Spark

by J Marie

  Darren sighed in annoyance again as he brought his fingertips to his temples

  and rubbed in circles. “You’re frustrating, you know that? You wanted to continue

  training—I allowed it. You longed to see snow for Christmas—I took you to Alaska.

  You needed companionship—I got you a dog. Some might see that as being

  ungrateful.”

  I clenched my fists so hard I thought my knuckles were going to burst through

  my skin.

  I let out a long, slow breath to keep myself from lashing out at him because I

  knew exactly where that would land me if I did—right over his knee.

  “And you say I’m frustrating,” I replied cautiously.

  “You need to learn to be happy with what you have, Jaden. Others do not have it

  as easy as you do.”

  “Oh, I have it easy, do I?”

  “Extremely. You should be thankful I allow you to even sit on the fucking

  furniture.”

  That had me bursting up from my seat in absolute rage. Darren remained

  unfazed as I scowled down at him, my fists tightening at my sides. Eventually, I

  turned away to begin pacing in front of him across the patio, his eyes following my

  every move.

  “You said if I wanted something all I had to do was ask,” I seethed as my eyes

  followed my path.

  “Yes. I said you could ask. I did not say you would always receive.”

  I blew a loud, angry breath from my mouth. Of course, he would twist his own

  words.

  “You said I would be happy.”

  “And the conditions of your happiness are what?”

  I scoffed. “Your happiness is a one-way street. That’s hardly fair.”

  “And what have I repeatedly told you about fair?”

  “Stop making me answer my own questions!” I snapped, stopping mid-stride to

  glare at him. Darren was not impressed.

  “Come here,” he ordered sternly, his fingers pointing at his lap.

  I dug my heels into the ground and pointed my finger at him. “Nuh-uh. No way!

  You are not going to punish me for being honest with you. You asked me a question,

  and I told you the truth!”

  “There is a difference between being honest and being disrespectful. You need

  to learn this. Now, get your little disobedient ass over here now.”

  I didn’t move, unable to cope with the fact that I had once again let my anger get

  the best of me.

  “Jaden, if I have to get out of this chair to come and get you, you are going to be

  very, very sorry.”

  “Why can’t you just listen to me for once!?” I shouted at him, feeling my resolve

  slipping. “You never care about how I feel or what I need! It’s only ever about you!”

  “And you think this is the way to get me to listen to you?”

  “You don’t seem to respond to anything else I do! It doesn’t matter if I’m good

  or bad, I NEVER get what I want! I'm just stuck here waiting for you to make the

  next decision over my life, and it’s bullshit!”

  “Get. Over. Here. Now,” he demanded, his voice sharp and dangerous.

  “I am not a fucking child, Darren,” I snarled.

  Darren rose from his seat, and I felt my heart clench. “But you certainly love

  acting like one,” he growled and then he was on me.

  I moved back and dodged his grip, avoiding his advances as best I could. We

  bantered back and forth several times, my strikes and kicks blocked by his long

  arms while I countered his attacks. Even though I was much stronger than before, I

  still could not best Darren. He’d only been playing with me. He liked it when I

  fought him, and I had to admit, I was in the mood for another fight.

  I eventually felt the side of my face slam into the glass table, Darren’s large

  hand pressing into the back of my neck as he held me down.

  “You’ve gotten better,” he commented, his approval evident. I gritted my teeth.

  I had nothing to say to him. “I do miss these little rounds between us.”

  I could feel his hand lifting up the back of my skirt to expose my bare ass,

  followed by the first of many very hard strikes.

  “Since we’re finally getting a little honesty,” he said, gripping my ass cheeks too

  tightly for comfort. “let’s purge the inevitable. What did Dominic’s date tell you at

  the baby shower?”

  I felt fear instantly solidify in my gut. No. No, not this.

  “What are you talking about?” I tested. He responded with the hardest slap

  against my ass yet, making me groan as I ground my teeth together, pain

  electrifying my entire backside.

  “Think carefully before you lie to me, princess,” he threatened, his tone

  accusing and dark. It made my heart burst into overdrive.

  “I was just being polite, Darren. She didn’t seem to know anyone. Same as me.”

  My voice was not convincing. It held too much terror and insecurities.

  “So that explains why you tried to refrain from eye contact with each other? Why

  you kept your lips still and your voices quiet so no one could hear you?”

  Goddamn him. He noticed way too much.

  “What sort of information did she tell you?”

  Ah, fuck! And here comes the official backfire.

  I shook my head and tried to play it off, ignoring the pain still flaring in my ass.

  “Just that she was from Las Vegas and keeping Dominic company. Nothing of

  great significance. Our conversation was interrupted before I even got her name.”

  I was then instantly flipped over on to my back, and my throat caught in the

  tight grip of Darren’s hand. His gaze was menacing, his jaw clenched, and his eyes

  dark with fury. I thought my heart was going to stop just so it wouldn’t be noticed

  by him. But of course, as usual, my pussy was begging to be noticed.

