Survival, стр. 132
I already had Sid set everything up forJaden since she’d be out of commission for a while. He was alreadythere, waiting with a privatenurse who would finish the jobonce Sid had to leave. I only planned to be there for the firstcouple of days as I had so much more shit to take care of backhome. Once I had that under control, I would lay low for a while onthe island with Jaden while she recovered, reminding her every dayof the rules and what would happen if she didn’t follow them. I wasnot about to let this fuck-up happen ever again.
I looked down at my sleeping broken beautyand began to string my fingers through the softness of her hair.Even with all the bruises, she was still the most beautiful thing Ihad ever seen and the thought of her being gone from my life hadthe storm inside me raging for blood. In a very short span of time,she had become my obsession, my light, my reason for living.
It was the most remarkable thing andcompletely unexplainable. I didn’t know how to rationalize my needfor her, but anything more than a moment away from her presence wasabsolute torture. I craved her all the time and the fact she foughtme at nearly every turn always had me excited as fuck. She was thecolor in a white room, the sugar in black coffee, and the fire inmy darkness.
My addiction.
When Jaden woke up, things were going to bevery different for her. If she thought she hated me now, she had noidea what she’d soon be feeling when she finally opened herbeautiful amber eyes. Jaden was mine. And I made it my lifelonggoal to make her embrace it. And I knew just how to ensure it.
A dark smile formed on my lips as we pulledup to my jet, the sun setting beyond the horizon in a wave ofgolden embers. The wheels in my head turned a thousand miles aminute while I twirled a strand of Jaden’s red hair around myfingers. So beautiful, so mine … and so infinitely fucked.
ChapterForty-One
Recovery
~*~
I woke up to the sounds of a slow rhythmicbeep. Beep … beep … beep over and over again. My eyes felt heavy,my entire body roared with pain, and it felt like a jackhammer was pounding away inside my head.Forcing my eyelids to crack open, I saw the source of the beep. Itwas a heart monitor. I looked down to notice I was in a hospitalbed with an IV inserted into myarm and the heart monitor clip attached to my finger. Groaning, Iadjusted my body only to wince in ultimate pain. Everything hurt.Everything.
I tried to open my mouth to call out forsomeone, and suddenly realized that I couldn’t. I heard theheart monitor spike as fear tookover my body as I realized my jaw wouldn’t open. I began to panicand nearly screamed.
“She’s awake,” I heard a male voice call outto someone, and I instantly turned my head to the source to find aguard dressed in a black suit and tie standing beside the door.Then a woman, whom I didn’t recognize, quickly came out of anotherdoor near the guard.
“Oh, good,” she said as she rushed over tome. She was older, had short, thinbrown hair, with a plumper frame and bright red lips. She looked tobe about in her mid-sixties as she came up to my bedside. “Goodmorning, Miss Wilder. I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up. Youmust be terribly confused.”
No shit!
I looked at her with panic in my eyes. Whothe fuck was this woman and where the fuck was I? And why the fuckcouldn’t I open my jaw?!
“Shh, shh, calm down before you furtherinjure yourself. You’re going to be okay. I’m Nurse Ginsby, and I’m going to be taking care of youwhile you recover from your recent injuries.”
I tried to calm my breathing down as Iattempted to get her to tell me the extent of my recent “injuries.”I wanted to know what kind of damage Darren had done to my body. Ilifted my right wrist only to wince in serious pain and look downto find it was in a cast.
Motherfucker.
“Now, don’t struggle,” she urged me.“Your right wrist is broken andtwo of your ribs are fractured. Your lower jaw was also fracturedwhich is why you’re mouth has been wired shut to prevent furtherinjury. You also suffered a slight concussion along with multipleexternal bruising.”
Now, I was pissed. Darren had not onlycompletely immobilized me, but he alsotook away my ability to speak and cry for help. He was sucha cruel son of a bitch!
“Your prognosis is good, though,” the nurse beamed positively. “You’ve beenasleep for a couple of days and your body is already beginning toheal itself at a fine rate. Depending on your amount of rest, youshould be all healed up within a few short months and your jaw willbe unwired within the next thirty days.”
I raised my eyebrows. Thirty days? My jawwould be wired shut for thirty days?! Rage started to fill me againand the beeps on my heart monitor sped up.
“Now, keep yourself calm,” she pleaded. “Mr.Davis will not be happy if you do something to slow yourrecovery.”
I gave her the glare of death.
“Where is he?” I mumbled without opening mymouth and then winced. Any kind of vibration I made with my throathurt my jaw.
“Mr. Davis is away on business and is notcurrently on the island. He means to return as soon as he knowsyou’re awake. I imagine he will be here tomorrow.”
“Island?” I asked her. We were on an islandnow?
“Yes, sorry, you were unconscious when theybrought you here. We are on Mr. Davis’s private island.”
“Where?” I spoke softly hoping I mightactually have a location disclosed to me for once.
“The Bahamas, and we’re expected to havegreat weather this season so there should be plenty of