At Year's End (The 12 Olympians) Read Online Free Page A

before…” Elijah shrugged. “I’m just not strong enough.”
    “Well, you’re not puny. I can work with you if you want.”
    “Really? You’d do that?”
    “Sure,” Jaxon shrugged. “Why not?”
    “Um, okay.” Elijah turned to look up at the menu board. “What are you having?”
    “Probably garlic chicken. It’s my favorite.”
    Elijah turned slowly. “Are you serious?”
    “Of course.”
    “Next thing you’ll say is you have an unnatural obsession with bacon ,” Elijah blurted.
    Jaxon’s eyes widened. “How did you know?”
    Elijah’s jaw dropped.
    “You , too?” Jaxon laughed.
    Elijah snickered.
    “Come on, let’s get you fed. You look ready to drop.”
    They ordered and took a seat at a table. Elijah dug into his food and almost moaned. Even though it was food court food, it was really good. Jaxon seemed to like his just as much, shoveling it in as fast as he could with chopsticks. Elijah could never master them, but it looked so cool.
    “How do you do that?” Elijah motioned to the sticks.
    “You don’t know how?”
    Elijah shook his head.
    Jaxon grabbed a set from the tray and unwrapped them. He took Elijah’s hand. The warmth from Elijah’s hand traveled through his body, warming him instantly. Jaxon concentrated and helped Elijah hold the sticks properly.
    “There, now move the sticks back and forth, then try to pick up a piece of chicken.”
    Elijah held the sticks between his fingers and grabbed a piece of chicken. He almost had it to his lips before it slid out and landed back in his rice. Elijah pouted and was startled to hear a soft laugh from Jaxon.
    “Keep practicing. You’ll get it.”
    “Yeah, well I may starve to death before I get it.”
    “I would never let that happen.”
    Elijah locked eyes with Jaxon and licked his lips nervously. They’d gone out before, for ice cream once, and another time just for some soda, but now he was all alone with Jaxon Salvatore and he found he couldn’t speak properly. Elijah coughed slightly and lowered his eyes back to his plate, attempting to get another piece of chicken. This time he lowered his head and caught the chicken before it slid out.
    “So, I’ll just eat with a crick in my neck ,” he joked.
    “Don’t worry, you’ll eventually get it. ” Jaxon glanced over his shoulder. “How about ice cream?”
    “Okay, sure.”
    “Let me guess, waffle cone with rocky road ice cream?”
    Elijah pursed his lips. “There is nothing wrong with rocky road.”
    “God, that’s so boring,” Jaxon teased. “I’ll be right back.” Jaxon turned at the last second and leaned over Elijah. “I’ll be watching, okay? No one’s going to hurt you on my watch.”
    Elijah nodded. Jaxon turned back toward the ice cream shop and Elijah almost drooled over the man’s fine ass. Damn, but Jaxon Salvatore had it going on. He managed to slip some more food into his mouth before Jaxon came back with their ice cream. Elijah’s eyes widened at the banana split Jaxon carried in his hand. The thing was a massive mound of whipped cream, nuts and sprinkles.
    “Jesus! Where do you put all that?”
    Jaxon scooped some whipped cream off the top. He leaned over and flicked some of it on Elijah’s nose.
    “You know you want some ,” Jaxon whispered huskily.
    Elijah forced his mouth to stay closed. Holy shit . Yeah he wanted some, and not the ice cream. Why did it seem as if Jaxon was flirting with him? Was he? Elijah grabbed a napkin and wiped the whipped cream from his nose.
    “And you call me a kid,” he muttered.
    Jaxon grinned. “You’re not though, are you? It seems like you’ve had to grow up pretty fast.”
    Elijah nodded, licking his ice cream. “I had to learn to take care of myself at a very early age. I learned how to do my own laundry, cook my own meals and wake up on my own for school. Things have been much easier since camp, though. I made a lot of good friends and Skylar and Ryder are kind of like my big