Blog Tour, Giveaway & Excerpt: Bullet by Jade C. Jamison

Bullet by Jade C. Jamison, Cover!

Blurb (from Goodreads):

An Epic Rock Star Novel

What if you discover the man you want is toxic?

She tasted a little bit of heaven with him, and now they’ve gone through hell and back, but can their relationship take anymore?

Valerie Quinn is a naïve college freshman when she meets on-the-rise rock star Ethan Richards. He’s an idealistic, handsome, reckless young man, but he’s captured her heart. She doesn’t give up on him and eventually his walls crumble down. By the time Valerie has given herself to him completely, she discovers he’s damaged and may be beyond help. Can she save Ethan and their relationship before he implodes, or will he self-destruct and take her with him?

Bio:

Author Jade C. Jamison

Jade C. Jamison was born and raised in Colorado, moved from one city/town to the next, and she’s decided she likes it so much she wants to stay…although travel is not out of the question.  She lives in a big town in Colorado (not unlike Winchester!) with her husband and four children.  She is working on becoming a crazy cat lady.  Okay, so maybe not.

Still want more?  Jade has a bachelor’s degree in English Literature and Theater, a master’s degree in English, and a master of fine arts in Creative Writing.  Obviously, she loves school and the student loan folks love her.  She works in human services by day, teaches English and creative writing at night, and—in between playing soccer mom and community leader—writes like a fiend.  Someday soon, she’ll narrow it down to just writing, but let’s get all those kids off to college first.

Excerpt:

We retired to the living room, and someone put in a horror movie.  It looked like just another horror movie, and none of us were really watching.  Brad had brought out one of the twelve-packs and the bottle of rum.  He’d had Nick help by bringing in five glasses filled with ice.  Brad poured rum in four of the glasses and then looked at me.  “Sure you don’t want just a little?  Just enough to get a little buzz?”

His eyes were so warm, so persuasive.  Ethan sat up straight on the couch and leaned over, so close I could feel him.  As though challenging Brad, he said to me, “You don’t have to if you don’t want to.”

But I trusted Brad, and there was something in his eyes that made me want to say yes.  So I said, “Sure…just a little, though.  I’m the driver, remember?”

He chuckled.  “Okay.”  So he poured just a tiny amount in my glass, at least two-thirds less than what he’d poured in everyone else’s cup.  Then he poured Coke in each one until the liquid almost touched the rim.

Brad slid the glasses to a position in front of each person.  “Bottoms up.”  All four of the men drank half of their glass in one gulp.

“You shouldn’t have put ice in ‘em, Bradley.  It’s harder to drink.”  Ethan smirked at his friend.

“I thought, since we were in the company of a lady, that we should show a little restraint.”  I felt myself blush a little.

“Yeah.  Whatever.  Top me off, pussy.”

Brad’s sense of humor seemed to be dissipating.  He handed Ethan the bottle.  “Do it yourself, cocksucker.”

“Don’t mind if I do.”

At that point, we did start watching the movie.  I’d felt a little tense at the exchange between the two alpha males in the room, but as they downed their drinks, their emotions seemed to die down as well.

It didn’t escape my notice that Brad moved to the other side of me on the couch…and he sat close enough that his leg touched mine.

But Ethan kept talking to me, just making fun of the movie, making me laugh.  Nick was on the floor in front of the coffee table, and once in a while, he’d catch a snippet of Ethan’s jokes and bust out laughing.  He was getting pretty wasted.  Zane was in a chair on the other side of the room.

I hadn’t had much of my drink.  I guessed I just wasn’t much of a drinker.  And that was okay.  Ethan sat up and grabbed a Coke, popping it open.  He sat back on the couch and whispered.  “How about you trade me your drink for a straight Coke?”

I felt a little relief, and my heart warmed to my sweet Ethan.  He must have just sensed that I wasn’t comfortable drinking, and he was going to rescue me.  I smiled and switched with him.  All the ice in my glass had melted, so he slammed it in just a couple of gulps.  He licked his lips and looked me straight in the eye.  “Best one I’ve had all night.”

Was he just teasing me?  He winked and then leaned forward again, this time pouring more rum in his glass but foregoing the Coke.

Nick started giggling.  “Oh, shit.  This girl’s gonna get killed.”

Zane said, “Yeah…we saw her tits five minutes ago.  Of course, she’s gonna die.”

The girl in the film had been jogging through the woods but then discovered she was being followed by the slasher in the movie.  It was the same old tired scenario we’d all seen in horror movies, a formula beloved by the many.  The girl tripped and started screaming, panicking, and just being stupid in general.  I sat up.  “Why is it that they always make these girls so dumb?  Why does she have to trip and act stupid?  Instead of going back the way she came or following the trail, she’s disappearing deeper into the woods where she’s going to die.”

Normally quiet Nick was now Obnoxious Nick.  “You have a problem with that?”

Zane said, “I don’t, as long as I get to see her goodies.”

I rolled my eyes.  “Real girls aren’t like that.”

Brad sat up next to me and put his arm around my shoulders.  “Know what, Val?  You’re cool.  Ethan has class when it comes to women.”

I wasn’t sure where he was coming from, but I couldn’t believe he was putting his arm around me right in front of Ethan.

“Correction,” Zane interrupted.  “Remember Mary…the mouth?”

“Oh, fuck, yeah!”  Nick broke out into laughter and fell on his back.

Ethan said, “Can we change the subject?”

