Jason's Princess: A King Brothers Story (15 page)

They went in the side door on the east wing of the house into the mud room, which was really a massive utility space that held a washer and dryer, a large bathroom, utility closet for his dad’s tools, vacuum, ironing board and other odds and ends. One whole wall was lined with coat hooks, cubbies for shoes and work boots, and shelving to hold various items.

The doorway put them in the smaller, family kitchen that his mother used everyday. It held stainless steel appliances such as stove, cooktop, sink, dishwasher and a wine cooler near the small wet bar. The counters were marble. All the cabinetry was knotty pine. There was a “small” table of the same knotty pine material that had captain’s chairs at the two ends, four chairs on one side and the other side was backed up to a bay window that held a padded bench seat. He and his brothers had grown up at that table, in this kitchen. His dad had built another commercial-grade kitchen in another part of the house that was only used for large, social events for the company or for charitable events for the community.

His mother had changed the color scheme of this kitchen several times over the years. Currently, it was a sunny cream color with earth tones, gingham curtains and throw pillows on the window seat. Charlie was currently digging through the fridge looking for an after school snack, as was his habit.

“Charlie! What do you think you’re doing?” Julie looked appalled. Jason just laughed. Charlie knew this house inside out, having spent a lot of time here over the past five years.

“What?” Charlie asked unconcerned. “I’m hungry. Camille doesn’t mind.” He grinned at Jason’s mom who just wandered over to Charlie, giving him a maternal squeeze, and helped him dig some snacks out of the fridge.

Julie scowled.

“Oh, don’t you worry about Charlie, dear,” his mother said. “He knows his way around my kitchen. He’s a growing boy and he needs to eat often.” She punctuated her statement with a sharp nod of her chin.

“Let me help you, Camille.”

“Oh, no you don’t. You’ve been through enough today. You just relax with Jason while Charlie and I get the food going.”

He leaned into Julie’s ear. “Relax, Jujyfruit. This is helping my mom calm down after this morning. Look at her face. See how worried she is? Let her do this, ok?”

He watched this beautiful woman take in his mother’s features and knew Julie would let it go for his mother’s sake. When Lauren jumped in to help, Julie didn’t say anything, even though his mother wasn’t shooing Lauren from the kitchen.

As his mother directed her two helpers, the rest of them gathered at the table. He led Julie to the bench seat while Josh squeezed in on the other side so she couldn’t escape. Of course, she had no clue that she had been captured, but as soon as she got wind that this dinner party was going to be an overnighter she would bolt. No one in his family wanted that. With his house burned to the ground and her being the target of two attacks, no one was taking any chances until they could figure out Billy’s game and put a stop to it. Between Jarod’s and Dane’s investigating skills, hopefully they could nail the coward and get on with their lives.

“Thank you for letting me store Cafe Armstrong on your property. I know it doesn’t go with the landscaping.” Julie said to his dad, who was sitting across from them.

“Don’t you worry about that, Julie. It’s my pleasure. Dane and Jarod wouldn’t have it any other way. There’s a real danger out there and I want to make that very clear to you if you don’t already know it.” Softening towards her, he admitted, “I was friends with your father so I know he would come back down from Heaven to give me a good pounding if I didn’t look out for you and Charlie. Did you know that?” Jason had heard this many times before but he had never discussed it with Julie and didn’t know if she knew how close their fathers had been.

“Dad said you two knew each other but he didn’t say how close you were.”

“Well, there was a time when we were inseparable. We went to different colleges and afterward we grew apart because we ran in different circles, but I always considered him one of my dear friends. I would be remiss if I didn’t look out for my friend’s children after he passed away.”

Jason was aware of Julie leaning into him a bit. They were sitting pretty close on the large bench. He doubted she was conscience of it. So he casually put his arm around the backrest of the bench. He caught his dad’s smile. Julie remained clueless. She was so cute sometimes.

They continued to talk as Jason’s thoughts rambled on. His house had just burned to the ground and all he could think was how happy he was just to be sitting this close to her. The words, “through good times and bad” fluttered softly through his mind. Holy cow, he needed to get back to the conversation! He’d had those fleeting thoughts in the past but they were always vague and completely out of reach. Could he hope for something he believed to be so far away? Maybe. Things were changing for the better between them. He could hope.

