Battling the Enemy

by M. E. Clayton

  She. Could. Have. Mentioned. Him.

  And even though she claimed that she was going to tell me after school today, Winston challenging me in front of everyone-in front of her-changed the game. There was a reason he told me now in front of everyone. I just didn’t know what that reason was yet, but I would find out.

  I had just rounded the corner to see Delaney slamming her locker shut, her backpack hanging off her shoulder. She was leaving. “Delaney!”

  She froze and looked over at me. There was only twenty feet of hallway separating us, but it felt like an ocean. Her eyes went to my bloody hands and a sickness, so depraved, rose up inside of me. The darkness I kept hidden; the needs that made me mentally unbalanced…all of it rose to the surface.

  I wanted to fuck her with her fiancé’s blood all over my hands.

  I wanted to watch streaks of his blood stain her body as I drove into her, his blood on her skin with her blood on my cock.

  The thunderous footsteps stopped behind me and I knew everyone was frozen, waiting for my next move. And my next move was to get out of here. If I touched her, if I so much as breathed her in, I was going to take from her things I had no right to take from her unwillingly. That’s how far gone I was in my rage and sick need for her.

  “Make sure she’s okay,” I said, my words echoing throughout the hallway, before I turned and left everyone behind me.

  If I stayed, I would have ruined Delaney Martin, and I wanted her around for the long haul.

  Chapter 10

  Delaney~

  I had my feet curled up underneath my ass, hugging a pillow to my chest, wondering how everything went so wrong.

  After Deke had left, I had heard through gossip that Winston had to be carried to the nurse’s office where they had to send him to the hospital. Deke had broken his nose and fractured a cheekbone.

  I closed my eyes at the memory.

  Never in a million years did I ever think, one day, Deke Marlow would be fighting over me. It had been surreal and scary as hell. Witnessing the fact that it had taken both Ramsey and Liam to pull him off Winston had been a testament to how enraged Deke had been. But what was really stupid was I, somehow, felt as if it had all been my fault, even though, I knew it wasn’t.

  None of this was my doing, I told myself for the millionth time. I wasn’t the one who had pursued Deke. I wasn’t the one who had kissed him. I wasn’t the one who had dragged him to class. And I hadn’t felt the need to tell him about Winston because it hadn’t been any of his business.

  But seeing how serious Deke had become at Winston’s confrontation had me reevaluating a lot of my earlier beliefs. I used to think this was a bet or a game Deke was playing for entertainment value, but the image of him standing in the hallway, blood on his hands and clothes, looking like an avenging dark angel changed my mind.

  That was too much emotion to be faked.

  A cup of tea blocked my vision and I set the pillow down on my lap to take it. Ava held her cup in her hand as she sat next to me. Knowing Deke had left school premises, I had managed to finish the rest of my school day. Ava had spent every second she could with me, but when she hadn’t been with me, Ramsey, Liam, Emerson, or Roselyn had been close by. When we had all been in the hallway, I had heard Deke call to them to look out for me, but I hadn’t really expected them to.

  “Why would Winston do that?” Ava asked. “No one in their right mind would confront anyone in that group like that.” As ballsy as Ava was, even she knew better than to confront anyone in that group. So, she wasn’t wrong. And it was one of the many questions that have been plaguing me all afternoon.

  I took a sip of my hot tea before I said, “I don’t know, Ava. It doesn’t make any sense. Winston hadn’t needed to do that.” It still didn’t make sense no matter how much I mulled it over in my head. “Even if Winston didn’t think I was going to tell Deke about our arrangement, he had to know that Ramsey would have.”

  Ava curled her legs under her ass and mirrored my position. “Maybe he thought he could piss Deke off enough to leave you alone? Maybe Winston thought that if…I don’t know. That if you were a cheater or deceitful, Deke would leave you alone?”

  I shook my head. “Why, though?” I asked. “Winston’s been living the single life for years. He’s never been interested in what I was doing. If he could sleep with other girls all these years, and keep it just sex, why wouldn’t he think I could do the same? Why feel threatened all of a sudden?”

