Page 5 of Spark

What the fuck did I have to be happy about? I had no family now, no friends, no one to talk to, no one to laugh with or cry with, no one to see me as something more than just a pretty possession to keep. I was alive, I suppose, but was I really even living? Not legally, that’s for sure.

Was this it? Was this the end? Was this the epitome of my life now? I hadn’t even contemplated my original vendetta of revenge against Darren. I still wanted it, but I was too emotionally exhausted to put any thought or emotion into it. Vengeance would have to hold on the back burner for a while until my body fully healed. Not much I could do until then, and that didn’t make matters any better. The longer my recovery, the longer I would inevitably be stuck with Darren.

After what felt like hours of just staring into the horizon, I finally caught on to Hank’s voice.

“Miss Jaden, it’s time to go back inside. It’s time for your dinner,” Hank said.

Not hungry.

“Miss Jaden,” Hank called again when I didn’t move.

Rolling my eyes, I nodded and slowly started to make my way to standing. My lips formed into a tight line as I fought the ache in my side from the strain of my movements, but it didn’t last long as my shadows hurried over to help me up. Once I had the sand brushed from my legs and ass, they escorted me back to the house, Benito picking up my shoes along the way.

As we walked back to the house, I finally got a chance to actually admire it. It turned out to be a beautiful Spanish villa. With lots of high windows, orange tiled roof, cream-colored brick, and rounded arches, it was a gorgeous compliment to the island… but I didn’t give a damn about it. It was just another prison. More pretty bars to cage me.

When we finally made it to the door, I realized being outside didn’t really make me feel any better. I was still just as bloodthirsty as before. At least, I probably got some freckles… but then I remembered Darren liked my freckles. Damn them.

Luckily for me, Darren was still stuck in some meeting off the island, so I’d be having dinner by myself. I had it in my suite; Benito stood watch while Hank called Darren to give his report of my day. I barely ate the soup that Ginsby had set down for me before she retired for the night.

“You’d better finish eating that,” ordered Benito from the end of the room. I turned to him with a scowl. Motherfucker hadn’t said anything to me all day, and now, he was telling me what to do? Who the fuck did he think he was? I’d eaten maybe a quarter of it but didn’t care to finish now. Instead, I narrowed in on him and then slowly and deliberately pushed my bowl off the table like a thug life cat. The plastic didn’t break since I wasn’t allowed glass, but the soup spilled all over the floor.

“What the fuck!” Benito yelled as he marched over from his chair. He looked down at the mess and then to me as I remained seated in my chair, not a single fuck given. “Clean this shit up!”

I shook my head at him. Fuck him.

I didn’t know why I was looking for a fight, but knowing Darren wasn’t on the island at the moment was making me brave… and just plain stupid. But for some reason, I wanted to annoy my guards. Maybe I needed the attention or the distraction from my own misery by causing someone else’s. Maybe that would be enough to lift my mood.

I just didn’t fucking care about anything.

Benito groaned at me as he went to fetch the staff to clean up my mess, closing and locking the door behind him, but then Hank appeared right after him. He held his cell phone to his ear as he approached me.

“Yeah, she’s right here,” he said and then held out the phone to me. “Mr. Davis is on the line. Say hi.”

I rolled my eyes and grabbed the phone out of his hands and held it to my ear, saying absolutely nothing while enjoying the confusion on Hank’s face when he looked down to see my spilled soup all over the floor.

“Jaden?” came Darren’s voice on the other end.

“Mmmhmm,” I mumbled in acknowledgment. He was silent for a moment before he spoke again.

“How’s the jaw?”

Oh, fuck him.

“Fine,” I answered. The first word I’d verbally spoken to him in over a month.

I heard Darren suck in a slow breath as he listened to the one little word I gave him to recall my voice. I knew he would want more but as per usual, fuck him.

“Good. I’ll be gone for the next four days, so you need to listen carefully to your guards and medical staff while I’m away. I need you to get better, Jaden.”

I snorted again. “’Kay.” I almost laughed.

Here he was talking to me as if I was some kind of child who needed a reminder to behave while he was gone. Condescending cock stain.

“I’ll see you in four days. Behave.” And then he hung up. I felt my hand clench the phone until my knuckles turned white.

“Miss Jaden,” Hank said, holding out his hand for the phone.

I glared at him, held it out, and then deliberately dropped it on the floor, just inches from his hand and right into my spilled soup. It crashed against the tile, completely shattering the screen and splattering the stupid smartphone with vegetable soup.