His mind repeated some of Brandy’s last words: I can’t imagine my life without her.
Sean didn’t want to imagine his life without her, either—but with school ending and his location in the friend zone, he wasn’t sure how to keep her close. He’d have to figure something out soon.
6
Later that summer near the end of July, Sean and Jesse were hanging out by a creek just outside of town. With them was a twelve-pack pack of beer and a little bit of weed. To appear legitimate, though, they also had fishing poles, but they weren’t actually fishing.
It was almost dark now, but they kept up the ruse in case any cops showed up unexpectedly. The two young men had been quiet for a while, just listening to the gurgling water and the occasional frog making noise nearby. Finally, though, Sean broke the silence. “There’s something I gotta tell you.”
“Yeah? What?”
“You’re not gonna believe this, but I ran into Nicki at the grocery store the other day at the end of her shift, and we wound up talking for a long time in the parking lot.”
“Did she say anything about me?”
While Sean didn’t want to hurt his friend’s feelings, he did want to set the record straight. “We don’t always talk about you, man.”
“But you know how I—”
“Yeah, I do, but there was no natural way to bring up the subject of my best friend and his eternal undying love. Anyway, I wanted to tell you something else—about me. Nicki talked me into going to the community college for one year.”
“What? Are you fucking kidding?”
“I know. It’s weird. But hear me out.” What Sean would absolutely not tell his friend was that he thought it might be a good way for Nicki and him to become even closer friends—and maybe then he could slide out of the friend zone and into her heart. But, for now, he was happy just being her friend. “She talked a lot of sense. What if, for some reason, I’m not able to get a job being a mechanic without any kind of education? Then I have to go to school for that, and that’s how she talked me into it.”
“She’s going to WCC, isn’t she?”
“Yep. So I am, too. Anyway, I’m gonna go do my registration on Monday and wondered if you wanted to come with.”
“Are you out of your fucking mind, dude? School sucks. We just ended years of unending torture, and the last thing I want to do is go right back in for more. I barely passed my last classes, and the only thing that kept me going all last year was knowing I was almost done. So no way in hell you’ll get me back there.”
“Nicki will be there.”
“Not even Nicki can get me back in school. That should tell you how much I hate it. Not even for her. Maybe after a year off but now? No fucking way.”
“Suit yourself.”
It was almost like Jesse was giving up on her—and that made her fair game. Now Sean would have no qualms about whatever happened in the future.
Even though he may have also forgotten to mention to Jesse that Nicki was now single…
7
“Dude, are you serious?” Jesse took a swig of beer, adjusting in the chair in the little living room of Sean’s apartment. “When did that even happen?”
“I don’t know, man.”
“Does she ever not have a boyfriend?”
“Yeah, that first semester of coll—”
“Yeah, I know. But when did this new guy happen?”
“I don’t know. I don’t pay attention to Nicki’s love life.” That was a complete lie, but Sean wasn’t going to voice it to his best friend. After Nicki had broken up with her high school sweetheart, Sean had waited what he thought was the perfect length of time, planning to let her know how he felt with some grand gesture. Instead of asking her out on a date, he had planned to send her a dozen red roses and let her find out the sender when she opened the card. But it wasn’t long that after when they met at a party like they often did, and she had a guy in tow.
Some douchebag named Brent. What she saw in that guy Sean would never know. Brent made her old boyfriend Corey look a lot less douchey, and that was saying something.
Sharing the news with Jesse was supposed to make him feel better—but it hadn’t. After talking with his friend, he felt worse. But he pressed on, nonetheless. “They’ve been dating a while, man. I think it’s pretty serious.”
“Aw.”
As hard as his friend seemed to be taking it, Sean wasn’t about to tell Jesse that he’d overheard Nicki telling Jillian that she thought Brent was the one. Sean knew exactly what that meant, and he didn’t have to be a college graduate to be able to put all the clues together. Even though he was pretty bummed about it, he didn’t intend to rain on Jesse’s parade any more than he already had. After all, the man had already been delivered quite a blow. Besides, although Nicki and Sean were close friends, Jesse had carried a torch for her far longer than Sean had.
