“I’m aware of the symptoms of depression, Sid. What I’m unaware of is how to
fix it in Jaden’s case.”
“Can’t we just put the chick on some more meds or something?” interrupted
Hank.
I instantly scowled at him, rage burning my eyes.
“That chick is my future wife and mother of my goddamn future children. Show
some fucking respect, Hank,” I seethed.
Hank bowed his head in submission. “My apologies, Mr. Davis,” he said quickly
backtracking.
“It’s not that easy,” Sid started with a deep sigh. “It’s not like Jaden has a
chemical imbalance that can be fixed with a few prescriptions. She’s just upset over
her current situation because she feels powerless. We just need to find a way to
motivate her again. Give her something to look forward to besides sleeping and
irritating her staff.”
“Yeah, good luck with that,” Hank chimed in, and I couldn’t help but glare at
him.
“Sleep is her way of coping. She prefers it to her reality because she doesn’t
have to deal with the pain of it,” explained Sid. “And when she is awake, irritating
you and Benito is her way of distracting herself from her own pain. Her only form of
real entertainment. We’ve got to give her a better reason to want to wake up in the
morning.”
“The only motivation she currently has is to fantasize about killing me,” I said
bluntly.
I knew Jaden still hated me and wanted me dead. I didn’t exactly blame her,
considering what I had done to her, but eventually, I would change her mind. I just
wanted something else entirely to motivate her to get out of bed.
Hank and Sid exchanged looks in response to my admission, but they shrugged
in a way of agreement. They could see it in Jaden’s eyes whenever she was plotting
something. Nothing ever came of it, but I knew when her eyes glazed over and her
jaw clenched, she was plotting. My little open book.
“Well, we just need to change her mind,” Sid said positively.
I chuckled. He acted like it was going to be easy, but Jaden would always have a
place in her heart that burned with hellfire for me no matter how good I was to her.
But it didn’t matter. This tiny disruption would not deter my plans.
As soon as Jaden fully healed, she’d kick up her own ashes and give blaze to the
buried embers still glowing beneath. This was just a minor setback for her, only
temporary, or as temporary as I would allow it. I had to create a way for that spark
to ignite those flames again, and it would start with her mental health first.
“So what do we do?” I asked with irritation.
“Well, I can tell, she is very lonely. We cou—”
“What the hell do you mean she’s lonely?” I cut in. “She’s surrounded by people
twenty-four-seven.”
“But no one who’s allowed to converse with her casually,” Sid responded
cautiously. He did have a point. I didn’t allow casual conversation with Jaden
because not only did I not trust her, but I didn’t trust my staff with her either.
“What about the damn nurse?” I ask Sid.
“Ginsby? No way. She’d bore Jaden to death.”
I groaned in frustration. This was not how I planned this conversation to go.
“So what do you suggest? I find her a temporary island BFF?”
Hank scoffed with amusement but quickly retracted his response when I glared
at him from across my desk.
“Actually, that’s not a bad idea. Jaden could use a personal trainer to get her
going again. Maybe we could find one who’s friendly enough to get Jaden back into
shape. Maybe someone around her own age?”
I looked away from Sid, considering the idea. Maybe finding her a temporary
friend was a good idea. Jaden wouldn’t like it, and she’d refuse it all, but then again,
it wasn’t really her choice anymore. Maybe this “friend” could give her something
else to focus on, like herself. She’d have to have the right personality, someone
who could really encourage her to get better. She’d also have to have skin thicker
and tougher than a crocodile. Or possibly just someone almost annoying enough to
motivate Jaden to get rid of her, and to do that, she’d have to push herself to get
better.
“All right, fine,” I finally agreed. “Start looking for a personal trainer. Let me
know when you have it down to a final three, and I’ll make my decision. I’ll discuss
it with Jaden after we choose a trainer. And I want good credentials, Sid, the
absolute best. Until then, not a word of this to anyone,” I said, eyeing Sid and
Hank.
“You got it, boss,” Hank said with a nod.
“I’ll get started right away,” Sid said, getting up and heading for the door.
“Oh, and Sid,” I added as he stopped at the doorway. “Find someone …
annoyingly happy.”
He smirked. “I’ll have your candidates by the end of the week.”
I nodded while both left my office without another word. I worried about
bringing another person onto the island to be with Jaden, but it couldn’t cause any
more harm than I’d already done. Maybe this person could give Jaden something
else to focus on besides her misery and determination to try to kill me. I rolled my
eyes at the thought. She needed to get over herself and stop denying the truth.
You’d think she would have learned by now she wouldn’t win against me. Ever.
Thinking about all the times she’d fought me before had me itching to have a go
at her again. It’d been so long since I’d last had her squirming and moaning
beneath me. Just the thought had me reaching to adjust the hardening length in my
pants. I didn’t trust myself with her, though. Not in her fragile state. If I had my
way with her now, I’d set her back weeks of recovery, and I couldn’t afford to wait
any longer than I already had to. I already wanted her too much as it was, and it
only got harder every day. Literally.
