"Art of Trouble" 2

24 hours earlier

  Jade was critiquing her outfit choice in her mirror, not sure if it did anything for her, and was about to change when her cell phone lit up with the preset alarm.

She had only five minutes before Thomas picked her up for their date to the auction house.

It was their fourth date and she was dreamy-eyed thinking about him but no matter the strength of the attraction she felt…she knew it couldn’t last.

Thomas lived in Montreal and she lived in Brooklyn, New York not an easy commute, and he was only here on business. He was staying at his brother Adam’s apartment in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn and it was Adam she’d met first.

Her BFF Karen had convinced her she needed to expand her horizons and take an art appreciation class with her at the university. Jade wasn’t sold on the idea but Karen had insisted she’d love it, so she gave it a chance. She didn’t love it but she did find the student sitting next to her very interesting.

Adam St Clair was adorable. His cute smile fueled her first impression of him and she’d retuned that smile, and easily accepted his date request.

Karen had connected with someone too a student named Nolan and the four of them had gone for coffee after their first class.

Jade found Adam to be sweet and attentive and she was fully committed to dating him, until she met his brother Thomas.

Thomas blew her attraction for Adam out of the water with one smoky look.

Adam told her, warned her, not to date his brother, because Thomas traveled a great deal for business and his business was procuring rare art at prestigious auction houses for his wealthy clients, and Thomas never stayed anywhere for long.

Jade understood the limits of dating Thomas but those interested eyes and intriguing smile had left her no choice but to risk it. And Thomas was everything she’d imagined in that first introduction, suave, sophisticated, worldly and their first three dates had catapulted her into fairytale thoughts, foolish and impossible, but impossible to stop.

   Tonight he’d invited her to go with him to the famous Sotheby’s auction house. He had a client’s bankroll and instructions to buy a particular painting. She was thrilled he’d asked and she was excited to see inside of the prestigious auction house.

She checked her reflection again in her full length mirror considering her dress choice.

It was a simple, yet elegant, black dress with a slight flair to the skirt and a flattering, tailored bodice. It hugged her in all the right places.

It was the best she had in her closet and she decided it would have to do.

She slipped on her stiletto heels and the first sign of trouble reared its unfortunately expected head. 

The heel on her right shoe broke off and Jade stumbled against the mirror cracking it and nicking the tender skin of her forehead with a sharp edge, dripping blood onto her dress.

“Great! Just great, just when I thought I could get away from it…trouble comes calling.”

She growled and kicked off her useless shoes and unzipped her blood stained dress. She grabbed a cotton ball from her dresser and held it to her forehead while taking several breaths to stop the frustrated tears from falling. Then she heard the apartment buzzer and knew she was going to be late.

 

Thomas had been very understanding and waited patiently as she tossed a not-so-perfect outfit together and slipped on boring pumps. She put a small flesh colored band-aide circle on her cut and curled her bangs over her forehead to hide it.

“I’m ready,” she said stepping out of her bedroom and tripping over her own feet to fall ungracefully into his arms.

Thomas was quick and held her close to break her fall.

“Thank you,” she whispered, looking into his dark lashed eyes of amber and feeling breathless at the proximity to his solid chest, and dizzy breathing in the sensual scent of his aftershave. The whole essence of him attracted her, and probably every other woman in the world.

They left her apartment building and Jade was impressed by the limousine waiting at the curb for them.

“Is this for us?”

“Yes, my client wants his treasure to be safe. He rented our travel.”

“Wow, must be nice,” she sighed and slid into the buttery leather seats of the limo. It highlighted the fact her outfit was not of the same caliber as these surroundings and she peeked at Thomas.

He was in a tailored, black suit that gave ‘fit only for him; vibes and she sighed, wishing she’d had on her first outfit choice, but no hope for that.

 

The auction house was everything Jade expected it to be, it reeked of luxury and old money.

The items up for auction were untouchable for her with her measly salary and she began to wonder how much Thomas’s client was willing to spend on whatever item Thomas was here to bid on.

The first item up for bidding was a small jade humming bird.

“That is adorable,” Jade whispered to Thomas.

“It is,” Thomas nodded and raised his hand to bid.

Jade was confused. She thought he was here to bid on a painting.

The bidding for the jade bird was over quickly. There weren’t many who’d wanted the item and Thomas won the bid at a fair price.

“So that’s what your client wanted? I thought it was a painting.”

Thomas chuckled. “That wasn’t for my client…that was for you, Jade.

