Page 128 of Spark

“She’s also unequivocally mine,” I replied sternly.

Matt chuckled. “Relax, Dare. It’s just an observation.”

“I thought you were too distracted by your own new slave to pay attention to anything else.”

Matt sighed, but there was a hint of a smile on his lips. “She is quite the distraction. One I can’t seem to get enough of. I don’t know why I didn’t participate in the auction sooner.”

“There’s another one coming up next week if you want a second,” I said with a smirk.

“Nah, one slave is enough for me. Her training is coming along too well. I don’t need another distraction to screw that up.”

“Well, if you ever change your mind…” I added, leaving the suggestion open to him.

“You know; you should consider bringing Jaden over. I bet the reunion would be interesting,” Matt offered.

I thought about it for a second wondering how Jaden would react to seeing an old friend. It didn’t sound like a good idea.

“I thought you just said you didn’t need someone screwing up your slave’s training.”

Matt chuckled. “Suddenly, you’re not so confident in your slave’s training and behavior?”

“Jaden is not a slave,” I said, turning back to look at her, admiring her from afar. “She’s so much more than that. But a reunion could prove problematic.”

“We’ll talk about it later. Right now, I just want to eat and get drunk.”

Our drinks were then placed on the bar, and we both headed back to the table. I found Jaden’s eyes fully engrossed on Dan and Katherine as they continued to greet other guests. I set her drink down in front of her a little harder than usual to redirect her attention and leaned into her ear.

“You will find no useful information here to use against me. Stop bothering,” I said darkly. I knew she was going to play the role of a sponge tonight, gathering as much information and detail as she could to use against me later. But nothing of importance to her was here tonight.

“You mistake my intentions,” she said quietly, turning her eyes away. “I tend to people watch in crowds. It’s an old habit.”

Old habit, my ass.

Jaden took a long sip of her drink and moaned in satisfaction. “Mmm… damn, that’s good.”

“Good. Focus on that for a while.”

“You got it,” she said, taking another sip.

47

A Little Entertainment

Dinner turned into an interesting event. We shared a table with Dan, Katherine, Matt, and regrettably Regina. Dom still hadn’t shown yet, and I was getting pissed that he was late for this. Family was the most important thing in this business, and if you didn’t prove that, you became untrustworthy. At least Jaden was sitting quietly at my side while irrelevant conversation played out in front of her. I’d spoken with Dan and Matt to make sure business was left out of the conversation. I didn’t need Jaden picking up on anything she need not worry about.

“So Jaden,” Regina called out from across the table. “Where did you get your hair color done?” she asked. “I’ve been dying to get that color for years.”

Jaden cleared her throat before answering. “Genetics Salon and Spa,” she said, and everyone around the table immediately chuckled, myself included.

Smartass.

Regina looked confused. “Darren, is that downtown?” she asked me.

I scoffed, trying my best to curb my laughter. “Jaden is a natural redhead, Regina.”

“Oh… well she could have just said that,” she replied quietly and went back to picking at her salad.

“Where’re my brothers at!” came a loud, obnoxious voice off in the distance. I didn’t even need to turn around to know Dominic had finally arrived.

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