Jason's Princess: A King Brothers Story (12 page)

The news droned on as they worked together until a breaking news alert came on. They both stopped working and listened to the news segment.

“Breaking news: police believe that several break-ins in the northwest area are related after a fifth home was reported broken into. Police have no suspects at this time.”

The hairs on the back of Jason’s neck tingled. Billy’s reemergence in town, the break-ins and the two incidents was too much of a coincidence.

Julie was back to being quiet and distant with him, which he didn’t like at all. Determined to keep her in the here and now, he brought her attention back to him. “All done with the granola, babe. What’s next?”

She jumped at his voice. “What? Oh… sorry.” She glanced for a moment at the pyramid pile he had built with the cups. He relaxed at her amused expression. “Now that’s cute. However, I hate to be the bearer of bad news. They need to be loaded into the plastic tubs in the pantry marked ‘cereal’.” Chuckling, she went back to work.

Relieved at her grin, he did as he was instructed. “Ok, Jujyfruit. Be right back.”

He retrieved the bins from the pantry and set them on the floor by his pyramid pile. He loaded the cups into the bins, made sure the lids were on tight and stacked them by the front door.

“Those need to go in my SUV.” She didn’t look up from spooning batter into the muffin cups.

“I’m driving you to work tomorrow and I don’t want these items in the back of the truck all night where they can be stolen or tampered with….”

“You are not driving me to work tomorrow.”

“Yes I am, no arguing. You heard what my-brother-the-sheriff said about your safety. With Billy back in town, Julie, I’m…WE aren’t taking any chances.” He continued moving the bins by the door, not explaining his hunch to her about Billy and the break-ins.

“What do you mean ‘with Billy back in town’? What does Billy have to do with me not being safe?” Her face was so cute when she was angry or puzzled. Right now she was both. Not wanting her to defend her ex, because honestly he might break something if she did, he quietly pointed out some facts.

“Well, I think it’s odd that you were attacked twice in one week only to find out that Billy is back. Billy left town under some ugly circumstances…”

“Circumstances that you caused! Don’t blame Billy for having to leave town, Jason. Don’t you dare! I know what you did to him.” She practically threw her muffin tin in the oven. Jason wondered if the muffins would come out crooked or straight.

“What do you mean what I did to him?” He was careful not to be angry. He didn’t want to go into any details with her because he knew that Billy’s betrayals would hurt her more than anything and she was very delicate right now. Everything he did, he did for Julie. And for Charlie. He didn’t want them hurt any more than they already had been.

“That asshole is back in town!” Charlie yelled, slamming the front door behind him. He stormed through the living room, his arms loaded with bags, poster board and, what Jason thought might be clothes line but he wasn’t sure, and dumped his stuff on the dining room table. He faced them, hands on his hips and stared in disgust and, what Jason thought was a little bit of fear, on his angry face.

“Watch your mouth in front of your sister.” Jason warned quietly.

Charlie threw his hands in the air. “Sorry.” He clearly wasn’t. “But has he called you, Julie? Have you spoken to him? Because if you have I don’t want him here. Don’t you dare invite that jerk over here, ok?” he asked desperately, as he stomped off to the bathroom.

Jason puzzled over that outburst before asking Julie what it was all about. She looked at him for a second then began to mix a second batch of batter. “Julie? Why does your little brother hate him so much?”

“I don’t know,” she said with a sigh. “I’m not sure if he ever liked Billy, but the last year that we were together Charlie wouldn’t be in the same room with him. It bothered Billy, you know, hurt his feelings. I talked to Charlie about it but he would never tell me the problem.”

She shook her head in contemplation. “I just figured he was being a typical 12-year-old boy who didn’t like his sister’s boyfriend. In those days, Charlie wasn’t very nice to me either. I think it was hormones or something. When mom and dad died he was absolutely unbearable to be around.”

She looked up at him then. “You remember? That’s about the time Charlie punched me and Josh took him camping for the weekend. He came back from that trip a different kid, Jason. I figured the three of you threatened to break his legs or something if he didn’t straighten up, but I didn’t care what you did as long as I got my brother back.”

He was lost when she looked at him and said softly, “I never thanked you for that.”

