By the time he wasdone, my ass was on fire from twelve solid strikes in a row and hottears threatened to fall, but I refused to allow them. Severalstrikes had provoked myscreams, but still, he continued.
His palm had to befeeling a little bit of a sting, but he ignored it as he reachedaround to my throat, turned his body, and pushed mebackonthe bed, trappingme underneath him. My hands immediately went for his wrist andtugged against him, but he refused to releaseme.
“When I give you an order, I expect you to immediately followit, do you understand?”
“Yes, Darren.” I nodded quickly.
“Good, now tell me who you belongto.”
“You,” I said still gripping hiswrist.
“Good girl. Now, go clean yourselfup.”
He released me,and I rolled off the bed quicker than he could blink. Fuck him. Ithought there might be some reason in him, and I could somehownegotiate with him down the line, but apparently not if he thoughtit was okay to punish me for something I had no controlover.
My ass and pussythrobbed in pain as I trudged down on wobbly legs to the bathroom.I couldn’t even sit down on the toilet seatproperlyuntil Idecided to lightly press my skin to the cold tile of the floor.That felt nice as it cooled down the burn and hopefully broughtdown some of theswelling. Icleaned myself up as best Icould,disgusted that his cum had touched myskin at all.
When I went backout to the bedroom, I crawled onto my side of the bed and threw thesheets up to my chin as I curled into myself.
“Got an attitude now?” he asked with absolute smugness as hesat up in bed.
“No,” I groaned as I cringed back into the sheets, hiding fromhim. I just wanted to go back to sleep without invoking any more ofhis wrath.
“Jaden, get over here, now.” His voice was low and dangerous,and it sent a wave of fear over my body.
Begrudgingly, Irolled over andinchedmyselfover to his side, still keeping my head on the pillows and my eyesdown. He pushed me over and pulled my back against his chest again,locking his arm around my torso as he had earlier. Burying hisfaceinmy hair, Darrentook a deep breath as though he was trying to calm himself down. Hehad the shortest fuse of anyone I had ever known, and Ihopedagainst hopehe knewthat.
“Go to sleep, Jaden,” he said exhaling deep and kissing myhead and finally relaxing against my body. “I have big plans for usin the morning.”
I closed my eyesand fell face first into the haze I had been denied earlier,drifting into the deepest sleep I had everknown.
~*~
At last, I finallyfelt Jaden’s body go limp while her breathing patterns evened to anice and relaxed rhythm. She felt so small against me as my armsnaked around her body, clutching her to my chest. She was warm andsoft, yet strong and solid. Everything I never expected to want orneed.
Today had actuallybeen enjoyable and gone almost as planned, but with every step ofthe day, she challenged me, and I had only been too happy to puther back in her place. She was a slow learner; either that or shedidn’t know how to shelf her pride like a good little girl. Shewould learn eventually that silly little emotion had no place inher life anymore.
I had to bepatient, though. I had to give her ample time to come around, and Ifigured a week would be plenty. A week was all I would be able totake before unleashing the storm I had brewing inside. I had somany things I wanted to experience with Jaden, wanted to see herreaction, wanted to provoke her fire so I could stomp it out withthe ice in my dead heart. And when she was completely broken andundeniably mine, I would make her my wife, and in return, she wouldgive me thesonsIdeserved.
Seeing herreaction toward the baseball game, so carefree and unrestrained,lifted my heart a thousand feet. I had never been so happy to seesomeone smile. The game we had watched down in the kitchen wasactually a rerun from the night before that I’d had Scott tape forus. I had watched it earlier while making phone calls and checkingin with Dan on the deal in Panama while Jaden soaked away in hertub. I deliberately made that bet knowing I would lose just to testher, see what she’d do, and how she’d react. It was beautiful. Ididn’t need to make a bet with her to get her to do something Iwanted. I expected her to do it anyway, and it seemed like she wasbeginning to learn this.
Of course, I wouldkeep her sass intact; I liked that too much about her, but shewould know exactly who she belonged to and would never dream ofleaving me, even if she were presented with the option of freedom.She would choose me because she loved me and I was her only reasonfor living. I wanted her to be just as obsessed with me as I waswith her.
That goal wouldtake the longest to accomplish. I would gain her love eventually,but first, I needed her fear; I needed her to know who was incontrolin order tokeep herin line. I would reward her with gentleness and comfort for herobedience, and when it finally became second nature, I wouldmoveon tophase two. Iwould give her the world. My world.
ChapterTwenty-One
Business
I woke up entirelytoo hot, and I felt like I was being crushed into the mattress. Ilifted my sweaty head from the pillow to find that Darren hadpractically rolled over on top of me. Lying face down, I pushedwith all my might to roll him off me, but he was too goddamn heavy.Bit by bit, I slowly inched myself away from him, and just as Iturned my back to him, both his arms came sweeping over me andpulled me right back in.
“Mmm …” he said, nuzzling into me. “Where do you think you’regoing?”
“You’re smothering me with your overactive body temperature. Idon’t feel like dying of heat stroke just yet,” I groaned as hesqueezed me tightly.
He mumbled hissleepy chuckle as he kissed my hair and then reached over to theside of the bed. He fiddled with it and then a few seconds later Ifelt the mattress becoming several degreescooler.
“Better?” he asked.
