Jason's Princess: A King Brothers Story (11 page)

She could see people through the glass in the indoor range, and was surprised to see just as many woman as men firing weapons. There were even a couple of kids who looked to be in their early to mid teens. That made her feel a little less anxious. She was never comfortable being in places where men were the dominant presence. Not that she didn’t like men, she just didn’t like the feeling of being out of place.

“Do you have your I.D.?” Jason asked quietly. She handed it to him. He stacked it on the forms he had filled out, grabbed it up in one hand and placed his other at the small of her back steering her to the register. She tried to stifle the shiver that ran up her back at his touch. It obviously didn’t work because she felt his thumb caress a circle on her spine.

They went through the process of checking in at the counter. Jason explained that it would be Julie’s first time shooting a gun, so the floozy who was flirting with Jason …
uh hem
… the nice lady at the counter chatted with her and put her at ease. She asked if Julie wanted to look at any of the guns in the display case to rent. She was so confused by them all that she declined.

After instructing her to put on her eye and ear protection, all three of them headed for the doors to the range. Julie’s heart rate sped up as they were ushered to a small stall. There were dividing walls on each side of a “counter” that separated them from the other shooters.

Julie paid close attention, as Jason flipped a switch on the left side of their stall and heard a motor running that reminded her of a garage door opener. When it stopped, she realized that he had been bringing in the target hanger from inside the range lane. She was mesmerized by the play of his muscles as he hung up a picture of a zombie, then hit the switch again so that it went back out to the middle of the range.

His back was still to her as he held up a gun that had lots of buttons on it. He grabbed up something that looked like a cartridge out of the bin that had contained the gun and a box of bullets. He put a bullet in the cartridge, and then slammed it into the base of the “handle” of the gun. He then jerked the top of the gun back with force, which returned to its original position with a snap.

Her focus was bouncing between his muscular body and what he was doing with the weapon. She was trying to concentrate more on what he was doing, rather than just on him.

Startling her, he said, “Ok, Jujyfruit. Are you ready to shoot your first weapon?” He had a big grin on his face, which immediately put her at ease.

“Do your worst,” she said, trying to play it cool and failing miserably.

“Okay, then.” He positioned her in the center of the stall, her back to him, as she faced down the range to the zombie target. She noted that the earphones she was wearing allowed her to hear his speech clearly, but when someone fired off a round the sound was muffled.

“The gun in front of you is my Smith and Wesson Body Guard. Its small design is for concealed carry. My mother carries the same weapon so you should be able to handle it.” He cleared his throat and took a breath. “Ok, now, pick up the gun in your right hand. Make sure you keep your finger off the trigger and point the muzzle down range towards the zombie…. That’s it. Good. Now….I want you to bring your left hand up like this…”

He then took her left hand in his and wrapped it around the gun, arranging her fingers and thumbs for a firm grip. Keeping his left hand on her left elbow he reached around her with his right, and began pointing to the top of the gun with his index finger.

With him touching her everywhere, it was hard to concentrate on what he was attempting to teach her. She took a deep breath and concentrated on the sound of his voice, rather than the warmth emanating from his body.

I can do this
.

“This notch right here is the rear sight. When you’re aiming at the target you want to line the gap up with the white dot on the notch at the front of the muzzle, which is the front sight.” He gripped both of her lower arms, keeping his body just from touching hers, his head to her right side and his voice calm.

His proximity was both calming and exciting. She could smell his magical scent again and felt the warmth from his body. His nearness kept her from thinking too hard about pulling the trigger.

“I’ve already chambered the round for you. I want you to place your finger on the trigger but don’t pull it back just yet… good… ok, line the white dot up with the rear notch and then put both of those things on the zombie’s chest… Do you have it lined up?”

“Uh huh,” she breathed.

“Ok. I want you to take a breath, exhale and slowly squeeze the trigger, all while keeping your hands as relaxed as possible.”

He has got to be crazy
.

She shook her head, took a deep breath and as she exhaled she pulled the trigger. The thing exploded in her hand and almost hit her in the head.

