Darren yanked me toward him, locking me against his chest and nearly snarling
down at me.
“The man who uttered those words to you is dead because of them. So what
makes you think I will tolerate them when they leave your mouth?”
“Because he was right,” I snapped bitterly. “The only thing that validates my
life is you, and I hate you for it! I fucking hate—”
Before I could finish my rant, Darren tugged me closer and kissed me with such
force, I nearly lost my breath. His mouth was soft against mine yet firm in its
mission to distract me. Darren’s hands gripped my hips, not giving me an inch to
move while my hands remained planted on his wide chest, my blood rushing
through my veins while my stomach knotted with demonic little butterflies.
Releasing me from his kiss, his forehead lingered against mine while I fought to
find my breath.
“You can hate me all you want; it won’t change anything. But you are not ever to
hate yourself. You are worth more to me than my own fucking life, so don’t pretend
for a second that the opinion of a dead foot soldier measures your worth. He was
wrong.”
I blinked. It was the only thing I could do to respond to what he had just said.
The intensity of his eyes told me how serious he was and that I should probably
shut up about it.
“Now, I never want to hear you say shit like that again. Do you understand me?”
I pursed my lips in rebellion. “Yes.”
“Yes, what?” he snapped.
“Yes, Darren.”
“Good. Come on.”
The argument and kiss long forgotten, Darren strolled the woods with me. I
showed him the clearing where I practiced yoga and meditation. I even showed him
the tree where I’d forgotten his watch. Throughout the entire tour, I prayed like
hell my little fox family wouldn’t make themselves known. I knew that would
probably be the end of them. I kept my eyes peeled for anything gray in hopes I
could distract Darren into looking the opposite way, but it was difficult with how
observant he was.
His eyes scanned every direction, every rodent that moved, every bird that flew
by, and every branch that swung in my direction. I kept catching his eyes glancing
up for several seconds at the trees as we passed them—probably wondering where
he could hide the security cameras he was probably going to install so he could
watch me from afar.
“This can’t be all you do out here,” he suddenly said, sounding irritated. “Even I
would find myself bored after a while.”
He was looking for a reason! Goddamn snoop!
“Not when you’re only allowed an hour,” I retorted. “It goes by faster than you
think.”
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “There’s something missing. Something you’re
not sharing.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. We’ve circled the entire area.”
“Your eyes keep whipping in every direction like you’re waiting for something to
show up and you don’t want me to see it. You also keep purposely avoiding a certain
area. I want to know why.”
Shit, he was good. I was avoiding the fox den like the plague, slowly directing
him away from it as best I could and hoping to God one of those fuzzy little fuckers
didn’t show their face right now. I was afraid that if I showed him, he’d see them as
a threat and exterminate them. Maybe I could distract him with another argument?
“And your eyes keep wandering to every damn tree like you’re wondering if it’s a
good place to hide a camera,” I retorted.
“Jaden, you’d better show me what you’re hiding right now, or you won’t be
coming back out here. End of story,” he threatened.
My lips tightened in frustration before I finally sighed in defeat.
“All right, fine, but I’m trusting you not to ruin this. It makes me happy to see
them.”
“Them?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow.
“Come on,” I said, this time being the one to tug him along.
I led Darren toward the den, hoping the foxes wouldn’t be out, but of course, I
could hear the little yaps and growling of the kits. When we were about ten feet
from the tree I normally hid behind, I slowed our pace.
“You have to be really quiet, or you’ll scare them,” I said, looking up at Darren
with a pleading look. He returned a very unsettled suspicious one. “Don’t be mad,”
I pressed, emphasizing my puppy dog eyes.
Taking his hand, I pulled him into a crouching position behind a nearby bush
and pointed toward the den. The kits were playing all over the place, jumping on
broken tree stumps, clawing and snapping at each other while the mother finished
snacking on the remains of another dead rabbit. “See? Aren’t they cute?” I said
softly, hoping like fuck he thought the same thing.
“Son of a bitch,” Darren whispered under his breath, his agitation
