Troika

By Zana King

Troika has been reedited/revised October 2017

Jenika leaves her hometown after experiencing the worst of what life had in store for her. She needed to hit the reset switch on her life after losing her dad and her job, and having no one to turn to after she learned of the betrayal of her fiancé and best friend. While trying to find inner peace once more, she lands in the small town of Troika, MT and not only is the town not what it seems—it turns out to be the place she craves and longs for, one that offers love, acceptance, and the life she has always dreamed about.

Jase, Koen, and Ty have been friends a long time. Their lives are entwined by business and family, though missing something vital to be complete. When Jenika shows up in their town, the thoughts of having it all quickly surfaced in their minds as they find they want the same thing from her.

No road comes without bumps and as this foursome struggles with separate issues, it leaves them wondering if they will reach their end goal. With pasts threatening to keep them apart, can they figure out how to make things work between the four of them? And will the gain the acceptance of their unconventional love?

WARNING-This book is intended for reader 18 and older. Sexually explicit content. Multiple partners – MMFM, MF, MM scenes. This is a standalone with an HEA.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Zana King
• Release date: Oct 3, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370333042

Zana King

Zana King is a stay at home mom of two teen boys and married to the love of her life. Their two German Shepherds take up a bit of her time as they seem to need more attention than the rest of her family. She is an avid reader of most genres of romance and loves getting wrapped up in a good book. When she isn't reading or working on her next book, you can find her playing in the woods with her family looking for gold.

Book preview

Troika by Zana King

Troika

Unconventional Love

Book One

by Zana King

Revised/Reedited Version

© Copyright 2016 Zana King

All rights reserved.

Cover by Hardline Images

Photograph by Zana King

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Acknowledgements

I have so many individual people I want to thank, but I would end up writing an entire book to do so. If your name isn't mentioned, please know you weren't forgotten.

First and foremost, my thanks goes out to my book bestie, Tanya Sands. She has cheered me on, helped me when I was stuck, and is always the first to help make my books as good as they can be. One mind…

A big thanks to my street team that has now combined with Tanya's to become the Dirty Chasers. You guys rock!!

My incredible beta readers…thank you, thank you, thank you. Your feedback means more to me than you realize.

To my insanely supportive husband and family. Thanks for putting up with my unending hours of loud music and time spent typing away on the computer. I love you all so much!

And last, but definitely not least, I want to thank all my readers. Without you wanting to read my crazy stories, where would I be? You all are amazing and your support is appreciated more than you will ever know.

Dedication

To my supportive husband and sons who give time and space to let me work. I love you with all my heart.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Dedication

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Epilogue

About the Author

Books by Zana King

Prologue for Evolution

Chapter One

Jenika allowed herself one more look at her childhood home before she climbed into her stuffed-full SUV. Tears burned her eyes, but she quickly blinked them away and took a deep, cleansing breath. This was it. Her new life was going to start now. She needed it to. If one more bad thing happened in her life, she was afraid she wouldn't survive, that she would crumble into a million pieces and drift away in the wind.

The last two months had been nothing but hell on earth and she desperately needed a fresh start.

She shut her car door, snapped her seatbelt in place, and turned the key. The engine started right up, but she was having a difficult time putting it into drive.

Jenika had loved this house, this neighborhood, this town. She had great memories of growing up here with her father and her friends, but the past months had ruined all that for her. She had nothing now. No father, no job, no fiancé, and no best friend. She had nothing.

Well that wasn’t totally true. She had her possessions and quite a bit of money from her dad’s passing, but none of it really meant anything to her. They were just things.

She wanted to be able to rewind time, wanted her life back, wanted her dad back. She knew none of that was possible, that's why she was going to start new somewhere else.

Where? She had no idea. She really didn't care. She had put little thought into it, just enough to know what direction she was going to head. North was out. She was too close to the Canadian border. West was definitely out. The Puget Sound was only about twenty minutes from her house. Therefore, she had south or east left. South would be big city living and east would be mostly small towns.

Considering she loved the mountains, camping and hiking, east it was. Taking yet another deep breath, she shifted into drive and started on her new path in life.