He put his hand to her cheek about to tell her that she didn’t need to thank him when Charlie stomped back into the room.

“And he’s still just as big of an asshole as he ever was; still hanging out with the same creeps too.”

“How do you know all of this? I thought you were working on a school project?” Jason asked.

“We were but we decided to go to town to get something to eat when we finished. And there they were, sitting in a booth, yucking it up and harassing the waitress. Whatever. I wish he’d stayed gone.”

Charlie went to the fridge and grabbed the milk. He slammed it on the counter before turning to grab a glass out of the cupboard. Julie stopped him before he got there. She gently opened the cupboard and handed him a glass, all while giving him a warning glare that kind of scared Jason.

“Tell me why you hate him so much?” Jason asked. He didn’t like the underlying fear in Charlie’s face. He understood the disgust, but not the fear. What had Billy done to this kid?

Charlie poured some milk in the glass before returning the carton to the refrigerator. He seemed to be sorting out his thoughts, deciding on something. He lifted the glass to his lips and took a swig before setting it back down. He put both hands on the counter, as if to brace himself, before he looked up at Jason.

“Because he’s not a loyal man.”

He looked Jason straight in the eye when he made his statement and then pointedly looked at his sister. Jason said nothing. He watched Julie’s reaction.

“What do you mean, Charlie?” Her brow was crinkled up in that cute way, but her voice held a little bit of fear.

Sighing, he stood up straight and faced his sister. “I mean…” he took another breath before he closed his eyes. Jason was just about to offer encouragement when Charlie spoke up.

Staring his sister in the eyes, Charlie said, “He was cheating on you, Sis. I caught him one night at the diner with another woman.”

Jason held his breath.

Julie shook her head. “Billy had lots of friends in this town, Charlie. That doesn’t mean he was cheating on me. I’m sure he was just friends with whoever you saw him with.”

Rage marred the kid’s face. Jason made his way closer to Julie in case Charlie decided to let his anger get out of control.

“Does it mean he was
just friends
if he had his tongue down the girl’s throat? Does it mean he was just being friendly if I told you that he threatened to hurt Trevor if I told anyone? Does it mean he was being a nice, friendly guy if I did tell Marko about it and mysteriously Trevor died the next day? Billy was here and when I found Trevor in his tank with his shell crushed he winked at me, Julie. I NEVER understood what you saw in that creep.”

Charlie had worked himself up again. He was breathing hard, his face was red and blotchy. It was only a matter of time before he punched something and Jason would make sure that it wasn’t Julie. He cleared his throat to get Charlie’s attention as he moved in front of his sister.

“No, Jason, don’t tell me to calm down. I thought I’d never have to see him again but now he’s back. What’s worse is that people still love him. He has that way of conning everyone into thinking that he is such a great guy when really he’s just an incredible asshat!”

Charlie stomped down the hall again, this time slamming his bedroom door.

“Who’s Trevor?” he asked.

“A turtle that Josh gave him for his birthday one year. I just thought the smelly thing had died. Charlie never said anything about it,” she said sadly as she turned back to her muffins.

Jason narrowed his eyes at her back. He wanted to shake her. Instead, he calmed himself by focusing on the cooking and planning on how to keep them both safe now that Billy was back in town.

CHAPTER 12

SOMEONE BLINKED

Julie woke with a screaming headache. Monday mornings had never been her favorite things but with stitches and a goose egg it was almost unbearable.

Days like this made her wish she worked a regular nine to five office job, like Lauren, so she could call in sick. She couldn’t do that as a selfemployed entrepreneur (she laughed at the title she gave herself) so she forced her tired and sore body out of her warm, comfy bed and shuffled her way to the bathroom. Going mostly by feel she plugged in her curling iron, turned on the radio and started the water. Stripping out of her jammies, she reached for her tooth brush. She sleep-walked through the rest of her morning routine.

Now fully dressed, she made her way down the hallway to her kitchen. The boys were already up and scarfing down muffins at the counter. Nothing made her happier than seeing men eating food that she had made with her own hands. It gave her a purpose in life, satisfying some internal, female instinct to nurture and care for someone. She’d never have a family of her own, so she compensated by preparing simple, healthy meals for her customers and the people she cared about most.

