I hated my existence, hated myself, hatedDarren, and hated God, Buddha, or whoever the fuck else wasresponsible for my fate and putting me through this. I had to havedied in that shootout weeks ago, and I was in my own personal Hell.That was the only explanation I had for what had become of mylife.
For the longest time, I just laid there, mywrists limp out in front of me as they burned and ached from thatbastard needle. Tears drained from my eyes every now and then as Icontemplated how little I meant in this world. My existence wasnothing if not dependent on Darren's commands to validate me. I wasmeant for more than this. I had wanted to do so much more with mylife, and I'd make damn sure I did when I got the fuck out of here.Right after I scheduled an appointment for laser tattooremoval.
I pushed myself off the floor of the cage,leaned back against the bars, and waited for Darren to come back. Iknew I was in for a world of pain for defying him the way I had,but I didn't care. As far as I was concerned, Darren Davis couldeat his own dick.
About another half an hour later, instrolled Darren with his hands in his pockets looking perfectlypleased with himself.
“How’s my princess doing?” he teased as hestepped in front of the cage and looked down at me.
“Go fuck yourself, Darren,” I spat.
“Still feisty as ever.” He smiled. “But notfor long.”
“Why the fuck are you so hell-bent onbreaking me down, huh? You’re kidding yourself if you think you’llfind any satisfaction in me if I’m nothing but a submissive littlebitch.”
“You think I don’t know how to train you tobe exactly what I want?” he asked amused. “That’s adorable. Thefirst and most important part of your conditioning is for you knowexactly who’s in control and whom you belong to. Once you finallyget that in your head, we can go from there.”
“Well, I fucking get it, okay,” I said,flashing the underside of my wrists. “You win.”
“Oh, I know I’ve won. I won the moment youcame into my possession, but the problem here is I’m still not sureyou believe it.” He smirked turning his head to the side andregarding me closely.
“God! What the fuck do you want from me!? Ibehaved all week for you, and you turn around and do this!” Iyelled pointing at my wrist. “What the fuck did I do to have causedyou to doubt me so?!”
Darren unlocked the cage, reached in,grabbed me by my throat, and yanked me out of the cage. He slammedme into the wall so hard my head nearly bounced off it.
“If you ever, EVER, raise your voice orspeak to me like that again, you won’t be formulating words for anentire month, do you understand me?” he roared. The malice in hisvoice left goosebumps on my skin, and I couldn’t help but shiver asmy hands clung to his wrist that held my throat in place. “Do youunderstand?!” he yelled.
I hated when he raised his voice like that.It terrified the shit out of me because I knew he was serious anddangerously close to hurting me.
“Yes,” I managed to get out quickly.
“The reason I had you marked was simplybecause I wanted it. Not because you misbehaved or because I liketorturing you, but because it pleased me to do so. That seems to bethe one concept you have trouble grasping. You are here to pleaseme, Jaden, and if I desire my name on your fucking forehead, thenyou'd better graciously oblige me. I told you there was no point intrying to understand me and that questioning me was an even biggermistake, yet here you are, trying to make sense of my desires. It’sjust pissing me off to no end.”
All I could do was struggle against him as Ifought for air. Darren’s grip was so tight, and I found it gettingtighter as he spoke.
“And then when I finally bring you in todemonstrate your devotion to me, you immediately turn away and defyme again after I had just granted you an entire WEEK to let go.Extremely disappointing, Jaden. You don’t get to make decisionsanymore. You don’t get choices unless I expressly give them to you.You do as you’re told because it pleases me when you do. And todaywas a huge failure.”
I was clawing at his arm now, trying to gethim to let me go, but my nails did nothing to penetrate his jacket,and finally, I’d had enough. I jerked my arm up as hard as I couldand was able to pull the meat of his thumb a centimeter off mytrachea, allowing some air to escape. At least, he could see I wasabout to pass out from lack of oxygen and loosened his grip. I tookin a long deep, sharp breath, but I was so dizzy I couldn’t seestraight. Thankfully, the only thing I had in front of me to focuson was Darren’s chest.
“Now,” he said, still keeping his hand inplace, “can you be a good girl and do as you’re told or do you needfurther motivation?”
I was still gasping for air, terrified outof my mind to the point where I couldn’t even answer him. Icouldn’t find the words.
“Jaden,” he growled, gripping tighter andpulling me to him.
“I’ll be good,” I quickly gasped out as myhands gripped his wrists even tighter. I was right on the verge oftears.
“Good … now, there’s just one more matterthat needs attending,” he said and pulled me over to one of theweird body shaped couches and forced me down to straddle it, myface pushed against the end that curled upwards. “You even