First, she needed coffee. She was too tired. Physically, mentally, and emotionally. If she was going to make it anywhere, she was going to need a caffeine boost.

Thankfully, Myriah wasn't working today. She knew her ex-best friend's—as of four days ago—schedule as if it was her own, and she was one of the last people she cared to see again. Sure, she could go to a different coffee stand, but this was her favorite and they knew how she liked her coffee.

Jenika pulled up to the coffee stand and stopped at the window.

Hey, Jen, your usual? Kali asked.

Yes, please. Jenika gave her a half smile and waited for her coffee to be prepared.

Here you go, hon. Kali handed her the cup and noticed all Jenika's things packed tightly in the back. Are you going somewhere?

Jenika cringed inside as she handed Kali the money. Kali was a sweet girl, but she liked to gossip and Jenika didn't want word spreading just yet. She wanted out of town first then they could pity her or talk about her all they wanted.

Yep, she responded with a tight smile.

Kali propped her elbows on the small counter top and dropped her chin onto her fists. Where to?

Jenika groaned quietly. That was the one question she didn't want to answer, mostly because she didn't have one. Um...well... She was saved by the bell when her cell phone started ringing. She took a quick peek at the screen and knew damn well she wasn't going to answer it, but Kali didn't know that. I've got to grab this. Thanks for the coffee and take care. She pulled away before Kali could respond.

She hit the decline button on her phone for what seemed like the millionth time over the last few days. She did not want to talk to Aaron. Not now, and not ever again. She didn't care what he wanted. There was no apology for what he had done to her. None.

She took a grateful sip of her coffee and set it in the cup holder before she turned onto the highway. The one that was going to take her away from this hurt-filled life and lead her somewhere new. She hoped it would be better than here, but she quickly realized it really couldn't get any worse.

An hour or so later, she was heading up the pass. So many spots along the way were where her dad had taken her camping or hiking, she couldn't help but think about him.

Anthony Hill had been the best father a girl could ask for. He loved her more than anything and he showed it in his actions every day. A cute note or drawing in her lunches when she was a little girl to treating her as an equal in her adult life.

Of course, there had been hiccups along the way, especially without a mother present, but he tried his very best and she loved him dearly for it.

The first time she started her period, he ran to the store for her and came back with what had to be every feminine product available. She had to laugh when he handed her four bags, turned beet red, shrugged his shoulder and said, How was I supposed to know what you needed? Hell, at the time, she didn't even know what she needed. He never did buy her any more tampons.

That was just one example of how hard he tried to be there for her. She had several stories that could attest to how great of a father he was. They were like two peas in a pod. It didn't matter what was going on in either of their lives, they were always close.

He was the only family she’d had and she’d clung to him. She still lived at home at the age of twenty-six and she hadn’t planned to move out until she got married. She wanted to be there for him as he had been for her. She couldn't fathom leaving him to live in the big house alone. Instead, it ended up being her left behind to live in it alone.

Two months ago, she arrived home from work to find two police officers standing on their front porch. She had immediately known something was wrong. When they gave her the devastating news that a drunk driver had crossed the center line and went head-on with her dad's small commuter car, she had fallen to her knees, clutching her stomach while tears poured from her eyes.

Jenika couldn't remember much after that. The grief had swallowed her whole and didn't want to spit her back out. She had spent weeks trying to claw her way back to her life. Even now, she felt like she was still living on the edge of that black hole.

That's how she had lost her job. She had been a copywriter for a large advertising company, but she couldn't seem to pull herself together enough to do her job with the same passion and enthusiasm. Sure, she showed up every day—after a week off—but her creativity had disappeared along with her motivation.

Her boss had been more than understanding, but business was business. She had kept her on longer than she should have, plus gave her a severance package. Jenika knew the severance package was a form of sympathy on her boss's part and tried to tell Kathryn she didn't deserve it, but Kathryn wouldn't listen to her. She was more than thankful to her boss and promised herself she was going to send Kathryn a beautiful flower arrangement. Which she still needed to do.

