Jade (Corked and Tapped Book 4)

  Jade

  Corked and Tapped, Book Four

  Becca Jameson

  Copyright © 2019 by Becca Jameson

  Cover Artist: Julio Desir, Jr.

  Editor: Christa Soule

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. And resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  About the Book

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Author’s Note

  Also by Becca Jameson

  About the Author

  Acknowledgments

  I have to thank my amazing, wonderful, fabulous beta reader most extraordinaire, Susan Whitney, for all her help reading these fun novellas and helping me every step of the way!

  I also want to thank my editor, Christa, for plotting with me on every one! She rocks!

  And my daughter, Rebecca, who read each one over her summer break!

  About the Book

  “How did you find me?” What were the chances the two men she’d been in love with since high school would show up at her bar? Her heart seized. This was bad. Really bad. Because in five years, nothing had changed. She still wanted both of them.

  Corked and Tapped: Because the best stories never start with someone eating a salad.

  Prologue

  Jade was so furious she was shaking. She had spent the last thirty minutes stomping around the neighborhood, her feet covering a lot of ground on every dark street until she finally returned to face the man who’d made her so blazing angry.

  Brody. Fuck him for thinking he could so easily discard her just because he was going to the navy. Fuck him for thinking she would happily consent to the ridiculous idea of dating his best friend in his absence. Shit. Carter wasn’t just Brody’s friend. He was her friend too. Fuck her now ex-boyfriend for playing with her emotions.

  For the last year, her life had been amazing. Her last year of high school. She had spent every free moment with her boyfriend, Brody. Yes, Carter had nearly always been around, and she had never minded because he was also a great guy. But Jesus.

  Who pulls their girlfriend aside on graduation night and tries to convince her she would be better off with his friend because he himself is leaving soon for the navy? Who does that?

  Jade wasn’t about to let Brody get away with it. Yes, she’d left his house an hour ago fuming, but she hadn’t gone home. And now her legs were tired, and she was every bit as distressed, if not more so.

  Still stomping, she took long strides to reach Brody’s house, determined to un-break up with him. She’d known from the moment she’d started dating him that he would leave for the navy this summer. She had never let that change things between them. She was mentally prepared for him to be gone for long periods of time.

  What she had not been prepared for was this bombshell. She was in love with Brody. She’d given him everything—including her virginity. Now, she needed to face him and force him to look her in the eye and tell her he didn’t love her. If he could do that, fine. She would walk away. If this entire breakup was some altruistic way to let her off the hook, then no. Fuck no.

  As she marched around the side of the house toward the back, she took a deep breath, preparing herself to lay into him. Brody occupied the family’s basement. He even came and went through the lower floor’s rear entrance. She wouldn’t have to wake up his entire family in the middle of the night to yell at him.

  When she reached the sliding glass doors that led into the basement’s bonus room, she stopped dead, frozen in her spot. The lights were all on inside, but Brody was no longer alone. He was with Carter. Brody was pacing the room. Carter was sitting on the sofa.

  Suddenly, more curious to hear what the two of them were saying than any confrontation, she gave the sliding door a slight shove, opening it two inches.

  Carter was speaking. “Brody, I’m telling you, that’s crazy. No wonder she stomped out of here like she did. Jade isn’t the sort of woman you can pawn off on another man and think she’ll be okay with it. Why would you do such a thing?”

  Brody spun around and faced his best friend. “Because I love her. Because I know it’s going to hurt her for me to leave. Because you love her too. Why should she be miserable when she can be with you?”

  Jade flinched, her mouth falling open at Brody’s speech. Carter was in love with her? She swallowed. You knew this. You were just too stubborn to acknowledge it.

  If she were honest, she’d have to admit she had complicated feelings for Carter too. Yes, he was her friend, but sometimes she’d look at him and there would be this tiny itch of more. But she ignored it because, who did that? What did it say about her that sometimes she found Brody’s friend just as enticing as him?

  Carter sighed and ran a hand down his face. “It doesn’t work that way, Brody. Jade’s in love with you. Not me. She’s not going to switch guys simply because you order her to. It makes no sense. I’m sure she’s confused and hurt and probably crying her eyes out right now. Alone. Because you’re such an idiot.”

  Brody spun around and slammed his fist into the punching bag he had carefully hung in the corner of the living space so he could work out while he watched television. He didn’t have his gloves on. It had to hurt.

  Carter rose to his feet and stalked toward his friend. “You’re crazy. Go to her. Talk to her. Tell her you’re sorry. You can’t leave like this with her thinking you don’t love her.”

  Brody turned around again, his face red with emotion. He fisted his hands at his sides and shook his head. “No. My idea for the two of you is better. If you don’t see it, then you’re the fool. You go to her. You soothe the hurt. Wait until I’m gone if you want. But it needs to be you.”

