In Enemy Territory

by M. E. Clayton

  “What are you doing here, Fiona?” Jared asked. “You don’t answer our calls and ignore your mother for weeks and then just decide it’s okay to-”

  I turned to her father, ready to attack. “Keep speaking to her like that and I will do more than take everything you own. I will fucking kill you.”

  Jared blanched and wisely shut his mouth.

  I looked back at Fiona and saw that she wasn’t even paying any attention to her father. “What’s he talking about, Damien? What’s going on?”

  I wasn’t going to have this conversation in front of her degenerate father. I wasn’t going to give this man anything more that he could use against her. “Let’s go home and I’ll explain everything.”

  She glanced quickly at her father and, thank fuck, she didn’t want to have this conversation in front of him anymore than I did. She nodded. “I’ll meet you there.” She turned and walked right back out the front door, without uttering a single word to her father.

  I turned and left him with one last piece of advice before I left. “I’m only going to say this once. You are going to get help for your gambling and you’re going to start being the husband and father you should have always been. If not, I will do everything in my power to take everything you have from you. Believe me, don’t believe, I really don’t give a fuck, but if I hear of you mistreating Fiona ever again, I will do more than ruin you. I will make you pray for death.” I didn’t wait for him to respond. I walked out of his house slamming the door behind me.

  The drive to Fiona’s was too long and too short. I was fucked and I wasn’t going into this thinking anything otherwise. I knew my only option was honesty, but the fear of losing her had my hands sweaty against the steering wheel. She asked for one thing and one thing only after everything I’ve done to her and that was to never lie to her. And while some people might argue that I didn’t technically lie, I knew she wouldn’t see it that way. Hell, I didn’t see it that way.

  I pulled into her driveway and actually had to count to ten before I got out of my car. This was unfamiliar territory for me. I didn’t do scared. I didn’t do nervous. I didn’t do anxious. But then there was never anything I ever really cared about except her. Will was a close second, but even he knew he was no match for Fiona.

  The front door was unlocked, almost mocking me as it encouraged me to walk through to meet my demise. Since her house was so small, I walked right in to her pacing her living room. The second she heard me come in, she pounced. “What the fuck was all that about, Damien? Why were you at my parents’ house? What did my father mean? What did you mean when you said you may have planned all of this? Planned what?!” Fiona was shrieking by the time she was done with her questions.

  I could feel my blood turning to ice as I laid bare my final secret. “I bought Smithtown Textiles five years ago. Four years ago, I had upper management promote your father to the accounting department. Three years ago I approached him and befriended him allowing him to write check advancements against his yearly bonuses.” The look on her face was one of nothing but torment, but I continued. “I knew he had a gambling problem. I’ve known it for years, even when we were kids. I made it a point to know everything about you and your family.”

  I knew she knew where I was going with this, but she demanded the words anyways. “Why?”

  “I had always planned to come back for you. Always,” I told her. “From the second I climbed out your window graduation night to the second I walked into your office with the intention of blackmailing you, I felt as if my life had been put on hold. These past ten years were just a means to an end. Everything I did, everything I accomplished was all to forage a path back to you.”

  “Damien...”

  I held up my hand to stop her. I needed to get this all out. There was no way she would love me or be with me if there was even a hint of wrong doing in our relationship. “I knew there was no way in hell I could come back here and simply ask you out. I knew you wouldn’t give me the time of day unless I forced it and I couldn’t and wouldn’t have blamed you. So I set the wheels in motion five years ago to give you no choice but to have to accept me. I knew your dad wouldn’t be able to help himself. The blank checks were too tempting for an addict such as himself. I sat back for three years as I watch and waited for your dad to dig himself into a hole so deep, I’d have everything I need to force your hand.”

  Her face was covered in a flow of tears by the time I was done explaining the level of my duplicity. “Were you ever going to send my parents to prison? If I had said no, would you have gone through with it? Would you have pressed charges?”