Jenika rolled her window down further and stuck her arm out to feel the cool wind. She wanted to enjoy the fresh mountain air before she got down into the hot, sticky air of Eastern Washington in June. Wait, July now. July first, actually. Great, she was going to spend the Fourth of July alone. She had never been alone on any holiday. What a depressing thought.

She had been too busy these last few days to notice how lonely she truly was. Now it was starting to sink in. Jenika really didn't like the feeling and searched her mind for something else to think of. However, the only thing she could come up with was what she had dubbed the 'Ultimate Betrayal'. That was okay, though. Anger was better than this awful, empty, desolate feeling.

The day she was fired, Kathryn had pulled Jenika into her office first thing that morning to break the news. Even though Jenika had completely understood and knew Kathryn's decision was justified, she couldn't help but breakdown yet again. Kathryn had let Jenika hide in the privacy of her office for a while to cry it out, and then regain her composure and clean herself up before facing the rest of her coworkers. Then she had packed up what little of her personal things she kept at work, said her goodbyes, and drove straight home.

Oh, her day was just full of surprises. Since it was around lunchtime, finding both Aaron's truck and Myriah's car parked in her driveway confused her. She had thought that maybe they were planning something for her. That was the only direction her brain would allow her to go. The logical side of her that was trying to convince her otherwise was quickly shut down.

Aaron and Myriah were all she had left. They were it. No dad and now no job, they were everything good left in her life. Myriah had been her BFF since high school, and Aaron had been her boyfriend, then fiancé for the past five years. Jenika's heart couldn't bear to think the worst. It just couldn't. She didn't think she could handle any more heartbreak.

She’d given Aaron a key after her father passed, but he didn't live there. There was no reason for either of them to be at her house.

At first, she had thought about sneaking around back to slide through the door that didn't squeak, but the stubborn part of her brain that was protecting her, telling her nothing was wrong, made her feet walk through the front door, squeak and all.

Either way, it didn't matter. The moaning, cries of pleasure, and what sounded like spankings, had been loud enough to drown out a fucking fog horn. How she hadn't heard it from outside baffled her. And it certainly couldn’t be explained away as anything else.

Betrayal and anger had boiled inside her as she hurried up the staircase. She couldn't handle hearing anymore of what she had thought had been her best friend's screams. She had taken the stairs two at time, not even taking the time to remove her shoes inside the door, which had always been a strict rule in their house.

She followed the noise to her father's room and stopped short. Her anger quickly morphed into fury before she pushed the slightly opened door.

Enough! Quit thinking about it. She was done with that life. Done with those damn negative emotions. Done. No more. She had to leave that all behind if she wanted a fresh start. A new life.

She had always been an optimist, a positive thinker. She wasn't going to change now. She wasn't going to let them change her. No way. There had to be some reason why fate chose to make her endure such pain.

She had rolled her windows up a ways back and turned the air-conditioning on. The air had gotten hot and heavy wherever the hell she was. She looked around for signs so she could place her surroundings, but there were none to be found. Fields upon rolling fields were all she could see besides the road in front of her. It really didn't matter, though. She didn't really care where she was. All she cared about was that she wasn't back there in her old life. She smiled to herself. Good things were coming, she could feel it. She cranked the music and sang along while she blindly drove to somewhere.

Jenika figured there wasn’t going to be a place to put her college degree to work anywhere over in the direction she was headed. That was okay, though. She didn't mind working as a receptionist or maybe even a waitress. She didn't need much money, just enough to get by. Besides, maybe a change in her career might do her some good.

Growing up, they weren't rich by any means, but they had been comfortable. Her childhood home was big, but from the stories her dad had told her, it hadn't been in the best shape when he and her mother had bought it. They’d picked it up for cheap and remodeled it to her mother's liking. It was just too bad her mother hadn't been able to enjoy it for long.

However, after her father had passed, she had quickly learned there was more to the family finances than she originally thought. Her mom had had a hefty life insurance policy and her dad had invested it wisely. Her dad had also had a nice little nest egg and life insurance policy himself. So when he passed away, it was all left to Jenika. She really had more money than she could ever need, but she didn't want to spend it. She wanted to work. Earn her way through life. Her dad had taught her a great work ethic took you places. Proved to people that you can earn your own keep and be a productive member of society. And she had always followed her dad's advice.

