Read Lila's Thunder: The Almeida Brothers, Book One for Free Online

desk , and when his assistant’s voice rang into the quiet air from the loudspeaker, reminding him, he knew he should get back to work.  But he couldn’t. He couldn’t bring himself to move.
    A knock on the door came from the other side, making it vibrate against Jack’s skull and, in extension, immediately reigniting the headache that had been slowly fading away.   He gritted his teeth in anger and threw the door open, ready to give his assistant the tongue lashing of her life. When he came face to face with Chase his mouth fell and a million different thoughts surged through his head all at once.
    Jack sputtered, having no idea where to begin.   He raised his arm to check his watch. “Um…”  School had started an hour ago.  Looking back up at Chase, taking in the sight of him holding the strap of his book bag like his life depended on it, Jack didn’t miss the distress in his eyes or the tiny downward curl at the edges of his mouth.  He looked over Chase’s shoulder, eye scanning the room.
    “She’s gone,” Chase said, emotion seizing him like a vise when he realized what Jack was looking for.
    Jack pushed his jacket open an d shoved his hand in his pants pocket. “Did you follow her here?”
    Chase’s eyes narrowed.
    “Does she know you followed her?”
    Chase ran a hand through his hair, taking a deep breath before meeting Jack’s eyes, again.  “No counselor,” he answered.
    Jack ’s eyes ignited. “You do realize that this whole Harvard thing is not yet set it stone, right? You realize that it can go away at the snap of a finger, right?  An acceptance letter is not an invitation to start fucking up, so why aren’t you in class, Chase?” Jack’s head was all over the place.  On one hand, he was pissed off that Chase was missing class for Lila, and on the other hand he was distressed at the idea of having to tell him he’d fired her.  He didn’t want to hurt him, but there didn’t seem to be any way out.  His head was officially pounding now, and when the sight of Lila undressing in his office just minutes before jumped into his head, the pain was only amplified. With a groan, he reached up to rub his forehead, cringing.  “Actually, Chase, you know what? Go ahead and skip class, throw your future down the drain, I’m sure the world will find a way to make it all my fault, anyway.” By ‘the world’, Jack meant Lila, and they both knew it.
    Jack was now sure that he’d done the right thing. He wanted to bring Chase into his office, away from the probing eyes of the piranhas he worked with, and sit him down , but he knew him too well.  Any sudden movements, any wrong words, any falsity at all would set Chase off.  He wasn’t a weak kid, and he certainly wasn’t a mean one, but Lila had the power to unravel him where he stood.   With each passing day Jack was beginning to understand that feeling more and more.
    They met eyes across the threshold of his office door. “Okay Chase, look…. I was going to tell you this over dinner but since I’ m sure you’ll find some reason not to be around when I get home tonight I suppose now is as good a time as any.”  Jack fiddled with the keys in his pocket. “I fired her.”  His heart seized in anticipation and he held Chase’s fiery gaze with one equally as strong.  Never in their lives had Chase challenged him quite as openly as he was right at that moment. He was too attached to Lila, seeing the battle raging in his brother’s eyes proved that to Jack. “I fired her,” he said, again. “Today. Just now. She’ll see you around school every now and again, but that’s it.  I’m having you transferred to another counselor effective tomorrow. No more apartment visits.  No more tutoring sessions.”  Jack took a deep breath.  “No more.”
    Chase took several slow breaths, desperate to remain calm, then the sight of Lila on the street that morning flashed into his mind--the pain in her eyes and the panic in her