Spark

by J Marie

  I reminded him that he might be the dealer holding all of the cards, but I was not a

  normal player—even the dealer could get served every once in a while.

  I’d managed to catch a small glimpse of Camaro every now and then as she

  remained fast asleep in her crate. I had no idea how she’d slept through all the

  noise, but she had. And thank God for that. A whining puppy would have ruined it.

  I fell asleep on Darren’s chest that night far more satisfied than I had ever been,

  especially because five minutes after I finished fucking his brains out, he fell asleep

  while still buried deep inside me. I had no choice but to lay there until he eventually

  rolled over to pull me on top of him. After exhausting myself as Darren’s Christmas

  present, I snuggled deeper into his side, wrapping my arm around his torso until I

  melted enough to pass right the eff out.

  37

  DEALS

  I felt warm, warmer than I’d ever felt before. And I knew exactly where that

  warmth was coming from. I opened my eyes to find Jaden’s sleeping form draped

  across my chest. My nose was resting against her hair, allowing me to inhale the

  soft floral scent I loved so much. She felt so good against me, so perfect, like a

  puzzle piece that was always supposed to be there. And she was one hell of a puzzle.

  Last night had been a complete surprise, and I wasn’t one for those. I honestly

  didn’t know what was more surprising—the fact that Jaden had taken control or

  the fact that I had let her. In truth, I was curious to see what she’d do. Booze always

  seemed to be Jaden’s liquid courage, though it certainly had its backlashes when it

  disintegrated the filter in her mouth. But her smart mouth was worth the bridge we

  crossed last night.

  Jaden had opened up far more than anticipated. It was clear she was made for

  leadership roles, which made it more evident as to why she wasn’t very good at

  doing what she was told. She liked to be in charge, and fuck if she wasn’t good at it.

  I liked that she could stand up to me, but there were still times when she needed to

  remember her place. And the bedroom was likely the only place I’d allow such

  deviation.

  Jaden stirred in her sleep, sucking in a breath before snuggling deeper into me.

  I’d never seen something that could be so adorable, fierce, and sexy all in the same

  package. She was everything I wanted and more, and she was finally coming

  around. Getting her to admit her desire had been a struggle, but now that she

  accepted it, we were one step closer to the emotional desire. In time, it would come;

  I just needed to be patient.

  I laid there with Jaden for another half hour just stroking her skin and savoring

  the softness of her body, but seven a.m. was quickly approaching and, like always, I

  had shit to take care of. Carefully easing myself out from under Jaden, I pulled the

  covers back over her shoulders and watched her ease onto my pillow. Once her

  breathing evened, I changed into my workout gear, grabbed my phone, and headed

  down to the gym.

  Scott was already there, curling weights in front of the mirror. I headed over to

  the end of the room and joined him. We lifted weights together for about an hour

  and sparred for another hour in the cage. Scott was the best training partner out

  there; he was the only one who could provide a challenge for me in one-on-one

  combat. He was the one responsible for training all of our onsite security and hiring

  trainers for those offsite. We didn’t just have guards in our organization; we had

  soldiers, a necessary requirement for a member of the Triguard. We didn’t fuck

  around with anything. Everyone was armed and trained, no matter who they were.

  Even my household staff had training.

  When Scott and I finished in the gym, we had contracts to review for a new

  business proposition in Chicago. An associate wanted to overtake a failing hotel on

  the main strip so he could better launder his drug trafficking finances through it.

  He wanted me to go in on it because he knew I had the connections to legitimize it.

  And I did. I could actually use my own hotel down there instead of the apartment I

  rarely used. At least this way, I’d make money by having a residence there.

  When we were finished, I handed Scott the completed paperwork to send off and

  stood up to stretch.

  “Make sure the guns are ready. I’m going for a shower,” I said before heading for

  the door.

  “Half hour,” Scott said with a nod.

  I bypassed him and went straight to my room. Jaden should be up by now. I was

  letting her sleep in for the holidays to give her another reason to appreciate them,

  but when I got back to my room, all I heard was yelling.

  “I just want to take her outside for a fucking second so she can go to the

  bathroom!”

  “And I told you, you’ll have to wait!”

  “Listen here, you stupid motherfu—”

  “Hey!” I shouted entering the room, cutting Jaden off midsentence. She was red

  in the face as she stood between Romero and Alex, her arms crossed over her chest.

  “The fuck is going on?” I was looking directly at Jaden, so she’d know my question

  was directed at her.

  Jaden took a big breath and released it as she tried to calm herself. “I just want

  to take Camaro out on the balcony for a quick second so she can go to the

  bathroom. But apparently, I can’t step foot out of this room without your

  permission! I’m sick of this!”

  I looked over at Romero and Alex, who also seemed a little frustrated by the

  situation. “Out,” I ordered, nodding toward the door.

