I had anunderlying feeling that the monster in Darren wouldn’t alwaysslumber. It would want out of its cage; it would want to take itsfury out on me, and Darren needed me to be strong enough to takeit. That was the point in all this. I could see that now. He wantedmy obedience, but he still wanted my defiance so he could punish meand feed the beast until it was good and full. I would have tofigure out a strategy to keep his beast at bay all the while givinghim exactly what he needed to keep myself from harm’s way. If hefelt he could lose control and really hurt me, I would have tolearn to predict and manage his urges before they consumed usboth.
About an hourlater, I could feel the water starting to cool down and I realizedmy fingertips now lookedlike raisins. Rising from the bath, my body felt ten times betteras I reached for the towel and dried myselfoff.
Wrapping the towelaround my body, I opened the bathroom door to find Darren sittingon my bed. His elbows rested on his knees as he looked up at mefrom his seated position and smiled.
“Feeling better?” he asked me.
“Yes, thank you,” I replied a little surprised to find himwaiting for me in my room as I walked out tohim.
I noticed he hadchanged into black swimming trunks and a white t-shirt. A Barbiepink bikini laid next to him on the bed. Ew. He must have noticedmy disgust at the color of the bathing suit because he turned tolook at it confused.
“You really hate pink that much, huh?” he said turning back tome.
“What gave it away?” I askedsarcastically.
“The fact that you look like someone just told you you’reshort.”
Now, I scowled,twisting my lips into a grimace as I glared athim.
“I thought I had fulfilled my pink requirements with thismorning’s ensemble.”
Darren chuckled.“No such thing.”
“You have to know by now that I am not a girly girl. I like toride motorcycles and shoot guns, get tattoos, climb trees, and playsports, and I really don’t mind getting a little dirt under myusually short-clipped fingernails. That’s just who I am, and no amount of clothing,manicures, or an obscene amount of pink is going to changethat.”
Wow, I reallyhoped I hadn’t overstepped aboundary there. But again, he wanted honesty. He turned his headand pursed his lips, considering his words as well asmine.
“Jaden,” he said softly, “if I were to take a pistol and put apretty pink bow on it, does that make it any less of apistol?”
“Depends on where you wrapped the bow,” I replied, narrowingmy eyes.
He gave me adangerous look. I knew that wasn’t the answer he wanted, but toughshit.
“Let’s say it’s on the grip,” he answered, though clearly nothappy with me.
“Then no, I suppose not,” I said.
“Exactly. I know you’re not a girly girl,however, that doesn’tmean I don’t like to see you dress like one. Whether you like it ornot, you’re a young lady, and as such, you need to meet specificstandards to successfully please me. Just think of yourself as thepistol with the pretty pink bow on it.”
“Pistols with bows around the grip are still dangerous.” Ismirked.
“Only when they’re loaded, which is why your bowis tied firmly aroundthe trigger.” He winked.
How right he was.Give me any kind of ammunition and he was dead in a heartbeat, buttake it away, and I was nothing more than a bluntobject.
“Touché,” I finally admitted.
“Mmhmm.” He nodded slightly. “Now, put this on so we can goout and enjoy our picnic.”
I took thetwo-piece bikini and headed for the closet tochange.
“Jaden, where do you think you’regoing?”
Fuck, I was hopinghe would let me get away with this one, but I knew it was a longshot. I really didn’t want to change in front of him, but it reallywasn’t worth the fight. Begrudgingly, I went over to the table, putthe two-piece down, and dropped my towel while pretending he wasn’tthere. I quickly slipped the top and bottoms on as fast as I couldand laid the towel over the chair.
Satisfied, he gotup from the bed and reached out his hand, waiting for me to takeit. When I did, he headed for the door, but then I stopped,remembering something extremely important.
“Wait, I’m going to need sunscreen. Otherwise, I’ll burn up inabout five minutes.”
It was no secretthat fair-skinned people needed to douse themselves in sunscreen ifthey wanted to escape the strong rays of the sun unscathed. Therewas never a single summer I didn’t get the worstsunburn of mylife.
“That sounds like an excellent idea.” Hegrinned.
Ohjoy, I just gave him the perfect reason to put his hands all overme. Good job, Jaden.
We headed out intothe hall, me still wincing the entire time, and he grabbed a bottleof sunscreen from anearby locked closet. We then made our way down to the beach. Mysteps still held a slight discomfort, but nothing I couldn’t dealwith. The pain would be gone by tomorrow.Hopefully.
As we got down tothe white sandy beach, I could see the rather large blanket thathad been spread out just a few feet from the shore. A beachumbrella was sticking out from the sand and layingatan angle, providing plenty of shade formy wimpy-ass skin. There was also a basket on the corner of theblanket that I was sure contained our lunch.
We sat down and Itucked myself under the shade of the umbrella and asked Darren forthe sunscreen. Even thoughthe sun could
