Breaking News

By Jade C. Jamison

Small towns hide big corruption.

Just as Nicki starts to figure out that her beloved town of Winchester maybe isn’t so safe or idyllic, she discovers even worse secrets that have been buried and ignored. When the teenage daughter of a Winchester lawyer is kidnapped, Nicki reports on the crime.

Is it falling on deaf ears?

As she continues researching the breaking news, she gets a glimpse at the darker elements of her town, leaving her wondering how she can use her position to expose what she’s found.PLEASE NOTE: This book was previously published in 2012 as LOST.

The Nicki Sosebee Stories are an interconnected series and should be read in order for maximum spoiler-free enjoyment.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jade C. Jamison
• Release date: Sep 18, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005674939

Jade C. Jamison

1. Imagine 2. Play some music 3. Write 4. Blow readers away 5. RepeatJade C. Jamison is a steamy romance author, heavy metal fangirl, wife and mom, coffee connoisseur, cat lover, and vegan foodie--not necessarily in that order. She loves life and believes we learn our wisest lessons when reading, especially if it's fiction. Her heroines are fierce, her heroes all but broken, both seeking redemption together. Whether in a small Colorado town or big city, she strives to take her readers' breath away...one story at a time.Find out more at www.jadecjamison.com ORhttp://www.subscribepage.com/JadeCJamison (newsletter)

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

Nicki Sosebee shook her head, looking at the jam-packed dining room of Napoli Pizzeria, her job that paid the bills. Friday nights were usually busy, but this was the one before Halloween , for Christ’s sake. Didn’t these people have parties to go to, haunted houses to visit, trick-or-treaters to greet?

Normally, Nicki would have loved it. Halloween was one of her favorite holidays, and Napoli had made a big deal about celebrating early, so she was in costume, and the more tables she had, the more tips she’d earn. But tonight one of the lamest bartenders she’d ever had the displeasure of working with had walked out. And, yeah, Nicki might have had a little something to do with it, but that didn’t change the fact that it sucked hard.

So Nicki was waiting on the remaining three tables in her section that she was finishing out. Deanna and Mandy had agreed to take any new tables that came into her section, and Nicki took over tending bar. Fortunately, Napoli didn’t serve mixed drinks or she would have been fucked. Beer and wine were the extent of the alcoholic beverages, but the bar was full of people and Nicki had to cover all drinks for the dining room as well. If the people at the bar had just been drinking, it would have been no problem, but because the dining room was packed, she had people at the bar eating, too. Goddamn Amy. She’d always been a fucking lazy slacker and when Nicki told the girl she couldn’t leave early tonight, she’d walked. Fine. Good riddance.

Nicki just hoped her manager Christian wouldn’t puss out and hire Amy back next week. He’d done that kind of thing before, because he was such a sucker for crybaby girls.

In the meantime, though, Mandy brought Nicki another order of drinks that she had to assemble. Now she was regretting wearing the outfit. She’d thought it would be cool to dress like Amy Lee of Evanescence for Halloween, so she’d bought an expensive (but beautiful) black wig for starters. She’d also scoured the two consignment shops and three thrift stores in town looking for the perfect outfit. She’d wound up with a mishmash of black lace, leather, tulle, and gauze, and her outfit was too bulky for work. Besides that, she had lots of pieces that draped and flowed, and several times she’d almost accidentally dunked part of her sleeve into someone’s drink. She was having to move with caution, and Napoli demanded quick precision. So it was a pain in the ass. That was okay, though—at least, she was making some phenomenal tips and had received a lot of compliments. Most people didn’t know she was dressing up as a specific person; most of them just thought she had dressed up like a generic Goth chick.

One guy, in fact, a real hottie at one of her last tables, had made several comments about her outfit—and the way she looked in it. It didn’t hurt that he’d figured out who she was imitating. Damn—she was considering it, but the guy was twenty-one if he was lucky. After sleeping with eighteen-year-old Matt a couple of months earlier, Nicki vowed to never rob the cradle again.

