Chapter Thirty
NewBoundaries
After runningupstairs to change into some workout clothes and wash my makeupoff, I practically skipped my happy ass all the way back to thepatio. I decided I wanted to go for a run on the beach. But when Icame back to the patio, there wasn’t just one guard standing there,there were three. They were big guys, too, not nearly as tall asDarren, but still much taller than I was. I eyed them carefully asI stepped around them, looking them up and down and noticingeverything I could about them. None of them even looked atme.
“Uh … I’m gonna gofor a run on the beach.” I pointed with my thumb over myshoulder.
One guard, the onein the middle, nodded slightly but still didn’t look at me. God,that wasn’t just annoying, it was plain fucking rude. I rolled myeyes at them, turned on my heels, and headed down to the shore asmy excitement quickly returned.
When I got to thesand, I took my Nikes off and left them on the grass as I walkedbarefoot to the water. A sense of freedom calmed me as I steppedinto the oncoming waves of the ocean, and it felt like bathwateragainst my skin. The perfect temperature.
I took one lastlook at the guards before sprinting off down the shore. I startedwith a slow, easy jog just to soak up the sun and breathe in thesalty air. I must have run up and down the shore for an hour,turning around every fifteen minutes. I was afraid I might leavethe sight of the guards and then I’d be introuble.
The sun wasblazing out, and eventually, sweat covered my body. I could’ve goneback inside and showered, but I wanted to do something fun instead.So I ran into the water and dived with my clothes on with not asingle care in the world. When I surfaced, I floated on my back fora while, just taking in the soft blue sky and watching the seagullsfly above me. At that moment, I forgot everything around me. Iforgot about Darren, about his rules, about his name on my skin,and the cuffs around my body. I forgot about the pain, the grief,and the vengeance and I just … drifted. It was everything I neededas the clarity I had longed for finally came to me. But it wasn’tmeant to last forever.
“Miss Jaden!” Iheard someone shout my name. I immediately rose up from the waterto address the voice, noticing it was a guard calling me from thebeach. “It’s time to come in for lunch!” hecalled.
Lunch? Fucklunch.
Except IpromisedDarrenIwould listen to the guards. I didn’t want to fuck this up, and Iwas actually a little hungry.
“Okay!” I shoutedback to him as I made my way toward the shore.
The guard stoodthere watching me and waited for me to walk to him. He had a largebeach towel in his hand, and he handed it to me when I reachedhim.
“Thank you,” Isaid, taking the towel and wrapping it around myself to dryoff.
I grabbed my shoesthat sat in the grass and the guard escorted me back to thetableonthe patio where mylunch was apparently waiting. I ate my lunch quietly, trying toignore the guards as they stood around, staring off into thedistance.
“So are you guys,like, my permanent outdoor babysitters or something?” I askedbetween bites. I probably shouldn’t have been talking to them, but… I was me.
None of them saida word—didn’t even look my way.
I nodded at theirsilence, not really offended but not really surprised. “Lucky youguys,” I said, taking another bite of my turkeysandwich.
When I was donewith my lunch, I headed back into the house to wash the salt waterfrom my hair and body. The guards remained where they were as Iwent back inside. After my shower, I redid my hair and makeup, puton another blackskortand ahot pink t-shirt, and headed back outside in my Nikes. I wasdetermined to spend the entire day under the sun if Icould.
I walked along thegardens, ventured around the pool, and got a damn good idea of thesize of the house and all its windows and accesses. Everywhere Iwent, a guard was not far from my sight, and they watched me likehawks. If I ventured too far into the trees, one of them would callout my name and wave me back. Begrudgingly, I listened to them likea good little girl to show Darren I was serious about following hisrules. I wanted to show him how grateful I was that he was finallyletting me out of my cage a little bit.
When he came homethat afternoon, he found me lyingonthe grass, my hands behind my head whileI stared up at the clouds. I could hear him coming, sensing hispresence even before he was near when suddenly his face came intofocus and he beamed down at me.
“Hi, there.” Hesmiled.
“Hi.” I smiledback genuinely, remaining in my position as I looked up at him. Iwas too happy being outside to let him sour my mood with hispresence.
“How was yourday?” he asked curiously.
“Fantastic,” Ireplied. “Yours?”
“Equallyfantastic.”
“I doubt that.” Ismiled with amusement.
“What are youdoing down there?”
“Trying todetermine if that cloud looks more like a rabbit or a wolf.” Ipointed up at the sky to the cloud I wasmentioning.
“Hmm … I don’tknow,” Darren said as he laid down on the grass beside me. I wasshocked that he was joining me. I would have thought he might havebeen afraid he’d ruin his suit. “I don’t think those ears are shortenough to be a wolf,” he said, as he folded his hands behind hishead as I had mine. I turned my gaze back to thesky.