Charlie brought over a huge platter of sandwiches and set it in the middle of the table. It was later in the afternoon but no one had had a chance to eat lunch with all the drama of the day. Lauren brought over a bowl of salad and his mother brought some paper plates, napkins and silverware.

Julie made to scoot out to help but Jason instinctively put his arm around her shoulders. When she looked at him in question he merely smiled and shook his head, “Don’t worry about it, Jujyfruit. They’ve already gotten everything.” He looked into her eyes as he pulled her a little closer to him. “Besides, I need you to stay close to me,” he said quietly so no one but Julie could hear. He watched her eyes widen and her face flush.

Nodding her head she whispered, “‘Kay.” She turned her head toward the rest of the room and pulled two plates over to them. She began to fill his plate with sandwiches and salad, then she filled her own plate. She was a natural born nurturer and it turned him on something fierce. She looked back at him and smiled. She took a huge bite of salad and grinned as she chewed. He laughed before digging in. He was absolutely starving.

Conversation took a backseat to the late lunch as everyone filled their plates and their stomachs. Charlie asked questions about the fire and Jason’s ransacked office. Jarod and James filled him in on everything, not sparing him any detail. Information was power and everyone was agreed that Charlie needed to be as much on his toes about the danger as everyone else.

Lauren hadn’t known about the office destruction so Jason filled in the places where the others couldn’t. It was agreed by everyone that Billy’s appearance at the fire was his way of making a threat. Jarod had his people on it but Jason didn’t think that the law could do much at this point until another crime was committed. So far it had all been property damage, except for the hit and run on Julie, which could be construed as a random act of road rage. Otherwise no one had been seriously injured. They had no proof that Billy was behind any of it, nothing legally connecting the dots to him. Unless Jarod could tie either the truck, the stolen plates or the men to Billy, he would remain on the streets, free to run whatever game he was playing.

“I think he wants to push us until we lose our cool and do something stupid. That’s usually how his pranks worked when he was a teen,” James said as he put his napkin on his plate. “He doesn’t realize that most of us remember how he operates. I’m counting on him being just as arrogant as ever, thinking of himself as untouchable.”

“He is untouchable, Dad.” Jarod said. He gave their father cop face, who only winked at his eldest.

“Don’t you worry about that, Sheriff. You keep doing what you’re doing. As long as you and Dane stay in touch with each other we’ll get him.” James said with confidence.

“Dad, you know I can’t share ongoing police work with your private investigator.” Jarod rolled his eyes.

“I don’t expect you to leak potentially dangerous information to the Taliban, son. I DO expect you to protect your loved ones.” James raised his eyebrow with that statement.

Jarod began to argue but their mother interrupted. “If you two are finished bossing each other around, I think we should talk about tonight.” Jason took a deep breath. She was gonna drop the bomb.

Shit, here we go
.

“What about tonight?” Charlie asked around a bite of apple pie. The kid’s stomach was an endless abyss.

“Jason, I’ve made up your room. Dane sent some of his men to Julie’s to pick up your things. While they were there, they took the liberty of packing bags for both Julie and Charlie.”

Julie went rigid in his hold. “What do you mean?”

His mother put on her don’t-you-argue-with-me face and looked Julie right in the eye. “I mean, that I have prepared rooms for all of you. You will be staying here until this mess is cleared up.”

“But….”

“Lauren has brought her overnight bag and will be staying as well. I won’t have my son out there where it’s dangerous and it’s obvious that whoever is doing this is leading up to do more harm than he’s already done.”

“Camille, I can’t stay here. I have a home, work and Charlie has school.” Julie argued.

She is so in for it
, Jason thought.

“I know you have a home of your own, Julie. But I insist that you stay here where you will be safe. That is my priority. I won’t have Jason or Charlie in harm’s way. Would you?” She raised her eyebrows at Julie.

Jason wasn’t sure if invoking his name would really matter to Julie but using her brother against her was the killing blow.