The sounds of banging and yelling from the hallway cut my thoughts short. The
sounds were faint, but I could hear someone calling out Jaden’s name in anger.
Fuck, what had she done now …
I left my office and followed the source of the chaos to the parlor, finding Hank
banging on the door, and Benito screaming Jaden’s name, along with some very
unsettling threats that made me see red.
I stormed over to Hank and Benito, who upon observing me, immediately ceased
their failed forced entry.
“What the fuck happened now?” I growled. I could hear loud rap music coming
from the other side of the doors.
“The stupid bitch locked herself in the parlor!” shouted Benito.
Without thinking, my fist instantly collided with his jaw, knocking him right to
the floor. Wrapping my hand around his throat, I swiftly hauled him up to standing
and slammed his head into the hanging glass picture behind him, hoping the glass
would dig into his skull.
“And how the fuck did my stupid bitch manage to do that?” I asked, my voice
laced with venom as I stared him down.
“She … snuck out,” he tried to say when I came to realize I was squeezing too
hard.
“Obviously,” I said, dropping his usel
ess weight to the floor. Marching my way
toward the locked door, I lifted my knee and kicked the handles of the double doors
in, splintering the wood and knocking one of the doors completely off its hinges.
I stormed inside, my eyes immediately scanning for Jaden and any possible
threats, even though I knew there were none. Ludacris boomed through the stereo
system overhead, drowning out the chance of hearing any other sounds in the
room, but that was okay. My hearing wasn’t totally necessary for the interesting
sight before me.
“Move, bitch! Get out the way! Get out the way, bitch! Get out the way!” came
Jaden’s voice as she rapped along with the lyrics, a bottle of Jack Daniel’s in her
hand as she stood on top of the pool table in the corner of the room. Her back was
to me as she danced to the song in her silky white pajamas, rotating those hips of
hers and stretching her arms above her head. She was clearly too drunk to even
notice the doors had been kicked in or too drunk to care.
The song then remixed to “Get Back,” and Jaden nearly lost her shit as her feet
instantly switched to a fighting stance and her fists came out to fall in line with the
rhythm of the bass. She rapped the lyrics like it was another language, and if I
hadn't been so pissed, I might have actually laughed at how cute and entertaining I
found it.
It was then that she finally turned around and noticed me standing right behind
her, my arms folded across my chest as my glare finally caught her face. Yet she
didn’t react. No thanks to the alcohol. Instead, she pointed at me, a big goofy smile
on her face as she rapped, “I ain’t playing around. Make one false move, I’ll take ya
down. Get back, motherfucker! You don’t know me like that! Get back,
motherfucker! You don’t know me like that!”
Had this not been so dangerous, I probably would have pulled up a chair and
watched the show, maybe even tossed a few hundreds in the air, but the fact was
Jaden was still recovering, was on medication, and was at risk of falling and further
injuring herself. I had to call the curtain.
I quickly marched over to the pool table, swept my arm under Jaden’s knees, and
caught her upper body gently, easily removing her from the table and setting her
down on her feet before me. It might have been the first time I picked her up
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
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 ey
es still lingering over Jaden.
“Yes, sir?”
“Have someone clean up Benito.”
I swear I could hear the man gulp.
“Yes, sir,” he said softly then moved to the corner of the room to quietly make a
phone call.
I went back to focusing on my serenity for the next several hours.
7
HANGOVER
I woke up the following morning with a splitting headache. The sun beamed right
in my eyes, forcing me to turn on my side with a groan and pull the sheet up to
cover my entire head from the light. But then the sound of the blender flooded my
ears with a loud grinding noise and my irritation became too much to resist.
“Hey, turn that shit off!” I shouted at Ginsby, yanking the sheet off my face to
yell at her. But as she ignored me, my eyes traveled to an angry looking Darren
sitting at my table, watching me with that disapproving look. The blender then
stopped. “Oh, forget this. I’m going back to bed,” I whined then pulled the sheet
back over my head and curled into myself.
I could hear Darren’s furious footsteps as he marched over to me and ripped the
sheet from my body. “Get up,” he commanded, but I just curled tighter into myself,
groaning with agitation. “Get up, Jaden!” he roared over me, and I flinched
instinctively before slowly unraveling myself, my eyes trained only on him, afraid
he might move me himself. When I was finally sitting upright, he visibly relaxed,
but his eyes were still as cold as ever. “We need to have a little talk, you and me.”
I sighed, pulling my knees up to rest my elbows on my thighs and rub my face
awake. “I’m too hungover for this. What do you want to talk about?”
“Sobering you up. Go take a shower and meet me on the patio for lunch in thirty
minutes.”
Lunch?
“Wait, what time is it?” I asked, groggy.
“Twelve thirty. Now, get up,” he ordered.
“Yes, Heir Hitler,” I said with a salute.
Darren ignored my humor and walked out of the room, his phone immediately
seeking his ear. Shit, had I really slept that late? It certainly felt like it.
“Good morning, dear,” Ginsby said with a smile, walking over to me hopefully
with my hangover cure. “Or should I say good afternoon? Here, drink this. It’ll take