  “Lie to me again, Jaden.” His voice was so deep I almost didn’t recognize it. I felt

  myself trembling under him as his grip slowly began to tighten, my hands reaching

  around the wrist that held me of their own volition. “What else did she say?”

  Ah, fuck. I didn’t want to give the poor girl away, giving up information she

  probably shouldn’t have been delivering. I wondered if it was better to lie and suffer

  Darren’s consequences than throw her under the bus. At least I knew I would live

  through mine. But the longer I thought about it, the tighter Darren’s grip became.

  “She asked me if I was with you,” I croaked out against the pressure. “She knew

  who you were.”

  “And what did you tell her?” he asked, his face now passive, but the death in his

  eyes remained. I was seriously struggling for breath now as tears began to well at

  the corners of my eyes.

  “I said ‘yes.’”

  His grip loosened slightly. “What else?”

  I stole a quick gasp of breath before answering. “She was sold the same way I

  was.”

  He turned his head and scowled. He wanted more info than that. His grip

  tightened again when I hesitated, causing a new gush of heat to pool between my

  legs.

  “She works at the underground clubs of Vegas. She does what she’s told,” I

  gasped out.

  “Evidently not,” he replied.

  “That’s all,” I bit out quickly. I could feel all the blood rushing in my face, my

  lungs bursting with need. “Please, Darren.”

  “Ple
ase, what?” he asked with a sneer.

  “Don’t. Hurt. Her.” Each word was a breathless struggle.

  He tilted his head to the side and smirked, squeezing even harder and sending

  little electric jolts to my clit.

  “I plan to do the exact opposite of that.”

  I felt myself crumble inside. Not a lot of people know what it’s like to be choked,

  but it’s far less than pleasant. The eyes water, pressure builds in the head, eyes,

  and chest, and awful gurgling sounds croak from your mouth. I didn’t know what

  suddenly came over me, but the urge to fight returned ten-fold. I wasn’t going to

  lay there and let him choke me out anymore. Not when I could still do something

  about it.

  I lifted my legs faster than I thought possible, the top of my left foot instantly

  pressing into the back of Darren’s neck, while the bottom of my right foot pressed

  into the front of his neck, effectively choking him with my feet.

  He seemed momentarily surprised at first, a flicker of pride flashing across his

  face, but it was gone in an instant as he found his airways quickly compromised. I

  expected harsh retribution from him, but instead, he just chuckled and reached

  between my legs. Shock overcame me as he easily bypassed the G-string thong and

  plunged his two fingers into my wet pussy.

  I gasped so loud it could have easily been mistaken as a scream. He stroked me

  exactly the way my pussy craved it, knowing full well how badly my body wanted it.

  I fought to contain the pressure at his throat, fighting the tremors in my legs as he

  massaged every waking inch of my core, all the while strengthening the grip

  around my throat to the point where my oxygen supply wasn’t just lacking, it was

  completely cut off.

  My hands went for his thumb, the one pressing against the side of my neck,

  hoping to pull it back and out of its locked place, but my hands wouldn’t seem to

  work. I couldn’t focus on anything aside from what he was doing to my very eager,

  very greedy, and very moronic pussy. My legs were turning into jelly as they held

  him in place. My grip loosened, and even though I had him in a very decent choke,

  he was still able to withstand it as if he could do it all day. I hated him.

  And before I knew it, I was fucking coming and losing control of everything. My

  orgasm lasted three seconds before my legs finally gave out, giving Darren the

  opportunity to escape my choke and flip me on to my stomach. He was inside me

  before my first breath.

  I sucked in air like a fucking vacuum, unable to get enough. Darren pounding

  into me from behind only slightly distracted me. I bit down on my lip until I tasted

  blood, doing everything I could to keep my moans to myself, but Darren wasn’t

  having any of that. He gripped my hair and pulled my head back off the table.

  “I don’t know what’s suddenly gotten into you, but you should know better than

  this,” he said, his voice calm and terrifying. “I told you a long time ago I was done

  concerning myself with every one of your petty little needs. You haven’t earned my

  respect for those just yet, so keep that in mind the next time you want to make an

  argument about feelings and pointless friendships. I’ve sheltered you, fed you,

  protected and provided for you, yet you still have the nerve to expect more from me

  like some entitled little brat.”

  I struggled against the glass of the table, wanting to push myself up, but Darren

  wasn’t letting me. His hand struck my ass so hard I couldn’t help but tense up.

  Each strike was excruciating, burning my skin while my nails clawed the table. I

  couldn’t form words, couldn’t summon an ounce of physical control over my body,

  since my only capability was getting fucked. And I hated how goddamn good it felt.

  “You’re fucking soaked, Jaden. And it’s all for me,” he drawled in my ear.