“Of course I wouldn’t want them in harm’s way. But Jarod said he had police watching the house….”

“He does and he will keep your house safe. But it is only a house, dear. You are the people I love and you will be safer here. Now, no more discussion. Your things are here and your rooms are being set up as we speak. Think of it as a family reunion of sorts. What do you say?”

“I don’t have a choice, do I?” Julie looked at Jason when she asked that question but his father and Jarod answered for him.

“No. You don’t.”

CHAPTER 15

ROOM OF DOOM

He felt her take a deep breath while everyone waited for her to blow up. Shockingly, she said, “All right. You know what’s best and I don’t want anyone else hurt.”

He squeezed her to him and she didn’t fight him back. He let out the breath he’d been holding.

“Good, it’s all settled then.” His mom smiled. “It’s going to be so nice to have some female companionship in this house for a change. Have you girls ever seen my craft room?”

He reluctantly let go of Julie when his mother ushered both her and Lauren out of the kitchen to the part of the house all of the men feared.

The craft room was known as the Room of Doom to him and his brothers. She kept all kinds of things in there that did not interest boys; she would use word games, and ribbon and all kinds of girl crap to punish them when they had gotten into mischief, when they were kids. He thankfully hadn’t seen the inside of that room since he moved out and he didn’t plan on revisiting it anytime soon.

“You know, she had me expand that room,” his father said with absolutely no emotion at all.

Completely horrified, Josh said, “No.” He shook his head. “She didn’t make you do it personally, did she dad?” Josh had spent a lot of time in that room.

“No, I had some men come do it but she made me help her draw up the design plans to organize all that crap she’s got in there. Then I had to help her put all that stuff away. Worst two weeks of my life and you know how much I love your mother.”

Jason shuttered at the thought.

“What’s so awful about Cami’s craft room?” Charlie asked.

They proceeded to regale him with tales of their youth, the trouble they had been in, including James, and the punishments Camille would come up with. Charlie seemed to be equal parts impressed with their mischief and horrified by what they’d had to do for punishment.

“She made you help with the decorations for baby showers? That’s cruel and unusual punishment, isn’t it?”

“That’s nothing, Charlie. When I got my first tattoo I was only fifteen. I had convinced the tattoo artist I was 18. She was really hot and I wanted to impress her and she fell for it. When I got home past my curfew, Mom was up pacing. First she saw the hickey on my neck. Then she noticed the bandage on my arm. Concerned that I was hurt she insisted on ‘looking at it to make sure I didn’t have an infection’. I knew I was screwed so I showed it to her.”

“Did she completely freak out?” Charlie asked, his eyes as big as saucers.

“No, not completely. At first, I thought it would be ok because I knew my tattoo wasn’t offensive.”

Charlie looked at his arm. “Which one is it?”

Jason pulled up his left t-shirt sleeve. Taking up most of his tricep was a large, superimposed XP in the center with an upside down V on one side and an upside-down horseshoe on the other.

“What does it mean?”

“The center symbol is called a Chi Rho, it’s a greek symbol for ‘Christ’. This symbol,” Jason pointed to the upside-down V, “is greek for ‘Alpha’, the other symbol is for ‘Omega’.”

Charlie looked awed. “‘Christ, the beginning and the end’. So you thought that since you got Christian ink that you would be ok?” Charlie grabbed his stomach and laughed out great big guffaws. Charlie knew his mother all too well.

“Yeah, I was an idiot. I still love this tattoo; even though she made me help her with the Anderson/Vickers’ wedding.” Jason wasn’t sure if Charlie was too young to know who that was but by the look on the kid’s face, he had made his point.

“I really didn’t think Cami was that mean.” Charlie said, a little dumbfounded.

Jarod piped up then. “Oh, she’s that mean alright. Not only did Jason get stuck putting together all the pink birdseed packets, but we had to help when she found out that we all knew he was getting the tattoo.” His brother shook his head at the memory. “I think she must’ve been short on help, now that I look back. She panicked and employed slave labor in all of us.” All three of them looked at each other for a moment and then busted up laughing.

Jason noticed Charlie’s face turn a little melancholy. “What’s up, Kiddo?”