Son of a bitch that hurt!

She let out a squeal and tried the drop the gun down on the counter, but Jason’s strong hands held her steady.

Chuckling, he said, “Calm down, it’s ok. Look. You even hit the target.” He sounded like he was proud, but her hand hurt and she didn’t care whether she hit the stupid thing or not.

That was terrible. The gun seemed to come apart in her hand and something hot hit her in the forehead. She was not pulling that trigger again.

She was shaking her head and trying to move away from him when he calmly removed the gun from her hand and placed it back on the counter. He turned her to face him with his hands on her shoulders. She was sputtering that she wanted to leave when he bent down to look her in the eyes, almost touching his forehead to hers.

“Julie, calm down a minute. You can’t leave the range while it’s hot, people are still firing. Look at me, damn it.” She stopped squirming and looked into those beautiful green eyes.

“My hand hurts and my forehead hurts.” She felt like she was going to cry and fought viciously to keep from losing control.

He scrunched his face up in concern. “Did the casing hit your wound?” He was lightly brushing his finger over her bandage.

“I don’t know. What the hell, Jason! You gave me a broken gun!” Now that the adrenaline was flowing freely through her body, and her fight or flight response was kicking in, she was angry.

“I didn’t give you a broken gun. It’s a semiautomatic. That’s how they work.” He shook his head at her and she was starting to get embarrassed. He put his hands back on her shoulders and said, “Guns are loud, Jujyfruit. There’s gun powder in the bullet. When it’s fired, there is a small explosion, for lack of a better explanation, that pushes the projectile through the muzzle of the gun and through the air to your target. In an emergency situation, if you don’t hear a loud bang, that’s when you’re in real trouble. Understand?”

She took a deep breath and nodded her head. She really didn’t understand, but she didn’t want to disappoint him either by being a baby. He stood up and gave her shoulders a small rub again then turned and reeled in the target. She watched as a grin split his face.

What now?

“You hit the zombie in the chest. Is this where you were aiming?” He pointed to a burned hole in the paper. She looked at the picture. No, she had been aiming a lot higher, but it looked to be in the middle of the body.

That had to be good, right?

“Not exactly there, more like here,” she pointed.

“Damn, Jujyfruit. For your first time that’s not too shabby. Let me load you up again, ok?” His face was so hopeful that she wouldn’t deny him his efforts to teach her. She put her fears aside and nodded.

Over the next thirty minutes she fired that broken gun over and over, aiming at the zombie’s chest. He had holes all over him and Julie had hot brass casings in her bra. Her arms were tired and her hand was killing her. Her head hurt so bad that it had practically gone numb.

But Jason’s excitement was incentive enough to stay a little longer. He showed her how to put the bullets in the cartridge thingy, which she now knew was a clip, and how to shove it hard into the stalk, and then to chamber a round. He talked about something called slide bite, so she was careful where she placed her hands and thumbs when firing the weapon.

He hadn’t fired a single round. He stayed with her, showing her how to guess how far away something was and how to aim better. This was the first time she had ever had this much one-on-one time with him, other than when he was helping her in her truck or protecting her from imminent danger. She really liked how he didn’t get upset or annoyed when she didn’t understand something or when she didn’t follow his directions exactly as he told her. He was patient with her and she felt more confident than she had in a long time.

She realized something in those moments while they were checking out of the range. She really liked Jason King.

CHAPTER 11

PREPPING

She was animated in her storytelling; beautiful, smart and endearing. Her excitement about her range experience made him fall in love with her all over again.

Jason listened to Julie talk on their way home. He thought he could spend every waking moment with this sweet woman and never get tired of her. He’d been a victim of love-at-first-site the instant Josh had introduced her to him; but this was the first time he had the chance to spend quality time with her. Billy had swept her up in the blink of an eye and, even though he couldn’t stand the douche bag, he respected the fact that she belonged to someone else. Jason didn’t poach. Period.

