Playing With Zach

By Jana Leigh

Warning: For Mature Adult Audiences. Contains language and actions some may deem offensive. Sexually explicit content. New Adult – MF. This is a rewritten and expanded edition of a previous published version.
In book one of the Cassidy Family: Jade Cassidy knows what she wants and is determined to get it. That's if she can get her overbearing, overprotective brothers to back off long enough for her plan to work. Between her plan and the fact someone from her past has their own agenda, which includes her, she soon learns that maybe life isn't quite as bad with others looking out for you.
Zach Trent has been close to the Cassidy family for years. Jared has been his best friend forever and they even work together. Now he faces a dilemma—take the chance of losing his best friend, or lose the one woman who could complete his life. The same one he wants to kill one minute or take to his bed the next, depending on her mood. He finally makes his decision but when shots are fired, is it made in time to have it all in life or lose it before he has a chance.
Join the Cassidy family as grown men use anything in their arsenal to keep their sister from being hurt—even if it cost them their own life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jana Leigh
• Release date: Oct 20, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311677037

Jana Leigh

Jana Leigh lives in Colorado surrounded by her family and friends. She loves writing and meeting new people!

Book preview

Playing With Zach by Jana Leigh

Playing With Zach

Cassidy Family

Book One

by Jana Leigh

© Copyright October 2014 JK Publishing, Inc.

ISBN #

All cover art and logo © Copyright October 2014 by JK Publishing, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Artwork by Jess Buffett

Published by JK Publishing, Inc. @ Smashwords

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Dedication

I have never wanted to go back and re-write any book I have published as I like to look forward. However this book screamed at me to be retold in a new way. As I was writing the third book in this series, I realized I wanted it to go in a different direction, so I let my characters take me there. Thanks for all your encouragement, I hope you enjoy this!

Table of Contents

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Epilogue

Books by Jana Leigh

Excerpt from Burned by Abi

Excerpt from Taming Two Flames

Excerpt from Bringing Harmony

Excerpt from Playing for Keeps

Prologue

Bad Guy…

Team Alpha, what a fucking joke I think as I look out the window of the prison I am visiting. It’s taken me a few years, but I found them. The men thought they were so smart, their folders in the military classified and locked, which was also a joke. Nothing in this world is secret enough—money can open any door, I know this or I wouldn’t be standing in this hellhole ready to put my plan in motion. They are going to pay for taking something from me. I am going to take something from each of them, fuckers don’t know the meaning of pain, but I am going to introduce them to it.

I hear the clink of the cell doors opening, and I turn, seeing the pathetic excuse for a man come into the meeting room. Fifty thousand dollars in bribe/investigative money led me to this?

Hey, the man said, shifting uncomfortably, as he should be. It is three o’clock in the morning, definitely not visiting hours, and I am not in a good fucking mood, vengeance has a way of doing that.

It seems we have a goal in common, I start with because I am not staying in this filthy place a second more than I have to.

Sorry? the man says.

Yes, I reply, you are, but that is beside the point. Jade Cassidy.

The man’s eyes narrow and he puffs up his chest a little and steps forward more. If you are here to warn me off…

No, I am here to hand you what you want, a shot at her and also a way to make sure that this time you actually get what you want without anyone impeding you. I have information you will need in order for that to happen, and if you scratch my back, you will find that I am willing to make sure your future is more than you thought it would be, I say and watch as the asshole struggles for a minute.

I am in jail, the man says.

Only for a short time if you agree to my arrangement, I assure you, I tell him.

What do you want? he asks and then folds his arms over his large chest.

With a grin, I lay out my plan to the man, I know I have got him when he hears the dollar amount I am willing to pay in order to get my way.

So I kill this dude, Zach, and then you give me what I need to make Jade and me disappear forever? the man asks.

That is correct, I say and grin.

You have yourself a deal, the man says and then we pull out chairs, sit, and beginning talking about the specifics of our arrangement.

Call it a cliché, but everyone likes when a plan starts to come together. Yeah, I am smiling, who wouldn't be.

Chapter One

Jade…

I hate my name, and all that comes along with it. Living up to the Cassidy family last name sucks in a big way. My brothers are the only family I have left and they drive me crazy. All of them are police officers, they love using their jobs to keep track of me, and of course, whomever I am dating at the time, not that there has been that many. Lately I haven’t had any dates because my brothers have a reputation for being overbearing, and because I am harboring a fantasy world in my head called ‘Zacholisious’, which I can’t seem to get the fuck out of, so I am going with the flow.

In the small town where we live, my brothers are the kiss of death for me to get a date, let alone sex. I love my family, but I am close to killing each of them in a spectacular way.

My brothers are the reason I am currently pissed and in a bad mood. Last night, I finally got a date with a nice lawyer, it was all in the plan—the one my best friend and I decided on. He is tall and handsome, though a little boring, but I could live with it as long as I got a little—probably a very little—and then maybe finally I would have been able to move on from the stupid daydreams that have been plaguing me for years. Shit, I’m not a slut or anything, but my two-year dry spell is driving me fucking nuts. All because of one man, and since I can’t kill him, I need to try to forget him, at least that is what I am telling myself this morning. To be truthful, the whole thing about getting laid is a joke. I would never actually follow through with it, not when I have finally come to the realization that my brother’s best friend is the only one I want. However, I’m in denial and it is a nice place to be when I’m pissed, and it gives me an excuse to rant and rave.