Hours later, she had passed the 'Welcome to Idaho' sign along with the 'Welcome to Montana' sign. She had already eaten what little food she had brought with her and was getting hungry again. More than hungry. She checked the clock on her dashboard. Five thirty-four p.m. No wonder. She had been on the road since seven o'clock that morning and had eaten her lunch around noon, after her coffee had worn off.

There was a green sign ahead that read: Troika 2 miles. Good, she would stop there and get something to eat and maybe a hotel room for the night. The idea of a big bed after a good meal sounded perfect.

She turned her music down to a decent level and a thunking sound hit her ears. She shut the stereo off and listened closer. The knocking was getting louder. No, no, no! There couldn't be something wrong with her car. Not now. It wasn't even very old, only three years and she had done the upkeep on it, consistent with the oil changes and tune-ups. Apparently, life wasn't done with her yet.

She slowed down as she came into the cute little town. It seemed way busier than it should for a small town. People were milling about down both sides of the sidewalk, in and out of stores. Cars filled almost every parking spot she could see. Then she noticed the big banner she was about to drive under. It was strung across the main drive, from one building to another and read: Welcome to Troika's Fourth of July Festival July 1st-4th.

Huh. Well that could be fun. She scanned the businesses looking for a repair shop and noticed quite a few rainbows on storefronts. Finally finding a repair shop at the other end of town, Jenika pulled in. Unfortunately, it looked closed. Jenika parked anyway, got out of the car, then knocked on the front door. Nothing. No, no, no!

Tears spilled down her cheeks before she could make it back to her car. Thankfully, this end of town seemed to be less busy. The few people who were wandering around didn't seem to notice her. She quickly climbed back into her car and let the tears fall.

She was just so tired and this was the final straw. Not a damn thing was going right in her life. Not even her fresh start.

Chapter Two

Jase watched the beautiful girl with long black hair pound frantically on Fred-Dee May's Garage door. He had been sitting across the street in the small park, under a big tree, wanting a break from the mass of people taking over the town. He loved this time of year. Loved all the excess people, but sometimes it was overwhelming. Troika was usually a pretty quiet town and it was hard to adjust to the overflow.

When the petite woman turned back around and headed for her car, door unanswered, he could tell she was crying. He couldn't see the tears from here, but her actions spoke pretty loudly.

It was obvious her car was in need of repair. The knocking of her engine was what originally drew his attention. What he couldn't figure out was why she was crying, because she couldn’t possibly be that upset over her car. A broken down car didn’t seem like something someone would cry about.

Her body practically shook with sobs before she disappeared back into her broken SUV. He hated it when a woman cried. It always made him feel useless. He never knew how to make them stop. He avoided crying women like the plague, but for some reason he couldn't leave her like that. She looked so lonely, so upset. Her anguish practically called to him. Fuck! He shook his head as if to clear it, then stood, wiped the seat of his basketball shorts off and made his way across the street.

Now that he was here, he wasn't sure what to do. He stood outside her driver's door for a moment and just observed her before lightly knocking. Her face was buried in her hands and her shoulders shook.

At his tap on the window, she jumped as her head popped up, the hope in her beautiful blue but puffy eyes almost made him sink to his knees. She looked so fragile. On the edge. Of what he wasn't sure, but she seemed like she was about ready to break. He longed to wrap her up in his arms and make everything all right for her. But that was just plain stupid. He didn't even know her name, hadn't even spoken to her.

She rolled her window down with one hand and swiped at pink cheeks with her other. Do you work here?

He wanted to lie to her and tell her he did, because hope was clearly written across her face. He didn't want to be the one to disappoint her, but there was no avoiding it. He locked his knees and braced himself for her reaction. No, I'm sorry I don't. Jase shook his head slowly.

And there it was. The hope was gone, replaced with the disappointment he had known was coming. It about broke his heart and he wanted to do what he could to change that.

"Oh, okay. Do you happen to know