  I knew my answer was going to damn me, but I couldn’t lie to her. “Yes.”

  She let out an anguish sob as she wrapped her arms around her waist. “You would have sent them to prison for taking the bait you set up for them?”

  “Yes. If I couldn’t have you then I was going to make sure that I wasn’t the only one who was going to be miserable for the rest of their life. I had every intention of taking you down with me. I wasn’t going to settle for anything less than having you, Fiona, and if that wasn’t going to happen, well, then I wasn’t going to allow you to be happy without me.”

  Her eyes flashed and the rage on her face was unmistakable. “Who the fuck do you think you are? What makes you think you can just play with people’s lives? Are you so selfish and so evil that it doesn’t play on your conscience at all to destroy people’s happiness just for the sake of winning?!”

  I couldn’t help the beast arousing inside me. She did that to me. Only her. “It doesn’t when the prize of winning is you.”

  That only seemed to enflame her fury. “I’m not some goddamn prize!”

  I stormed over to her, grabbing her by her arm and yanking her towards me, locking her to my body, I stared down at her fuming and unguarded. “No, you’re not, but you seem to still be unaware of exactly what you mean to me, Fiona! You seem to think that when I say I’m obsessed with you that I’m exaggerating or throwing out common phrases that all couples use. Well, here’s the complete truth, When I say I love you, I don’t mean I love you in the traditional sense, I mean I love you like I can’t fucking breath with it. When I say I’m obsessed with you, I don’t mean I’m addicted to your body and I just want to fuck you. I mean that every thought, every action and every emotion I have ever felt since I was five revolves around you. And when I say I will kill any man who touches you, I mean just that!”

  She wasn’t hearing me. “You say you love me but all you do is manipulate and hurt me. How can you say you love me but lie and torment me? You don’t love me, Damien. You love the power you feel making another human being cave to you. You love the power you feel knowing you can play God with people lives…with my life.”

  I threw my head back and the laugh I let out as sinister as it got. “I play God every day at work, Fiona. I hold people’s financial futures in my hands. People cave to me all day, every day.” I got right into her face. “And none of it makes me feel a fucking thing! No one and nothing makes me feel anything except you. The only time I feel powerful is when I think of you, are seeing you and, Sweet Jesus, when I’m inside of you.” I shook her body, hoping it would make her finally understand the depths of my sickness. “And you’re right, I love the way it feels when you make me feel invincible and I’m not giving up that feeling for anything in the world!”

  Fiona gasped and wrenching her arm out of my grasped, stepped back from me. “You’re going to have to find a way to give it up because I want nothing more to do with you. Get the fuck out of my house!” She closed her eyes and really started sobbing.

  I stuck my hands in my pockets to keep the beast from dragging her into the bedroom and not giving her a choice. My voice was quiet and lethal. “Look at me, Fiona.” She raised her sorrowful brown gaze to mine. “Do you really believe I’m going to walk out of this house and never come back?”

  She was stunning in her rage. Fiona’s innocent always glowed and
her submission was powerful. But all the years she spent cowering underneath my bullying…Fiona was magnificent when she showed her strength. She is and always has been the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. “I’ll call the police then. I’ll get a restraining order against you. Just like you can excuse everything you’ve done by convincing yourself it was a necessity, I can do the same.”

  I took a step towards her and she did the one thing she shouldn’t have.

  She ran.

  She ran towards her bedroom and I followed. Men are primal creatures, and me maybe more than most; so when she ran there was no way the animal in me wasn’t going to chase her. I was on her heels, so she didn’t have enough time to shut and lock the door before I was slamming it open after her.

  Her eyes widened and she stepped back. “I said get out of my house!”

  I kept going until her back hit the wall and I cowered her until she didn’t have a choice but to look up at me. I wrapped a fistful of her brown silk in my hands and held her still while I brought my other hand up and bound her against the wall by her throat. “I’m going to leave only to give you time to calm down. I will be back though, Fiona. If you think I’m going to live the rest of my life without you, especially now that I’ve had you, you’re out of your goddamn mind.”

