Page 13 of Spark

“Yes?” he said from the other line.

“Two days, Sid. I want someone in two days. No excuses.”

“Yes, sir,” he replied, and I ended the call.

Once Hank and Ginsby had Jaden successfully back in her suite, cleaned up and passed out in bed, I went back to check on her a final time for the night. It was now well after midnight, and Jaden should have been in bed hours ago. But as I watched her sleeping form, all moments of rage ceased to exist.

Jaden’s gorgeous red hair fanned out over her pillow, and I found myself wanting to wrap my fingers around it. I wanted to hold her small frame against my own and feel the heat coming off her body as she melted into me. And I wanted to hear her voice my name, even if it was only a whisper. As gently as possible, I carefully ran the tip of my finger down her cheek, slowly tracing along her jawline before running my knuckle back up to her temple. Her skin was so soft, so warm, and too damn tempting.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Davis. Ginsby said she’s going to be just fine,” said Hank, interrupting my serenity.

“Hank,” I said, my eyes still lingering over Jaden.

“Yes, sir?”

“Have someone clean up Benito.”

I swear I could hear the man gulp.

“Yes, sir,” he said softly then moved to the corner of the room to quietly make a phone call.

I went back to focusing on my serenity for the next several hours.

7

Hangover

* * *

I woke up the following morning with a splitting headache. The sun beamed right in my eyes, forcing me to turn on my side with a groan and pull the sheet up to cover my entire head from the light. But then the sound of the blender flooded my ears with a loud grinding noise and my irritation became too much to resist.

“Hey, turn that shit off!” I shouted at Ginsby, yanking the sheet off my face to yell at her. But as she ignored me, my eyes traveled to an angry looking Darren sitting at my table, watching me with that disapproving look. The blender then stopped. “Oh, forget this. I’m going back to bed,” I whined then pulled the sheet back over my head and curled into myself.

I could hear Darren’s furious footsteps as he marched over to me and ripped the sheet from my body. “Get up,” he commanded, but I just curled tighter into myself, groaning with agitation. “Get up, Jaden!” he roared over me, and I flinched instinctively before slowly unraveling myself, my eyes trained only on him, afraid he might move me himself. When I was finally sitting upright, he visibly relaxed, but his eyes were still as cold as ever. “We need to have a little talk, you and me.”

I sighed, pulling my knees up to rest my elbows on my thighs and rub my face awake. “I’m too hungover for this. What do you want to talk about?”

“Sobering you up. Go take a shower and meet me on the patio for lunch in thirty minutes.”

Lunch?

“Wait, what time is it?” I asked, groggy.

“Twelve thirty. Now, get up,” he ordered.

“Yes, Heir Hitler,” I said with a salute.

Darren ignored my humor and walked out of the room, his phone immediately seeking his ear. Shit, had I really slept that late? It certainly felt like it.

“Good morning, dear,” Ginsby said with a smile, walking over to me hopefully with my hangover cure. “Or should I say good afternoon? Here, drink this. It’ll take away that nasty hangover.”

“Thanks,” I said and accepted the cup.

“You know you shouldn’t be drinking with the amount of medication you’re on, sweetheart. It could cause serious complications to your health. Don’t you want to get better?”

I sighed heavily as I took a sip of what she gave me. Fuck, it was delicious.

“I know, Ginsby. I had a momentary lack of self-control. I doubt it will happen again.”