I had also never planned on a fourth character, but upon writing Deke’s story, I fell in love with Ava, and how complicated she was, so Provoking the Enemy came to life. I also added a short closer as proof that everyone did live happily ever after.
I know half of you will enjoy that everyone got a happily-ever-after, while the other half will be disappointed that Roselyn didn’t spend the rest of her days being worshipped by Liam and Deke, but, at heart, I’m a one-woman-man type of personality, so I felt compelled to make sure everyone ended up with a love of their life.
Nonetheless, I hope you guys enjoy the series, and thank you, once again, to everyone who loved the book so much, you pushed for the additional stories.
And just a couple of things before I let you go and get your read on. While I am doing my best to work with better editing and proofreading software, all my books are solo, independent works. I write my books, proofread my books, edit my books, create the covers, etc. I have one beta who gives me feedback on my stories, but other than that, all my books are independent projects.
That being said, I apologize, in advance, for the typos, grammar inconsistencies, or any other mistakes I may make. Since writing is strictly a hobby for me, I haven’t looked for commitments in regard to publishers, editors, etc. My hope is that my stories are enjoyable enough that a few mistakes, here and there, can be overlooked. If not, my books are probably not for you.
Thank you, all, for turning this hobby into something exciting and magical!
Acknowledgements
◆◆◆
First, foremost, and always, I want to thank my family for their support. They continue to support me unconditionally and they were so excited for me when I told them how these books came at the request of my readers.
Second, and always, will be Kamala. Next to my family, she is truly one of the biggest parts of this journey. I can’t thank her enough for being the best beta ever!
And, of course, I want to thank everyone who took a chance on me when they bought this book! I understand the risk when you spend your money on a new name. Thank you, so much, for being a part of my experience.
Dedication
◆◆◆
For Amy (who emailed me) and Always Booking –
You were the first people to show interest in Roselyn’s, Liam’s & Deke’s stories. This series would never have come to be if you guys hadn’t planted the seed
And for all my other readers who encouraged this madness –
Thank you so much! I hope the story meets with your expectations!
Prologue
I closed my eyes as I heard the front door shut, and I found myself wondering, once again, how I got here.
What I found even more puzzling was the fact that I had wanted to be here.
For months, this is what I wanted; what I enjoyed. But now…
Now, it’s not enough. Or maybe it’s too much.
Staring out the window, I watch Deke Marlow strolling down the walkway towards his car. Deke lived two blocks over, but the houses in Sands Cove were so huge, and they each sat on at least one acre of land, you couldn’t just skip on over to your neighbor’s house.
I watched silently as he clicked his key fob, unlocking his car, then open the driver’s side door and got in. I stared down at his white Lexus LC and wondered, as he backed up, how many people paid attention to how many times it’s been in my driveway over the past few months. Of course, most people would assume he was here to see my stepbrother, Brandon, but they’d be wrong.
Brandon was hardly ever home. He had a girlfriend whom he practically lived with, and since his father and my mother were always off gallivanting all over the world, we were pretty much free to do whatever we wanted.
I couldn’t deny I’ve crossed a line that cannot be uncrossed, and I felt out of sorts now that I wanted more. No matter how toxic my best friend Emerson’s relationship with Ramsey Reed was, I found myself being envious of their relationship these days. Emerson would go to her deathbed never doubting Ramsey’s love for her, and I wanted that.
Well, maybe not that kind of psychotic obsession, but I wanted love.
I wanted a boy to take me to the movies or buy me roses. Hell, I’d settle for walking me to my locker.
Something.
Anything.
Every Monday through Friday I went to school, hung out with my friends, bullshitted, and chilled with no one being the wiser that Deke Marlow might have just left my bed the night before.
We sat in some of the same classes, ate at the same lunch table, hitched rides off each other…all kinds of casual friend things, with neither of us giving away the slightest hint that we’ve seen each other naked. Hell, even Emerson hadn’t suspected until I told her a few weeks ago.
It wasn’t until Emerson and Ramsey started parading their twisted, psychotic fairy tale around everywhere that I started to realize I was rather lonely. Sure, I might not be lonely most nights, but I was lonely during the day. I was lonely during the holidays. I was lonely in the shower, for Christ’s sake.
I looked up at the moon and wondered how much lonelier it was going to feel when I did away with the little bit I was getting at night. I mean, things were going well, and I had been satisfied with how things had been going, but it was more than just watching Emerson and Ramsey together. I could admit I began feeling emotionally involved a few months ago, but I was too chickenshit to acknowledge the change.
Because if there’s one thing I did know, it was that no one would appreciate me bringing emotions into the equation. Emotions were only acceptable when a Happily-Ever-After was possible. No one had sought a Happily-Ever-After when all this started. At least, I sure hadn’t.
The sound of bedsheets rustling behind me had me turning around to face the bed, and what a sight it was. The dark blue bedsheet draped loosely over Liam McCellan’s v-indented pelvic area, his six-pack abs on display, the moonlight from the window dancing across his perfect, honed, ripped teenage male body. His dark blonde hair was mused all over the pillow, his baby blue eyes covered by sleeping eyelids. He looked comfortable and peaceful. Whereas, Deke always got up, got dressed, and left; Liam always stayed in bed and slept either for a few hours or until the wee hours of the morning.
