Spark

by J Marie

  to see the actual fear in his eyes when he recognized what that bite mark truly

  meant. He’d almost lost me that day, and I could see how much that pained him. I

  tried to make him forget about it by focusing on other things. We would go for

  walks with Camaro, watch a movie in the home theater, hell, he even requested my

  assistance when tuning his Ferrari. That had been an interesting day. Only he could

  make a grease-stained t-shirt look sexy.

  Now that I had admitted my desires, I stopped bothering to hide my lust for him.

  I kicked my denial to the curb, and as soon as I did, I felt a million times better. I

  hated it, but Darren was right in one aspect. Letting go and accepting that had

  made my life a little easier, but luckily for me, the only thing I’d accepted was that

  my stupid vagina was blind, and there was no possible way of correcting her vision.

  Until recently, I’d made several decisions based on the fuck-it scale, and I did

  not intend to make myself feel guilty. It was a survival tactic. Nothing more.

  Nothing less. I still hated the fucker with a fiery passion and refused to forget all

  the bullshit he had put me through and all the people he had killed. It went away in

  Cell Block C for compartmentalization. But until the time was right, I would endure

  because Darren was right about one other thing. I was stronger than the others

  were.

  Pushing my vendetta aside, I allowed the contentment in my heart to settle. The

  new scars on my forearm from the wolf bite proved enough that I needed to quiet

  and just learn to live for a while. Darren had finally provided me with a fair

  distraction, one I still had a hard time accepting, but Camaro helped me forget. She

  was capable of forcing laughter from me, even when I didn’t feel like it.

  She’d bark at new people, scaring Anya and Irina when they came in for my bi-

  weekly waxing and nail session. When Camaro calmed down and let them pet her,

  they absolutely swooned over her, and it made me smile. They even painted her

  little nails a bright red color with doggy safe nail polish Anya happened to have in

  her bag for her own dogs. Darren said it looked ridiculous at first, but I got him to

  laugh when I told him to think of it as the blood of his enemies.

  On a Saturday morning, I had been playing with Camaro in the gardens, laughing

  as she chased butterflies and barked at the birds chirping in the birdbath. She still

  wasn’t very good at staying by my side, but she always came when called. Camaro

  was the only real light I had now, and I clung to her like black on a crow.

  Clive and Owen stood back about twenty feet behind, giving me the respectful

  distance I had requested from Darren. I’d only gotten it just a few days ago for good

  behavior, and I rewarded Darren well for giving in to my request, slowing

  conditioning him to want to please me as well. Those were the days when I could

  bring that man to his knees with pleasure so intense he’d have me for hours before

  his dick couldn’t take anymore.

  “Miss Jaden,” Owen called from behind me. I turned to give him my attention.

  “Mr. Davis would like you to be ready to leave in a half hour. Clothes have been laid

  out for you on your bed. Please go ready yourself.”

  I furrowed my brows in confusion. Leave? Did I hear him right?

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  “Mr. Davis will tell you when he arrives to collect you.”

  Collect me. There’s that object word again.

  I sighed in annoyance, reached down to pick up Camaro, and headed back inside

  and up to my room. I hated not knowing what was going on. It made my hair stand

  on end when more and more circumstances were taken out of my control. Darren

  probably wanted to surprise me again, but he should know by now that I fucking

  hated his surprises.

  When I got up to my bedroom, I placed Camaro in her bed next to mine and

  looked to find a very tight white mid-thigh length dress with a sweetheart neckline

  and bustier. A pair of strappy white heels was on the floor to match. Where the fuck

  was I going dressed like this?

  I quickly changed into the dress and heels, fixed my makeup, and brushed my

  tousled hair. I put on some of the new diamond jewelry Darren had bought me for

  Christmas and sprayed some light perfume before pacing the room for the next

  several minutes, my heart racing with anxiety.

  Where were we going? Why were we going? Who was going to be there? What

  would we be doing? The questions rolled in my mind like waves crashing against

  the inner walls of my head, searching for an answer. The last time I had been out of

  the house, I knew where we were going and why we were going, but having this

  suddenly dropped on me made me nervous. I didn’t like not knowing shit.

  A few moments later, Clive opened the door unannounced. “Miss Jaden,” he

  said, but then his eyes scanned over me, noticing my appearance and quickly

  approving. “Mr. Davis is downstairs waiting for you.”

  I nodded, grabbed my accenting gold clutch containing my nude lipstick and

  some mints, and headed out the door, unsure that I would even need any of that

  shit. Darren was waiting in the foyer, talking on his phone and slowly pacing back

  and forth in a light gray suit and white shirt with the top buttons undone. No tie.

  The clicking of my heels on the stairs announced my arrival, causing Darren’s eyes

  to immediately find mine. With each step I took, those dark blues of his ate me up

  inch by inch, clearly approving.