  She didn’t back down even when I squeezed her neck for emphasis. “I’ll call the police if I have to, Damien. Don’t think I won’t.”

  I just nodded at her threat. “Good, because you’re going to have to in order to keep me away from you, Halloween.”

  Her eyes widened as they became glassy. “You can’t-”

  “Make no mistake, Fiona. Prison is the only thing that will keep me away from you.” I let go of her, and grabbing my laptop, left her crying in the bedroom. I didn’t bother with my clothes or toiletries because I was going to be back, even if it was just to be sent to prison.

  Chapter 21

  Fiona – No one heals from this kind of pain…NO ONE!

  I spent all day Saturday alternating between crying and raging. I had called Vicky first thing when I woke up and she spent the day with me supporting whichever mood swing was front and center at the time. She didn’t judge and she didn’t offer up any kind of advice. Being my best friend for so many years, she knew there weren’t any words to ease the impact to my life that was Damien Greystone.

  When I left work earlier than I had intended on Friday, I thought life was perfect as I was driving across town to pick up dinner. I had plans of being too spent to cook. The dread that consumed me was overwhelming when I spotted Damien’s car in front of my parents’ house. I never dreamed my world would come crashing down around me hours later.

  I cried myself to sleep again last night and woke up this morning feeling worse, if that was even possible. I came to realize that it wasn’t necessarily what Damien did that had broken my heart, it was the fact that I had finally reached a point where I trusted him and I was blindsided once again by his games. I mean, come on, reflecting back on all the things he’s ever done to me, manipulating my father was one of the least of his offenses. I just thought that part of our relationship was over and it hurt to find out that it wasn’t.

  A part of me also wondered if I was just being a coward again. His intensity was intimidating and I wondered if I was strong enough to be the recipient of such emotion. A knock at the door brought me out of my musings.

  I expected to see Vicky on the other side of the threshold, but instead I opened the door to a sweet looking Jason and it felt like a sledgehammer to my gut. “Jason…”

  His face brightened with a sheepish smile. “Hey, Fee.”

  I stood there in shock and it wasn’t until he asked if he could come in that my female vanity made an appearance. I was mortified by how awful I must look. I’d been crying for two days. I knew I looked a hot mess, while he looked perfect with his blonde hair and blue eyes, looking all wholesome and sweet.

  I stepped back and pulled the door open wider. “Yeah, uh...sure.”

  I foolishly ran my fingers through my hair and tried to push my puffy eyes in, but I knew nothing short of a miracle was going to undo the damage. It was past noon and I was still dressed in a tank top and pajama bottoms. I just needed to start my period to make this weekend of humiliation complete.

  “Uh, I know this is kind of unexpected, but…you wouldn’t return any of my calls or respond to my texts and even if you do have a new boyfriend, we were friends way before anything else had happened. I was kind of hoping we could still be friends, Fee. I miss you and believe it or not, I miss Vicky too.” He let out a small laugh and I had never felt so bad.

  “Jason, I never got any texts or calls from you. Af.…after, uh, that phone call, I thought you must just be mad at me, which I didn’t blame you if you had been.”

  He cocked his head at me. “Where’s your phone?”

  I went to my bedroom to retrieve my phone. Walking back into the living room, I saw Jason with his phone out. “I’m calling you, Fee.”

  I looked down at my phone and there was nothing. I started getting a sinking feeling in my stomach when he said he just sent me a text and, again, nothing.

  “My number’s been blocked, Fiona.”

  I closed my eyes at the realization. When I opened them back up Jason was looking at me with a small smile playing on his lips. “I take it you didn’t block me?”

  I shook my head. “I would never do that, Jase. Like you said, we were friends way before anything else came into play.”

  He took my phone out of my hand and after tapping away for a bit, he called me again from his phone and this time it rang. I looked up at him. “I’m so sorry, Jason.”

