Laid Bare

By Airicka Phoenix

Jinny Walter had always been the girl that never fit in. Not at home. Not at school. Not until the night she meets Elijah Prinz and Joel Levine and everything changes.

For eight years, friendship masked a longing no one knew how to unveil. Can Joel and Eli keep from losing the woman they loved? Can Jinny finally tell them the truth? Or will their secrets rip the very ground out from beneath them and force them to face the possibility of losing each other forever?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Airicka Phoenix
• Release date: Aug 8, 2016
• ISBN: 9781536559712

Airicka Phoenix

Airicka Phoenix is a multi genre author of over twenty-five bestselling novels starring strong female leads and sexy alpha heroes. She started her journey after never finding the type of books she wanted to read. Her love of tortured souls and forbidden romance carried her into writing her own hard-earned happiness. Currently, she lives on the outskirts of Toronto with her babies and can be found hard at work on her next project. For more about Airicka, visit her at AirickaPhoenix.com

Book preview

As Airicka Phoenix

TOUCH SAGA

Touching Smoke

Touching Fire

Touching Eternity

THE LOST GIRL SERIES

Finding Kia

Revealing Kia

REGENERATION SERIES

When Night Falls

THE BABY SAGA

Forever His Baby

Bye-Bye Baby

Be My Baby

Always Yours, Baby

SONS OF JUDGMENT SAGA

Octavian’s Undoing

Gideon’s Promise

CRIME LORD INTERCONNECTED SERIES

Transcending Darkness

The Devil’s Beauty

STANDALONE

Games of Fire

Betraying Innocence

The Voyeur Next Door

My Soul For You

Kissing Trouble

ANTHOLOGIES

Whispered Beginnings: A Clever Fiction Anthology

Midnight Surrender Anthology

Love & Grace Anthology

Blurb

Jinny Walter had always been the girl that never fit in. Not at home. Not at school. Not until the night she meets Elijah Prinz and Joel Levine and everything changes.

For eight years, friendship masked a longing no one knew how to unveil. Can Joel and Eli keep from losing the woman they loved? Can Jinny finally tell them the truth? Or will their secrets rip the very ground out from beneath them and force them to face the possibility of losing each other forever?

NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

Hey guys!

I am going to start this off with a HUGE thank you to all my readers for picking up a copy of Laid Bare. A bit of fair warning, this is a short threesome erotica I wrote as a fun freebie for followers of my newsletter. If you haven’t, be sure to join and get exclusive freebies, giveaways, and updates before anyone else. I’m contemplating a continuation. Jinny and her boys are chattering away in my head and it’s becoming harder to ignore. I would definitely love your take; should we continue or is this smutty one shot just enough?

So, aside from steamy sex with two hot men, this novella contains strong language.

I would also like to send loves to my beta readers for reading through and loving Jinny, Eli, and Joel as much as I did writing them. You girls amaze me!

Kisses to my editor for her time, love, and attention. Thank you for all you do and for being such an amazing friend and an unwavering soundboard.

My team for having my back and pushing me to be the best I can be. Thank you all so much!

Thank you all and happy reading! <3

Chapter One

—JINNY—

Remind me again why you’re waiting.

Sarah flicked back a glossy coil of lush blonde hair over one shoulder and behind her ear, making her earring swing. The silver hoop caught the dim light radiating from the kitchen and the cluster of diamonds embedded into the metal sparked as passionately as the determination in her vivid blue eyes.

Jinny was almost afraid to ask. Waiting?

"For them!"

Sarah thrust her delicate chin upward in clear indication, all the while studying something in the distance with a predatory gleam that made Jinny think of a feral cat honing in on a wounded bird.

She followed the not so subtle gesture and focused on the two framed in the open doorway of their tiny kitchen. The grimy lightbulb overhead spilled a dull glow over their perfect features, painting shadows in the hollows of their cheeks and in the dips of their temples. It made Eli’s dark hair appear impossibly black and turned Joel’s soft curls a deeper shade of chocolate. The pair stood eye level with only a foot of space between them, wrapped in their discussion.

Jinny could nail them with a fistful of nachos from the bowl in her lap, yet she couldn’t hear a word they were saying. Whatever it was had creases forming between Joel’s brows and Eli nodding slowly in deliberation. Every so often, Joel would roll a shoulder and make a random hand gesture that would lift Eli’s eyebrows over his intense gray eyes. Tucked between his long fingers, Eli flipped his lucky coin expertly over his knuckles. The light caught the metal and the silver glinted with every effortless cartwheel; it was a habit he’d had for as long as Jinny had known him. Most times, she wasn’t even sure he was aware he was doing it.

What are you talking about? Jinny turned back to the woman twirling a blonde strand around a manicured finger.

Them! Sarah hissed again, like that was supposed to make a difference.

What about them?

Sarah rolled her blue eyes. Sweetheart, if I have to spell it out for you, then we clearly have bigger problems. She huffed when Jinny continued staring at her, bemused. Why have you not fucked them yet?

Jinny’s eyes widened in more than just mere horror. Are you serious?

