Plain Jade

By Sam Crescent

Boring.
Bland.
Plain.

Jade Newton knows she's not a beautiful woman. She'd been told all of her life that she didn’t have what it took to interest a man. After many failed dates, and embarrassing moments, she finally decides to call an end to all dating. On the walk home, on the final date, Jade is attacked. She tried to fend off her attacker, but it's too late as the world goes dark.

One feminine scream, that was all it took to stop Braxton on his way from another kill.

He knows he should ignore it, but he can't. Finding an unconscious woman in the alleyway about to be assaulted, he has no choice but to put a stop to it. Death is all he knows, and that is exactly what he offers.

As for the woman, he takes her to the warehouse where he is currently staying, and helps her.

She is not supposed to ask any questions. Her mystery man keeps on turning up. She doesn’t know his name, but she finds herself falling for the man who saved and protected her.

He needs to leave her alone. Jade is not part of his world, but Braxton finds himself going back again and again, and again. He cannot stop himself. There is no room in his life for love. Or is there?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evernight
• Release date: Mar 26, 2024
• ISBN: 9780369509796

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Published by EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ® at Smashwords

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2024 Sam Crescent

ISBN: 978-0-3695-0979-6

Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

Editor: Lisa Petrocelli

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

PLAIN JADE

Sam Crescent

Copyright © 2024

Chapter One

Jade Newton glanced over at her date and knew this was not going very well. From the moment he walked into the bar, he’d been trying to find some way to escape. If his constant glances down at his watch weren’t an indication, then the fact he was looking at every other woman gave it away. Also, he must have checked his cell phone a hundred times, and still hadn’t paid her much attention.

She wasn’t even disappointed or upset at this point.

Fifteen dates.

This was her sixteenth date and they had all ended the same. These dates hadn’t even been within one year. No, these dates had been during the last five years. None of the men saw her as attractive.

She was fine with that. Even when she was younger, her mother would often tell her she wasn’t pretty enough. Some people may think her parents were cruel, but they were setting her up for the real world. She was bland, plain, nothing to write home about. Nothing noteworthy.

Never in all her thirty years had someone whistled to gain her attention. No one had attempted to pick her up or ask for her phone number. No one had ever bumped into her and had it lead to anything.

She’d been on dating apps and gotten nowhere. Friends of friends had tried to set her up. She had attended plenty of weddings, watched friends getting married, and even heard the best man hope she wasn’t the maid of honor. Yeah, she had overheard plenty of them.

She couldn’t even say she had many friends anymore. Time, life, and changes had created a distance. Some friends had moved away. Others had busy lives, some had even moved to different countries.

She held her knife and fork above her food, but she wasn’t hungry. When she arrived at the bar, she was starving. Nothing like a bad date to lose the appetite.

You know, I am so sorry about this, but I am going to have to take this to go, Jade said.

There was no way she was going to have another guy stand her up. She saw the signs.

What? he asked.

His name was David, she didn’t even want to think of his last name. She doubted he even knew her name. Not that he’d paid much attention to her. There had been a small group of women enter the bar twenty minutes ago, and he hadn’t been able to stop staring at them.

I have a thing and it is important. I’m going to get this to go. She signaled the waiter and made the arrangements.

David, bless him, looked so confused. She ignored him, grabbed her purse, and paid the bill.

The waiter didn’t take long with her food. She didn’t know if it was because she was polite to him, but she also left him a tip to thank him.

Ugh, are you sure? I mean, I could walk you home, David said.

No, thanks. Go and have fun.

David frowned and at least he did look a little … startled. I have no idea what you’re talking about.

Come on, we both know you’d rather be with those women over there. Go, have fun. She didn’t bother to wait.

She already had her jacket on, her food, and she was out the door of the bar before anyone could stop her.

She took a deep breath, and then started to walk, heading in the direction of her apartment. Several times she attempted to hail a cab, but no one was stopping. Again, something she was used to.

