Page 120 of Spark
“Because no matter how many times I try to snuff the defiance out of you, you refuse to fade. You give me what no one else ever has or could, and I’m drawn to it like a moth to a flame.”
“And what happens when that flame finally dies? How will you get your fix then?”
I smiled. “I’m a very good fire starter, Jaden. I know just how to ignite the sparks in you when you need it. It’s not in your nature to break.”
She released a light breath through her nose, seemingly preparing to respond, but then the sky began to light up with bright neon color. The anticipated display of the northern lights began to dance across the night sky in vertical waves of pink, blue, and green, further adding to the beautiful scenery below. The alarm on my watch then began to beep, signaling the end of one year and the beginning of another. A year I intended to share with Jaden and many more to come for the rest of my life.
“Oh, my God,” Jaden whispered as her eyes washed over the sky. She had tears in the corners of her eyes, her face so mesmerized by what she was seeing. It tugged at the thinning strings of my heart.
The aurora borealis continued to move along the sky for several minutes, the colors fading and winding around each other, painting the sky with a light show not even the fireworks could touch. I’d planned this days ago, and it turned out to be the perfect timing. I knew Jaden would love this, and judging by the fact that she couldn’t take her eyes away from the sky, I’d won.
“You planned this?” she asked as she turned to me, her voice clearly shocked.
“Mmhmm,” I moaned.
I rubbed my nose along the side of Jaden’s face before turning her head and kissing her with a softness I wanted to last forever. She moaned into my mouth, responding to the kiss like she wanted to, no longer denying herself the pleasure of my touch. The northern lights continued to weave and wave above us, but we didn’t need them anymore. We made our own damn lights.
By the time I finished kissing her, we were both breathless, her lips red and swollen from my own, and it just made me want to kiss her more.
“Happy New Year, princess,” I whispered and went back for seconds.
45
A Game
* * *
TWO WEEKS LATER
“Sit,” I ordered, holding the dog treat between my fingers. Camaro’s little pink tongue hung out of her mouth as she eyed the treat, but after a few more prompts, she finally sat on her hind legs. “Good girl,” I praised and tossed the treat toward her, which she almost caught.
At three and a half months, she was already at thirty-five pounds, and she was getting stronger and faster every day. Once we got back to the estate from our trip to Anchorage, Darren hired a personal dog trainer to come out and help me train Camaro. She blew past my expectations, learning basic commands in a matter of days. I was still working on some tricks of my own with her when we were by ourselves. She was able to keep me busy, and I welcomed the distraction now that I was back at the estate.
I had to admit something had changed since Darren and I returned from Alaska. He was somehow sweeter, gentler, less demanding when I was cooperative, and he made an effort to spend time with me outside of meals. He’d continued to care for my bite wound, removing the stitches himself like some kind of medical pro. It was healing nicely, but I knew it was going to scar. I could see the tiny teeth indents on my skin like an astrological sign, connecting the dots that told the story of how I was almost eaten by wolves… and admittedly, though begrudgingly… saved by Darren.
I almost felt guilty when he would look at my arm with disdain and regret, smoothing his hand over my skin like he could somehow rub it away. It shocked me to see the actual fear in his eyes when he recognized what that bite mark truly meant. He’d almost lost me that day, and I could see how much that pained him. I tried to make him forget about it by focusing on other things. We would go for walks with Camaro, watch a movie in the home theater, hell, he even requested my assistance when tuning his Ferrari. That had been an interesting day. Only he could make a grease-stained t-shirt look sexy.
Now that I had admitted my desires, I stopped bothering to hide my lust for him. I kicked my denial to the curb, and as soon as I did, I felt a million times better. I hated it, but Darren was right in one aspect. Letting go and accepting that had made my life a little easier, but luckily for me, the only thing I’d accepted was that my stupid vagina was blind, and there was no possible way of correcting her vision.
Until recently, I’d made several decisions based on the fuck-it scale, and I did not intend to make myself feel guilty. It was a survival tactic. Nothing more. Nothing less. I still hated the fucker with a fiery passion and refused to forget all the bullshit he had put me through and all the people he had killed. It went away in Cell Block C for compartmentalization. But until the time was right, I would endure because Darren was right about one other thing. I was stronger than the others were.
Pushing my vendetta aside, I allowed the contentment in my heart to settle. The new scars on my forearm from the wolf bite proved enough that I needed to quiet and just learn to live for a while. Darren had finally provided me with a fair distraction, one I still had a hard time accepting, but Camaro helped me forget. She was capable of forcing laughter from me, even when I didn’t feel like it.
She’d bark at new people, scaring Anya and Irina when they came in for my bi-weekly waxing and nail session. When Camaro calmed down and let them pet her, they absolutely swooned over her, and it made me smile. They even painted her little nails a bright red color with doggy safe nail polish Anya happened to have in her bag for her own dogs. Darren said it looked ridiculous at first, but I got him to laugh when I told him to think of it as the blood of his enemies.
On a Saturday morning, I had been playing with Camaro in the gardens, laughing as she chased butterflies and barked at the birds chirping in the birdbath. She still wasn’t very good at staying by my side, but she always came when called. Camaro was the only real light I had now, and I clung to her like black on a crow.
Clive and Owen stood back about twenty feet behind, giving me the respectful distance I had requested from Darren. I’d only gotten it just a few days ago for good behavior, and I rewarded Darren well for giving in to my request, slowy conditioning him to want to please me as well. Those were the days when I could bring that man to his knees with pleasure so intense he’d have me for hours before his dick couldn’t take anymore.
“Miss Jaden,” Owen called from behind me. I turned to give him my attention. “Mr. Davis would like you to be ready to leave in a half hour. Clothes have been laid out for you on your bed. Please go ready yourself.”
I furrowed my brows in confusion. Leave? Did I hear him right?
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Mr. Davis will tell you when he arrives to collect you.”
Collect me. There’s that object word again.