Page 34 of Queen Of Clubs

“Oh, thank you so much, King Zane. It means the world to me that I have your approval,” she deadpans with a thick layer of sarcasm coating her tone.

Be still, my fucking heart. I’m so madly in love with this girl. My eyes find Everett, and we share a secret smile. God, that mouth on her, it’s so damn hot.

“Watch your mouth,” Zane growls as Jade takes a seat on the chair she was sitting on before. The one with her slick drying on it. That thought alone makes my cock twitch.

“Or what?” she asks, crossing her legs and placing her arms on the chair like a queen.

“I’ll spank that ass until it’s good and red,” he snarks.

“Only if you want me to shove my heel into your dick.” She smiles sweetly.

“Fucking hell, this foreplay is making me hard again,” I groan, squeezing the base of my cock.

“What?” she splutters. “We are not—we—ugh, whatever. Can you all just get dressed so we can talk? Time’s ticking.”

“Yes, ma’am.” I shoot her a wink before climbing off the bed. Jade tries everything not to look when I bend over, giving her a nice view of my ass as I pick my pants up and slip them on. I toss Everett his clothes as Zane pulls on his own pants and shirt. We all look thoroughly fucked with our shirts unbuttoned and our hair all disheveled.

We all sit at the end of the bed. It's still crazy to think this is real. Jade, our sweet best friend, is sitting right in front of us.

“Let’s start with you three. So, you're together now?”

“We are.” Everett nods.

“Is it a sex thing, or are you all... in love?” she asks, her cheeks turning pink as she chews her lower lip.

“It’s love.” I chuckle, looking at the other two. “Always has been. Just didn’t feel safe to explore it until we were out from under their thumbs.” I scoff at the last part. “We’re not all lovey dovey and romantic about it; we do a pretty good job keeping it to ourselves, not that we’re ashamed or anything, but the media loves to twist things into something they’re not. Manipulate things for better ratings.”

“Makes sense why you didn’t come back for me,” she whispers, looking away. “Why would you when you had each other?”

“We did go back for you,” Zane insists.

“When?” Her eyes snap over to his. “Because, trust me, I’d fucking know.”

“About a year after we left.” Everett picks up the conversation. “We knew if we ever made it big, life would be crazy. Free time would be limited, and we’d spend most of the time working our asses off. But nothing prepared us for Boom Voice Records. We hardly had time to breathe, and when we did, they used that time to fill it with something else, anything else. We hardly had time to sleep.”

“I know,” Jade sighs. “I remember you talking to me about it.”

“We didn’t mean to go so long in between talking. It’s just when you're in this haze, it’s hard to think about anything but what’s expected of you. And we’re sorry for that. But why did you stop responding to us altogether? We were trying, Jade. We were working our asses off for our future. All of us, you included.”

“I didn’t stop talking to you.” She gapes at us. “Are you fucking kidding? You're the ones who just went radio silent on me. You're the ones who just one day stopped fucking texting, calling, or video-chatting with me. I texted every day for weeks, months! And got nothing!”

My heart caves in on itself when I see her eyes well with tears. “You're the ones who got all big and fucking famous and forgot about me!”

Confusion and panic rise in me as I look at the guys. Everett looks crushed, and Zane looks pissed.

“We never got them,” Everett whispers. “We didn’t get any of them.”

“What?” Jade blinks back angry tears. “How? How is that even possible?”

“I don’t fucking know, but I sure as fucking hell plan on finding out,” Zane growls. He looks seconds away from losing his shit.

“So, you didn’t ignore us? Because, Jelly Bean, we texted you. And when you never replied, we started acting up like a bunch of crazy men. Our calls kept going to voicemail, and texts kept being delivered, but they were never read.”

“Mine too,” she whispers. “I did the same. But I didn’t get through because you blocked me.”

“None of us blocked you, Trouble,” Zane states. “Why on earth would we want to do that? You're our best friend, our other half. A life without you was not even a thought in our minds. That's why when we thought you blocked us, we were ready to hop on a plane and come to check for ourselves.”

“You were going to come back?” she asks. Her face scrunches up as she thinks it over. Then, all of a sudden, it’s like a door slamming shut, and she does a complete one-eighty. “No, you’re lying. You're all lying. If that were true, why didn’t you actually come back?”

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