Jason's Princess: A King Brothers Story (4 page)

“He ok?” Jason asked quietly, not looking from the plans on his desk.

Sighing with relief, she replied, “Yes.”

“Do you want me to drive you into town to pick him up?”

“No, that’s ok. I’ll meet up with him for dinner this evening. He says he’s fine so I’d rather not worry him with this stuff on his first day back.” She closed her phone and pushed it back in her pocket. She was just standing up when Josh walked into the office.

He immediately pulled her into his side and kissed her temple. “I moved the truck in front of the office and locked it up,” he said as he handed her the keys. “You doing ok? Did they hurt you?” His deep blue eyes were filled with concern. She loved him like a big brother and appreciated his concern even though she was beginning to feel silly. A few insults and they were treating her as if she were an actual rape victim. She was a grown up. She could handle herself.

“I’m fine, Josh, really,” she shrugged. “Thank you for finishing for me. You really didn’t have to do that.” Once Jarod showed up she would file a complaint to get the incident on record in case they decided to harass her again.

What had this been about anyway?

“I don’t think you should leave by yourself, Julie. I’ll follow you home when I’m finished here,” Jason said, effectively dismissing her. Like he was the boss of her. Like he hadn’t just been hugging the life out of her and being so sweet. She hated that; at the same time she appreciated it. Talk about confusing, maybe this afternoon’s incident was effecting her more than she thought. She tried to calm herself and be reasonable. She sat back on the couch next to Josh. He flipped on Jason’s small TV that sat on a filing cabinet in the waiting area of his office. No one really said anything until the door slammed open to an angry Jarod looming in the doorway.

“Plates were stolen. There’s no way to track who they were unless someone can identify them.” He locked eyes with Julie and asked, “Did you know them?” Then more sweetly, “Are you alright?”

Wishing people would quit asking her that question she snapped, “Yes, I’m fine. And yes, I want to file a complaint and no I do not want to sit at the police station going through mugshots because I didn’t recognize any of them.” She rolled her eyes at all three of them. They looked ready to jump up at any moment to fetch her something if she needed it.

Jarod shared a look with Jason who merely shrugged and went back to his papers. Then he looked her in the eye, all business again, and said, “Fine. I’ll take your statement but when you’re done I will escort you home. Once there I will do a search of your home to make sure everything is secure.” Julie noted that he wasn’t asking. He was in full blown cop mode.

Fine. She didn’t want to go home alone anyway. That cold feeling was still lingering in her spine from the way those men had looked at her. Having Jarod check for boogie men before Charlie got home was perfectly fine with her. Bonus points to Jarod for effectively getting Jason out of her hair. She didn’t want him stalking her home, she was positive that he would insist on it if Jarod hadn’t made the offer…command… whatever. Jason confused her enough as it was already.

When she’d filled out all the forms and given her written statement, she got up to head outside. Jarod gave the same forms to his brothers who were diligently filling them out. Leaving the trailer, she noticed several men leaning on cars in the parking lot doing the same thing. Jarod demanded statements from everyone. She shook her head. He was so thorough that she worried he might be suffering from OCD. Hopefully, someone will recognize those creeps so Jarod will have something more to go on other than the stolen plates. She hopped in the driver seat of Cafe Armstrong and followed Jarod’s escort to her house.

Once he had done his inspection and deemed everything “clear”, she thanked him for everything and shut the door. Charlie wasn’t home yet so she sat herself on her couch and cried. Never in her life had anything so horribly confrontational happened to her. The only thing worse than today was losing her parents. She cried privately then too.

On a subconscious level she was concerned that those men had sought her out, that maybe she had been targeted. She wouldn’t say it out loud because she had no answers and she needed to be calm by the time Charlie came home, deciding to not tell him anything about this afternoon. He didn’t need the worry.

Just then Charlie walked in the door. He looked tired but happy. His smiled faded when he saw her face. “What?”