“I kinda liked her mouth,” Zane said.

“I just wanted to say Val was cool.  I didn’t want to get you guys started talking about Ethan’s old girlfriends.”

Ethan slammed his straight rum and poured another.  Zane said, “I want a girlfriend like that.”

“Shut the fuck up, man.”

Zane sighed and shrugged, then downed his drink.  Brad seemed to be in his own little world.  I’d tried to ignore his arm around me, and I certainly didn’t want to draw attention to it nor encourage it.  But he started talking quietly, so no one else could hear.  “I’m glad you and Ethan are friends.”  I couldn’t ignore him anymore, and I turned my head to look at him.

Holy Christ.  The look in his eyes was undeniable.  He wasn’t drunk, no.  He might’ve been loosened up, but he wasn’t trashed.  He looked…sexy, and I had no idea why he liked me so much, but the feeling was mutual.

I heard Nick laughing at something on the TV, and Zane said, “Holy shit!  That bitch can bleed!”  I hoped no one else was paying attention to me.

Brad asked, “So…are you and Ethan dating or not?  Are you boyfriend and girlfriend?  He won’t say dick about it, and I can’t tell.”

God…how should I answer that?  Honesty…always the best way.  “I…uh…don’t think he considers us that.”

Still…I really cared for Ethan, and nothing was set in stone.  Until I knew for sure, I didn’t want to encourage Brad’s behavior.  I took a deep breath and tried to smile.  Then I stood up.  “I…um…need a glass of water.  Can I get anyone anything?”

Brad shook his head, and everyone else ignored me, so I walked to the kitchen.

I was so glad I hadn’t had anything to drink.  In the past, I’d been around friends who’d lost all their inhibitions too quickly thanks to alcohol, and I knew I’d just escaped a precarious situation.

I’d come to the kitchen to get my bearings.  I stood at the refrigerator for a good two minutes, just staring at the handle.  Finally, I opened the door so I wouldn’t look pathetic and lost, but that’s really what I was.  I was confused.  I didn’t know what I wanted, and it made me angry.  No, that wasn’t entirely true.  My head wanted one thing, my heart another.  I needed a few minutes alone to just think.

A few deep breaths and I was starting to feel normal again.  I shut the refrigerator door and turned around, ready to go back to the living room.  But just as I did that, he appeared in the doorway.  Brad…the man who’d made me question everything.  And he just stared at me with those smoldering eyes as if to say he knew everything I was thinking.

Like a deer caught in headlights, I froze.  I was paralyzed.  I felt my heartbeat speed up, as though a locomotive were driving it.  Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump.  I could hear it in my ears and nothing else.  And then he started moving across the kitchen, closing the gap between us until it was nonexistent.  I could hear as each one of his boots hit the floor step by step, but I was helpless to move.  I felt a jolt in my bloodstream as my brain flooded it with chemicals, and yet I still couldn’t move.

Brad stopped just millimeters away from my body, and my eyes stayed locked on his.  The thudding in my chest hadn’t receded, and there was no way I was getting away.  I drew in one deep breath through my slightly parted lips, then another.  Neither of us said a word.  And then I felt something inside decide that it would be okay.  Honestly, I knew there was nothing between Ethan and me, just some stupid stalkerish emotion that made me feel like I loved him.  And that’s when I decided I wanted to give in to whatever had gripped me, whatever it was inside me that was drawn to Brad.  My breathing slowed just a little, and I noticed his head tilt down as though he was going to touch my lips with his.  Yes.  It was okay.  Maybe.

No.  I wasn’t ready for this.  Not yet.  I closed my eyes as though in slow motion and tilted my head to the side.  That would be okay, right?  But deep inside I knew it wouldn’t be, and I didn’t care.  If he had been a vampire, I would have been offering my jugular to him.  Still I didn’t care—he could have it.

I drew in another slow, deep breath, anticipating the touch of his lips.  Instead, I felt his breath on my neck, and everything in my body tightened.  First, my breath caught in my throat, and then every single muscle in my body clamped down, but where I felt it the most was in my feminine parts, a part of my body that I’d religiously avoided like the plague.  But the sensation didn’t feel as sinful as I’d been led to believe.  Oh, no.  It was a foreign feeling, yes, but it was not unwelcome.  On instinct, my hands moved to his neck, and I shoved my fingers into his thick, soft hair.

His breath on my neck was warm and delicious.  He brought his lips to my ear, and they barely grazed the tender skin there.  He said, ““I know you’re into Ethan, and as long as you are, nothing’s gonna happen between us.  But I want you to know I’ll wait.”

I didn’t know what to say.  There really wasn’t anything I could say that would make it okay.  He had to know I was physically attracted to him, or why else would he even feel confident enough to make a move like that?  It was in that moment that I realized how intuitive and worldly Brad was.  He picked up on things that others usually just overlooked.  He knew…he knew how I felt about him, about Ethan.  How could he know that?

Either that or he was just drunk.

No…it wasn’t that he’d been drinking.  He stepped back as I loosened my grip in his hair.  His eyes stayed locked on mine as he just continued backing up, and then, as he got close to the doorway, he turned around and left the room.

I was breathless again.  And I was even more confused than when I’d come in here.

Website http://www.jadecjamison.com/

twitter username https://twitter.com/JadeCJamison

Facebook page  http://www.facebook.com/#!/JadeCJamison?fref=ts

Goodreads Page http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4876604.Jade_C_Jamison

Goodreads book link http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17182172-bullet

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