  “It’s okay, Fio-”

  I shook my head. “No, it’s not. You don’t deserve to be dragged into my drama. I don’t know why he’d do something so ridic-”

  “I do.”

  My breath stopped when Jason stepped to me. He was standing so close I had to tilt my head back to look at him. He wasn’t as tall or as wide as Damien, but he was still bigger than I was. “You forget, Fiona. I’ve had you. And speaking as a man who’s seen you give into your pleasure, I don’t blame the man one bit. I’d do the same. Hell, most men worth their salt would.”

  My face flushed at his personal compliment and reminder of our time together. “I think it’s because you’re the only other man I’ve ever been with-”

  Jason threw his head back and laughed. “Now it makes even more sense.”

  “What does?” I asked, confused.

  He brought his hand up and caressed my face. “Awe, Fee. In a perfect world we would only know one lover. We’d all be virgins until our wedding nights and only share that experience with the one person we’re meant for. But we don’t live in a perfect world and, sweetheart, I have to say, I’m feeling pretty proud of myself that I’m the only other man. And while I’m feeling proud, he’s feeling threatened, like any other man would.”

  “That sounds ridiculous and cavemanish, Jason.”

  He pulled his hand from my face and gifted me with one of his signature smiles. “It’s both, but that doesn’t make it any less true. Just like you have to be a woman to understand that time of the month or pregnancy, you have to be a man to understand our level of possessiveness and need to conquer.”

  He sounded just like Damien, just a more watered down version.

  “So we’re to feel flattered instead of frustrated?”

  He outright laughed. “Nah, sweetheart, if it’s not making you feel desired, then it’s being done wrong. Do you feel desired?”

  His question brought back a rush of memories and images of Damien driving into me and I could feel my face flush with heat. Yeah, I felt desired among other things.

  Jason read my reaction perfectly. “Seems to me like he’s doing everything right.”

  “If you think manipulation and lying are the right things to do, then I guess…”

  “Fiona, it only seems that way if you’re
a woman. If you’re a man it falls under protectiveness and need.” Before I could respond to his absurd man-logic, there came a knock at the door.

  His brows rose. “Did my coming here interrupt something?”

  I headed towards the door. “No. It’s most likely Vicky.”

  I opened the door for a second time today and this time it was Vicky on the other side. “Damn, Fee, you look like shit.”

  I snorted as I stepped back to let her in. “Gee, thanks.” I shut the door. “Just so you know, I was already very aware of my appearance. No need to broadcast it.”

  Vicky stood stock still in my living room. No doubt, Jason’s presence had her befuddled. She looked back at me. “Uh, am I interrupting something?”

  “Hey, Vee,” Jason said as he walked over and gave her a hug. “I was just telling Fiona I missed hanging out with you two weirdos.”

  Vicky shot me a look of complete what-the-hell. She looked back at Jason after I gave her a noncommittal shrug. “It’s good to see you too, Jase. I just kind of didn’t expect to see you around considering all that went down with Fee’s new boyfriend.” Vicky never avoided the elephant in the room.

  “Yeah, I figured.” He jerked his head towards me. “From the little she’s told me, he doesn’t seem like the sharing type.”

  Vicky snorted. “He’s a psychopath. It’s a miracle he allows me to spend time with her.”

  Jason raised his brows at me. “A psychopath?”

  I nodded, because really, what else could I do. It’s true. Damien is an absolute undiagnosed psychopath.

  Who makes my body sing with pleasure and my heart weep in agony.

  “Okay, I may be taking my life in my own hands here, but how about you take a shower and I take you girls to a late lunch?” he suggested.

  “Fuck that, Jase. Fiona’s heartbroken if you can’t tell by the puffy eyes, wrinkled ensemble, and rat’s nest on top of her head.” Vicky plopped herself down on the couch. “We need this to be an early dinner that comes with alcohol and bad decisions.” She shook her head. “Lunch just ain’t going to cut it.”