“Nothing.” She discretely wiped her eyes and stood up. “How was your day?” She walked into the small kitchen and began the fixings for BLTs. Charlie followed her in and proceeded to tell her all about his first day of school, stories of his friend’s summer vacations and complained about the amount of homework he would be doing this year. As they sat down to eat the phone rang.

“Hello?” she answered. There was nothing on the other end, so she hung up. Two minutes later it rang again. She was greeted with silence once more. Staring at the phone, she quietly set it down on the counter trying to ignore that lingering cold chill in her spine.

“Who was it?”

“I don’t know. Nobody was on the line; maybe a bad connection?” She wasn’t going to worry Charlie. She was almost sitting when the phone rang again. Charlie grabbed it before she could get out of her chair.

Clearing his throat, he puffed out his chest and said in a forced, deep voice, he growled, “WHAT?… Oh hey Jason, what’s up?”

Julie soughed out the breath of air she had been holding. It must’ve been Jason all along on a bad cell connection. She shook her head. Figures the big bully would be fraying her nerves again. Just as she was about to take a bite the phone was placed in front of her face.

“He wants to talk to you.” Charlie shoved it at her as he resumed shoveling his dinner in his mouth.

“Hello?”

“Sorry to bother you but I wanted to check to see if you were ok.”

She smiled knowing he couldn’t see it. “I’m fine Jason. Please don’t worry about me.”

“Sorry, Jujyfruit. I can’t help it,” he said quietly. Clearing his throat, he asked, “Can you come down tomorrow an hour later than normal? Dad wants to have a meeting with the men on each crew before we get to work. I don’t want you alone out there until the men arrive.”

Touched by his concern, she told him she could do that. She wouldn’t mind an extra hour of sleep after the day she had had anyway.

Unfortunately, she had a troubled night’s sleep plagued by memories of the past and the ugly faces of men who were more toad than human.

CHAPTER 3

NOT TELLING

Jason hung up the phone with relief. She wouldn’t be there early tomorrow, thank God. He didn’t know who those men were, but didn’t want to take a chance of them going back when he couldn’t protect her. He wasn’t going to give up looking for them, either. Neither would Jarod or his father. No one was going to hurt her or Charlie, not if he could help it. She had been through too much.

After Jarod had escorted Julie home, Jason and Josh had discussed the possibilities of who those men were working for and why they had targeted Julie. One name came to mind but Jason didn’t want to believe that Billy was back. He had heard through the grapevine that Billy had gotten involved with some pretty shady characters after his quick exit from town five years ago. Jason knew just how dirty Billy could play. If he wanted revenge, Billy would go after what meant the most to Jason.

Josh let out a frustrated breath, “Why don’t you tell her how you feel?”

Jason sighed. “You know why; Billy did a number on her and telling her the truth would only make her hate me more.”

“I think after all this time you should just tell her you love her. She’s stubborn and alone, Jason. But she’s not unreasonable. I swear, the way she looks at you makes me wish that I would’ve tried harder to win her heart.” Jason caught the smirk on his little brother’s face and gave him a shove.

“Stop pissing me off, Josh. It’s not helping.”

“Look… I’ve known her a long time. The only reason she was so attached to Billy is because she was shy. He paid attention to her, was her first boyfriend, and he could talk a drowning man into a glass of water. She only
thought
she was in love with Billy. She was a teenager. Give her a chance.”

Jason shrugged it off. He wouldn’t tell her anything right now. She was shaken and things between them had been going ok. They had a working relationship, sort of, but he was seeing her every day. Hopefully, those barriers would come down and they could move on to something more personal. Holding her today had been earth shattering. He was surprised, and pleased, at how she had clung to him. God help him if he hadn’t enjoyed it, which made him feel like a bastard for taking advantage of her emotional state.

I want to hold her again
.

Changing the subject he asked his brother how work was coming along on the engineering end. They discussed the project at length before Josh left. Jason figured Josh would hit a bar before heading home, probably with the plan of finding a companion for the night. He was a player. His open face and friendly smiles had always helped him score with the opposite sex. Jason was no slacker, either. He had had his fair share of female companionship, but nothing like his baby brother.