One bleached eyebrow lifted. Don’t I look serious?

They’re gay! Jinny pointed out, struggling to keep her voice down. And I don’t come equipped with the right sort of equipment for that position.

Oh, trust me, you got the right equipment for all their needed positions.

Heat swelled beneath Jinny’s cheeks, turning her fair complexion a frightening shade of crimson that she tried to conceal behind a lock of hair that had slipped free of her messy bun.

You’re being crazy.

Yet she wasn’t immune or ignorant to the flutter that formed in her chest, the one that always seemed to make its presence known when the subject of Joel and Eli came up, topics that involved having them. But as she had done for the better part of eight years, she dug a deep, deep hole and quickly buried the feelings before they took root and blossomed into something that would never happen.

Am I? Sarah folded her arms across her plump chest, pushing her generous cleavage higher over the low V neck of her blouse. I’ve seen the way they look at you. Trust me, they might be into each other, but they are definitely into you.

She wasn’t entirely sure she believed that. Sarah had a tendency to embellish and dramatize every problem. Her idea of solving most things was a good bout of wild and feral fucking and Jinny ... Jinny couldn’t even think about sex without spontaneously combusting from lack of, which was a task in itself when her roommates made her want nothing else.

It was never made clear where the pair stood relationship wise. The first day she’d met them, they’d approached her together and Joel had done most of the talking, but not once did either of them ever give her an inclination just where their sexual preferences stood. Jinny had put the pieces together herself when she noticed how neither never seemed interested in dating and how the two were always together. When they had moved in together, the two had selflessly offered her the secondary bedroom, volunteering to share the master suite to accommodate both their beds and furniture. While to most that would seem logical, but adding that with the fact that she had never seen either of them with a woman, solidified her conclusion that the pair was definitely gay.

But whatever their preference, Jinny respected them too much to prod. It was their business and if they didn’t want to bring it up, neither would she. Plus, ignorance was bliss. If they were straight and just not bringing their women home ... she really didn’t want to know.

And if they’re not? She hoisted both eyebrows high in emphasis. Then I will have ruined one of the best things in my life. No thank you. I’m fine with things being the way they are. Besides, she popped another chip into her mouth and chewed, sex is easy to get. What I have with Eli and Joel ... completely irreplaceable.

She loved the two too much to jeopardize years of friendship on one of Sarah’s ludicrous hunches. Besides, the last person in the world to ever make a move was Jinny Walter. She was just not built that way.

She turned back to the movie frozen on the TV screen, a hilarious still of Anne Hathaway rolling her eyes that made her appear possessed when put on pause.

Their Friday night movies normally didn’t come with breaks, unless the movie was over and a new one was beginning, but they had run out of snacks and movies just weren’t the same without munchies.

Sarah groaned, a vibrating sound of frustration that was emphasized by the toss of her body back into the cushions. The gesture nearly knocked the bowl from Jinny’s grasp. The few broken bits of chips at the bottom flew out and dropped to the worn carpet by their feet, but neither paid attention.

Why is it so important to you that I get laid? Jinny laughed. I personally think you have enough sex for both of us.

Head propped back, Sarah turned her face to Jinny. Because, you’re almost thirty and you’ve been with, what? One guy? And how many years ago was that? It’s not healthy. I mean, you’re waiting for them, consciously or not, and if you don’t act and they don’t act, then you are going to die a born again virgin, without the cats.

The truth, voiced by someone outside her own head, sounded remarkably mortifying. There was no arguing that point. None of it.

Sarah was the only person Jinny had ever opened up to about her feelings for her roommates, her pathetic, nonexistent sex life, and her fears of dying alone. Her friend’s suggestion—get laid. There were days she couldn’t deny it wasn’t a bad idea, but following through was another matter entirely.

The microwave beeped. The sound broke through the cramped little apartment. The boys pushed away from the doorjamb and disappeared into their minute kitchen. She heard the microwave door pop open, then the buttery scent of popcorn plumed through the air, mingling with the lingering tang of pizza. The boys returned, Joel holding two plastic bowls and Eli shaking the popcorn bags into them. Jinny watched them from her place on the sofa and marveled, as she always did, just how comfortable they were together. Everything they did was fluid and precise. It was the bond of two people who had known each other forever, which they had, since middle grade. But the two couldn’t have been more different when it came down to it.

Where Eli was calm, rational, and levelheaded, Joel was intense, wild, and sarcastic to a fault. He was also a lot like Sarah, a fact he would kill Jinny for even thinking. But taking chances and getting them into trouble was a talent Joel and Sarah shared, which should have brought them together, yet the pair couldn’t stand to be in the same room most days. It amused Jinny to no end.

Unlike the boys, who Jinny had met during her university orientation, she’d met Sarah at a coffee shop. They’d bonded over spilled mocha lattes and the last piece of cheesecake. It was a friendship forged over their differences. Sarah was bright, spontaneous, and loud. Jinny was shy, quiet, and liked being an outside observer rather than a participant. But they made a good team when need be. Plus, Sarah was good at reminding Jinny to live.

Then there was