Page 17 of Spark

But then it suddenly hit me.

My initial targets were not in attendance…

Did that mean?

Holy fuck! It did! They had gotten away!

I couldn’t help but smile in his stupid fucking face. Mission accomplished.

“Fucking. Win,” I sneered with a smirk.

In a fit of rage, Darren released my throat with a hard shove, causing me to stumble back and my throat to ache, but the smile remained on my face.

“You won’t be smiling for long when I find them. And I will find them, Jaden.”

“Good luck.” I smiled, my jaw now pulsing hard with a tired pain I fought to ignore. I had fucking won. I felt elated—light and airy—like I had finally accomplished something Darren couldn’t prevent. I was pushing my luck with my smug attitude. Darren still had plenty of my other family members at his disposal, and even though my main focus was on my immediate, I didn’t want anything to happen to the rest of my family. He might kill my family, but he would torture Jason to death… and I’d have a front row seat to that show. I was not fucking letting that happen.

“None needed,” he said with a scowl. “Now, sit down and shut your mouth before I find a better use for it,” Darren said sternly, and the smile disappeared from my face. I didn’t need to challenge him any more than I already had.

The rest of our breakfast was spent in silence, and when it was over, Darren took a call rather than torture me further with some afternoon alone time. Instead, I was escorted back to my suite by Hank and Blondie, where I spent the rest of my day gazing out the window and had dinner alone. Eventually, the moon had risen, shining above the clouds, and I wondered if Jason saw the exact same moon as I did.

Maybe it wasn’t as full wherever he was, or maybe it wasn’t as bright, but tonight’s moon burned with the hope that he was safe with my mom and brothers and that they were all right. I longed to be with them to the point of absolute agony. I wanted to wrestle with my brothers and hear them laugh as I tickled the shit out of them after a submission. I wanted to gossip with my mom about the latest celebrity bullshit because she enjoyed making fun of them all just as much as I did. But most of all, I just wanted to hear Jason’s voice one last time. I wanted to feel every inch of him against me and never let him go. To see his rough, handsome face and those gorgeous green eyes would be enough to make my entire heart melt all over again, but the memory of him was only making it break deeper. My heart ached for him like he was the blood missing from my veins. That night, I fell asleep on the window nook with a river flowing down my face.

8

Holly

“Jaden. Jaden, wake up.”

I groaned and burrowed further into the pillow of the reading nook.

“Jaden, come on. Time to get up,” said a happy female voice I didn’t recognize.

“Fuck off,” I grumbled, pulling the blanket tighter around my shoulders.

Whoever it was gasped. “Such language.” And then she huffed. “Come on, Jaden. Up, up, up.” She started clapping her hands together like that was somehow the magic code to get me to rise.

I begrudgingly turned around and glared at whoever the fuck was waking me up to find some petite young brunette with a way-too-happy round face and big white teeth. I rolled my eyes. My new physical therapist.

“Ugh. Holly, right?” I asked with an irritated tone.

“That’s right,” she said with a bright smile as if she were super proud of her name. Her lean, short figure was dressed in a sunflower yellow athletic tank top, light gray knee-length athletic leggings, running shoes, and her hair was up in a high ponytail with a matching yellow headband. She looked like a bee, buzzing around and annoying already.

“Okay, look, Holly,” I said with a drawn-out yawn. “I don’t know what they told you about me, but I don’t need your help. They’re just overreacting. I’m fine. So… you can probably just go now.”

She gave me a very confused look, but then she smiled. I wasn’t going to deter her from her mission.

“I was told you were going to difficult, but that’s okay,” she said with a smile. “I understand it can be hard to get back on the saddle, and it can be even harder to admit that you’ve fallen and can’t get back up in the first place, but don’t worry, because I promise I will get you back up there in no time!”

Okay, now, her voice was annoying me. It was high pitched and almost nasally.

“Yeah, I’m gonna pass on that,” I said, giving her a disinterested look, and laid back against the pillow, closing my eyes.

“Oh, come on, Jaden,” she said with that annoying cheery voice, but then she made the mistake of putting her hands on my shoulder. “It’ll be fu—”

On pure instinct, I grabbed her narrow wrist and twisted it away from my shoulder, holding it in place as I stared her down in warning. She gasped in shock as she attempted to pull away.

“Look, Holly, I might be injured, but I can still hurt you. And I really don’t want to do that. So please… just go.”

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