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