  Ava shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t know,” she replied. “Maybe because it’s Deke.”

  I was getting a headache trying to make sense of this mess. “Who cares which boy it is? Winston never cared which girl it was.”

  Ava nibbled on her lower lip in thought before suggesting, “Maybe because Deke’s never shown an interest in a girl before, beyond a night in bed.” She set her tea down on the table and got serious. “Deke chasing after you is a big deal, Delaney. It was a big deal when he did it on Friday, and it was a big deal when he kissed you this morning. And it’s a really big fucking deal that he fought over you. Deke Marlow is one of the three most influential and powerful people in this town, Delaney. His interest in you is a threat to your agreement with Winston. If Deke is playing for keeps, how is Winston supposed to compete with that?”

  “Jesus Christ, Ava,” I muttered. “It’s not like we’re getting married after graduation or anything. We’re not even supposed to get married for another four years. And who’s to say Winston doesn’t meet a girl who rocks his world while he’s at college? It’s an agreement between two families made years ago, not the damn Ten Commandments.”

  “Maybe all of Winston’s whoring around has blinded you to the fact that this arrangement is real to him. I mean, the agreement wasn’t signed in blood or anything. And either one of you could change your minds now that you’re adults, and your parents couldn’t do anything about it, but still.”

  I snorted. “Anything, but not pay for our college for the next four years,” I pointed out. “And I wouldn’t put it past them to use that to keep the agreement binding.”

  “Well, I think he was trying to ruin things for you and Deke because of good ol’ fashion jealousy,” she replied. “Winston’s been so used to you just waiting patiently in the wings, he didn’t like seeing someone else interested in you. Especially, when that someone is someone like Deke Marlow.” She shrugged a shoulder again. “Unfortunately for him, his plan backfired, and he got his ass kicked instead.”

  I groaned.

  This was so above my paygrade.

  I set my tea down next to Ava’s on the table and ran my hands through my hair. I’d never been so confused before. I went from being a nobody to Deke Marlow’s plaything, and I didn’t know how to navigate my way through this.

  I looked over at my friend. “I don’t know what to do, Ava,” I whispered. I really didn’t.

  Her pretty face filled with compassion and I knew my friend was worried for me. I wasn’t wild like Ava. I didn’t have her spunk or spirit. Ava did what Ava wanted to, and she didn’t care who said what about it. “Do you like Deke, Delaney?” she asked simply.

  Did I like Deke?

  God, what a question.

  If I was being completely honest with myself, then the answer would be, I don’t know. I was curious about him. I was attracted to him. I was even attracted to him enough to know that I wouldn’t put up much of a fight if he did try to sleep with me. But like him?

  I didn’t know enough about Deke to know if I liked him or not. I knew his reputation, but I didn’t store anything in rumors or reputations. If I went by Ava’s reputation, I’d never know the good person she could be. Rumors and reputations didn’t do anything for me. I treated people how they treated me, simple as that.

  “I don’t know, Ava,” I admitted. “I don’t know him at all. I know nothing about Deke to judge if I like him or not.”

  Ava thought on that a bit before asking, “Do you want to get to know him? Do yo
u want to like him? Sleep with him?”

  That question was much easier to answer. “Yeah, if…if I could get past all the crazy inside him, maybe.”

  Ava grinned. “Oh, Delaney,” she chuckled. “Crazy is the sexiest part of a man.”

  My eyes almost bugged out. “I’d have to disagree, Ava. Did you see what he did to Winston?”

  She cocked her head sideways and regarded me silently before asking another candid question. “I’m going to ask you something and I want you to answer me honestly,” she started out. “When Ramsey and Liam pulled him off Winston, and he was standing there like a raging god, bloody and wild out of his mind, did that turn you on?”