Jesse finished his beer and said, “I think I’m going to head to the bar, dude.”
“I still have plenty of beer here.”
“It’s not for the beverages, but I appreciate the offer. I need to get laid, dude. That’s the only fucking way I know to cope with news like that.”
Sean nodded, because he was right there with his friend. In all fairness, though, Sean had been dating some psycho chick up until a week ago, and he didn’t feel like hooking up with another. He wasn’t ready for that shit yet, so he decided to hang out at home instead.
After Jesse left, Sean was flipping channels on the TV, trying to find something to watch. Maybe a scathing standup comedian, someone who could make him laugh hard enough that he’d forget his own troubles for a bit. And so it was decided: beer and comedy would be his companions for the remainder of the night.
But it wasn’t long before Sean’s cell phone rang—and it was Nicki. She sounded upset, almost like she’d been crying, and she asked if she could come over, promising to bring beer. Jesus, Sean would have opened his door without the offer of alcohol. “Yeah, come on over.” He spent a little time picking up the place so it would look acceptable to a woman.
He also drank a glass of water. While he wasn’t drunk or even buzzed, he wanted a clear head with Nicki, especially if she was going to expect him to have a few drinks with her.
If he’d had any doubts before, he had none about her state of mind when he answered the door. There was no doubt that she’d been crying so, after he held the door open for her, he took the beer from her and placed it on the table. “What’s wrong?”
That opened the floodgates. She began crying again, blurting out, “I caught Brent cheating on me!”
Not trusting himself to say a word, he pulled her close to his chest and held her, letting her cry. But, little did he know, that night would wind up defining his relationship with this woman for the rest of their lives…
If this book was your introduction to the Nicki Sosebee series, you’ll want to go back and read the story from the very beginning, starting with No News is Good News.
Instead, if this was a cherry on top of your Nicki Sosebee sundae and you’ve loved her story from the beginning, then you might want to stay in the town of Winchester for a while, viewing it from other perspectives. The Small Town Secrets series features a cameo from Nicki in every single book! Thanks for reading about Nicki, Sean, and their friends. Their stories have been a labor of love for me, and I’m going to miss them as much as you are.
LOVE AND LIES is the first book in the Small Town Secrets series. Casey hates coming home to Winchester—but there she meets cocky unreadable Scott and maybe finds herself falling for him…
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Turn the page for an excerpt from LOVE AND LIES…
Excerpt from LOVE AND LIES
“Scott will be training
you today, Casey.” He turned around to leave but looked back and said to Scott, “Be nice to her.” To me, he said, “Scott can answer any questions you have.”
It didn’t take long for the shine to wear off. We had a shitload of work for the day, from getting hamburger garnishes ready to prebaking potatoes. For the first two hours, we had the whole place to ourselves, but by ten, the place was hopping with dishwashers, waitresses, a salad bar person, a dessert chef, and another cook to work alongside Scott and me when we opened at eleven. And when we got closer to opening, even more staff flooded the place—more waitresses, a hostess, and bussers.
And I wondered if I’d ever be able to remember everything he’d shown me that morning—but I was a quick learner. Scott was a quiet guy, it seemed like, but he knew his job and seemed good at it. With ten minutes before we opened, I, Scott, and another cook stood in the kitchen, ready to begin serving food. Jim said, “I’m gonna get a Coke. You guys want anything?”
Scott said to me, “It’s free.”
“Just water, if that’s okay.”
When Jim left the kitchen, Scott said, “So today’s pretty typical. There are usually two cooks scheduled to open and then you’ll almost always have three for lunch, except on Saturdays and Sundays when we have four.”
“Four?” That seemed excessive.
“Yeah. So you’re gonna be the fry cook today, ‘cause it’s easiest. I’ll be on grill. Jim’ll be over there as the sous chef. He pretty much gets everything else on the menu that’s not on the grill or fried.”