  Darren fucked me in earnest, hard and punishing, just the way I liked it. I

  moaned as my nails grated against the glass table, my lungs gasping for air in the

  awkward position he had me.

  “You’re mine, little girl. Every privilege I give you is a gift, not a right. And it can

  all be easily taken away. You need to remember that. Do you understand me?”

  I was going to come. I was going to fucking come all over again, right there, just

  like that.

  “Oh, fuck, yes!” I moaned in complete ecstasy as my orgasm lit my body on fire.

  “Fuck,” Darren groaned, his thrusts becoming shorter and harder as he gripped

  my hips and emptied himself into me.

  Unable to hold myself up, I collapsed onto the table, my heavy breath fogging up

  the glass. Before I had a chance to calm down from the high, Darren took my hips

  and flipped me over on to my back. He then yanked the roots of my hair, lifting my

  head up.

  “The next time you feel the need to lie to me or complain to me about what you

  don’t have or what you think you need, I’ll remind you of why you should be

  grateful for what it is you do have. Got it?”

  “Yes, Darren,” I whispered, my mouth now dryer than a desert.

  “There are plenty of other things I could do to keep you easily preoccupied. One

  of them would only take about eight months,” he sneered.

  My heart instantly slammed into my stomach. No. No, no, no …

  I could not handle the idea of being forced to have his fucking kids. Not this

  early in the game. Not when I still had time to destroy him before he officially

  destroyed me.

  My eyes went wide, pleading with him to withdraw his threat, my head daring to

  shake slightly from side to side. He caught my plea.

  “Then be a good girl and do as I say,” he said as he pulled back and righted

  himself. “Now, I have a business trip tonight. I’ll be gone for about three days.

  You’re to remain inside until I return. Maybe that will teach you some appreciation

  for my generosity.”

  Darren gripped my hair again and pulled me away from the table to stand.

  “Now, kiss me goodbye properly,” he ordered. And I did, just the way I was

  supposed to, loving and hating the feel of his lips against mine, and somehow still

  wanting more. When he was done, my lips were swollen, and my breath officially

  gone. “Be a good girl while I’m gone,” he said, kissed my temple, and then left.

  49

  GRATEFUL

  The three days Darren was gone were spent in more boredom than I thought

  possible. Not being able to go outside was the worst, especially since the sun was

  out in full blaze every day. I hadn’t thought about how much it would suck for

  Camaro too since she was now officially trapped in here with me. At least Owen was

  nice enough to take her outside so she could go to the bathroom since I wasn’t

  allowed to take her out.

  I was still kicking myself for that argument. I could have approached it at least

  ten ways better, but instead, I let my anger get the best of me, and I lashed out at

  him. I needed to regain my self-control, and this was certainly a harsh lesson to

  learn that. I didn’t even know what to expect from him, what solution he was going

  to provide me for my need to communicate with others, but obviously, I had gotten

  my answer.

  His threat to impregnate
me tripled my anxiety for days. I didn’t know how I

  would be able to escape him while carrying his child. What would be worse was

  would I be able to leave that child behind if it came to that? I really didn’t want to

  be forced into a position where I would have to choose between my life or the life of

  my child. I wanted my children to grow up in a loving and happy family, not one

  built on crime and violence. I would not see my children grow up the way Darren’s

  mother had.

  Even when Darren did come back, I avoided him like the plague, and he still

  refused to let me out of the house. Bastard. I couldn’t even sit on my balcony to feel

  the wind on my face. I was going stir-crazy in that house, but I tried to keep it to

  myself as best I could.

  “Stop sulking,” Darren had said to me as I rolled over in his bed, waiting for

  sleep to claim me.

  “I am not sulking,” I replied into the pillow, wincing my eyes shut as I felt him

  move behind me.

  His big hand reached around my ribcage and pulled me back so I was lying face

  up, facing him right above me.

  “I know sulking when I see it, princess,” he commented.

  “You still haven’t let me out of the house.”

  “And whose fault is that?”

  Here we go again with answering my own questions.

  “Nobody but mine. I know,” I answered, sighing in defeat. “I just don’t know

  how to communicate with you anymore.”

  “You have to learn to let go of your anger and accept what is,” he said sincerely,

  like that was somehow the answer to all my problems. “That’s what gets you in

  trouble with me.”

  “So much easier said than done,” I replied, shaking my head.

  “Control is a difficult thing to master, especially when it goes against your basic

  instincts. But I have a feeling one day you will eventually learn to stop poking the

  bear.”

  “Yeah.” I sighed. I don’t know where I found it, but I suddenly found the courage

  to literally poke him in the chest. “But the problem is sometimes the bear likes to

  be poked.”

  Darren exhaled, his big chest rising and lowering as his fingers trailed through

  my hair in an almost soothing manner.

  “I enjoy the fight in you,” he said softly “Almost too much. But I also love it

  when you submit. You’ve officially created a new thrill for me, princess. I love to