Free Jason's Princess: A King Brothers Story by Elise Manion Page A

everything. He looked around the living room and watched all the people who cared about her.
    Charlie had moved his project from his bedroom to the dining room table, which was situated in their small “great room”. They lived in a small, older home where the living room, dining room and kitchen were connected in one big room at the front of the house, divided only where the carpet met the linoleum.
    Jason noticed all the personal touches Julie had installed to make the small space seem homey and comfortable; a small electric “fireplace” that also doubled as a television stand, furniture purchased from a discount store that had fluffy, soft cushions to encouraged a person to relax and take a nap, like Julie was doing now. The walls had been painted in warm, earthy tones. There was a small bookshelf that held her paperbacks, some DVDs and some knick knacks. There were pictures of Charlie at all stages of his childhood, some of her and a few more of their parents. A small plant stand stood in the corner with a pretty pot on top.
    Lauren, aways busy, fixed something to eat for his brothers. He wasn’t sure, but Lauren seemed to be giving Jarod a little more attention than normal. Huh. He’d have to talk to Josh about that and get his thoughts. Josh was much closer to the girls than he was, but he hoped that would change with Julie soon.
    As he turned his focus back to the fights he had been watching on TV, his mind wandered to the past. Billy kept popping into his head. He hadn’t seen that clown since Billy left town and hoped to not set eyes on him again but Jason was getting a prickly feeling. Weird shit used to happen all the time when Billy was still around.
    He remembered seeing the delight on Billy’s face whenever he would pull a stupid prank on some poor, unsuspecting kid. He could be quite elaborate in his schemes, too, even when he was in his early teens. Billy was a natural born liar and charmer. As far as he knew, no one had figured out how the plumbing got ruined in the high school. Jason wasn’t clear on exactly how Billy had coordinated the stunt.
    By that time, Jason realized that Billy wasn’t cut from the same cloth as he and his brothers. He had no honor and only hung around Jason for a better social standing at school.
    When Billy made his move on Julie before Jason really had a chance, Jason was done with him. He only stuck around to make sure that he didn’t hurt Julie. As time wore on, Jason realized that she had developed a hatred towards him. He had Billy to thank for that. It was one more reason to distance himself from the asshole.
    “Why don’t you wake her a little bit before you let her get some more rest?” Josh had snuck up on him releasing him from his disturbing flashback.
    “Good idea.” He carefully disengaged himself from her soft, warm body while Josh helped rearrange the pillows on the couch so she could lay down more comfortably.
    “Wake up, Jujyfruit,” he whispered while gently rubbing her shoulder. Her eyebrows scrunched up in that adorable way she had when she didn’t understand something, like why Jason was laying her down on her living room couch, he thought with a smile.
    “What are you doing here?” she asked sleepily.
    “We’re all here, Julie. You were in an accident this morning, remember?” Josh said with concern.
    “Oh. Right.” She laid there for a second before she started sitting up. Jason pushed her shoulders back down.
    “It’s ok, babe. Just lay back down. Lauren is here too and Charlie is doing his homework. Just let the meds do what they’re supposed to do.”
    Her fuzzy brown eyes tried to focus on him for a second before she relaxed back into the pillow. “Ok,” was all she could get out before her eyelids slid closed again. He pushed her soft, brown hair off her forehead exposing the bandage covering her wound. He waited for her breathing to even out before he stood up and followed Josh back to the kitchen.
    Lauren handed him a