  “Brody, listen to yourself,” Carter shouted. “I’m not going to step in and take your girlfriend.” He was shaking. “It’s never going to happen.” He kept advancing.

  Brody backed up until his ass hit the wall. “You have to.” His voice was deflated now. “Do it for me. Do it so I’ll know the two people I love most in the world are at least together while I’m overseas somewhere fighting in some war. Please.”

  “No.” Carter had stepped into Brody’s space, and now his face was inches away. He leaned forward so they were eye to eye. “Fuck you, Brody. I’m not going to do it.”

  “Why? I know you love her too.”

  “Of course I love her. That’s not the point. It’s too confusing for her. She won’t understand. I won’t do it.”

  “For the love of God,” Brody shouted, his hands lifting to give Carter a shove.

  Carter braced himself, though, barely stepping backward with one foot. He reached up with both hands and grabbed Brody’s biceps.

  Brody yanked his body in an attempt to get away, but he was trapped against the wall, and even though he was the one who had worked out religiously for the last two years to be in perfect physical condition for the military, Carter was his equal in every way. He’d worked out just as hard by his friend’s side. In a fight they would be well-matched.

  Brody took a swing at Carter, hitting him in the jaw.

  Carter slammed his body forward, plastering Brody to the wall, his hands gripping
Brody’s arms, his knee against Brody’s groin. “Stop it, man,” he shouted.

  “Fuck you,” Brody screamed. He squirmed against Carter, trying to break free.

  “Fine. You want this to get rough, I can do that. I can be what you need,” Carter yelled back.

  Jade gasped, the breath catching in her lungs. She set her palm on the wall next to the door to keep from falling over as her knees grew unsteady. Surely she was misunderstanding.

  Brody stopped fighting and stiffened. “What did you say?” He faced Carter dead on.

  “You heard me. If you’re dead set on breaking up with Jade, fine. But you’re not breaking up with me too. I know you think you can cut ties with everyone and everything in this town and it will be easier for you, but you’re wrong. Because I’m never going anywhere. Fight it all you want. Every time you come home on leave, I’ll be here. Waiting. Jade would have been too if you let her. But no. You had to go and screw that up.”

  Several seconds of silence passed while Brody’s wide gaze held Carter’s, and then he grabbed his friend by the shoulders, closed the distance, and slammed his mouth against Carter’s.

  Jade stopped breathing. She almost sank to her knees. She should have turned and left. She should have done so a long time ago. But she couldn’t. She was mesmerized as she watched the two men she loved most in the world kiss.

  They weren’t gentle about it either. Brody had always had a dominant side. She’d loved it. But watching him with Carter… Jesus. Carter seemed to be his equal, taking and giving in equal measures.

  She was certain the two of them had never once discussed this attraction before. They might have never even been aware of it until this moment.

  Now, they were fighting for dominance while a lifetime of pent-up sexual tension came to the surface. Brody angled his head to one side, kissing his friend hard while pressing away from the wall. His hands were everywhere, rushing up and down Carter’s body.

  Carter gave as much as he took, his tongue sliding into Brody’s mouth, his hands on Brody’s face, holding him tight, not letting him go.

  Brody walked the two of them back toward the couch, an awkward desperate dance that continued while Carter’s hands moved to Brody’s ass and then around to cup his dick. Brody groaned into Carter’s mouth.

  Carter yanked Brody’s shirt over his head, turned him around, and shoved him backward onto the sofa. When Carter landed on top of Brody, his fingers going to his own jeans to tug them open, he resumed the kiss.

  Jade squeezed her eyes shut and stepped back. She kept moving until she was afraid she might fall on her ass. And then she spun around and ran away from the scene, the images still assaulting her.

  Her heart was racing as she rounded to the side of the house and leaned against it to catch her breath as if she’d gone for a two-mile run in under fifteen minutes.

  She was aware of several things. Her nipples were stiff. Her pussy was soaked. Her heart was never going to return to its normal pace. She hadn’t been horrified by what she’d witnessed. She’d been turned on. Which shocked her. She inhaled sharply, trying to breathe. How could she be turned on by her boyfriend and his best friend making out? Hell, they might even be having sex by now.

  She bent at the waist, hands on her thighs, trying to draw in breath. The combination of emotions assaulting her were so confusing. She loved Brody. She’d never doubted that. She also needed to acknowledge she had feelings for Carter. But, Jesus. They also had a thing for each other? Why did that both raise a red flag and seem kind of right at the same time?

  The only reason she’d finally left was because she realized she was invading their privacy by staying. It would be unfair to watch the two of them fuck each other without knowing she was there. She had already crossed about ten lines by staying as long as she had.

  This wasn’t what she had planned when she approached. She’d thought she would enter and confront Brody. She’d prepared about a dozen things to say to him. But then Carter was there, and before she could recalibrate, they’d started making out, and the sudden change in atmosphere had caught her off guard.