“You got it for me…why?”

Thomas smiled. “It was meant for you, a beautiful jade bird is the perfect gift…for a beautiful woman named Jade.”

Jade’s heart did a summersault and she had to suppress a nervous laugh from escaping. He was romancing her in an unbelievable way and it felt like a fairytale. She was afraid to break the spell. “Thank you,” she whispered.

The auction had resumed and Jade wondered when the item he was truly here to buy would come up for bidding. She didn’t have long to wait. It was the fifth item.

 

The painting was unremarkable to her eyes and by a painter she’d never heard of, but it was garnering a lot of interest from the bidders.

Thomas was relentless with his bids and ultimately he won the painting, at a staggering price.

Jade was impressed by the unlimited funds Thomas must have been given.

“Your client must really want that painting.”

“He does.”

“It seems a few other bidders wanted it too but…I have to admit it doesn’t do anything for me,” she shrugged.

Thomas smiled at her and nodded. “I agree, it isn’t appealing to me either but…what the client wants is all that matters.” He took her hand, “Come with me to claim it.”

 

They stood before an older man with absolutely no expression on his face and Jade wondered if he were a statue, his posture was as rigid as his features.

“I’m claiming items numbered 54 and 137,” Thomas told the man.

The man nodded and Jade almost laughed. She’d expected the man’s head to fall off his stiff shoulders.

The man flipped through pages in a book on a mahogany desk in front of him and asked for Thomas’s bidding number and ID.

Thomas gave the bidding number but when he went to provide his passport, he found it wasn’t in his suit pocket. He gave a sheepish look to Jade. “I think I’ve left my passport at Adam’s. I hate to put you in this position but can you give him your ID? They won’t release items without verifiable information on the purchaser.”

“Oh sure, so long as I don’t have to pay that price,” she giggled and took out her driver license handing it to the expressionless man.

The man notated the two sales with her name and address but he took the payment from Thomas before handing over the coveted painting and the jade bird. The painting was slipped into a cylindrical tube and oddly, so was the jade bird.

“Enjoy your purchases,” the man said in a monotone matching his expression.

They left the auction house and drove off in the luxury limo.

Jade couldn’t believe the feeling of suspended reality she was having, snuggled next to Thomas in the back of the car with a popped bottle of champagne between them and two glasses clinking to his success.

The kiss when the stood outside her apartment building was a perfect ending to the magical night.

“Come see me off tomorrow?” he whispered against her lips.

Cold water couldn’t have been any more effective than those words to deflate her happiness.

He was leaving tomorrow and there’d been no talk of when he would return. She clutched the cylinder holding the bird tighter in her hands and nodded.

“Oh…sure, it’s Saturday and I don’t have work so…what time and where?”

“My train to Montreal leaves Penn station in the afternoon, around three, why don’t you meet me at Adam’s around ten. We can spend time together before I go?”

His suggestive smile flipped her heart again.

She nodded. “Okay, I’ll…see you then.”

The second kiss was deeper and bone melting but before she was ready to end it, he stepped back.

“See you tomorrow,” he winked and in a smooth motion got back into the limo.

It drove off into the dark of night and she considered it a perfect fairytale ending.

But she wasn’t yet aware of the dark villain watching her from across the street, orthat he was calculating his next move.

 

A morning songbird sat on her bedroom windowsill singing loud and sharp.

It woke Jade up with a start and she opened her eyes and looked at the annoying bird until it flew away.

She stretched and looked at her alarm clock and saw it was a quarter to nine in the morning. She had to get showered and dressed and see Thomas before he left.

She tossed the covers off, jumped out of bed and promptly fell over the broken heel shoe she hadn’t put away, and slammed her knee into the floor.

“Good morning to me,” she grumbled as she leaned on her night stand to help her stand up then she limped into the bathroom.

Half an hour later she was showered and dressed in fitted jeans and a cropped top with a flower print. She thought she looked cute and smiled at her reflection.

She put on her sneakers, grabbed up her purse and stepped into the living room…and froze.

Her apartment door had been pried open and her living room was tossed into a pile of overturned furniture and knickknacks. Who would do this? Then she heard a noise coming from her kitchen and ran out the door into the hallway.

She was happy the elevator doors stood open and she ran in desperately pressing the lobby floor button praying the person trashing her apartment wouldn’t come out.

 

Outside, Jade noticed a dark sedan parked at the curb and the driver inside stabbed her with a look of surprise.

