Battling the Enemy

by M. E. Clayton

  She pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the screen. “I don’t recognize the number,” she mumbled.

  “It’s probably one of those scam calls,” Emerson predicted. “They’re so damn annoying.”

  The phone went to voicemail, but then, immediately started ringing again. And because Liam was just as much as a caveman as Ramsey, he grabbed Roselyn’s phone out of her hand to answer the call from the unknown number. “Hello?” he barked, and Ramsey laughed. But that all changed as soon as Liam’s back snapped straight, and he said, “Ava? Whoa, wait…yeah, okay...hold on.”

  I was already off the barstool and reaching for Linnie’s phone as Liam handed it over to me. I put the phone up to my ear. “Ava?”

  “Oh, thank God,” she rushed out. “I didn’t have your number or…anyone’s. I…I had to get Roselyn’s number from Cel-”

  “Ava!” I barked. “What’s wrong?”

  “Yeah, yeah,” she mumbled. “Sorry. Deke, it’s Delaney-”

  “What’s wrong with Delaney?” Four little words, but they chilled the blood in my veins.

  “I…Christ. I showed up to Trent White’s party and…and I found Delaney here, Deke. I found her here, and she’s drunk and…and I can’t…she won’t listen to me.”

  I could feel the chill in my bones turn into a white-hot anger that scared me a little. What in the fuck was Delaney doing at a party drunk? What was she trying to prove? I let her get away with calling in sick today for school, but had I known what I knew now, I’d have gone to her house and held her hostage until I got my point across that she belonged to me now.

  “Watch her, Ava,” I ordered. “I’m on my way.” I hung up and when I looked up, I saw the worried faces of the girls, and the pissed off faces of the guys.

  “How bad?” Liam asked.

  “She’s at Trent White’s party and she’s drunk,” I said, barely managing to get the words out through my clenched teeth.

  “Let’s go,” Ramsey said, straightening up and ready to go.

  “I think I’m going to fucking kill her,” I muttered more to myself than the group.

  “Hear her out, Deke,” Roselyn implored.

  I shot her a look. “And if she’s with another guy?” I didn’t wait for her answer. I just turned and headed out the door praying Ava’s panic wasn’t warranted.

  Or else, God help Delaney Martin.

  Chapter 16

  Delaney~

  I was drunk.

  I knew this.

  I knew this but couldn’t muster up the sense to care.

  I had never planned on coming to Trent’s party, but I had felt…restless all day long.

  Like the coward I was becoming, I had called in sick to school today to avoid Deke. I had felt like I needed all the space I could get at his threat that tonight I’d be his. I was on edge, and I needed time to gather myself together. I knew Deke’s words meant he planned on having sex with me, and while I wanted to, the anticipation was turning me into a nervous wreck.

  I wasn’t a femme fatal. I wasn’t a sexy come-hither kind of temptress. How excited would he really be when he realized I didn’t know anything? It wasn’t even my virginity that I was worried about. I still had that simply because I couldn’t be bothered with dating. I’ve always been more interested in school and making something of myself, I really didn’t care about dating around. Plus, getting to know people was just so…daunting. I hated doing it.

  And if my anxiety hadn’t already been sky-high, the text Deke had sent me shortly after school had started, telling me that he was granting me a pass because he knew I was nervous, had been enough to push me over the edge.

  Granting me a pass.

  The nerve.

  At any rate, I had really planned on just staying home and throwing up from anxiousness, to the point where I’d just pass out, and Deke would have no choice but to leave me alone. However, my plans had changed when Ava had sent me a text that she might go to Trent’s party if I didn’t want to hang out tonight.

  I had texted back that I was staying home, not ready to tell her about Deke, in case he didn’t come over. But the more I had thought about Ava and Trent’s party, the more I thought the party was a great idea.