  She needed to get out of here. She could never in her life face either of them again. She never would have dated Carter as Brody suggested in any world, but certainly not now. Nor could she face Brody again now that she had this secret.

  It would be mortifying to admit she’d seen them together. So, she leaned against the side of Brody’s house in the middle of the night, knowing the two men she cared for most in her life were both gone to her now. They were in love with each other. They didn’t need her anyway.

  Carter had said he would always be waiting for Brody. Perhaps subconsciously that was why Brody had broken up with Jade in the first place—because he knew he loved his best friend too. Perhaps, in fact, the reason he had proposed the ludicrous idea of trying to get Carter and Jade together was to force his friend to admit his own feelings for Brody.

  Jade grabbed her head and tried to swallow back all the emotion welling up inside. Fear. Anxiety. Loss. Tears escaped to run down her face. Her perfect life was over. She’d lost both the guys she’d had feelings for to each other.

  She didn’t fault them. She wasn’t even angry with them. But she couldn’t ever come between them. She needed to let them both go.

  On a sob she could not stop, she shoved off the side of the house and rushed around to the front. She picked up her pace and jogged all the way home.

  Chapter 1

  Five years later…

  Jade couldn’t believe what she was seeing. She blinked several times and then nearly dropped her tray on the floor. Brody and Carter had just walked into the bar where she worked, Corked and Tapped.

  She’d worked there for four years. It was nowhere near the Atlanta neighborhood where she grew up, where Brody’s and Carter’s families still lived. It was near the university where she took classes.

  What the hell was her high school boyfriend and his…best friend doing here?

  “You okay?” Mike asked her, stepping in front of her. The owner of the bar had a frown on his face, and he glanced at the entrance and back at her. “You know those guys?”

  “Yeah… I know them,” she breathed out. Uncertainty filled her. Her chest tightened. Should she run for the back room and hide? Or should she pull up her big girl panties and face them?

  She had no reason to hide. She had never done anything to wrong either of them. The last time she’d spoken to Brody, he’d broken up with her. She had never seen either man again—as far as they knew.

  Taking a deep breath, she slowly made her way across the bar toward the entrance where Carter and Brody were glancing around as if they were looking for someone. Were they meeting someone?

  Suddenly, Carter’s gaze scanned past her and then jerked back to meet hers. A slow smile spread across his face as she approached. “Jade.”

  Brody turned at the same moment, providing her with a more reserved, nervous grin.

  Jade forced an excited expression. “Wow. I haven’t seen you guys in years.” She glanced up and down their bodies, their larger, more muscular bodies. Holy shit, they had changed.

  She remembered them being built and fit and athletic, but lordy. They had never been this…huge. She swallowed the lump in her throat and jerked her gaze back to glance between them. She needed to stop ogling them.

  Carter stepped forward first, leaning in to kiss her cheek. He was taller and broader. His dark hair was a bit longer than he wore it in high school and wavy. His green eyes were just as piercing.

  Brody had the tips of his fingers tucked into the pockets of his jeans. He held back a step, rocking on his feet, looking a bit more contrite. It wasn’t completely necessary since there shouldn’t be any animosity between them. In a way, it was all very simple. Nothing to feel weird about. Unless you knew what Jade knew.

  Brody had grown too. Not surprising. He’d been in the military. He was seriously buff. Tan. Sexier than the teenage boy who’d left fo
r the navy. His brown eyes bore into her intently.

  A thousand questions raced through her mind. The same questions she asked herself over and over for five years. Had the two of them had sex that night? Had they done so again other nights? Were they gay? Or were they bi?

  Brody finally nodded at her in greeting. “Jade…” The one word slid from his lips as seductively as it always has. He’d loved her name. Maybe he still did. “You look…great.”

  She glanced down, suddenly wishing she had on more clothes. She was wearing a short, tight, black skirt and an equally tight black tank top with the white Corked and Tapped logo on it. Her black bra straps showed.

  The ensemble was her standard uniform. She’d been graced with fairly large tits for a woman of her smaller size, so the tight shirt and short skirt easily brought in more tips. Tonight she had on black Vans with no socks. They were comfortable. Working in heels was a bitch after several hours, so she’d given that up years ago.

  “Thanks,” she managed to respond. “You both look good too. Life must have treated you well.” There. That sounded grown-up. Polite.

  Carter chuckled. Brody still looked a little uncomfortable. Nervous. Carter spoke again. “So, you work here.” It was more of a statement.

  “Yeah. It’s close to campus. It pays the bills.”

  Carter nodded. “You’re going to school too.” Again with the statement.

  “Yes. I can only afford two or three classes a semester, though, so it’s going to take me a while.” She had no idea why she was offering up so much information. Why would they care? She assumed Brody was in the navy still and Carter had gone to college. He probably already graduated.