I should have just told you before. Raina is going to get quite a kick out of this when I tell her what happened.”

“So, she’s okay? Raina, I mean.” Nick didn’t meet her eyes.

“Yeah, she’s fine. The only reason she didn’t come back right away is because she’s doing a shoot for Sports Illustrated and I didn’t want her to miss it. It’s a big deal for her. Plus, I also wasn’t lying when I told you she was matchmaking. I think she was happy I was locked out and stuck here.”

“I am officially not mad at her anymore.” Jackson smirked and went to pick up the bag of peas he’d left melting on the floor.
 

Mara nudged her in the side. “And you officially owe me ten bucks.”

Ridley’s mind raced trying to figure out what Mara was talking about. Then she remembered their bet. “Oh geez. Well, you definitely won. But I thought you said five?”

“I did but I was only betting on you driving Jackson crazy. It looks like you got the two-for-one Alexander special.”

*
 
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*

“I ALREADY GAVE Jackson the FBI surveillance photos on David Finemore. What more do you want?”

Nick pulled the phone away from his ear and regarded it with disbelief. This was Elliott? The most suspicious, cynical person he knew?
 

“I want you to do a full-scale background investigation on this guy. Not just what’s in the FBI file, but everything. I have no doubt that you’ll find things on your own that your FBI contact didn’t give you.”

Elliott sighed. “What are you hoping to find? We already know the guy’s a criminal.”

“Yes, but I want to know the details of what he’s done. And
who
helped him.”

“Oh, now I see. Come on, Nick. I already did a preliminary background check on her and she’s so clean she squeaks. Why are you trying to find a problem that doesn’t exist? Jackson really likes this girl. Leave it alone.”

Nick swiveled in his office chair until he was facing the window. After leaving Jackson’s house he hadn’t felt like going home so he’d decided to go back to the office. Sometimes he spent more time there than he spent at his condo anyway.
 

At twenty-seven he had more money than he’d ever imagined, could travel as he wished and had a list of women on speed dial who’d happily do anything he asked.

And none of them could stir him like the one woman he couldn’t have.

“We need to be thorough on this, Eli. Jackson’s not like us. He’s already been through so much.”

“I know. All right, I’ll take another look at Ridley, too. But I doubt it’ll be anything more interesting than a speeding ticket and a “most likely to succeed” award in high school.”

“Thanks, bro. And one more thing?”

“What do you need?”

Nick thought long and hard about what he was about to do. It was difficult to be successful in business without developing a thick skin and stepping on more than a few toes. He’d been raised with a strict sense of honor and was careful not to make promises he couldn’t keep. But after months of uncertainty, he wasn’t any closer to a solution on his own. He was prepared to admit that he needed help.

“Another background check. This time on Raina Winters. The real one.”

THE NEXT AFTERNOON, Ridley pulled into the first available space she could find in the underground parking garage of MacArthur Center Mall.
 

Katie had the kids so she
’
d decided it was high time she got out of the house. It had felt like high school all over again when she’d picked up the phone to invite Mara to lunch. She’d never been that outgoing, and after everything that had happened, she wouldn’t have been surprised if Mara wanted nothing to do with her. But in the end, Mara had seemed pleasantly surprised to hear from her again and more than happy to meet her at the mall during her lunch break.
 

Mara worked as an administrative assistant twenty minutes away in the city of Norfolk. She’d suggested that Ridley drive over and meet her since Norfolk had the closest shopping mall to New Haven anyway.
 

White-knuckling her way through traffic in an unfamiliar area wasn’t her idea of fun, especially while driving the ultra-expensive Audi coupe Jackson had insisted she take. It was a small triumph that she’d managed to get there without causing any accidents or getting any scratches on the paint. It had been incredibly kind of Jackson to offer her the use of his car in the first place.
 

They’d spent the prior night tiptoeing around each other. Even though he’d mentioned the industry party again, she doubted he really wanted to take her. He was just too polite to disinvite her. She sighed.
 

He was probably counting the days until she left.

She threw her purse over her shoulder carelessly and hopped out of the car. She made a note of which entrance her car was parked at and set off.