When my parents died a few years ago in a plane crash, I of course was devastated, they had been the best parents in the world, and they were the only ones who understood my need for independence from my brothers. I fell apart and was lost for months after the crash, but they had been amazing parents, and I realize they wouldn’t want me to dwell on the bad, well I try not to. That is when I decided to move on. Traci and I have had many late night discussions with a bottle of wine about my current situation. I love a dumbass. My parents wanted me to have the kind of love they did, and I could have it with the dumbass, only the idiot isn’t admitting it. So I have to do something, 'cause being a spinster walking to the walls is not my idea of a good time, I need to move on. Well, I need to move on if my fucking brothers would let me.

The Cassidy name is well known in this area, mostly because of my man-whore brothers but hey, no one actually cares about that. Nope, they could have wild monkey sex swinging from a power pole in the middle of town, but me, they hoped would die a virgin. Well, that ship has sailed.

Before my parents' untimely deaths, they developed one of the biggest cattle operations in Colorado. That could possibly play into my family’s notoriety, but I am refusing to accept that this morning. It is all my brothers’ fault and damn it, they are going to admit I'm an adult if it kills me. I am not the one who has a reputation of waking up in strange bedrooms. Hell no, that is my brothers, all of them; if it’s my goal in life to find love, theirs is to avoid it. They refuse to admit they need to commit to any women.

They've always been the stars of the town. Each of them having their own successes that placed them apart from one another. Jared is the oldest, the biggest physically, the largest pain in my ass, and the biggest man-whore in the family. His rise to fame came when he led the school to their first State Championship in football way back when, ohhhhh how exciting it had been. He’d been the All-Star quarterback who had all the girls throwing their underwear at him when he walked into a room. I should know, I found two pair of strange chicks’ panties when I cleaned after his graduation party, which still gives me the creeps to this day. My mom was pissed when I explained I’d thrown away a pair of her best tongs because I used them to pick up said underwear. My excuse then, ‘cooties could transfer’. Zach was his best friend; they did everything together, even joining the military.

Miles, the middle brother, never seemed fazed that his older brother was the town hero. He paved his own way in a different sport while in school, wrestling, winning the state title three years in a row. He is the second biggest pain in my ass, but the one thing I can say for Miles is that he is actually choosy about his women. I didn’t say he has good taste, just that he is choosy, and by that, I mean he'd went out with two girls in high school who are still both sluts and bitches to this day.

My youngest brother is Danny. He is still older than me but he is the most sensitive out of the group. Only older by sixteen months, he is the one I go to when I want to talk. Danny is a runner, and a freaking good one at that. He ran cross-country and track, winning every event they ever put him in. It drove me crazy when I was younger because I was always compared to him since we are the closest in age. In school, they always asked if I was going to join the cross-country team. I laughed and said only if they had donuts at the finish line.

Now I am the quiet one of the group compared to them, I never made waves in school and now, I just live in my brothers' shadows. Okay, I am lying, I was a cheerleader, but a nice one, not one of those bitches who think they are too good for you. I actually smiled at people and meant it when I said they looked good. However, no one gave me credit for that then, no way, it was like they wondered ‘who is she?’

Well, I will tell you. I am the little sister, the cute little doll they stand around and protect, never letting anyone too close for fear they will hurt me, well that’s what my brothers say. I say, I am a force to be reckoned with, a badass, a strong, confident mama jama. I have a temper because of all of their protecting, well my mother once said I had a temper in the womb, but since I never agreed, I blame it on my brothers. I also have my wild phases—weekly—and refuse to let them tell me what to do. They try anyway and it usually leads to a huge fight. Once again, it’s all-their-fault because all I want to do is live! Thus, I am in a phase of redefinition, I can only say when I come out the other side of this phase, I will be ready to take on the world.

I understand why they are so protective, it doesn't take being a brain surgeon to get it. It started when I was attacked on a date in high school, but I took care of myself and broke the guy’s nose. They were pissed because I ended up in the emergency room with a broken hand, and they hadn’t been the ones to break the guy’s nose. They refuse to admit I can take care of myself and therefore able to make decisions about whom I date. One mistake and I am branded, it is whacked. After that, every single time I meet someone, they refuse to trust my judgment, which of course is whacked as well.

Tommy was my second mistake, which the assholes never let me forget, and I mean never let me forget. He'd been my boyfriend for a few months in college, Tommy thought he was going to have the easy life and marry into the Cassidy family. I didn’t want to get involved in a serious relationship and when I saw things in his closet before a date one night, I totally knew we weren’t compatible. When I tried to break up with him, it turned into an ugly fight. I ended up pressing charges because he refused to accept ‘no’ for an answer, and ended up getting physical, but once again, I took care of myself.

He was sentenced to a few years in jail for domestic violence and attempted rape. I wasn’t originally going to press charges until the day after I gave him a black eye for getting a little too frisky, the dumbass had tried to break into my bedroom and rape me. Since then, my brothers don’t trust my judgment in guys, which is bullshit; they are overreacting like usual. They want to protect me, but they need to trust me. That is in the past, and they need to let shit go. I get it, really I do, the whole he man mentality. However, girls have to kiss a lot of frogs before they find the one, at least that's what my mother used to say. Trust me, I have kissed a lot of frogs, however, at this point, I am convinced I am forced into this whole mess by all the good ones, whom I am completely attracted to, but they refuse to even look at me. Why? Because my brothers are assholes, and also their friends, namely Zach. He is an asshole too. Why is it that hot guys hang out with other hot guys? I think it’s like a code or something, and of course, I am attracted to the whole