It was dark, but she decided to keep to the streetlights for protection. She absolutely hated the dark. This was why she tried to avoid late-night dates. It was only a little after nine, but it was still too late on a Friday night.

She was not a party animal. So, besides being plain, she was also mega boring. This was something she was told multiple times.

Taking a deep breath, she walked down the street, avoiding the people coming her way. The city life was always busy, which was one of the reasons she loved to live here. Of course, it also came with a lot of problems. She was able to sleep through a busy life, though. The beeping of cars, yelling, knowing someone was there, brought her peace. She lived in a good neighborhood, not too much crime, but there were always rumors and gossip about the city. Mafia, Bratva, MC, gangsters, like in the movies.

So far, because she stayed in her lane, working hard and not making waves, or doing anything out of the ordinary, she’d lived a good life.

Her parents had died eight years ago. It had been hard, but she’d sold their home, dealt with their stuff, and left the small-town life to be swamped within the big city. She’d been in her small apartment for seven years.

She had the same job, working at a cosmetics store during the day. She remembered when she went for the job they had been so surprised by her knowledge of makeup and beauty. Thanks to her mother, who insisted she learn everything there was to know about beauty, to help her bland looks.

Her mother tried to help, and at times she was blunt and cruel, but Jade preferred it that way. It had set her up to deal with the harsh reality of life.

Jade was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t even realize she was being followed until suddenly someone grabbed her. She opened her mouth to scream, but a hand covered her face, stopping her from calling for help. Nothing like this had ever happened to her. She’d never feared for her life. She’d never been attacked.

She was pulled into a dark alley. Before she had time to thwart her attacker, he threw her against the wall. The collision was so unexpected, she didn’t have time to stop herself, and her head hit the wall, making her instantly dizzy. Her assailant then grabbed her by the hair, making her scream. She tried to stop him. The pain was instant and excruciating.

Please, stop.

He didn’t.

She was thrown to the ground and then fear completely took over as he started to push the bottom of her dress up. With it being cold, Jade had worn tights, but he took care of them easily, tearing them as if they were not a problem.

This couldn’t be happening. Jade was a virgin. Thirty years old. An adulthood of useless dates and work. She had never gone home with a man, or shared a regretful encounter.

She fought him off, clawing at his hands, kicking out at him.

Fucking bitch!

Jade coughed as he landed a blow directly to the gut. She couldn’t breathe. It stunned her for a few seconds, and then she felt his palm against her thighs, and then she felt like a madwoman.

The man kept raining blows down on her, trying to stop her, and during the fight, he must have gotten fed up with her, because in the next second, everything went black.

****

Braxton had been taking care of other business when he heard the feminine scream. In all his years of fighting, killing, dealing with filth on a day-to-day basis, screams had no effect on him.

He even heard them in the men and women he tortured, all begging him to spare their lives. If they didn’t have a nice price on their head, or if they weren’t so fucking evil, he would gladly let them live. None of them ever did.

The moment he stepped into anyone’s life, they were pretty much fucked. F.U.C.K.E.D. And he was very proud of that fact. He’d spent a lifetime honing his skills. Like tonight, there had been a hundred grand in the thief he’d located. Once he had sent proof to the buyer that he had him, he’d waited further instructions, and that had been simple—make him bleed, make him beg—and Braxton had done exactly that.

No one left his company dissatisfied. He was the best at what he did.

It was also what pissed everyone off. There were a lot of people who wanted to buy his services exclusively. He couldn’t be bought. No one would ever own him. He didn’t take every job offered. Hell, the fuck, no. He did his own work, and there were times he even hunted people just for the thrill of it.

All his life, he’d been training to be this animal, this beast, and he was more than happy to allow it to flourish. He liked to think of himself as a nocturnal creature. The night and darkness belonged to him.

Which is why he didn’t understand his curiosity at that fucking scream. People screamed. They did so in fear, excitement, happiness, pain. Screaming was such a varied emotion, but he knew without a shadow of a doubt, that the scream he heard was one of fear.

A woman was