He locked his office and headed to his house. Jason owned a small three bedroom/two bath cookie cutter that he’d bought for investment purposes. It was located in a new subdivision where King Construction had done the work on about three years ago. He kept nothing of value in his house, only using it as a landing pad until the right time to flip it for profit came up. All of his valuables were kept at his suite at the family home. James and Camille King lived in a gated mansion on 50 or so acres of land located on the outskirts of town. His parents had divided up the property and willed portions of it to their sons. Someday, if Jason had a family, he would build his home on that portion of land. Until then, he lived lean and for his work.

And for Julie and Charlie
.

He sighed as he opened his mostly empty house. Furnished with the bare essentials, he flipped on the small television in his kitchen and prepared a dinner of stir fry chicken and vegetables. Fast, easy and filling. He chased his dinner down with a cold beer.

After a quick, hot shower he watched the local news before turning in for the night, disappointed that the game wasn’t being aired. Nothing real exciting happening except for a rash of home invasions on the other side of town. Jason frowned. The area was lower middle class. Strange for someone to be breaking into houses in that area. Most burglars would hit the upper end of town in search of a more lucrative haul. It was also not that far away from Julie and Charlie. He thought of calling Jarod and asking him about the break-ins but it was late. Besides, Jarod wouldn’t divulge anything from an ongoing investigation. He was just getting into bed when his phone rang. He picked up the receiver but no one was there. Two minutes later, the same thing happened.

The hairs on his neck stood on end. Changing his mind about calling Jarod, he picked up the phone.

“What.”

Jason smirked. Jarod wasn’t known for pleasantries.

“What yourself. What’s the deal with the break-ins on Julie’s side of town.”

There was silence on the other end before Jarod lowered his voice. “Not much to tell. Some jewelry and small items of value taken, all done when the residents were out of the house.”

“How close to Julie is this happening?” Jason’s neck hair was still standing on end.

“About a mile. Look, Jason. I know what you’re thinking and, believe me, the same thought crossed my mind. I’m keeping a very close watch on these occurrences.”

“I know, brother. Have you told Dad?”

“Now why would I do that?” Jarod got sarcastic when he felt challenged. Jason only chuckled.

“So that Dad could, of course, confer with his head of security and help the sheriff’s department out as much as possible?” He laughed outright at that one. He knew how much Jarod hated Dane, their father’s right-hand man and personal bodyguard. Dane was also retired F.B.I. He could dig in places where Jarod didn’t have access.

“Dad watches the news. I’m sure he’s running his own investigation and I am positive that if he found out anything he would tell me. Go to sleep, Jason. I know you have to be up early for that meeting with Dad tomorrow.” And with that, Jarod hung up.

CHAPTER 4

FIRST KISS

The next morning, Julie covertly watched Jason eat his breakfast of a multigrain muffin and an apple. Today she would serve cold breakfast and hot lunch.

He had dark circles under his eyes and he looked tired.

Probably entertaining a pretty guest all night long
.

She frowned at herself because that wasn’t fair. Even though he was his normal autocratic self yesterday, he had stuck his neck out to protect her from those awful men, and he seemed to actually care about how she felt. He looked up, catching her studying him, and smiled.

“Good morning, Beautiful. How was your night?” He gifted her with that wicked smile of his, and a song she would be humming all day.

Raising an eyebrow, she answered, “It was fine.” She wasn’t going to admit that she had nightmares and that every creak in the house had woken her up.

He took a bite of his muffin and leaned against the truck. After swallowing his bite he looked up at her. “Where do you get your pastries? These muffins are delicious.”

“I make them at home over the weekend or in the evenings.”

“Really? God, they’re heaven, Jujyfruit.”

She froze in her work as his softly spoken compliment filtered through her frazzled brain. There was something sultry in his voice. She shook her head in denial before she thanked him but her voice came out husky, as well. She cleared her throat and said more firmly, “I’m glad you like it…I wasn’t sure of the reaction I would get from having a split menu, but the guys really seem to accept it.”