If nothing else, Nicki tried to learn from her.

Usually.

But the guy was tempting.

All week long, Nicki had been telling that she needed to get back on the horse. She and Jesse had broken up again a couple of weeks earlier, and she’d been in mourning since. Before ending their relationship, she’d tried to get through to him. More than once, she’d exploded over his fascination with the online game he’d inherited from his roommate. And that was a convenient excuse when she told him she was done.

She hadn’t told him the other reason.

And she probably never would. It had taken her long enough to admit it to herself. She’d been getting nervous about the way she felt about him (more than just a boy toy),but she’d been even more frightened by Jesse’s feelings. While Nicki loved the man, Jesse took those feelings to a whole new level. Nicki wasn’t ready for forever or anything close to it and didn’t know that she ever would be, so it was better to break it off.

But now she felt empty. Really empty.

It was a feeling she’d have to live with for a while. She’d get over it, but it would take time.

At first, she’d considered her universal solution for every problem of the heart—sex. But it would only be a Band-Aid, and that Band-Aid would only work for about fifteen minutes at a time. Better to let the wound scab over a little bit. By now, maybe it had, and she was ready to give a little casual sex a try again.

But not with a kid. No way.

There was another potential guy sitting at the bar. He was a well-built African American with warm brown eyes, closely shaved hair, a quick smile. He was sitting with a friend, and they were talking physics—or, at least, that was Nicki’s best guess. Well, more accurately, the guy she was interested in was explaining something to his red-haired buddy who didn’t quite seem to be grasping it.

The beer probably didn’t help.

While Nicki wasn’t that into science, she wouldn’t have minded learning a thing or two herself, especially if it involved trajectory angles and sweat between the sheets. She planned to tune in to the conversation when things slowed down a bit. If he hadn’t smiled at her a few times and winked once, she wouldn’t have felt confident that she had a chance. But she hadn’t had the time to test the waters.

When Mandy came back to the bar for her tray of drinks, Nicki asked, What’s it like in the dining room?

We haven’t had a new table come in for ten minutes, so we’re finally able to breathe a little.

Good. I need to go check on my tables. Nicki followed Mandy to the dining room, delivering checks to two of her tables and checking on the third with the cute guy and his three buddies. Do you guys need a box?

Nah. There’s just two slices here. After giving Nicki a sweet smile, he looked over at his friends. Unless you guys want one?

His curly haired friend said, No. I’m gonna polish ‘em off in a sec.

Cute guy back to her and asked, So what are you doing after work?

God, how many suggestive lines could she give him if she’d planned to take him up on the offer? But, no. She couldn’t.

She wouldn’t.

There was no denying he was hot and so much her type, aside from the fact that he was young and as yet unadorned with any sort of body art, probably one of her favorite things about her ex Jesse.

Dammit. She had to stop that.

Conjuring up the sweetest, most genuine smile she could, she bought a little time to figure out what to say. After all, she didn’t want to tell him she was planning to hit on a guy in the next room, but she also didn’t want to leave the door wide open for this young man, giving him false hope. But she didn’t yet have any solid plans, and Nicki found it hard to lie about anything, even if it was stupid and inconsequential. So she told the truth. I’m not sure. I usually try to hit a couple of parties. I won’t have any firm plans until it’s time to leave.

We’re gonna do that, too, but then we’re gonna go to Rob’s house and play some zombie games. Y’know, keep that Halloween theme goin’. He pointed across the table to the super-tall kid with blond hair. Must have been Rob.

Screech. Fucking video games. She didn’t have anything against them personally, but an online game was what had pulled Jesse into the cyber universe away from Nicki and the real world. Maybe there was a time and a place, but she despised them. When she was younger, Nicki had played her fair share, but now she saw a darker side and hated how they could consume some people. So, needless to say, that information didn’t do much to spark her interest. Best to just end the conversation now. Well, I hope you guys have a great Halloween weekend. I’ll be back with your check.

