WICKED PARADISE | JENLISA

TWENTY

JENNIE
***

HOME.

For the next four years.

I accepted it now. Or at least…I accepted it for now. Maybe someday, I’d get free. But until that chance came, I would learn to be grateful for what I had, rather than the false freedom that I didn’t.

I was lucky.

So, so lucky compared to so many others. I would do my best not to complain or despair about my situation when I had a roof over my head, food in my belly, and an owner who had some ability to care for me.

Lisa commanded the helicopter pilots to turn off the machine, the sound of the rotors winding down still loud in my ears. Skittles hadn’t stopped trembling the entire flight, but at least she’d endured my makeshift prison, pressing gently on her wings so she couldn’t fly around and get hurt.

Not that she could’ve gotten hurt in the luxury cocooning us. I hadn’t taken notice of the interior when I’d been flown here the first time, my neck aching from the tracker being removed and my wrist itching from my new tattoo, but all of Lisa’s belongings glowed with class.

The helicopter was no different.

Elegant cream material covered the large bench seat, fluffy padding softened the five-point harness, and the ceiling had pinpricks of light mimicking far-flung constellations.

When the rotors finally hung heavy and sullen, Lisa moved. Sliding open the large door, she climbed out regally, a magistrate back in her kingdom.

I waited for her to storm off, pissed at my running, angry that I’d stumbled onto an island that had been her secret. Instead, she turned around with her hand up, as if waiting to escort me from the aircraft.

My heart tripped and hiccupped. With the sun sliding into late afternoon, its rays were no longer as harsh, transforming Lisa from rigid ruler to golden-hued gentlewoman. She was unbelievably gorgeous. I’d never grow used to the perfect shape of her lips, or the effortless way he wore a suit.

Flashes of her naked skin beneath her blazer ensured I needed another bottle of water for my sudden thirst. She made my body malfunction. My heart stuttered, my breath faltered, and my brain short-circuited in favour of some ancient intelligence.

There was something there.

Between us.

Between captor and captive, aggressor and slave.

But there shouldn’t be.

This bonded connection shouldn’t have evolved in these circumstances. I didn’t know if that made me stupid or Lisa a hypocrite. Either way, we could deny what we felt for the rest of our time together, but unless we accepted it—truly accepted it, talked about it, confessed it…then only disaster would follow.

Lisa’s brilliant blue gaze glowed brighter, waiting for me to place my palm in her. With the heaviest sigh born from fear of losing myself and heartache over what would come from this, I opened my hands and let Skittles fly free.

For a second, she remained where she was, confused by the weight of my hand disappearing from her dainty wings. She cocked her head and chirped, then spread her green plumage and took off.

She fluttered out the door and into the palm trees, accosted by a second green bullet that I assumed was Pika welcoming her back. They both vanished into the greenery, leaving Lisa and me alone in our own challenging, chemistry-charged existence.
Scooting over the cream seat, I reluctantly, eagerly, warily placed my palm in her.