The ringing of myphone in my pants pocket stopped the wheels in my head from turning as I rushed for mypants to avoid waking Jaden up. I pulled the phone out andanswered.
“What?” I whispered angrily, stepping away inside thebathroom, still keeping my eye on Jaden.
“I’ve got Dan down here,” Scott said on the otherline.
Fuck. “I’ll beright there.”
I quickly steppedinto my closet, threw on someblack track pants and a black t-shirt, and headed for the door. Ilooked back at Jaden, who was still fast asleep, naked and chainedto my bed. I instantly decided I wanted to come back to this imagemore often.
Gently closing thedoor behind me, I left Jaden to sleep off her exhaustion and joggedover to the security room. I walked in to find Scott holding one ofour disposable flip phones in his hand.
“Here he is,” he said and handed me thephone.
I walked over tothe desk and took the phone from Scott, putting it on speakerphone.Daniel was only twenty-eight, but I knew he could handle somethinglike this. It wasn’t his first rodeo, after all. He had only beendown in Panama a week trying to get this deal together. Shit betternot be falling through.
“What’s the problem?” I asked.
“They want to renegotiate the terms. Said they feel likethey’re getting fucked over,” Dan said.
I furrowed mybrows. The fuck?
“Yeah, I don’t have time for this shit. Tell thosecock-sucking fucks the deal stands. Maybe they should have beenbetter at negotiating before they struck a deal withme.”
“And if they back out?” he asked.
“Then that’ll be their mistake,” I repliedsternly.
“You want me to keep the shipment here if theydo?”
“Yeah, just keep it in the warehouse for now. We’ll figure outwhat to do with it later.”
“All right,” he said.
“And, Dan, you make sure you and your men are armed to the Twhen the exchange goes down.”
“Yeah, yeah, fuck off, Darren, this is isn’t my first rodeo.I’ve got this.” He shrugged me off. I couldn’t help the olderbrother shit coming out.
I scowled but letit go. I knew Dan knew what he was doing, but that didn’t make thisshit any less shady than it already was.
“Good. Check in tomorrow when it’sdone.”
“Yeah, later,” he said and hung up.
“Cocky little shit.” Scott laughed.
“He’ll be a dead littleshit if he isn’t careful,” I said,getting up and heading out of the security room. I had somewherefar better to be. “Let me know when you hear back fromhim.”
“Yep,” Scott replied, and then I was gone. I was suddenlyanxious to wake someone up.
~*~
I felt cold; mybody suddenly huddled into itself for warmth as I slowly came torealize I was alone. I could no longer feel Darren’s chest againstmy back, nor did I feel a presence behind me. I didn’t hearbreathing or stirring anywhere else in the room. Fuck, I was coldand my head was pounding. Great, I probably had a hangovernow.
I reached down forthe sheets but realized myhand couldn’t reach passed my shoulders. I opened my eyes andfocused on a small chain link perfectly fastened to my cuffs by twosmall gold heart-shaped padlocks. I sprang myself awake, ignoringthe grogginess I felt and sitting up on my knees as I examined thechain that effectively restrained me to Darren’s bed. I pulledagainst my restraints as hard as I could, testing their strength,but they would not break. Panic surged through me as I pulled andpulled, realizing I was now trappedand evenmore vulnerable thanbefore.
And then I heardthe door close. “Going somewhere?”
I turned to findDarren standing in front of the door, dressed in track pants and at-shirt, staring at me wickedly.
“Darren, what the fuck?” I almost yelled, holding up mychained limbs for him to see.
“Now, is that any way to speak to me, Jaden?” He narrowed his eyes atme.
I let a slowbreath out through my nose in an attempt to calm myself. “I’msorry,” I said calmly. “But could you please tell me why I’mchained to the bed?”
“Because I wanted you to be. That’s all you need toknow.”
I released anotherannoyed sigh. I wanted to argue so bad, but my still sore andburning ass disagreed with me. My head was still pounding and Ifelt like total shit. Yep, hangover – check. I sat back against mylegs, my ass still stinging, but I ignored it as I watched him walkover to me. He sat down next to me, his eyes never leaving mine ashis hand reached up and gently took my chin between his twofingers. I tried not to tense up as he brought his lips to mine,planting a slow and gentle kiss on my mouth. I felt the warmthflare up again as his kiss somehow ignited me. Maybe it was becausehe was being gentle andI was, therefore, safesomehow.
“Maybe if you’re a good girl,” he said, releasing my lips, butnot my chin, “I’ll let you go and we can go downstairs, havedinner, and watch some baseball.” He almostsmiled.
I leaned away fromhim and looked him over peculiarly.
“Baseball?”
“Mmhmm, the Yankee’s are playing the Tiger’stonight.”
Oh, how carefullyhe studied me then, watching and waiting for my reaction at themention of the Detroit Tigers, my state’s home baseball team. Ialmost let my poker face slip, but a blank stare was surprisinglyeasy to pull off.
“Unless you’d rather not,” he said, eying meintently.
I shook my headseriously. “No, I’d love to watch the Tiger’s kick the shit out ofthe Yankees.”
“Language,” he warned,tapping his indexfinger on the side of my facebefore pointing it at me. I almost pouted. “And we’ll see,”he said and pulled out asmall key from his pants pocket. I turned my wrists over so he hadbetter access to the locks, but he stopped and looked at me withthat same possessive look I always hated. “Who do you belong to,Jaden?”
Again
