Jezebel's Lion by Hazel Gower Read Free Book Online Page B

right, Travis,
but Brandon and I are going on a date. First we are going to dinner with his
and my parents, so we can all get to know each other.”
    “When I told you to look after her I only meant last
night,” Travis whispered and stared at Brandon. “She doesn’t need you anymore.
She has me … and she has Zeck.”
    Jess shot her gaze to Brandon. “Travis asked you to
look after me?”
    Brandon shrugged, and he glared at her friends. “I
would have looked after her whether you were there or not. Jezebel is my mate.
She’s important. I will always make sure she is safe, looked after, and happy.
She may not need me, but I need her.”
    They stared at each other in silence until her
parents came in. Her mother raised her eyebrow at Jess as she saw the
situation. Sighing, Jess knew this wasn’t going to get sorted out with Travis
and Zeck tonight. “Hi, Mom. Travis and Zeck were just
leaving.”
    They turned their gaze on her. Zeck nodded and
walked away. Travis followed and paused at the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow,
Jess.”
    “See you tomorrow.” As soon as they left, the
tension left the room, too, and Brandon stood and threaded his fingers through
hers.
    “Come on, Jezebel. We’ll meet your parents at the
restaurant.” Jess followed Brandon out to his car. She hoped things got easier.

Chapter
Four
     
    Dinner with their parents had gone surprisingly
well. Even her dad had been on his best behavior, not that she expected any
less from him. The Prides were a well-known family. They had money, influence,
and Jess’s dad said they had power. Jess had overheard her father say a couple
of times when her brothers had had Carl and Tyler over that he never understood
why the Prides lived so modestly when they had their hand in everything and had
so much wealth. Jess’s father was a lawyer and made a good living. He had made
partner a couple of years ago, and her mother had been a nurse for several
years before Jess was born.  
    Jess was the baby of the family, and with two older
brothers she was Daddy’s little girl. Jess knew that her father was struggling
with the situation.
    When the dinner had come to an end the Prides had
taken over and told Brandon and her to have fun at the movies and that they
looked forward to seeing her on Thursday night at family games night.
    Jess now stood in the cinema line with Brandon
looking at the options of what they could see. Brandon held her hand, and every
now and then his thumb rubbed over her skin.
    “What do you want to watch? I’m happy to see
whatever you want.”
    Jess looked up to see two action movies, one girlie
romance, a drama, and lastly her favorite, two horror
movies. Jess went to horror movies with Zeck and Travis. It was a thing they
did. “I’m easy, as long as it’s not the girlie movie. I’m not into those.”
    Brandon chuckled. “I’m not into those either. How
about we see one of the action ones? I haven’t seen either of them.”
    “Sure, sounds good. The one with the adventure in
I’ve heard is a great movie. I’ve read the book that goes with it. It’s the
first in a trilogy though. That won’t bother you, will it?” Jess got her money
out of her purse ready to pay.
    They were next up to get tickets. “No, it will be
perfect. That’s the one we’ll see.”   He
looked down at her and frowned. “What are doing? No way am I letting you pay.
This is a date. I’m paying.” He shoved her hand away from the ticket lady as
they came up to the booth and told the ticket woman the movie they’d chosen.
    Once they had tickets they walked hand in hand
towards the cinema. Jess enjoyed the feel of his touch, and for once in her
life she didn’t mind the attention she got for being with Brandon, and he was
getting attention. The females couldn’t seem to keep their eyes off him, and
even some males were eating him up. As they lined up Jess suppressed a groan as
Mac Fierce came up to them with a huge smirk on his face, and a pretty