Over time, Jason had gotten the reputation as a ladies man because he didn’t date in the traditional sense. Why bother, when the woman you loved was in a relationship with someone else? Dating was basically the means to which a man tried out a woman to see if she was the one he would spend the rest of his life with and have his children; someone to who could be his wife. Since the “one” woman for him was already taken, he didn’t see the point in dating. When he needed the comfort of a woman, he had no problem finding one. In the morning (if he stayed that long) it was always adios muchacha.

He had female friends, like Lauren, but other than that he didn’t spend much time conversing with women. Listening to Julie talk was a joy that he had missed out on; or maybe it was just her. He didn’t know but he wasn’t willing to give it up now that she was talking to him.

“Next time we do this can I try a revolver? They don’t kick the casings out when you pull the trigger, right?”

“Next time? Does that mean you want to go on another date with me?” He looked at her shocked face and grinned. He may not have meant to say the d-word, but her reaction was completely worth it. “Don’t worry, Jujyfruit. I won’t hold you to it. And yes, you can try my revolver. It’s bigger than the gun you were shooting today but I’d like to see how you would handle a bigger caliber.”

She was quiet for a minute. Softly, he heard, “Jason, thank you for today, for not laughing at me. I really appreciate that you’re taking the time to show me this stuff.”

He nodded while he drove, too moved to speak. Every time she began to soften towards him his brain slowed down to a crawl. He was used to her animosity but delighted with this sweetness. She was like a timid rabbit that wanted to be loved and cared for.

Desperate not to scare her off, he changed the subject. “What are we preparing for breakfast and lunch tomorrow?”

Smiling, she said, “We’ll bake muffins and cookies today. It will be easy. I’ll let you put the granola in the cups for single serving cereal, too.”

She went from smiling to an instantly startled expression. She was staring at something on the side of the road to his left. At first he didn’t recognize the man standing on the sidewalk. When it hit him who it was, he almost drove off the road.

Billy
.

He jerked his attention back to Julie. “Are you alright?” Her eyes were as round as saucers, her complexion gone white. She was holding one hand to her forehead and the other on her stomach. Concerned, he began to pull over but she stopped him.

“I’m fine. Can you just take me home?” Jason thought she looked like she would break… or puke. He wasn’t sure which and he didn’t want her to do either, but especially he didn’t want her to puke in his truck.

“That’s where we were headed anyway, babe. I think I might need a drink myself.”

She didn’t respond. She seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. Damn it, he wouldn’t let that son of a bitch take her away from him again. She had been opening up to him and now that he had spent time with her he wasn’t letting go. Oh no, he planned on getting as close as he possibly could.

Jason’s cell rang just as they walked into Julie’s front door. He looked at his caller I.D. before answering.

“What’s up, Josh?”

“Guess who’s back in town.”

“Billy. We saw him on the street. Where did you see him?”

Julie looked at him when he said Billy’s name. He shook his head and motioned for her to continue into the house. Following her into the kitchen, he listened to Josh on the phone.

“I got a call from Charlie. He was pretty upset. Wanted to make sure that Billy didn’t go to Julie’s. He doesn’t want him in his house.”

“Have you called Jarod yet? He’ll want to reopen the investigation.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right. I need to call Dad too. What are your plans for tonight? Do you need me for anything?”

Jason pondered that for a second. “Nah, enjoy your evening. Julie has enlisted me as a sous chef and Charlie should be home any minute so I’ve got this handled. I’ll see you in the morning if I don’t hear from you later tonight.”

“You got it, bro.” Josh clicked off as Jason walked into the kitchen where Julie was prepping to bake. There was a mountain of baking supplies spread across her small kitchen.

Holy shit! How much are we making?

“Do you mind if I turn on the news?”

Julie shrugged her shoulders, clearly indicating that she didn’t care. Frowning, he grabbed the remote. He clicked on his favorite local channel and walked back into the kitchen. Julie had laid out an assembly line of sorts for him to put together; it was the hot cereal detail. She explained how she wanted it done then walked him through the first couple of bowls. She must have been satisfied with his work, because she turned to her big KitchenAid and began making the batter for her muffins after the second bowl.