“Maybe you should learn to become more awareof your surroundings then.” He smiled deviously as I placed thebook back on the shelf.
As if my situational awareness wasn’talready on par. I just found it hard to believe a man of his sizecould successfully sneak around unnoticed.
“Or maybe I should just put a bell on you,”I replied crossing my arms. “Problem solved.”
“Well, considering you’re the one with thecollar, a bell would seem fitting for you, don’t you think?” hereplied slyly.
I narrowed my eyes at him, noticing how hehad showered, shaved, and changed. He wore jeans and a blackt-shirt with an open graybutton-down with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Goddamn, he was sexy, especially with thosefriggin tattoos. I loved a man with ink.
“Nah,” I replied, shrugging my shoulders.“I’m not really the jingly type.”
“I can see that,” he replied with a smirk. Idecided it was time to change the subject.
“How come you didn’t show me this during thetour?” I asked him as I looked around.
“I guess I forgot about it.” He shrugged ashe looked down at me.
“How could you forget about a place likethis? It’s beautiful.”
He shrugged again. “This is where I wastutored as a boy. Once I went to college, I didn’t have much usefor it. Books aren’t my thing. The only person who liked coming inhere was my mother. Pretty sure it was her favorite place tobe.”
“I can imagine why,” I replied.
“Don't tell me you're a bookworm, too.”
“I might be.” I eyed him with a smirk. Icould enjoy a good book every once in a while. He rolled his eyesat me and took my hand in his. Thankfully, not the one with thebusted nail I was hiding from him.
“Come on. I have a surprise for you.”
“Oh, joy,” I said as he tugged me along likeusual.
ChapterTwenty-Two
Spill
Darren pulled me outside toward the woods,and we walked onto a path that led us deeper into the trees. I wassuper excited to get to explore some more of the estate, but assoon as we came to the edge of the trees, I got worried. But again,I relied on the trust I had that Darren would not lead me to adeliberate electrocution.
As we got deeper into the woods, I couldhear the sound of a river nearby, and sure enough, it was just ahundred feet ahead of us. As we came to the bank, I noticed therewas a rather large hammock hanging between two trees. Darren led usover to the hammock, and he laid down on it before gesturing for meto climb on top of him.
“Are you sure it’ll hold us both?”
Darren sighed and rolled his eyes. “When areyou going to learn to stop questioning me?” he asked sternly.
“When you stop bending my trust,” I saidwithout even thinking about it. I kept telling myself he wantedhonesty.
“Get over here,” he ordered, pointing at hischest. “Now.”
I sighed in defeat, careful not to roll myeyes, and gently climbed on top of him as he directed me to lay myhead down in the middle of his chest. To my surprise, even thoughhe was solid as a rock, he was actually quite comfy. I kept mybusted fingernail hidden in myclosed fist and curled into myside, away from Darren’s prying eyes.
“You need to stop testing me, little girl.It’s really starting to piss me off, and I am in no mood to bechallenged today.”
“I’m sorry,” I said softly, nudging my faceto his chest. Maybe he would react better to cutenessrather than aggression. I had some experimenting to do.
He released a big sigh and curled his arms around me, his hands rubbing myshoulders.
“How was your workout?” he asked laxly.
“It was good. Thank you, but …”
“But what?”
I hesitated a bit, suddenly afraid to askhim for something for some reason.
“I’d really like a pair of gloves and wrapsfor the heavy bag … if that’s okay.”
“What do you need those for?” he askedalmost too innocently.
“So I can hit the bag without injuring myhands?”
“I’m not so sure I need you focused ontrying to hit anything at the moment,” he said. I knew he wasmessing with me, but he almost sounded too serious.
“Come on, Darren, you don’t want me goingsoft, now do you?” I played along with his little game.
“Mmm, but I like you soft.” He smirked, his big hands caressing the skin of myarms.
Ugh.
“You know what I mean.”
“I’ll think about it,” he finallyreplied.
He’d better not think about it for too long. I carried rage that neededan outlet, and I actually preferred something that wouldn’t hit meback.
We were silent for a bit, just enjoying thesound of the rushing water and the birds chirping around us. It wasreally quite peaceful.
“Jaden,” Darren finally said. “I want you totell me about your father.”
I groaned and tensed my shoulders.
“Why?” I whined, hiding my face in hischest. “Why do you want to ruin this nice silent peace we’rehaving?”
This topic could potentially bring me totears, and I was tired of looking weak in front of him.
“Because I need to know what kind of maleauthority you had in your life. Plus, I’m curious as to what he waslike.”
“I really don’t want to talk about it, andforcing me to talk about it will not end well for either of us,” Isaid angrily.
“Jaden, so help me God, if you don’t tell mewhat I want to know right now, I’m going to tie you to this hammockand leave you here all night.”
“Why are you doing this to me?” Ipractically shouted at him.
“Because I can, princess.”
“Ugh!” I groaned and tried to push off him,but he slammed me back down on top of him, his arms snaking aroundmy back and chaining me to him.
“Don’t you dare fucking move, Jaden. See?You’re already getting upset about the topic, and I haven’t evenasked you a single question yet. You clearly need to lay yourfeelings on the table before they destroy you.”
“You’re what’s destroying me,” I said intohis skin.
“Well, thank you.” He chuckled. “I thought Iwas doing a pretty good job myself.”
“Fuck you,” I mumbled.
And then his hand came