  I could feel the heat crawl up my chest, over my neck, and throughout my face. I had still been in shock at the turn of events when Ramsey and Liam had pulled Deke off Winston, but when Deke had turned to face me, the look on his face had been pure uncontrollable fury. He looked like a dark storm. I had run from him out of fear for my safety, but when we had faced off in the hallway, and he stood there with blood on his hands and clothing, looking as if he was one movement away from killing someone, I had been turned on.

  I had been turned on in a wicked, unnatural way. In that moment I would have let Deke Marlow do whatever he wanted to me.

  Winston had been the catalyst that had turned Deke’s toying and teasing into a battle of wills. The switch had been flipped, and the Deke Marlow that had been staring me down in the hallway after the fight was the real Deke Marlow. I suspected his friends knew it too, and that’s why they had followed. They had wanted to make sure he didn’t kill me.

  I wasn’t going to lie to Ava when I was asking for her advice and help. “Yes,” I confessed.

  I thought she’d get giddy or sly, maybe joke about it. But, instead, she looked sorry for me. Like she knew I was going swimming with the sharks with my leg bleeding, and no one would be able to save me. “You guys are probably going to crash and burn, you know that, right?”

  “I’m terrified, Ava,” I admitted. “But not enough to stop this.” She nodded her head sadly. “This morning when I slapped him, I meant that. I wanted nothing to do with him, but now…now, I don’t know how not to want him.”

  “That’s because he’s done the one thing no one has ever done for you, Delaney,” she replied. “He fought for you. He made you feel like you matter, and that’s a dangerous drug for girls like us.”

  Again, she wasn’t wrong.

  Chapter 11

  Deke~

  The bag swung back and forth, but it still didn’t feel as if I was hitting it hard enough. It didn’t matter that my hands were all busted up from Reynold’s face, either. I welcomed the sting and the burn. Hell, I wanted to kick his ass all over again.

  After I had left school, I had texted the gang to let them know I was fine, and just needed a breather. And after that, I had gone straight home and to our home gym. Well, my home gym. My parents were never home, and when they were, they sure as hell weren’t working out in here.

  I was still feeling unhinged, though, and rage was still coursing through my blood. I needed an outlet before I killed Winston or attacked Delaney. Because, Christ, that need was still simmering underneath the surface of my moral line. Not killing Winston. Nope. I was perfectly fine with that.

  The need to attack Delaney. That dark, visceral need was still with me and I wouldn’t go anywhere near her until I got it under control. I had every intention on commanding her body and ruling her pleasure. I had every intention of taking her brutally, virgin or not. I had every intention of destroying her.

  But she had to be willing.

  That was non-negotiable. I might want to dance on the line of moral propriety with her, but I didn’t want to cross over into immoral responsibility. And the way I was feeling now, I’d take her just to prove she belonged to me and not Winston, and that’s not how I wanted us to get down. I wanted no one else in that bedroom with us, figuratively or literally.

  When Delaney and I finally do come together, it’s going to be because she wants it-she wants me. But before that happens, she’ll know and understand that, after she gives me full consent to own her body, she will never be able to take it back. She’ll have to know that, and dissect what that means, before I get her under me. I planned on taking her farther than I’ve ever taken anyone else. I planned on letting her see the monster, and I could only pray that she’ll stay afterwards.

  The ringing of my phone cut through the music blasting through the gym, and I knew I had to answer it or else it’d never stop ringing.

  I turned from the punching bag and walked towards the speaker system that commanded the surround sound. Turning it off, I grabbed my phone from the wall table and swiped to answer. “What?”

  “Seriously, Deke?” my father replied. “A fight?”

  I rolled my eyes even though he couldn’t see me. My breaths were deep and rapid from my workout, but that didn’t stop me from letting out a huff. “Since when do you give a fuck if I get in a fight or not?” This was probably the tenth conversation I’ve had with my father since I hit my teen years, I wasn’t confused about whether the man gave a shit about me or not. He had always let my mother deal with me, if needed. And her form of concern and affection was usually a massive deposit into my bank account.

  “Since you’re now a senior in high school and you’ll be going out into the real world soon,” he barked. “Real men don’t get into fistfights to solve their issues, Deke.”