She shivered and ran as fast as she could down the block, scurrying around the corner and crossing the street to where a public park took up the entire block.

She dove behind and tucked her body into one of the largest bushes that lined the street in front of the small, local park, and prayed they wouldn’t see her.

*

That was what led to this moment Jade recalled, as she looked for Thomas in the first train car walking thorough it and scrutinizing the passengers. He wasn’t there. She opened the connecting door and stepped into the next car.

It was a lounge car with a bar and a bartender servicing drinks and snacks. This car was furnished with club chairs and tables and at one of the tables, sat Thomas.

Jade was relieved to see him and sat down across from him.

“Jade? You bought a ticket to Montreal?”

“I had to…someone trashed my apartment looking for something and all I could think about were all the people bidding on that painting you won.”

“What? Someone broke into your home, when?”

“This morning, and I was home while they were there. They were in the kitchen when I ran out of my apartment. And there was a dark car waiting at the curb. I knew that driver was with whoever was in my apartment so I ran and hid around the corner, behind a very large and scratchy bush and watched that car go slowly down the block, looking for me. I knew I had to warn you…someone is after that painting and I think with my address on the sale, they thought I had it.

Thomas nodded. She was right. “Did they follow you here?”

“I didn’t think so but…yes, one of the men was at the train station looking at the track this train was on.”

“So they could be on the train.”

“No…uh…I don’t know.”

Thomas looked past her and his eyes widened then he took her hand and pulled her up from her seat.

“Come on,” he said, keeping her hand in his walking past the bar and through the next connecting door which led into a dining car.

They kept walking through that car and into the next, which held private rooms.

“Where are we going?” she whispered.

“I have a bedroom. We need to figure out a plan because that man did follow you. My guess, he’s about a train car or two behind us.” Then he pulled her shocked self through two more cars of private rooms and into a third. He stopped at a room door and opened it, walking her inside and locking the door behind them.

She shook her head. “I don’t understand. How did those men know you were going to Montreal?” 

Thomas wondered that too.

He made her sit down because she was shaking and he handed her a bottle of water from the stock the train attended had provided him.

“I need you to think Jade, did you write anything down about meeting me today?”

“No…I…wait,” she began to remember. She’d been so giddily about the whole experience last night that she did write about it in her journal and…she’d left her journal open on the couch in her living room. She gave Thomas a worried look. “I keep a journal and I may have written all about yesterday’s date…and mentioned you were leaving for Montreal today.”

Thomas let out a deep sigh and nodded. “We have to get off this train, unseen, and find another way to get to Montreal.”

“Couldn’t we just hide out in here?”

“No, if they’re this determined to get that painting, they won’t leave any car or any private room unsearched. They know we’re on this train. We have to get off.”

“What’s the next stop?” she asked looking out the window.

“We can’t wait for a stop,” he told her and began to repack his bag with items he’s taken out.

“What? How do we get off a moving train? And no, that doesn’t matter because I’m not jumping off a moving train.”

“We have to but we’ll wait for it to slow down and then we jump.”

“Are you crazy?”

“Look, I’m sorry I got you involved in this. I shouldn’t have taken you with me yesterday. I never take anyone along because of this but…I wanted to spend more time with you …I’m sorry. I will keep you safe Jade and I’ll get you out of this. I promise. But you have to trust me. We have to get off this train, now.”

She was still shaking her head as he grabbed her hand and made her stand up. He pulled her through the door and out into the small corridor that ran along the doors to the private rooms and then out to the area between cars.

“Aren’t these doors locked?” she asked hoping they were.

‘Yes, but this one opens at the next stop, and I intend to keep it open when we start moving again.”

“You’ve done this before?” she accused, her eyes stabbing his with insight.

Thomas wished again he hadn’t taken chances last night by bringing her along. He should have left her alone but he’d been attracted to her in a way he hadn’t been before, and he’d acted foolishly.

“I said, you’ve done this before haven’t you?” she asked again, poking his arm for his attention.

“Yes, I have. Now please, Jade, listen to me. The train will pull into the next station in less than a minute. These doors will open and those men will be on the platform to see if we get off. So we have to wait. I’ll block the locking mechanism and once the train moves again and before it picks up speed, we’ll jump off.”

Jade felt her pulse jump at the thought of doing that and she knew trouble was rolling along on these tracks with her.  Should she warn Thomas about her cursed luck, but since he hadn’t warned her….maybe she’d just let the ‘snake eyes’ roll where they will…

and pray she knew how to tuck and roll.