  “Yeah, we’ll see you when we get there,” he said into the phone and hung up.

  “Where are we going?” I asked, trying not to sound too snarky.

  Darren released a heavy breath through his nose as his eyes continued to travel

  over my body. His hands lifted to rub down my bare arms, creating goose bumps in

  their wake, but I welcomed the warmth and gentleness of his touch.

  “You’ll see when we get there,” he said softly. “Right now, I just want to enjoy

  the sight of you in white.”

  I blanched. I knew what kind of white he was referring to, and I didn’t want to

  think about that white ever, even though it was beyond the scope of my control.

  “Come on, let’s go,” he said and took my hand in his to pull me out the door and

  into the pretty idling Ferrari in the driveway. Clive and Owen got into another black

  BMW behind ours while Darren ushered me into the passenger seat of the Ferrari. It

  was the sleekest shit I had ever seen. Red racing seats hugged my ass perfectly, and

  the comfortable design made it feel like a damn recliner. Getting to work on this

  beast was definitely a highlight of the week, especially when I got to impress

  Darren by proving that I knew my way around an engine.

  I buckled my seat belt as Darren got into the driver’s seat and buckled himself

  in. He glanced at me quickly before putting the car in gear and taking off down the

  circle drive to the gate. Once we were on the open road, Darren really took off,

  obviously enjoying the capability of his car, especially since the tune-up. I couldn’t

  help but smile as we zoomed in and out of the traffic lanes, hugging the curves of

  the road and allowing the roar of the engine to vibrate through my skin.

  “You
’re smiling,” Darren commented with a smug grin.

  Dammit.

  “Would you like to know how to recreate it?”

  “Do tell,” he said, his eyes never leaving the road.

  “What are the chances you’d ever let me drive this?”

  He scoffed, as if the idea was ridiculous, but then he glanced at me with a hint of

  curious amusement behind his eyes.

  “Slim to none,” he finally answered.

  I anticipated that.

  “What if we played a game?” I asked, attempting to alleviate the stress of the

  impending evening. I had no idea where we were going, and I didn’t like that. I

  liked it even less that Darren was purposefully keeping it a mystery.

  “A game, huh,” he reiterated, his eyes becoming serious.

  “If I correctly guess where we’re going in ten questions or less, someday soon,

  within the next month, you have to let me drive this car.”

  Darren chuckled, as if I had no chance of succeeding.

  “And if you lose?”

  I shrugged. “Then I don’t get to drive.” Duh.

  Darren shook his head. “No. You’re asking me to sacrifice something for your

  benefit should you win. If I win, you will have to sacrifice something for my benefit

  as well. Not only will you have to sacrifice for your loss, but your winning guess

  must also include the reason for our attendance to this affair as well. Those are my

  terms if you want to play.”

  Motherfucker … this was my game!

  He spoke his words as if he were reciting a verbal contract, which I suppose in a

  way he was. He was a businessman, after all, and I could already see him turning

  the terms against me like the shark he was. It made me feel like I was losing

  already, but that didn’t mean I didn’t have the backbone to play.

  I folded my arms and sat back in my seat, crossing my legs as I tried to think of

  what the fuck else I could possibly sacrifice for him. This was supposed to be fun,

  and now there were stakes being laid out.

  “What do you want?”

  “Road head on the way back home without complaint,” he announced plainly

  then flashed me that wicked grin of his that made my stomach flip.

  I laughed, nearly rolling my eyes at his request. “And you’re confident you won’t

  accidentally run us off the road?”

  “Extremely,” he replied seriously.

  I watched him for a moment, noticing the aura of confidence he administered as

  he handled the car with such ease and skill. For its speed and capability, you really

  had to know what you were doing behind the wheel of a car like this. He made it

  look as easy as

  breathing. And I could impress him just the same if he would only give me the

  chance.

  “All right, deal,” I said smugly. I had this down.

  “Ask your questions.”

  “Well, based on my observations, you only seemed to have brought my personal

  guards along for the trip, so I’m going to assume we’re not going somewhere

  public, more likely private; otherwise, you’d have brought more backup.”

  The right corner of Darren’s mouth lifted. Bingo.

  “Correct,” he said with a nod.

  “That wasn’t technically a question, merely an observation, but thanks for

  confirming it.”

  He full-on smiled that time. “This should be amusing,” he said smugly, but I

  ignored him.

  “Since we are going with fewer guards, I think it’s also safe to assume we’re

  going somewhere where you trust either the host or the location. I’m willing to bet

  it’s either a close friend or family member, but I won’t ask until I’m ready.”

  Darren smiled again, obviously enjoying my assumptions.

  “I’m also going to assume that based on what you’ve chosen for my attire, I’d

  say we’re probably going somewhere nice where others will be dressed up, like a

  dinner party. But you’ve neglected to wear a tie, something I rarely see, so you must

  not feel the need to impress based on your appearance. We’ll likely be in trusted

  company who knows you, and you’re comfortable with.”