  “No,” I agreed. “They just bribe other men to look the other way.”

  “Watch how you talk to me, son,” he hissed. “I’m your father and I’m the one who makes your lifestyle possible. Don’t forget that.”

  What my father failed to realize was that I was very aware of the fact that he needed me more than I needed him. Thanks to Ramsey’s foresight, me, Ram, and Liam didn’t need any of our parents at this stage of the game. “Fine,” I dared. “Cut me off and kick me out. I don’t give a fuck, Dad.”

  There was a couple of seconds of silence, and I knew he knew who won this round. “Over a girl, Deke?” he said, ignoring my dare. “Why on earth would you get into a fight over a fucking girl when there are millions of them available to you?”

  “How do you even know I got into a fight?” Lord knows I didn’t update him with what went on in my life.

  “The school called because they had to,” he informed me. “Apparently, the other boy had to be taken to the hospital because you broke his nose and fractured one of his cheekbones.”

  I snorted. “So, that’s why you called? Because you need confirmation on how bad it was in case his family sues?” The phone call made sense now.

  “No,” he barked into the phone again. “I called to tell you to get your shit together. People don’t solve their issues with their fists in the real world, Deke. I am not going to have you destroy everything I’ve built because you can’t keep a civil head.”

  “You mean everything your grandfather built,” I reminded him. “You may have brought more to the table during your reign, Dad, but that table was already there when you sat down to dinner.”

  “You’re missing the point, Deke!”

  I couldn’t stop the growl that emitted from my soul. For eighteen years this man has done nothing to raise me, and he really thought he could call me now and play the role of father? Fuck, too. “I sent that boy to the hospital because he had the balls to come to me and tell me my girl belonged to him, Dad,” I snapped. “He’s lucky he’s not dead.”

  “It’s just pussy, Deke!” my father roared over the phone. “Let him have the bitch and pick a girl who doesn’t need to be fucked by a bunch of different guys!” Had my father been standing in front of me while saying that, I would have killed him.

  I took a deep breath, and counted to five, before clearing things up for my dad. “Listen to me, Dad, and listen well. I don’t give a flying fuck what you say or threaten. I am not giving up this girl for anyone, least of all
you. And if you ever talk about her like that again, you’ll regret it.”

  “I will not have you fucking everything up for a girl, Deke,” he repeated.

  “I’m not,” I replied. “But, even if I were, I don’t answer to you, Dad.” And I didn’t. At this point in my life, I had more respect for the people who really raised me and took care of me. I’d listen to the maid, gardener, housekeeper, and cook before I’d listen to either of my fucked-up parents.

  “Watch it, Deke,” he threatened again.

  I smirked. “You watch it, Dad,” I threw back. “You keep sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong, I’ll be sending out an announcement introducing you to your new pregnant daughter-in-law by the end of the week. Do. Not. Fuck. With. Me.”

  My quick reminder that I was now, legally, an adult shot down his bravado. “Just…stay out of trouble, Deke,” he grumbled. “You think you can manage that?”

  I rolled my eyes again. “I’ll see what I can do,” I deadpanned before hanging up on him.

  I wasn’t a fucking idiot. I knew grown folks shouldn’t solve their issues with their fists. However, I also knew the justice system was super corrupt. I just happened to be one of the fortunate people who could buy my way out of trouble. Everyone had a price; some were just higher than others. And if someone couldn’t be bought, well, they could be threatened or blackmailed. If I couldn’t buy my way out of trouble, I knew Ramsey would have no problem helping me blackmail my way out of it. That was Ramsey’s specialty. He knew the dirtiest dirt on the entire town of Sands Cove and almost everyone who has ever done business with his father. I didn’t fear landing in jail because between me, Ram, and Liam, there wasn’t anything we couldn’t get out of.

  My phone rang in my hand, and I answered it willingly this time. “What’s up?”

  “Just making sure you’re not off pillaging an innocent village somewhere,” Liam joked.