“So what does the fourth person on the weekends do?”
“Expediting. They’ll call all the orders and assemble them right here.” He pointed to the counter in between the fryers and the grill. I’d be close to Scott all day, but I wasn’t as excited now as I’d been earlier, because the man obviously wasn’t interested in me, and I wasn’t foolish enough to pursue someone who didn’t give a shit. “But I’ll do that today. The fry person can do it, too, but you’ll have to get used to the menu first.”
Except his attitude seemed like it was more than he just didn’t give a shit. I felt some kind of hostile vibe coming from the guy. But I was there to learn and earn a paycheck. Friendship and love interests were extraneous and unnecessary…even though Ed hadn’t said a word about not fraternizing.
“So how do you decide who goes where?”
“That’s easy. The cook scheduled for the longest shift gets to choose the duties he wants, and then he assigns everyone else to stations.”
“He, huh?” He gave me a confused look. “Last I checked, I don’t have a dick.”
Scott arched an eyebrow. “Sorry, babe, but you’re the first girl cook we’ve ever had here.” And, once he’d said it, it dawned on me that all the waitstaff that I’d seen thus far had been women. What was up with that?
Well, I couldn’t help myself. I didn’t plan on going full-on feminist when I barely knew the guy, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to call him on his shit. “So that means you’re gonna call me a guy even if I’m not?”
He actually almost smiled, but his twitching lips fought against it. “You haven’t been the lead yet, so it’s he until then.” Jim walked back in the kitchen then holding a couple of icy drinks. “If you stick it out.”
Jim snorted. “Yeah, good luck. Last three cooks bailed.”
That was no comfort. Jim seemed nice enough, but I couldn’t get a good read on him. I evaluated him while he set our drinks on a shelf underneath a table. He was about the same height and build as Scott, but his hair was darker. It was hard to tell under the baseball caps we had to wear. But there was something inside his dark eyes that I felt like I couldn’t quite trust.
It was day one. What did I know?
Maybe it was the skeezy tattoos on his arms of bullets, skulls, faces, and words with artwork that looked like maybe he’d taken a black BIC and done them himself. I noticed then that Jim wore a wedding ring, and that made me glance at Scott’s left hand just to make sure he was free.
He was.
Scott said, “Yeah, and she’ll probably be no different.”
“Okay. Enough.” I made sure I had Scott’s attention. “What the hell’s your problem with me? Is it because I’ve broken into your all-boys club?”
Maybe this was the first time a woman had called Scott on his attitude, because he smiled at first and then his brows furrowed as if he actually let my words sink in. “No, newbie. It’s because I fucking hate training people and Ed knows it. I waste all this time teaching people how to do the fucking job and then they turn around and quit.”
Jesus, he was gorgeous. He wasn’t full-on angry—I could sense that—but he had a position to defend, one I’d challenged. Good-looking or not, I wasn’t going to let him walk all over me. “Did you ever stop to think that maybe people quit because you’re a bit of an asshole?”
Jim busted out laughing, so much so that it seemed exaggerated. Scott’s eyes shifted from dark ire to shock and I noticed his jaw ripple. Then his eyes twinkled and he smiled. “Yeah, maybe so.
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About the Author
1. Imagine 2. Play some music 3. Write 4. Blow readers away 5. Repeat
Jade C. Jamison is a steamy romance author, heavy metal fangirl, wife and mom, coffee connoisseur, cat lover, and vegan foodie—not necessarily in that order. She loves life and believes we learn our wisest lessons when reading, especially if it’s fiction. Her heroines are fierce, her heroes all but broken, both seeking redemption together. Whether in a small Colorado town or big city, she strives to take her readers’ breath away...one story at a time.
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Join Jade’s newsletter to stay up to date with new releases, get freebies, learn about sales, and more!
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Bad Ass (Nicki Sosebee #14) Page 7
