Page 62 of Spark
“You can speak freely here, Jaden. There won’t be any penalties for what will be spoken today.”
“Yeah, right. You have no authority to guarantee that.”
“You have Darren’s word,” he said seriously.
“His word by your association?”
“I promise you, he approved this. Please don’t feel hindered by the lack of notice. He wanted to catch you off guard in hopes you would be more… honest.”
I scoffed.
“So how are things? How are you feeling?” he asked me, his warm attitude quickly becoming annoying.
I tilted my head. “Really, Sid?”
“Miss Jaden, please remain cooperative,” Clive interrupted, the subtle warning a reminder to get my head out of my ass.
I turned my head to him. “He said I could speak freely, so shut the fuck up, Clive!” I snarled. I’d been here less than a minute, and I’d already felt more emotion in the last few seconds than I felt in the last two weeks. It was easy for anger to find its way into my life.
“Watch your language,” he replied sternly.
I sighed in annoyance. “I’m as good as can be expected, Sid. I hate my life, but I’m alive. What more do you want from me?”
“We all just want you to be healthy and happy,” he said with a shrug, somehow actually sounding sincere.
I snorted. “We can’t always get what we want, Sid. Trust me, I know.”
“You seem to have adjusted differently than expected,” he continued. “You follow the rules without complaint, you tend to your own needs when required without prompt, and you seem to find some spectrum of enjoyment in your day, yet there’s still no spark left in you, Jaden. Where has it gone?”
I smirked. My assumptions were officially confirmed.
“So Darren is bored with my compliance already, huh?”
“I never said that,” Sid replied quickly.
“You didn’t have to. I know what he wants. I’ve just been waiting for him to admit it,” I said slyly.
“What do you mean?”
I released a breath of satisfaction and smiled. “He’s not the only one who knows how to test people, Sid. He wanted obedience, I’ve been obedient. Like a goddamn robot, I’ve done everything he’s requested of me without argument like he expects. You want to know where my spark is? It’s in Darren’s fist, and instead of bothering to pry his fingers open, I’m waiting for him to grow tired and loosen his grip.”
“Miss Jaden,” Owen warned.
“Well, that’s quite an assumption. You think Darren will tire of your obedience? Why do you say that?”
I rolled my eyes. “This is basic psychology, Sid. Everyone knows once you complete your conquest that you move on to the next one. Otherwise, you’ll get bored. Darren is no different with me. I’m just proving that to him.”
Sid’s eyes narrowed. “Do you think it wise to test him, Jaden?”
I shrugged off his warning. “He does it with me for the same reason I do it with him. Neither one of us is exactly forthcoming with information, Sid.”
“So you’re just pretending to be overly obedient to annoy him? Is that it?”
“Sure, Sid. Let’s call it pretend. Let’s pretend that if I don’t listen to him, he won’t hurt me in the worst way imaginable. Let’s pretend he’s not holding my family over my head to ensure I listen to him. And let’s pretend I don’t hate every second of my existence so that he can feel a smidgen of enjoyment with me. I’m just a big fucking pretender,” I snarled.
“Miss Jaden, please watch your language,” Owen reminded me again, and I whipped my head around to glare at them.
“If the two of you won’t shut the fuck up, I’m going to turn into a miniature Hulk and then you’ll be forced to tranquilize me and ruin my ‘therapy session.’ Sid said I could say what I want, so sit down and shut up.”