  I had thought it was a great idea because, if Deke couldn’t find me, well, that meant I could bide my time a little more. Deke would never think I’d be at Trent’s party, or any party for that matter. So, if I could avoid him for a little while longer…

  And now, I was here, drunk, and wondering where Ava was. I had texted her when I got here, but I hadn’t heard from her and I couldn’t find her anywhere. And because I was a loser with no friends, I had gone straight to the liquor to drink my awkwardness away until Ava got here.

  “What the hell are you doing here?”

  I was hiding out in the backyard, away from the crowd, when Winston’s voice lashed out at me. I turned around to face him.

  He looked awful.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” I countered. “Shouldn’t you be…I don’t know. At home, resting or something?”

  “My face is busted up, Delaney,” he snapped. “It’s not like my arms and legs don’t work. I’m not an invalid. And what the fuck is that on your neck?” He gestured towards Deke’s bite mark.

  My brows shot up. Angry Winston was new. “I’m here to party,” I said, ignoring his question.

  He crossed his arms over his chest. “Since when do you party, Delaney?” He didn’t give me a chance to answer. “Oh, I get it. You’re hanging out with the cool kids now, and so, you think you need to party and get drunk to fit in. Is that it?”

  I took a step back. “No,” I snapped back. “They’re not even here, you asshole. I’m here…I’m here just to have a good time. It’s about time, don’t you think?”

  Winston’s eyes searched mine. “No, Delaney. I don’t think it’s about time,” he gritted through his teeth. “This isn’t you.”

  “Maybe it is,” I argued. “Maybe it’s time to quit wasting my teenage years being your doormat.”

  “You’ve never been my doormat,” he spat. “What the fuck has gotten into you?”

  Good question.

  The easy answer would be alcohol, but it wasn’t that simple.

  Deke Marlow is what has gotten into me. He’s made me want new things, and it was messing up my entire identity. I was no longer the girl no one paid attention to. I was no longer the girl who was happy being in the library. I was no longer the girl who had her life mapped out for her with no worries.

  I was a new Delaney Martin.

  I was the Delaney Martin who wanted to be with Deke, knowing it was a bad idea.

  I ignored his question and instead asked another one of my own. “Why’d you do it,” I asked, jerking my head towards his face. “You had to know it wasn’t going to end well for you, Winston. No one goes up against that group. No one.”

  Whatever I was expecting him to say, the absolute truth wasn’t it. I was sure Winston would make up some bullshit reason, but instead, he held truthful. “You’re supposed to be my future, Delaney,” he said. “Whether we love or hate each other, our futures have been tied together since we were ten. I really, really depended on you to be there in the end. Deke’s threatening that.”

  I was probably too drunk to have this conversation, but we needed to have it. “How do you know it’s not just some…passing fancy? Maybe Deke’s just having fun, and…his interest will fizzle out in a couple of weeks. I mean, we still have college to get through.”

  His arms dropped to his sides. “If you think Deke’s not in this for the long haul, you’re not as smart as I always thought you were,” he snorted. “Deke Marlow doesn’t chase or claim girls, Delaney. The fact that he’s done that with you means something.”

  “Even if that’s true,” I conceded, “what were you hoping to accomplish by challenging him in front of everyone?”

  He shrugged a shoulder. “I thought maybe once he knew about us, he’d back
off,” he confessed. “Deke can have any girl he wants. He doesn’t need to go after a girl who’s already taken.”

  “But I was never really taken, Winston,” I pointed out. “We had an arrangement. It’s not like we’re in love with each other or have ever been in an actual relationship.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” he countered. “For all intents and purposes, you belong to me.”

  I took a swig of the vodka bottle I was holding and said the words I never thought I’d say. I said the words that were going to change everything, once and for all. “I used to belong to you, Winston,” I said, feeling the words in my soul. “I think we both know that’s changed.”

  “What happened to Deke only doing this for fun?” he challenged. “What happened to, we still have college to get through?”

  “While that’s all still true, Deke’s irrelevant, Winston,” I told him. “This isn’t about him. This is about how I no longer want to wait in the wings until it’s time to give in to our parents’ demands.”

