without a single hint of protest from her.
Jaden swayed from side to side as the bottle still hung from her left hand. I
snatched it out of her hand, setting it on the pool table behind her. Nearly half of it
was gone.
Fucking Benito…
I glared down at Jaden, my hands on her shoulders to hold her steady, but all she
did was giggle at me. I grabbed the remote to the stereo, which happened to be
sitting on the edge of the pool table, and turned off the system.
“Hey!” she whined. “I likethatsong.”
I shook my head at her. She was already slurring.
“What have you done?” I asked darkly, my hands now moving to her face, tilting
it up so I could examine her eyes. Bloodshot.
She smiled and chuckled. “I got into the liquor cabinet,” she slurred with
another giggle.
“I can see that,” I replied angrily, looking over her face. Flushed.
And then she turned, bent over, and threw up all over the rug under the pool
table.
Fuck …
I quickly stood behind her, held her hair out of her face, and rested my arm
under her pelvis to keep her supported without putting too much pressure on her
ribs or stomach. She threw up for several minutes, eventually dry heaving since her
stomach had now completely emptied all over my rug. When the nausea had
passed, she slumped in my arm while her other arm rested on the pool table to
support herself. After easing her down onto one of the nearby chairs, I placed a
trash bin in front of her and stormed out of the room.
“Is she okay?” Hank asked as I bypassed him.
“Get her cleaned up,” I ordered and went straight for Benito’s throat, hauling
him back up against the wall. He barely even fought me.
“HOW THE FUCK did you let this happen?” I roared at him, slamming him back
into the already broken picture frame.
“I- I don’t know. I left the room for one second—”
“You left her alone?!” I shouted at him as he cringed in fear. I shook with fury.
Rule number one was that Jaden was to remain within sight at all times. No
exceptions.
“No, she manipulated me. I didn’t mean—”
“You were warned about her tricks, Benito. You were supposed to be watching
her … and you failed.”
“I-I, I didn’t … I wasn’t—”
“It’s okay, Benito. Don’t worry.” I got in real close to his ear. “At least you’ll get
to die your own man and not someone else’s worthless whore.”
Benito immediately ceased his struggle as he caught on to my words. And then I
snapped his neck.
Benito’s lifeless body fell to the floor in a heap, and I stood over him in complete
satisfaction. I had listened to his little conversation with my worthless whore
earlier today, not to mention the bruises he’d put on her already damaged wrist. He
was lucky we were on the island and not back at the estate. Otherwise, I would have
taught all of my guards a lesson in respect. I would not tolerate others disrespecting
Jaden, especially to my face. I would always defend her honor. To disrespect her was
a direct insult to me, and I would not fucking have it. Blood would spill first.
After calming my racing heart, I dragged Benito’s body from the hallway and out
of Jaden’s sight. Even though she should probably get used to the sight of death
around me, I didn’t want to give her stomach another reason to jump ship. I then
pulled out my phone and arranged for two new guards to arrive in the morning. One
to relieve Hank and watch Jaden at night and the other to replace Benito. Hopefully,
the next two wouldn’t turn out to be disappointments.
I then dialed Sid, who answered on the first ring.
“Yes?” he said from the other line.
“Two days, Sid. I want someone in two days. No excuses.”
“Yes, sir,” he replied, and I ended the call.
Once Hank and Ginsby had Jaden successfully back in her suite, cleaned up and
passed out in bed, I went back to check on her a final time for the night. It was now
well after midnight, and Jaden should have been in bed hours ago. But as I watched
her sleeping form, all moments of rage ceased to exist.
Jaden’s gorgeous red hair fanned out over her pillow, and I found myself wanting
to wrap my fingers around it. I wanted to hold her small frame against my own and
feel the heat coming off her body as she melted into me. And I wanted to hear her
voice my name, even if it was only a whisper. As gently as possible, I carefully ran
the tip of my finger down her cheek, slowly tracing along her jawline before
running my knuckle back up to her temple. Her skin was so soft, so warm, and too
damn tempting.
“Don’t worry, Mr. Davis. Ginsby said she’s going to be just fine,” said Hank,
interrupting my serenity.
“Hank,” I said, my eyes still lingering over Jaden.
“Yes, sir?”
“Have someone clean up Benito.”
I swear I could hear the man gulp.
“Yes,