  This time Darren’s face remained that of stone.

  “And since my attire is a little sexy, I’m willing to bet other men will be there,

  and you’re looking to show me off like some kind of trophy.”

  Darren's eyes darkened as he glared through the windshield. Another bingo.

  “But it’s also early afternoon; a little early for a dinner party …” My thoughts

  drifted off as to what could possibly go on during the day to get a bunch of

  organized crime members together.

  “Okay, first question. Is it a friend?”

  “No,” Darren answered, maneuvering around a slower car in front of us.

  “So that means it’s family,” I confirmed with a nod.

  “Not necessarily,” he added. “It could also be a business associate.”

  “You don’t consider business associates friends?”

  “Of course, not. And that counts as a question.”

  Damn him!

  I glared at him. “You’re trying to make me second-guess myself and waste my

  questions. That won’t work.”

  He smiled again smugly. “It just did.”

  Damn him; a business associate was a logical option. Family or business

  associate? I had eight questions left, and I needed to make each one count.

  “I doubt you trust your business associates as much as you do your family,” I

  said agitatedly.

  Darren made no move to confirm or deny. Damn him.

  “Family,” I finally gritted out, waiting for him to confirm.

  He nodded. “Very good. Now, which family member?”

  I turned my eyes back to the road, considering my options. He only had two

  younger brothers that I knew of, and his parents were gone, but what about

  cousins? Uncles? Aunts?

  After a moment of consideration, I decided to go with the obvious.

  “Is it one of your brothers?” I asked, my voice almost hopeful.

  “Yes,” he replied. “But which one?”

  Fuck, six questions left. If I got this one wrong, I’d be down to five, and I needed

  to conserve them as best I could. I still needed to determine a location and reason

  for our attendance. Fuck, how had this backfired on me already? It was my idea!

  Okay, so who was more likely to host an event? The younger brother or middle

  brother? From what I could remember, the younger brother was younger than I was,

  while the middle was slightly older and married. But what if the younger brother

  was having a big stupid pool party or something? Couples tended to throw parties

  more often and the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.

  “We’re going to your middle brother’s house,” I said confidently, hoping like

  fuck I was right.

  “How do you know it’s not my middle brother’s in-law’s house?”

  My brows furrowed in frustration. “The simple fact that you are asking me that

  question tells me you are trying to lead me astray, and I do not appreciate your

  desperate and slimy tactics of diversion. Now, answer my question.”

  Darren chuckled again. “Your deductive reasoning is impressive.”

  “I was a law student at one point,” I mentioned sourly.

  Darren nodded, his demeanor almost proud. “You were correct in your

  questio
n.”

  Goddamn right.

  But five questions left. I had the who and the where, but now, I needed the why.

  “Will there be more than fifty people there?”

  “Yes.”

  Okay, that was kind of a lot of people. I supposed I should get the obvious

  question out of the way.

  “Is it just a simple get-together?”

  “No. It is not a simple get-together. You need to be more specific than that. You

  have three chances left.”

  “Fuck,” I whispered under my breath.

  “Watch it,” Darren warned, his grip tightening on the wheel.

  Okay, so everyone was gathering for a specific reason. What reason got people

  together? The holidays were over so maybe it was more personal?

  “Birthday?”

  “No.”

  Fuck, two.

  “I’m wearing white, so it’s obviously not a wedding. That is not a question!” I

  blurted quickly. Darren just laughed.

  “Retirement party?”

  “No. Last chance.”

  I groaned aloud now, and Darren laughed at my frustration. I had one question

  left, and it had to be my golden ticket to sitting behind the wheel of this beautiful

  beast.

  It couldn’t be a baby shower; men didn’t attend those and women didn’t wear

  white to bridal showers either, another event men didn’t normally attend. Maybe it

  was a man’s event? I was obviously there to look good, maybe even distracting? I

  had only one conclusion for that.

  “All right,” I said, blowing a strand of loose hair out of my face in exasperation.

  “How about a poker tournament?”

  “Is that your final question?” Darren asked.

  I huffed again, my arms folded over my chest as I glared at him. “Yes,” I bit out.

  “I’m really going to enjoy that mouth of yours on me later tonight,” he affirmed

  arrogantly.

  Son of a bitch!

  I groaned out loud, but Darren just laughed.

  “You played well, Jaden, but the odds were never in your favor.”

  “Why would you say that?”

  “Because I know how to tip the scale in my favor before you can even

  comprehend what you’re agreeing to. I am not easy to beat.”

  I scoffed, nudging further into my seat. “I could beat you at plenty of things.”

  “I doubt it.”

  I turned and scowled at him. “Don’t be so cocky. I have a feeling I’d have quite

  the advantage in a game of Limbo.”