“It’s just what?” he snarled.
“It’s just hard for me to let go. You have to understand, it’sonly been a couple of days. I… I just need some time toadjust.”
He considered mywords for a bit and sat back on my hips, studying me. I hoped hewas capable of being reasonable. He had to have known how hard thiswas for me.
“Maybe you’re right. Maybe I have been a little hard on you.This is only your third night here … but it’s how my father was.Tough love was always his thing and old habits are hard tobreak.”
“Yes, old habitsarehard to break,” I emphasized. “I just need a little moretime.”
He stared at meharshly for several seconds. My core was throbbing in pain and itwas difficult for me to hold back my cries as he studied me, but Isomehow managed to keep it in. I was going to be sore as fucktomorrow.
“Fine,” he finally said. “I will give you one week to get yourshit together. You can consider it a practice run. But once thatweek is over, and you still haven’t figured out your place, we’regonna do it my way.”
I honestly didn’tlike the sound of that but hadn’t we been doing it his way sincethe start? It was obviously so effective.
“Thank you,” I breathed.
At leastthat saved mefrom some harsher punishments and would give me time to figure himout. He thought I just needed some time to come to terms with mynew role in life, and fine, he could think that, but I hadsuccessfully gotten him to lighten up on me for a while. I wasbecoming quite the negotiator.
“You should know … this is very unlike me. I don’t compromise… ever, but I’m willing to make an exception if it saves me alittle aggravation in the long run. I hope your way is effectivebecause if it isn’t, you’re seriously going to regretit.”
“I appreciate the opportunity,” I replied. “And it willbe.”
He stared down atme for a little while, his expression suddenly becoming hard as hishand slowly made its way up to caress my jaw. His eyes bore into melike a drill, piercing into my greatest fears as he gently easedhis mouth to my ear.
“I’m only going to say this once more,” he drawled smoothlybut deadly into my ear. “If I ever catch youeventhinkingaboutanother man … I’ll kill ’em. Do you understandme?”
I could feel myheart bleeding out into my chest as his words punctured deep holesthat could never be repaired. If I wanted Jason to live, I’d haveto give him up. I knew Darren was all about keeping his word, and Ididn’t need to put the love of my life at any further risk than heprobably already was. It broke my heart into pieces, but I had tolet him go.
“Yes, Darren,” I whispered back. “Iunderstand.”
“Good,” he said and gotoffme. He headed into my bathroom,apparently to wash up, and then wenttothe door.
“Wait,” I said, turning my head to him. “You’re just gonnaleave me like this?”
He let out a lowdark chuckle. “Good night, Jaden.” And closed thedoor.
Motherfucker.
Chapter Sixteen
Whiplash
I woke up the nextmorning to find myself curled up on the bed with my hands tuckedinto my chest. Darren must have released mesometimein the middleof the night while I had been sleeping. I looked up at the clock tofind it was eight in the morning. I still had plenty of time to getready.
Raising up, mymuscles protested my movement as my body was stiff and sore fromlast night’s altercation. But the pain I was feeling didn’t compareto anything when I tried to stand. A sharp ache that rattled myinsides near my cervix came full throttle and I gasped in pain andlaid back down. Holy fuck, I wasn’t sure if I could stand to walk.And then I remembered I didn’t have much of achoice.
I decided torevert to my days as a baby and crawled my sore ass to thebathroom. I tried to pee, but the pain was too sharp for it to becomfortable. I decided the warm water of the shower might make iteasier.
As soon as thesteam started to fog up the mirrors, I crawled into the showerstall and sat on the floor, letting the hot sprays drench my brokenbody. It felt good and the warmth of the water did help me releasemy bladder.
I remained in myseated position, leaning against the tile wall as I washed my hair,body, and face, before crawling back out. If I had it my way, Iwould soak myself in that tempting Jacuzzi tub all day, but Ididn’t think I would ever have anything my way so long as I wasstuck here.
My body feltslightly better, but with so much pain lacing each step, I wasn’tsure how much of it I would be willing to stand. Trying my best toignore it, I combed and styled my wet hair, applied some lightmakeup, and limped all the way to the closet.
I grabbed thefirst thing closest to the door and it turned out to be a brightpink tank top dress, one I was sure Darren would appreciate. I puton another white thong and bra, slipped on the dress, and took thesmallest, lightest steps I could as I made my waydownstairsinthe pairof nude sandals.
When I finallyreached the dining room, Darren wasn’t there and there were noplace settings as usual. Was I too early? I looked at the clock asit read 8:57 a.m. and wondered where the hell he was. Angry that Ihad to do more walking than I wanted, I slowly made my way into theliving room and saw Darren through the wall of windows, sitting outon the patio, talking on his phone.