  “Yes, sir,” they said in unison and left, closing the door behind them. Jaden

  immediately huffed in irritation and walked over to the window, turning her back

  to me. I looked over at Camaro who was sitting in her bed, chewing on a rope toy.

  “Feisty this morning, aren’t we?” I said as I stalked toward her.

  “Don’t undermine me, Darren. I effing hate that.”

  At least she was substituting her cuss words, but I wouldn’t tolerate that kind of

  behavior.

  “You know better than to argue with them like that.” My chest was almost

  pressing into her shoulders as she continued to brood. It was cute, but that didn’t

  mean she was getting a free pass.

  “Was my request really so out of line? I was just going to go out on the damn

  balcony.”

  Sighing deeply, I placed my hands on her hips and pulled her to me, keeping her

  back tight against my pecs. “Their job is to watch over you, and your job is to let

  them. They will not compromise my orders to make you happy. It’s for your own

  good.”

  “I don’t see why it matters. You have a tracker on my collar. There’s no point in

  running again, so why the constant shadows?”

  “That collar obviously didn’t stop you last time. I told you things were going to

  get worse. You have no one to blame for this but yourself.”

  She was quiet for a moment before releasing a long, slow breath. She knew this

  was the consequence for escaping me, and she needed to accept that.

  “For how long?”

  I couldn’t help but tighten my grip on her. “For as long as I see fit,
” I said,

  bending down to kiss her neck. She smelled so damn good.

  I could feel her getting angrier by the second, the heat rising from her skin as

  she continued to brood like it would do her any good. I roughly turned her in my

  arms to face me, holding onto her upper arms to keep her in place. The glare she

  sported only made me smile. “Now, if you want to go outside, you’ll have to ask me

  nicely. I may have treated you a lot this week, but that doesn’t mean my rules are

  suddenly forgotten.”

  She huffed again, releasing the breath through her nose while her mouth

  formed a tight little line. “Can I please take Camaro outside again?” she asked,

  trying to sound as nice as she possibly could.

  Leaning down, I kissed her on the side of her head, satisfied with her plea.

  “After lunch, when you’ve calmed down. You’ll stay here until then, understand?”

  I could see the strain in her jaw from my response. She was biting her tongue

  again.

  “Yes, Darren,” she finally answered.

  “Good girl,” I said, kissing her again, and headed into the bathroom for a

  shower.

  When I came back out ten minutes later, she was sitting in the reading nook, her

  headphones in her ears as she stared out the window. Camaro was lying next to her,

  curled up on her side as Jaden petted her small head. At least, she was quiet for

  once.

  I changed into a sweater and jeans and laced up my boots before striding over to

  her. Yanking out one of her headphones, Jaden jerked to the side at my interruption

  but yielded quickly to my advance. I kissed her on the mouth with enough force to

  push her back before standing back to my full height.

  “You’re not to go beyond the trees. No more arguing with your guards. I’ll see

  you at dinner.”

  And with that, I left her there and walked out of the room, catching Romero and

  Alex just outside the door.

  “She can leave the room after she’s had her lunch and only if she eats it all. If

  she goes outside, she stays within the trees.”

  “Yes, sir,” they said, and I continued on my way to find Scott.

  I found him sitting at the conference table in my office, loading the two

  Remington 700 VTRs and ammunition into a black duffle bag.

  “What’s your quota?” Scott asked as he loaded the last of the ammunition.

  “Three or four at the most,” I replied. “Fish and Game said they’ve spotted four

  in town in the last two weeks. I don’t want them coming near the property.”

  “We could just shoot them on sight,” Scott offered.

  I smiled. “Now, where’s the fun in that?”

  The Department of Natural Resources of Anchorage had officially extended the

  open season on black bear hunting due to the sudden rise in population, and I

  intended to solve their problem. I didn’t want to risk the bears coming too close to

  the property and becoming a danger to Jaden. No doubt, she’d find them

  fascinating and try to get a better look or protect them while they tried to maul her

  to death. I wasn’t having that shit, so I planned to take care of it myself. Plus, I

  enjoyed a good hunt every now and then.

  “All set,” Scott said as he zipped up the bag and grabbed his black winter coat

  from his chair. I grabbed the special tactical gear I kept in my office for hunts like

  this, grabbed the duffel, and headed out with Scott into the wilderness.

  38

  IDIOT

  I couldn’t believe this bullshit. All I wanted to do was take Camaro out on the

  snow-covered balcony so she could go to the bathroom, but no, I had to be stuck

  here, cleaning up her puppy pads like it was my most favorite thing to do. The

  second I stepped through the door to the balcony, those two airheads came barging

  in, barking at me to back away from the door.

