again.
“Yes, Darren,” she finally answered.
“Good girl,” I said, kissing her again, and headed into the bathroom for a
shower.
When I came back out ten minutes later, she was sitting in the reading nook, her
headphones in her ears as she stared out the window. Camaro was lying next to her,
curled up on her side as Jaden petted her small head. At least, she was quiet for
once.
I changed into a sweater and jeans and laced up my boots before striding over to
her. Yanking out one of her headphones, Jaden jerked to the side at my interruption
but yielded quickly to my advance. I kissed her on the mouth with enough force to
push her back before standing back to my full height.
“You’re not to go beyond the trees. No more arguing with your guards. I’ll see
you at dinner.”
And with that, I left her there and walked out of the room, catching Romero and
Alex just outside the door.
“She can leave the room after she’s had her lunch and only if she eats it all. If
she goes outside, she stays within the trees.”
“Yes, sir,” they said, and I continued on my way to find Scott.
I found him sitting at the conference table in my office, loading the two
Remington 700 VTRs and ammunition into a black duffle bag.
“What’s your quota?” Scott asked as he loaded the last of the ammunition.
“Three or four at the most,” I replied. “Fish and Game said they’ve spotted four
in town in the last two weeks. I don’t want them coming near the property.”
“We could just shoot them on sight,” Scott offered.
I smiled. “Now, where’s the fun in that?”
The Department of Natural Resources of Anchorage had officially extended the
open season on black bear hunting due to the sudden rise in population, and I
intended to solve their problem. I didn’t want to risk the bears coming too close to
the property and becoming a danger to Jaden. No doubt, she’d find them
fascinating and try to get a better look or protect them while they tried to maul her
to death. I wasn’t having that shit, so I planned to take care of it myself. Plus, I
enjoyed a good hunt every now and then.
“All set,” Scott said as he zipped up the bag and grabbed his black winter coat
from his chair. I grabbed the special tactical gear I kept in my office for hunts like
this, grabbed the duffel, and headed out with Scott into the wilderness.
38
IDIOT
I couldn’t believe this bullshit. All I wanted to do was take Camaro out on the
snow-covered balcony so she could go to the bathroom, but no, I had to be stuck
here, cleaning up her puppy pads like it was my most favorite thing to do. The
second I stepped through the door to the balcony, those two airheads came barging
in, barking at me to back away from the door.
I’d thought for a second there might be an actual threat, but when they asked
why I’d opened the door and I answered them, that was when all hell broke loose. I
was ready to kick Romero in the teeth for how stupid I thought his interpretation of
Darren’s rules was, but that would have only landed me in more trouble. I was
grateful Darren didn’t at least undermine me in front of them; that would have
been too embarrassing. But the fact that I was being forced to stay here until my
lunch before I could go out confirmed who had won that little battle. And that, in
and of itself, was fucking embarrassing. I hated being treated like a child, and the
more freedom I got, the harder it was to deal with when it was taken away.
Staring at the hands of my new Rolex, I watched the time go by slower than ever.
The longer I watched the hands, the more pissed off I became. If Alex and Romero
hadn’t barged in, I’d be outside already, doing what I wanted to do. Didn’t they
know I could fuck their world up? I was not someone they wanted on their bad side
because I could make their lives hell if I wanted to.
And fuck them. I would.
Until then, I decided to get a little exercise and pulled out the hacky sack Scott
had gotten me for Christmas. I bet the asshole didn’t even know I knew what the
damn thing was in the first place. I plugged in my iPod, turned on some old-school
Nelly, and stood in the middle of the room. I dropped the sack to my ankle and
immediately started kicking it with the side of my foot, watching it bounce eye level
in the air. Back and forth from one foot to the next, I kicked the hacky sack for what
felt like hours. It was honestly a fun little game that kept my foot-eye coordination
and reflexes intact. I could kick it over my shoulder then back over with the ball of
my foot, stall it on my chest, bounce it on my knee, switch feet midair, even
scorpion kick the