“Coffee?” Jason handed her a steaming mug with cream and sugar. She looked in the mug and noted that the color looked perfect, a beautiful caramel. She sighed in delight on her first sip. He had made it perfectly.

“Mmm… thank you, Jason.” She smiled at him as she tilted her head to verify, “or did Charlie make this one?”

She looked in question at her brother, who shook his head. She glanced back at Jason with an impish smile. His lips lifted up on one side showing off a perfect dimple in that tanned, handsome face. His thick, golden hair was still damp from his morning shower.

“No, smart-ass, Charlie didn’t help me.” He said quietly with the same intent, comical gaze.

She laughed at his pet name. “Well, thank you very much. It’s just how I like it.” Keeping her eyes focused on his intent green ones, she put the mug to her lips and took another sip. Those gems stayed focused on the mug following it to her mouth as she drank. She unconsciously licked a drop off of her lower lip. His eyes darkened. He shifted his feet and looked up to her eyes. Her breathing began to quicken and she felt things in her body that she hadn’t felt in a long time, if ever.

“Somebody blink cuz I need to get to school.” Charlie sighed as he tossed his mug in the sink to rinse it out.

Julie jumped back from Jason, eyes wide. He shook his head and moved towards the sink with his own mug.

Charlie grabbed his back pack, which Julie noticed, was stuffed with all of his project materials that he put together last night. “Science is first period so I have to meet up with my group to put this thing back together for the presentation.”

Jason cleared his throat as he rinsed out his mug. He put it in the dishwasher and reached for Julie’s.

“We’re taking my truck this morning, Charlie. Go ahead and put your stuff in the back, it should be fine on the way to school.”

“I’ll follow you in Cafe Armstrong,” Julie said.

“Josh already moved it to the site. You’re with me.”

She watched in startled shock as he picked up a couple of her muffin bins and walked out the front door after Charlie. She grabbed the other bins and followed him outside.

“When?”

“When you were in the shower. I talked to Josh last night after Jarod called. The prank calls plaguing you match the pattern of the ones I’m getting. Jarod asked that you and Charlie not be alone to and from school and work.” He stopped, took the bins she that was carrying, and placed them with the others in the back of his truck. “He just wants to play this safe. He’s got a funny feeling about all of this and I have to agree with him.”

His eyes darted up to the wound on her forehead before he opened the passenger door for her.

When she got herself buckled in Charlie spoke from the backseat. “Why would someone target the two of you? You never hang out together.”

His question reflected the thoughts that were going through her head. Why her and Jason? It didn’t make any sense. They had no connection with each other, besides Josh. As far as she knew, Josh had no enemies, exempt maybe a jilted lover or two. But she didn’t believe that any of those women would connect Julie to Jason. Besides, nothing had directly happened to Josh. No, none of this made any sense.

Jason started the engine and turned his head to back out of the driveway. He placed his right arm on the back of the Julie’s seat, the leather squeaking as he adjusted his big body. His voice close to her left ear, he said, “I don’t know, Charlie, but Jarod’s working on it. The phones that were used were disposable. They’re impossible to trace. But Jarod is going to interview employees of the stores in the area that carry disposables and hopefully get a hit on the sales. Of course, if they were bought with cash, which is likely, there will be no way to find out who bought them. Jarod will also investigate any video footage for patrons, see if anyone is recognizable. It’s a long shot but it’s something at least.”

Julie held no hope that Jarod would solve the prank calls. As long as she had caller I.D. she would screen her calls and not answer anything that she didn’t recognize. Maybe that would discourage the caller enough to stop.

∼∼∼∼∼

Jason headed to the construction site after dropping Charlie off at school. Julie seemed in better spirits today. The little spree of flirting over that cup of coffee this morning was encouraging, and still had his blood singing through is body. If Charlie hadn’t spoken up, he would have kissed her silly just to prove to her how much he cared for her.

Shaking those fiery thoughts from his head, he pulled into the makeshift parking lot outside of his office. Cafe Armstrong was parked to the right so he pulled in next to it.