Lightning Strikes (The Almeida Brothers Trilogy #3) by Trevion Burns

up his leg.  He lifted his head, squinting in the darkness.  Maybe there really was an ant on him.
    A scream caught in his throat when he found a pair of bright red eyes gazing back at him.  They glowed from the eye sockets of the biggest white rat he’d ever seen, whiskers stroking his leg.
    “Fuck!” He was off the floor and on the bed in seconds, hardly able to process Nina’s shocked yelp when he landed right on top of her legs.  His gaze was riveted to the white rat as it scurried across the room, frightened away by his scream.  It moved at the speed of light, disappearing under the floor AC unit.
    “What happened?” Nina beamed, clutching his arm and following his wide eyes to the air conditioner in the corner of the room.  When she didn’t see anything, she looked back and shook him.
    He pointed at the unit with a trembling finger, kicking all the way to the head of the bed until his back hit the wall.  “A rat, a rat, a goddamn…”  He jammed his finger in the direction of the unit, watching as Nina’s gaze flew back and forth between him and the unit.  “It was on me; it was… it was goddamn on me.”
    “Are you sure it wasn’t all in your head?”  Nina placed a hand on his shoulder.
    “His whiskers were…”  Jack visibly shivered.  “They were on me.”
    “Rats are totally harmless, you know.  In fact, they’re one of the top ten smartest animals on the planet.”
    “That little factoid might comfort you Fordam-breds and help you sleep at night, but it’s not doing a damn thing for me.  A rat is a rat is a rat.”
    “Okay, I realize you’re a little bit traumatized now, on a drama level 10 that I will probably never see you on again.  So I’m going to let that asshole comment you just made, slide.  Just this once.”
    Jack brought his knees up to his chest, rocking himself, eyes riveted to the unit.
    “So I guess this means you’re sleeping in the bed now.”
    “You’re goddamn right I’m sleeping in the bed.”  His wide eyes flew to hers.
    She bit back a laugh.  “You should have just taken me up on my offer all along.  Then you would’ve never known that poor rat you just scared to death was even in the room.”
    Jack kicked his legs under the sheets and lay down, covering his forehead with his hand.  “I don’t think I’m going to be able to sleep in here.  I really don’t.”
    She giggled, lying down next to him and staring up at the ceiling.  A moment later, she turned her head.  “I guess sewer rats aren’t exclusive to the Bronx anymore, huh?”  Taking in his wide, frantic eyes, the clench of his fists and his knees wobbling under the sheets, her laughter picked up.  “Remind me to never come looking for you during a real rat emergency.”
    “I hate those disgusting, disease ridden things.”
    “Are you sure you’re a New Yorker?”
    He swallowed.  “My younger brother was always the one to handle the poison, and the peppermint, and the sticky traps.  I can still remember the rats screaming when they’d get caught in the middle of the night. The sound would travel through the halls. Unbearable.  My parents and I couldn’t stand the thought of being within a few feet of them.”
    “Your brother?” She sat up on one elbow.  “Your parents?”
    Jack’s eyes flew to hers, and if it were possible, they got even wider.
    Hers widened, as well.  “Ooops,” she said.  “I think you nearly just made a connection with me, Aries.”
    With a roll of his eyes, Jack turned his back to her, jamming this head into the pillow.  “Good night.”
    “I’m breaking you down.”
    “Good night.”
    “And it’s not even the end of day one.”  She laughed.  “You’re gonna love me. ” She did her best Jennifer Hudson voice.  “You, and you, and you, you’re gonna lov—”
    “If you finish that, I swear to god I’m leaving.”
    “That rat is waiting under the box-spring to chew off your toes if you try.”
    “That’s not