  “All of a sudden?” he barked.

  “Yeah, all of a sudden,” I barked back. “Even if Deke drops me tomorrow, I finally know what it feels like to be wanted and desired. I know what it feels like to want someone. There’s no way I’m going back to settling for…nothing, while you continue to go out and get your kicks.”

  Winston threw up his hands in frustration. “So, then, we’ll fucking date,” he threw out.

  I shook my head. “I don’t want to date you, Winston,” I said. “I don’t feel for you other than a passing friendship, and I know you feel the same way about me. I know you do.”

  “But the plan-”

  “Our parents’ plan,” I emphasized. “Not ours. It was never ours.”

  He took a deep breath and said, “You’re drunk, Delaney. I think we need to table this conversation for another time.”

  He was probably right, but I knew I’d still feel the same way later. Alcohol wasn’t making me say all these things. Alcohol was just making me say it without consequence for what my words meant. And they meant a great deal of change and unpleasantness for our parents. My words were going to ruin their plans for a future dynasty between our two families. My words were changing the direction of so many lives, and alcohol was making me not give a shit.

  “Maybe you’re right,” I conceded. I patted him on his chest. “I’m off to go dance, drink, and forget that you and Deke Marlow exist.” It’d be easy to forget Winston existed, but I suspected forgetting Deke would take some more alcohol. Maybe a lobotomy even.

  “Delaney, let me take you home,” Winston replied. “You don’t belong here.”

  I knew I didn’t, but go big or go home, right?

  I needed to…not be shy, quiet, nerdy Delaney. It was the only way I was going to be brave enough to sleep with Deke. It was the only way I was going to be able to sleep with him without him crushing everything good in me. I had to prove I could party and be cool and popular. I had to prove I was just as strong as Ava, Emerson, and Roselyn.

  I couldn’t be meek Delaney Martin. Deke would crush me if I didn’t form a stronger backbone. He would run over me if I didn’t…

  Oh, who was I kidding? Deke Marlow was going to own and devastate me.

  Chapter 17

  Deke~

  I wasn’t sure how many traffic laws I broke getting to Trent’s house, but with every passing minute I could feel my mind splintering with all kinds of unpleasant possibilities as to why Delaney had gone to a party without Ava.

  And worse? What was she doing that Ava said she couldn’t get Delaney to listen to her?

  I knew Delaney was nervous about this weekend. I knew my words had put her on edge. When I realized she hadn’t shown up to school this morning, I hadn’t really been surprised. I also didn’t think any less of her. I knew I was…a lot. I knew I intimidated people, and I knew Delaney’s personality was…not compatible with mine if you did the math. But I didn’t care.

  Delaney was mine.

  My car was barely in park before I was turning it off and out of the driver’s side door. Everyone else had followed in Ramsey’s Range Rover and I could hear the car doors opening and closing behind me. Whatever awaited me in that house, I knew it wouldn’t be anything that couldn’t be handled by the five of us, even if it meant bloody killing someone.

  As I stormed into the house, I turned my head back and told Linnie, “Call Ava and ask her where the fuck they are.”

  I turned back around and started scanning the foyer and passing through it to the living room. I kept scanning and scanning, but I didn’t see her. Finally, Roselyn piped up, “They’re in the backyard. They’re on the decking.”

  Without any ‘excuse me’s or ‘pardon me’s, we swept through the house towards the backyard. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting, but never in a million years would I have imagined the sight that greeted me when I cleared the back sliding glass door. Christina Aguilera was blaring through the surround sound speakers talking about wanting to be dirty, and there was Delaney Martin, dancing like she was auditioning for a goddamn music video.

  I heard a low whistle behind me. “Where in the hell did she even learn how to dance like that?” Liam exclaimed right before he let out a whoosh from Roselyn elbowing him, no doubt.

  Delaney was dancing alone, but she was moving her body not like a goddamn virgin, that’s for sure. I stood stunned at the way she was moving, the bottle of liquor in her hand, the fucking outfit that was not covering shit, and how flushed her face was. But I had no idea if it was from the alcohol or the dancing.