God, she felt like a jerk. But, she told herself, it was better to be honest right now. And, bottom line, he hadn’t asked her. So it was okay.

She went back to the bar area and printed up their check. Before delivering it, though, the guy she’d set her cap on said, Excuse me, sweetheart, but can I get another draft?

Well, how could she say no to that? When she set the glass in front of him, she said, You can call me Nicki.

He flashed an award-winning smile. Thanks, Nicki. That was a good sign.

Nodding at both him and his friend, she left to deliver the check to her last table in the dining room. Sure enough, the curly haired guy had already polished off one slice and was grabbing the final one just as she returned. After setting the check holder on the table, she asked, Can I get you guys anything else?

The look in the cute guy’s eyes was impossible to miss, but she wasn’t going to say a word because she didn’t want to encourage him. One of the other guys said, Nah. We’re good. Thanks.

All right. Then I’ll be your cashier when you’re ready. Grabbing the empty pizza palette and a couple of empty plates, she dropped them in the bussing tub just inside the kitchen entrance before returning to the bar.

After refilling a couple of drinks, Nicki then stopped by to flirt with the good-looking guy who paused his discussion of hadrons. You guys doin’ all right?

Great, thanks, the red-headed guy replied.

Time to dip a toe in the water. You guys have any plans later?

The guy she’d zoned in on said, Yeah. We’re just waiting for our girlfriends to get here.

Ah, fuck. Nicki almost heard a vinyl record scratch in her head. She hadn’t gotten the attached vibe from that guy at all, which meant her instincts were shot, and the fates were teasing her. Had Jesse ruined her for all men? Still, she needed to continue playing the consummate waitress rather than the disappointed scamming girl. Or, more accurately, the friendly bartender. So what will you be doing?

We’re gonna go to Downtown Cinema. They have a horror moviethon going on all night. Not sure what they’re playing, but if you like horror movies, it’s the place to go.

With a forced smile, Nicki said, Not a huge fan. But thanks for the tip. Time to switch gears and make a graceful exit. Can I get you guys anything else right now?

Nope. Thanks.

With a nod, she walked away. Well, she’d already decided tonight was the night she’d be with someone and she didn’t care for disappointment. It was already hard enough to believe she’d gone more than two weeks without sex, and it had been months since she’d been with someone other than Jesse. While she was nowhere near ready for a relationship, she was craving the attention and touch of a man. So fuck it. She didn’t care and didn’t want to know the cute guy’s age in the other room. He’d been sending out the interested vibes, and she was going to go for it.

As she rounded the bend into the dining room, her heart sunk. There was a stack of cash in the check holder and an empty table. Strike two.

Nicki and Mandy got out of Mandy’s car at a two-story brown brick house that was surrounded by vehicles. Taking a deep breath, Nicki hoped she wouldn’t regret her decision to go along with her waitress buddy. After blowing her chance earlier, though, she didn’t want to go home to wallow in her misery. It wasn’t healthy. She wanted to be around people and try to have fun. When Mandy had told Nicki she was going to a party one of her friends had told her about, she invited Nicki to hop in her car and come along. Nicki had thrown her purse in her own car and locked it, keeping only her keys, a little cash, and her cell phone. Mandy could bring her back after the party.

As they walked up the sidewalk to the house, Nicki just couldn’t muster up any enthusiasm. Even Mandy’s eager attitude couldn’t infect her. It was a few minutes after midnight, so she was a little tired, but more than that, her heart just wasn’t in it.

Mandy sensed it. C’mon, Nicki. I promise there will be tons of cute guys here. Pulling her curly blonde hair back over her shoulders with one hand, she then smoothed the front of her baby blue Little Bo Peep dress.

Nicki forced a smile. Yeah, you’re right. And she wouldn’t attract any of them if she was acting like a sourpuss. Maybe she didn’t feel like getting laid, but it could take her mind off her sorrows for