Page 3 of Trapped
“Guess it’s a good thing Jay moved out.” Jay, the youngest Sheppard, who’d recently returned from the Marines, oozed raw sexuality with his bad boy attitude, inked up arms, and muscles on top of muscles.
If I hadn’t already done the friends with benefits thing with AJ, a private investigator at Sheppard & Sons Investigations—yes, those Sheppards—I might’ve hooked up with Jay. But I didn’t want to earnthatreputation.
Jay was a lot like AJ, but wilder. Darker.
It was obvious I had a type: strong, inked-up guys who gave off bad-boy vibes. But I didn’t want a bad boy. I wanted someone I could settle down with and have a family.
Scott gave off the bad-boy vibe.Which was why I hit on him at the bar in Vegas.
Damn him for living rent-free in my head for the last year. He made it clear he wasn’t interested when he ghosted me. Left me standing outside the Eiffel Tower Restaurant instead of meeting me for what should’ve been our first date. I’d felt like a fool. Worse. Getting stood up sucked. So did walking back to my room in my expensive, new, slinky red dress with my head hung low. I’d ordered room service, changed into an old, comfortable T-shirt, and emptied the mini-bar.
For whatever stupid reason, even after a year, I couldn’t stop thinking about him. Scott starred in my fantasies far longer than I cared to admit, no matter how hard I tried to forget him.
“Yeah, though we would’ve figured something out,” Emily said.
I didn’t doubt it; they weren’t the type to force a family member out of the house.
Not wanting to live with his parents, Jay had crashed with Jamie and Emily while he looked for his own place. Instead, he moved in with his girlfriend Cate, who’s now his fiancée, just before Jamie and Emily’s wedding.
As much as it disappointed me to see Jay off the market, I knew Cate Maxwell was perfect for him. They butted heads at first, but that changed when they got kidnapped looking for a missing girl. Cate was the calm Jay’s storm needed, and he was the chaos her order needed. Besides, I never expected to find my happily ever after with Jay, and not just because I’d slept with AJ.
Jay and I were both chaotic good; we had good hearts, but we liked to do our own thing and challenge authority. We might’ve had a few mind-blowing nights, but we wouldn’t balance each other the way he and Cate did. She soothed his flames; I’d add fuel just to watch them burn brighter.
Thinking of Jay reminded me of Scott, aka Casper the Fucking Ghost, and the night that never happened. I shoved everyone out of my head and focused on Emily.
“Are you getting sick yet?”
Emily deserved all the happiness life could give her after everything Asshat Craig, her abusive ex, put her through. He was the reason we had a blip in our otherwise lifelong best-friends-forever friendship. The memory of the split-heart necklaces we wore in junior high flashed across my mind. Mine said, Best. Hers said, Friends. We’d stopped wearing them in high school because we were more grown up or some other stupid shit, but our friendship never faltered.
The Craig-forced pause didn’t count. He didn’t want Emily hanging out with me or even talking to me because I was vocalabout not trusting him. Isolating her made it easier for him to get away with the abuse.He’ll never hit anyone again.
Putting him out of my mind, I focused on the present.
The only upside to being pregnant now, if I were, was that I’d have my baby about the same time as Em, and only a little after Meg. Our kids would grow up like siblings.
Only I’d be a struggling single mom, and they’d have the support of their gorgeous, protective, alpha male husbands. Meg was married to Jack, the middle Sheppard son. We met when Emily needed help from SSI a little over a year ago and became fast friends. Fast forward to today, and the three of us were like the three musketeers. We loved laughing late into the night, comparing the men of SSI to the hero in whatever romance we were reading.
Jamie’s favorite word when describing our antics was shenanigans.
Meg and Emily were happily married and would be great moms. I couldn’t find a good guy to save my life, and doubted my ability to raise a child on my own.
I wanted an alpha male for myself, but didn’t think I’d ever find one. I dated around for a reason—I had shit taste in men. Finding a bad boy who was fun for a night or two was easier than finding a good man to be my forever.
When I tried something new, looking for a decent guy who didn’t give off bad boy vibes, I ended up with Red Flag Finn. He was nice enough in the beginning, but it turned out he wasn’t half the man I thought he was.
“No, but I probably will soon. Meg says it sucks.” No doubt. Meg struggled with morning sickness morning, noon, and night.
Emily told me about her amazing honeymoon before changing the subject.
“So, what do you have to confess? Did you find the love of your life?”
I laughed.Just the opposite.
“No, after Red Flag Finn, I’m taking a break from dating.” I looked at the table and dropped the news without fanfare. “I lost my job.”
“What, why?” Em reached across the table and took my hand. “I’m so sorry, Ashley.”
“That’s just it; there wasn’t a reason. My boss called me into his office and told me he had to let me go for budgetary reasons.” The timing was suspect, because I’d just broken up with his nephew, the one and only Red Flag Finn. “He gave me a month’s severance and sent me on my way. A week later, I got evicted.”