  I’d thought for a second there might be an actual threat, but when they asked

  why I’d opened the door and I answered them, that was when all hell broke loose. I

  was ready to kick Romero in the teeth for how stupid I thought his interpretation of

  Darren’s rules was, but that would have only landed me in more trouble. I was

  grateful Darren didn’t at least undermine me in front of them; that would have

  been too embarrassing. But the fact that I was being forced to stay here until my

  lunch before I could go out confirmed who had won that little battle. And that, in

  and of itself, was fucking embarrassing. I hated being treated like a child, and the

  more freedom I got, the harder it was to deal with when it was taken away.

  Staring at the hands of my new Rolex, I watched the time go by slower than ever.

  The longer I watched the hands, the more pissed off I became. If Alex and Romero

  hadn’t barged in, I’d be outside already, doing what I wanted to do. Didn’t they

  know I could fuck their world up? I was not someone they wanted on their bad side

  because I could make their lives hell if I wanted to.

  And fuck them. I would.

  Until then, I decided to get a little exercise and pulled out the hacky sack Scott

  had gotten me for Christmas. I bet the asshole didn’t even know I knew what the

  damn thing was in the first place. I plugged in my iPod, turned on some old-school

  Nelly, and stood in the middle of the room. I dropped the sack to my ankle and

  immediately started kicking it with the side of my foot, watching it bounce eye level

  in the air. Back and forth from one foot to the next, I kicked the hacky sack for what

  felt like hours. It was honestly a fun little game that kept my foot-eye coordination

  and reflexes intact. I could kick it over my shoulder then back over with the ball of

  my foot, stall it on my chest, bounce it on my knee, switch feet midair, even

  scorpion kick the damn thing and have it land on the top of my foot.

  Camaro was so engaged; she kept barking and jumping up to catch the sack. I

  knew if it landed in her mouth, she’d rip it to shreds, so I played Keep-Away for a

  while. She was fun to play with, and she made the game far more challenging with

  her running around.

  Some time later, my lunch finally came. Romero held the silver tray in his hands

  as he walked around me still hacking the sack and set the tray on the table. I

  ignored him as he regarded me still playing and stalled the sack at the top of my

  chest.

  “Well, look at you. You can balance a sack on your tits. That’s adorable,” he

  commented.

  “Oh, fuck off, Romero,” I said, my eyes watching the sack as I pushed my chest

  forward and kicked it again as it fell toward my foot. I was still pissed at him.

  I could feel him walking toward the door, but as he came up next to me, just

  when I was about to kick the sack midair, he swatted it right out of my path,

  knocking it to the ground. And that was when I did the smart thing, rechambered

  my leg, and side kicked him right in the ribs and knocked him on his ass to the

  floor. Romero fell with a loud thud, his face shocked and confused as his hand

  wrapped around his side.

  “What the fuck!” he shouted from the floor.

  “That’s what you get for being an asshole all the time!” I shouted.

  “How the fuck?” he whispered under his breath as he stared up at me.

 
I shrugged. “What’s the matter? Didn’t expect that from a pipsqueak shortcake

  like me?”

  Romero stood, his hand still clutching his side as he glared at me.

  “I’ll have your outdoor privileges removed,” he threatened, his finger pointing

  at me.

  I shook my head at him. “Try it, and I’ll have your breathing privileges removed.

  Go ahead and tell Darren you let me get the drop on you … literally.” I smirked.

  He snickered, shaking his head and stalked forward toward the door, opening it

  just enough for him to step through.

  “Enjoy the rest of your afternoon. I understand staring out the window is a

  pastime of yours.” And then he slammed the door shut behind him.

  Motherfucker!!!

  I was not spending the rest of the day locked in this room because of that

  asshole. He wanted to play games with me? Well, game on, motherfucker.

  He was fucking dead.

  I charged for the closet to change my clothes and placed my coat, hat, gloves,

  and Camaro’s little coat in a duffel bag and headed into the bathroom, leaving the

  bag on the counter. Heading back into the bedroom, I calmly ate my lunch,

  finishing about ninety percent of it and calling it a good effort. Walking back into

  the bathroom with Camaro in tow, I closed the door and turned on the faucet to the

  bathtub and began putting on Camaro’s coat while it filled.

  Once the tub was full, I turned off the faucet and put on my coat, hat, and gloves.

  Grabbing Camaro, I walked over to the window that was wide enough to fit me,

  picked Camaro up and climbed out the window, landing on the soft padding of the

  snow. Luckily, no one was around as I placed Camaro on the ground and attached

  her leash.

  Strolling off toward the trees, I wanted to put as much distance between me and

  that house as possible. I’d probably get in trouble for sneaking off, but I had a

  feeling those idiots would have it worse, so that made it worth it. Darren said I

  could go outside after I finished my lunch, and I did that. So as far as I was

  concerned, I had Darren’s permission to go outside. My guards didn’t trump him,

  and it wasn’t fair that they thought they could take away something Darren had

  given me. So fuck them. I wanted them as dead as my freedom was. Besides, it

  seemed like Darren was trying to sweeten me over a bit, considering this whole