Page 112 of Spark

When the third day came, I was allowed to go to the gym in the basement to work out. Accompanied by my guards, whose names I didn’t bother to learn this time, I was escorted to the gym that contained not a single occupant. It was all to myself. After plugging my headphones in, I practiced some yoga rather than beat the shit out of a punching bag like I usually would. My arm was still too sore to handle the pressure of my punches, so I decided to work my legs and core instead. I still felt lethargic with depression, but I hoped stretching my limbs would help. It didn’t.

On the fourth day, I was finally allowed to wander the house and again and spent some time in the sunroom with Camaro. I tried to teach her some tricks with the limited amount of treats I had, and eventually, she was able to sit on command. Getting her to roll over was another story.

It was annoying that I only had so much daylight before the sun went down and shadowed the mountains in the night. At least the sky was something to behold with the millions of stars out on display every night.

Even though Christmas was officially over, I still had Christmas music playing in the background. But something really funny happened to Camaro when “O Holy Night” by Jackie Evancho came on. Camaro started to sing. She immediately stopped chewing on the rope toy in her mouth, and her ears and nose perked up. And then a little howl, mimicking the song, escaped. It was the cutest fucking thing I’d ever seen. She howled for a good minute, and I quickly grabbed my tablet to try to record it, but that function had been locked somehow.

On the fifth day, I was permitted to take Camaro outside, but only for a half hour and only after all of my lunch was gone. She played in the snow and explored the grounds before we were ultimately shunned back inside. I was actually kind of okay with it. My eyes couldn’t stop scanning the trees for more wolves, terrified I’d find those dark yellow eyes staring back at me. It made it really hard to enjoy the fresh air, but at least, Camaro was enjoying herself.

After growing tired of my hacky sack and card building, I focused on some advanced yoga, balancing on my one good hand while my legs hovered in the air above me. For some reason, this enticed Camaro to want to play, so I tried to incorporate her into the workout. I tried balancing her on my folded legs as I lifted myself up with both hands, and she managed to stay still on my back while I planked on the floor. When I turned over, she was smart enough to follow the route of my body, so she was sitting on my rib cage while I bridged with her on top of me. She was a good thirty-five pounds, so she made quite a difference in my workout. My arm ached the entire time, but for some reason, I welcomed the pain this time. I wanted to push through the pain just so I could prove to myself that I could handle it.

After dinner, I retreated to the couch, staring at the fire and alternating between playing games on my tablet and reading up on the pack traits of wolves from a book I downloaded. Camaro was asleep at my feet, curled up and keeping my toes warm while she snoozed. It wasn’t much later that I found myself unable to hold my eyes open.

* * *

I woke to the feeling of soft kisses trailing down on the side of my face. I groaned at the touch, wanting to curl away into myself to avoid waking up, but it seemed someone else had a different plan.

“This is the fourth night in a row I’ve come home to find you sleeping on the couch. Why aren’t you sleeping in our bed?”

Darren’s voice was soft, yet the tone was still stern as ever. I kept my eyes closed, too tired to open them, but made an attempt to answer him. He knew I was awake enough.

“Because I’m mad at you,” I mumbled. I heard a ghost of a laugh escape him.

“When aren’t you mad at me?”

“I’m usually less mad when I’m not confined to one single room for three days.”

“Is someone not enjoying their punishment?”

“I was almost eaten by a pack of wolves and have the scars to prove it. Isn’t that experience punishment enough?”

“Not even close,” he said darkly.

I released a sigh through my nose as I curled into myself more.

“I’m sorry I ruined everything. Again.”

Darren exhaled heavily before picking me up in his arms and carrying me over to the bed. I didn’t fight him. I just wanted to go back to sleep.

He tucked me in under the sheets, took off his own clothes, and slipped in behind me, pulling me close and resting my head on his shoulder. He was so warm and solid; I couldn’t stop myself from curling into his side. His lips brushed against my forehead as I settled, his big hand rubbing along my bare arm and lulling me back to sleep.

“No more sleeping on the couch,” I heard him say.

“Mmmhmm,” I mumbled before slipping back into unconsciousness.

42

Forgiveness

In the morning, I woke up alone and went through my usual morning routine of breakfast and bullshit. I got to take Camaro out again for her walk while it lightly snowed outside. Doing my best to forget my fear of wild animals, I looked around to appreciate the view of the mountains surrounding us. It was beyond beautiful, and I wondered what everything looked like in the spring or summer, or even the fall. I wondered how often we could come back here, but what use was that if I was confined to one room all the time and didn’t even get to explore the town. I doubted Darren would take me out now. I was such a fuck-up.

After lunch, I put my hair up in a clip and gave Camaro her first bath since she had decided to dig through the snow and got herself covered in muddy snow. Worse. Idea. Ever. I had never given a dog a bath, and I had no clue that it would involve me basically taking a bath with her. I was glad I was at least smart enough to cover my arm with plastic wrap to keep the soapy puppy water from touching it. At first, she was afraid of the water, but once she got used to it, she wouldn’t stop splashing around and playing in it. She wouldn’t sit still while I scrubbed her fur clean with the puppy soap, and she made the biggest fucking mess every time she shook the water from her fur.

Once I felt she was clean enough, I turned off the mobile showerhead, and Camaro shook more water from her fur. I tried to block it with a towel, but she still managed to get more of it on the tiled walls behind the tub. Picking her up with the towel, I knelt on the floor and rubbed the towel up and down her little body while she fussed and whined. I let her go for a moment so I could plug in my hair dryer to finish the drying process, but by the time I turned back around, she was already chewing on the door to the walk-in shower.

“Goddammit, Camaro, stop that!” I yelled at her, bending down to pick her up.

That was when I felt a swift hard smack on my ass. Jolting upward and turning with the fist of my good arm ready to connect in the air, it was met with the tight grip of a very large, warm hand. My heart beating out of my chest from surprise and my ass pulsing with heat, I turned to find Darren standing behind me, holding my wrist in place with a very stern look on his face. I felt myself blanch. I hadn’t even heard him come in.

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