Page 50 of Spark

“Oh, my God, Jaden. Is he… is he going to kill me?”

Probably.

Her face washed with horror as she cringed into herself. I had to do something.

“I don’t know,” I said, trying to sound reassuring, though I totally sucked at it. “I don’t even know if he knows what you’ve discovered. Maybe we can play it off like you’re still clueless. You can be a little ditzy sometimes,” I said apologetically.

“Gee, thanks,” she said sarcastically.

“Just lay low, don’t do anything irrational—”

“Miss Jaden,” Hank suddenly said, halting me midsentence. I looked over at him, suddenly worried he’d overheard us. “Mr. Davis would like to see you in his office. Now.”

My heart suddenly stopped beating. Oh, fuck.

“D-did he say why?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm.

“No, ma’am.” He shook his head, walking toward me and giving me a nudge toward the house. “Now, let’s go.”

In an odd manner, Hank and Blondie flanked us while we were escorted back into the house. I could feel my heart pounding out of my chest while I rubbed my sweating palms against my thighs. This wasn’t good. Darren never called me into his office.

He knew. He had to fucking know. There was no further explanation for why he wanted me in his office, right at this very moment. Fuck.

After putting our shoes back on that we left on the grass, I felt Holly continuously glance at me as if she needed confirmation for what I was thinking. She was scared. She should be.

“Ms. Ketter, if you’ll follow me, please?” Blondie suddenly said once we got back into the house, waving his hand in the opposite direction of the hallway.

All four of us stopped in the middle of the hallway, and Holly stared at me like she wasn’t sure what to do. So I stepped in for a quick hug and whispered into her ear.

“It’s going to be okay,” I lied. “Don’t worry.”

I let her go, and she gave me a sad smile before turning away with Blondie. I felt my lungs get heavy as I fought back the tears that threatened to choke me. I had to stop this. I had to be able to fix it somehow. I turned back around with Hank and followed him to Darren’s office like I was on death row, heading for the electric chair. I hoped that maybe he would just want a quick fuck and then be done with me. But I so doubted it.

When we reached the double oak doors, Hank knocked and waited for confirmation to enter. I suddenly wished I wore something sexier than just my light pink skort, white tank top, and running shoes. Maybe if I were in a nice dress, I could distract him with my body and come up with a plan for Holly.

The door opened, revealing Scott who looked down at me like he knew what I was in for. Oh, shit. Shit, shit, shit. He stepped aside, and Hank ushered me through. Stepping outside, Scott closed the door behind me, leaving me alone in the room with Darren. Breathing suddenly became more difficult.

Darren’s office was huge. There were a few windows here and there, allowing a nice view of the ocean, wood paneling against the dark brown painted walls, burgundy rugs covering wood floors, and another fireplace directly across from the large wooden desk toward the back of the room. Black leather chairs and couches were arranged accordingly throughout the room, along with a conference table, a fully stocked wet bar, and several well-stacked bookshelves.

I could hear clicking on the other side of the room, suddenly realizing as I stood awkwardly at the door that Darren was typing something at his desk. He was turned away from me, facing three monitors while he furiously typed away on his computer. I could feel my nerves getting the better of myself as I awkwardly looked around, trying to focus on a black and white photo on the wall in a shit attempt to distract myself.

“Come here, Jaden.” I finally heard him speak, drawing my attention back toward his desk. His voice was smooth and calm, yet it did nothing to ease my suspicion. He was still typing, his eyes centered on the screen in deep concentration.

Trying my best to conceal the wobbliness in my steps, I tentatively made my way over to Darren’s desk and around to his chair. I tried to sneak a peek at the contents of his desk, finding several paper documents scattered in neat piles, some charts, others looked like reports, contracts, and some documents containing a triangular shield-like logo with the name Triguard at the top of the letterhead. There were no knick-knacks or picture frames, nothing of any significance or personalization. Everything on his desk had a specific purpose, and as my eyes lingered on the pen basket containing a long letter opener, I wondered if any of it contained a purpose for me.

After a short moment, Darren finally stopped typing, making a few clicks with his mouse before swiveling in his chair around to face me. Without even so much as a glance, he grabbed my hips and pulled me onto his lap. I gasped in surprise, my heart fluttering wildly, but didn’t fight him. Swiveling back around, Darren clicked on his screen a few times, bringing up a new window.

“I want to show you something,” he said casually and then kissed the side of my temple.

When the window finally loaded, I realized it was a video clip, more specifically a clip from his security cameras. Darren clicked the play button and secured his arms around my body, loosely caging me against him. He seemed relaxed as the video began to play, but as soon as I was able to focus on the video, I became anything but.

It was of Holly and me, running on the beach before stopping right in front of the palm trees… where a camera had obviously been hidden. And then the camera zoomed in, increasing the volume.

“So I did a little digging and went through your medical records, which happened to be very easy for me to access, by the way.”

I instantly tensed. He’d heard the entire conversation. Every. Fucking. Word.

Unable to stop myself, I jerked against him, wanting to break his hold and delete the clip, but that wasn’t possible. Tightening his hold, Darren’s grip on me abruptly increased, pulling me back to him, and I couldn’t hide the shock in my breath. And then I felt his lips against my ear.

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