ChapterTwenty-Eight
Acceptance
I woke up the next morning with a jolt froma nightmare and was consumed with more pain than I thoughtimaginable. My body ached, my ass burned, my pussy throbbed, mythroat was sore, and my eyes felt puffy and heavy from crying. Iwas a fucking wreck. When I opened my heavy lids, the light in theroom was still very dim and soft. It was probably near dawn.
I rolled over, clutching the soft bed sheetto my chin and realized Darren was not in bed with me; he wasn’teven in the room with me. I was beyond thankful. Last night, he hadcompletely destroyed my body with pain, pleasure, and more orgasmsthan I could count. After seeing my family on TV, I had obviouslybeen in a stupid, uncalculated rage, and I tried to make Darren payfor it, but I was such a stupid little girl if I thought I couldever really hurt him. And he certainly proved that to me lastnight. Eventually, I had just given up, too exhausted to continuefighting with him, and just let him prove his point until he waswell satisfied. And now I was still paying for it. I would probablypay for it for the rest of the week.
And then I realized my family could pay forit, too. When he threatened to eliminate them like that, it putthings in a whole new perspective for me. He had used them asleverage if I ever managed to kill him, but now he was using themif I simply didn’t behave for him. I definitely couldn’t letanything happen to them. I would have to behave until I figuredsomething out.
As I laid down, I realized how the pillowsand sheets smelled just like Darren. That clean musky, woodsy scentof his was engulfing me, and I suddenly didn’t want to spendanother moment in his bed no matter how shitty I felt.
I slowly rolled my naked ass off the bed,taking small steps between winces of pain as I grabbed a silkyblack robe from Darren’s closet, it reaching well passed my knees,and made my way toward the bedroom door. I was determined to sleepin my own fucking bed since he was probably gone for the day. Butas I just about grabbed the handle, a small warning shock from mycollar stunned me, and I stumbled back away from the door.
Son of a bitch.
Well, Imight not be able to leave his room, but I certainly wasn’t stayingin his bed. I decided to step out onto his balcony and watch thesunrise from one of the cushionedlounge chairs. But as I stepped out to admire the view, my eyesfocused on some movement on the beach.
When I focused my eyes, I realized it wasDarren. He was standing in the sand, bare-chested, black pants, and barefoot holding whatlooked like two wooden sticks in his hands. Surrounding him werefour men dressed in all black, each one holding a single woodenstick similar to Darren’s. When I focused my attention, I realizedthey were arnis sticks, another traditional weapon of a practicingmartial artist.
One man stood in front of him, one to hisback, one to his left, and one to his right. And then all at once,they attacked him. But, oh, he wasflawless. He maneuvered around his opponents effortlessly, blockingtheir attacks with his arnises andaggressively counterattacking.
Darren’s muscles flexed under the weight ofeach strike, and I found my heartbeat suddenly increase at hisgraceful yet ferocious agility. His technique was beautiful as hewielded his weapons with absolute perfection, carefully calculatingevery move, every strike, and subduing his opponents in less than afew minutes. They all laid in the sand surrounding him while theyclutched their bodies and moaned in pain. It was then that helooked up and saw me standing on his balcony, arms folded across mychest and watching him. He smirked, placed both arnis sticks in onehand, and blew me a kiss. I just stared him down before slowingturning on my heels and heading back into his bedroom.
Fuck, he was impressive and obviously reallyfucking dangerous. I wished I couldcompete against him like that. But if he could handle four guys atonce, then I was seriously fucked; especially since he had justspent all night fiercely fucking me before being out there at thecrack ass of dawn, training like it was no big deal while I was uphere throbbing and aching all over. He had to be an alien.There was no other explanation.
I went back inside and took a shower inDarren’s bathroom. While I waited for the water to heat up, I summoned the courage to look at myselfin the mirror and nearly cried. My eyes were red, puffy, andbloodshot from last night’s tears and lack of sleep, and a largered bite mark on the side of my neck stung like a bitch. Smallbruises marked my wrists, hips, and ribs, and my ass had small redlines across my cheeks. God, I was a fucking mess.
I barely had any energy to stand, so I satin the corner and washed myself until I felt clean enough to justsit there and rinse off. I let the spray of the hot shower raindown on me, enveloping me in a warm and wet heat. I pulled my kneesto my chest, wrapped my arms around my legs, and laid my foreheadon top of my knees. That was when I started to cry. Again.
I was in pain, both mental and physical, andI wanted everything to just go away. Last night had been horrible,and I was seriously pissed at myself for going