  Her hair was down, flying all around her, and she was wearing a tight green tank top, a white loose skirt that stopped mid-thigh, and some white sandals, and none of it hid her assets.

  But what was killing me?

  The pink blush of color in her face was making the scar across her cheek whiter. It was making it stand out, and for whatever reason, that’s what was getting my dick hard. I thought it’d be my mark, but it wasn’t.

  That fucking scar.

  That fucking scar that proved there was more to Delaney Martin than the quiet library book nerd we all thought her to be all these years.

  Before I could go over and drag her away, Ava rushed up to us. “Oh, thank God!” she cried. I looked down at her and her face was full of worry and wariness. “She’s drunk, Deke. She’s drunk, and she had texted me and I didn’t get the text…” Ava shook her head. “Who cares? She’s drunk and you need to go get her. She won’t listen to me.”

  “What the fuck is she doing here?” Ramsey asked from behind me.

  Ava glanced over at him and her face blanched. I suppose the sight of all of us here to get Delaney was a bit overwhelming. “I…I don’t know,” she answered. “I told her I might be here, so…she might have meant to meet me here. I don’t know…”

  “What did she say when you saw her?” Roselyn asked.

  “She just keeps saying she’s here to party,” Ava rushed out, worried and…well, worried. “And I don’t know what the fuck that means. Delaney doesn’t party.”

  My eyes shot back to where Delaney was dancing, and suddenly, I knew what she was doing here. She was hiding from me. She was here because she didn’t think I’d ever think to look for her here. She was hiding from what was happening between us.

  Delaney was trying to make sense of the changes happening in her life and she was doing what all idiotic teenage kids do when they’re confused. She was drinking and dancing her problems away. Too bad I was her biggest problem and nothing she could do would push me away.

  I glanced back down at Ava. “She’s going to be pissed that you called me. You know that, right?”

  I realized there was more to Ava Hill than I had ever given her credit for when she said, “I know she is.” She shook her head again. “I know Delaney’s going to feel betrayed and hurt that I…I didn’t pick her side this time. I know that, Deke, but…” I watched as Ava stood to her full height, and I realized she was strug
gling with upsetting the only real friend she’s ever had. “But her safety and…her reputation are more important than how much she might hate me for this. She can hate me for the rest of our lives, and I can live with that, if she’s safe and…no one talks about her like she’s…trash.”

  We all stood there, and even with the party all around us, you could feel how much Ava loved Delaney. Whatever we ever suspected about their friendship, Ava’s declaration proved that I’d never have to worry about Delaney when she was with Ava. Ava would never let her reputation or wild ways taint Delaney in any way.

  “Deke, check it out,” Liam said.

  I looked over at Delaney and I saw some guy walking up to her to dance. And while that had me already balling up my fists, that was nothing compared to seeing Winston come into view. He looked pissed, and he was walking towards Delaney to get her away from the guy wanting to dance with her.

  Oh, fuck no.

  Delaney was mine.

  She was mine, and I’d be goddamned if I’ll let another guy claim or defend her in front of me. Winston was striding up towards them like he had the right to pull her away from the guy, and he didn’t. I took off, and luckily for him, I beat him to it. But it had been close. We stood on either side of Delaney, staring each other down, the guy who was going to dance with her was long gone.

  I snatched Delaney by her arm and yanked her towards me. “Can I help you, Reynolds?”

  The guy’s face was all busted up, and he knew he couldn’t beat me, but he didn’t back down and I grudgingly respected that. “I’m not going to fade into the background, so that she can be with you, if you’re not going to take care of her, Marlow,” he snapped. He threw his arm up, indicating the party. “Because this is not taking care of her. Delaney doesn’t belong here. If you were doing your job, she wouldn’t be here!”

  I wanted to kill him.

  I wanted to kill him, but he wasn’t wrong.