Jaden (Jaded #3)

He laughed, his eyes scanning my face, then falling and resting on my lips. “Bryce said he really likes this one so you have to be nice to her.”


I snorted. “Nope. No way. Once he finds a girl who can handle me, then maybe I’ll give my approval. Until then, sorry, buddy. I’m not holding in my bitchiness so he can keep getting screwed by some weak-ass wannabe.”

“Sheldon.”

“Not going to happen.” My eyes flashed in warning. “I’m protective of him. That’ll never change. You know that.” Bryce would always hold a special place in my heart. Corrigan knew this and understood this.

He said, “You’ve consistently started to get meaner and meaner to them since the first one.”

I shrugged. I didn’t care. Things had been tense and awkward during Mena’s trial. There was supposed to have been time apart once my decision had been made known, but it hadn’t happened. Because of the trial and all the legalities since Bryce had been there when Corrigan flipped her wrist so she stabbed herself, the whole idea of giving the other person space from me hadn’t happened. Instead, Corrigan and I figured out our new relationship only when Bryce wasn’t around. When he was there, things had gone back to normal, how the three of us were all only friends. When the trial ended, Bryce did go away then and six months ago, he resurfaced with a new girl at his side. Corrigan and I ran into him by accident at Denton’s newest movie premiere, but we should’ve known. Of course, Denton would invite Bryce, and of course, he would invite Corrigan and me. But seeing the model attached to Bryce’s side had been hard at first.

Bryce was my first love. A new wave of sadness and grief came over me that night. I didn’t love Bryce the way I loved Corrigan, but that had been another night when I started to relinquish my hold on him. He would find another girl. I knew this. He wasn’t mine anymore, but it still stung at moments. Corrigan had pressed me when I grew quiet that night. I hadn’t known how to talk about this with him. I was with him, but mourning another guy? But he understood. Corrigan always understood and he said to me that night, “Bryce is yours. He’s mine, too. He’s family. You let him go a long time ago, but you still care for him. You still love him. Those feelings, as strong as they were for you, won’t disappear overnight. I’m still here, no matter what. I understand, Sheldon. It would be the same thing if you had chosen him. You wouldn’t be able to stop loving me in one night. He would’ve understood that, too.”

“It makes me the worst person in the world.”

He pulled me to his chest and whispered, cradling my head to his shoulder, “It makes you a person who loved. That’s all it does.”

And the tears had started, but he was right. I didn’t love Bryce the way I loved Corrigan, but releasing him took a while . . . The more girls he brought around us, the more territorial I grew, but I was to the point where I only wanted the right girl for him. If she wasn’t worthy of him, she wasn’t going to get him. I wouldn’t let him have anyone less the best.

Hearing that he had another girl coming, I only gave Corrigan a smile. “We’ll see how she handles me.”

He shook his head, rolling his eyes, but he couldn’t stop a grin. “You need to let him find the girl, not you.”

“I just want to make sure she’s good enough for him.” My throat swelled. “He deserves the best.”

Corrigan pulled me back to him, pressing a kiss to my forehead. He held me and whispered, “He’ll find her.”

Just like we have.

He didn’t say the words, but I closed my eyes and thought them. My hand lifted to his arm and I held him back. He was right. Bryce would find his happily ever after, just like I had with Corrigan.

Then I snorted to myself.

Corrigan asked, “What?”

I pulled back, grinning at him. “You’re my happily ever after.” I snorted again. “Why does that make me want to curse?”

Corrigan rolled his eyes. “Because it’s sappy and cheesy. It’s all those mushy feelings you hate to acknowledge.” His hand lifted and pressed against my chest, resting over my heart. “Because you’re happy and you’re scared to death to admit it?”

“Yeah.” Those damn tears were coming back. I covered his hand with both of mine, my eyes holding his. “Goddamn, I love you.”

His lip lifted in a tender smile. “I love you, too.”

Always. Forever. Screw it—Corrigan was my fucking fairytale come true. Grabbing his shirt collar, I pressed my lips to his.

We were going to be late for Denton’s restaurant opening.

THE END