I did, and hestarted toweling my hair dry until it was nothing but a bunch ofdamp strings. Tossing the towel aside, he finished drying the restof my body with the towel still wrapped around me and then pulledme to my feet. I clung to the towel, keeping it tight against mybody as heledme backinto the bedroom.
I was gettingdizzy now that I was walking, and the room was spinning as I triedto keep my footing stable. It didn't work, and I fell right intoDarren's side, but he just chuckled and kept me tucked intohim.
“Why did you have to get me drunk?” I asked annoyed and triedto push away from him.
“Several reasons,” he said, refusing to let me leave his side.“First, I wanted to warm you up. Second, I wanted to test yourtolerance, which is for shit, by the way, and third, I wanted youto be able to relax.”
“First of all, I workfulltimeand go to schoolfull time,” I slurred. “I don't have time to drink. Second of all,my uncle is an alcoholic, so I try to avoid that little familytrait if I can.”
“You mean youused to…” He snarled. “But I’m not surprisedabout your tolerance. You are tiny as fuck.”
I stared up at himand gave him my glare of death. “What the fuck did you just callme?” I seethed.
If looks couldkill, I would have been dead in the blink of an eye. Before I couldgain any sense of what was happening, Darren had me pinned againstthe wall, his palms planted firmly on the wall on either side of myhead caging me in.
“Just who the fuck do you think you’re talking to, huh? Whothe fuck do you think you are?” he roared. “Your first day ofreflection doesn’t seem to be workingreallywell foryou.”
“That was a low blow!” I shouted at him, my heart pumping soloud I could hear it.
“That's not what I fucking asked you,” he growled in myear.
I felt patheticnow—drunk out of my wits, vulnerable, and small. I hated that hecould make me feel like that; I hated the power it gave him, and Irefused to allow myself to wallow in it anylonger.
I stared up at himconfidently, pushing through the liquor to find my bearings, myfear burning into anger as the fire in my voicetorchedhis ears witha sharp ferocity I had never known.
“Who do I think I am? I knowexactlywho I am and I knowexactlywho you are. I’m the fighter you willnever break, the one person you can never beat. And you’re thepiece of shit I’m going to kill one day. No matter what you throwmy way, no matter what you put me through or what you make me say,I will always get back up and take it all over again because I can.Because I was born tobreathefire. I’m unbreakable, so fuck you.”
I knew it was afaçade, and I knew I would eventually have to submit to him if Iever wanted him to trust me enough to plot my escape, but Icouldn’t do so without him knowing who I really was, what I reallywas. At least then, when the time finally came for me to remove themask I knew I would have to wear, I could bring him back to thismoment and enjoy it so much more when he realized hefailed.
As Darren broughthimself even closer than before, my confidence was now meltingthrough my fingers like butter as a low growl came from his throat.I was terrified now because I realized what I had just done. I hadchallenged him.
“Challenge accepted,” he sneered with the darkest and mostdevious voice I had ever heard from him, and I couldn’t help butshrink into myself a little. I refused to let my eyes leave his. Ihad to show him a part of me wasn’t afraid, even though most of mewas.
And then hegrabbed the back of my neck and threw me away from him to the floornear the bed. “I am so going to enjoy this,” he snarled with asmile.
As I hit theground, I could feel Darren close on my heels and I didn’t waste mymomentum as I rolled off the carpet and swung into a reverse hookkick, landing my foot square across his face. He was stunnedmomentarily, surprised I was still able to fight in my drunkenstate, and he wasn’t the only one. As he cameatme again, I rolled across the bed to theother side. He nearly caught me mid-roll, but I was quicker than hethought.
“You’re only making this worse for yourself, Jaden, by runningfrom me. You know what happens when you run.” I was silent as Iwatched his every move like a hawk. “I catch you,” heseethed.
I wavered only fora second as Darren slowly walked over to the dresser on his side ofthe bed and started rummaging through the drawers. I didn’t botherwaiting around anymore and bolted for the door. I didn’t even carethat I was naked as I threw the door open and pounded my legs downthe hallway. I didn't know where I was going; I just wanted to getaway from him.
I didn’t get veryfar before I felt the force of my cuffs link my wrists and anklestogether and I tumbled down to the floor in a drunken heap. Painflooded my entire body as the room spun around me. I laid there fora hot second thinking this was so fucking stupid. Iwasbeingso irrational,letting my emotions and pride get in the way of what I knew wasinevitable. Jack was so good at clouding myjudgment.
I pushed myselfoff the carpet and leaned back against the wall, my knees to mychest and my head in my hands as I waited for Darren to come andget me. There was no point in running anymore, I wasn’t goinganywhere like this. And fighting? I wouldn't even make a dent inhim in this condition. Yeah, I had royally fuckedmyself.
It wasn’t longbefore I heard his slow pounding footsteps coming down the hall forme, and my body started to tremble. I knew I was in for it now.Maybe I could somehow reason with him. I was drunk, afterall.
He stopped rightin front of me, and I could tell he was crossing his arms over hischest with some kind of victory smile plastered across his stupidface. I only raised my eyes from his bare feet to notice he had puton a pair of dark blue gym shorts.
“Strike three,” he said with a disapprovingtone.
“I’m sorry,” I finally said, still keeping my head in myhands, “that was stupid.”
“Yes, it was,” he agreed. And then he reached down and pickedme up from under my arms, throwing me over his bare shoulder andheaded back for his bedroom.
I didn’t evenbother fighting him, as I felt too heavy even to lift myself fromhis shoulder as he carried me back to his bedroom and slammed medown on the bed. I attempted to roll away from him, but he justgrabbed me and threw me over his lap as he satdown.
“Do not move,” he commanded, his hand drifting over the backof my legs and causing my muscles to tense. The room was stillspinning, and my equilibrium felt off as Ilaidfacedownacross his legs—naked, drunk, and vulnerable as fuck. I laidstill as he had ordered, letting him run his hands over my legs,gripping my ass. When he nearly lulled me to sleep, he smacked myass hard. I felt myself jolt, but only slightly, my numbed sensesdelaying my reaction time.