And just as no one suspected I was sleeping with Deke Marlow, no one suspected I was sleeping with Liam McCellan either. And I was.
I was sleeping with both these boys.
I was officially a teenage slut.
It didn’t matter that it was Liam who took my virginity; I was a slut. And for months, I relished in our little secret. I enjoyed their attentions. I craved what they could do and have done to my body. But it couldn’t continue.
As I looked over at a sleeping Liam, I knew I couldn’t continue with our arrangement any longer.
Not when I was in love with Liam McCellan.
Chapter 1
Roselyn~
I turned back towards the window and wondered for the millionth time how I was going to do this.
We were only four months into the new school year, so I had roughly seven more months left in Sands Cove before our parents pushed us out into the real world to take our rightful places in life.
Could I ignore how I felt about Liam for the rest of the school year? Especially, with Emerson being in a relationship with Ramsey? Ramsey, Deke, and Liam were best friends; have been their entire lives. There’s no way they’d stop hanging out together no matter what I was feeling about my situation with Liam and Deke.
I never knew, and still don’t know, Ramsey’s take on my relationship with his two best friends, but I knew no matter how much he loved Emerson, he’d never choose my side over theirs. Ramsey Reed, Deke Marlow, and Liam McCellan had an unbreakable bond, and Ramsey Reed wasn’t the type of guy who would let even Emerson break it. Instead, he’d bring Emerson into the fold and make her a part of their brotherhood.
Of course, it was no secret that Ramsey’s…love for Emerson bordered on maniacal
, so I doubt Deke, Liam, or Emerson would ever put Ramsey in a position to where he’d have to choose between any of them.
I closed my eyes and seriously contemplated searching some internet blogs on ideas of how to end a threesome that’s been going on for almost a year already. I opened my eyes as I dropped my forehead against the cool window.
I had never started out to have this kind of relationship. In all the years since I hit puberty, I never imagined I’d find myself having sex with two boys, often at the same time. I had had the same romantic notions as most every other teenage girl on the planet. I was going to find a boy who adored me, and we’d fall in love, get married, have children, and live happily ever after.
Nowhere…nowhere, in that scenario had there been thoughts of finding two boys who adored me, and we’d all fall in love. Now, granted, I wasn’t in love with Deke, just Liam. While Deke was hot as sin, with a mesmerizing face and a fantastic body, he stirred no emotions in me other than lust. It was crazy, uncontrollable lust, but just lust, nonetheless.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t delusional enough to believe that Liam would ever love me back. Much like Deke, I knew he liked me, considered me a friend, and might even care about me a little, but love? How could any guy fall in love with a girl who he shared with his best friend? And, in all this time, I never once asked either of them what they were thinking when they started this.
A part of me was afraid to ask because I was certain the answer was something cold and cruel. Like, perhaps, it had been a bet. Or maybe it had been a dare. Or maybe they simply thought I was a tramp and had just gone for it.
The other part of me that kept me from asking was that I didn’t want to be that girl. I didn’t want to create drama where there wasn’t any by asking touchy-feely questions of two guys who didn’t do drama. Liam and Deke could have any girl they wanted. They sure as hell didn’t need to humor one that was spiraling down an emotional abyss.
I remember the night they came into my room like it was yesterday. My stepbrother, Brandon-better known as Asshat-had been having one of his outrageous parties, and knowing I wasn’t welcomed, I had stayed up in my room, hidden away from the people he deemed me not good enough to hang out with.
I had been laying in my bed losing my mind on Pinterest when I had heard the door to my bedroom creak open. Sitting up, I watched in wary fascination as Liam McCellan and Deke Marlow had entered my room. Before each boy had entered my bedroom, I had never spoken to them before, and I’d been living in Sands Cove since my freshman year of high school.
I remember asking them what they wanted and them muttering some shit about looking for Brandon. And without waiting for an invitation, they had both made themselves at home on my bed. They also had bottles of liquor with them.
I remember the casual chitchat. I remember one shot, then two. I remember more than two shots, and then even more after that. I remember being hypnotized by Liam’s blue eyes and fascinated by Deke’s green ones. I remember the first touch of Liam’s fingertips against my collarbone. I had been wearing a white tank top with a pair of jean cutoffs, and looking back, the outfit hadn’t been protection enough against the heat from their first touches to their last. I remember feeling euphoric when Deke’s hands joined Liam’s in touching my skin.
I still got goosebumps at the memory.
Hearing the rustling on the bed, I continued to gaze out at whatever the moon was allowing to shine through the darkness. Liam would either be getting up to get dressed and leave, or he’s just in a restless sleep.
I never questioned why he stayed, and I never questioned why Deke always left. The arrangement we had didn’t make room for questions and expectations. The only stipulation we had placed on ourselves when we agreed to continue as a threesome was monogamy within the group. I always thought they included that stipulation as a way to lessen my guilt and shame. What they were doing with me was sordid, but had they continued to sleep with other girls, things would have become sleazy and uncomfortable.
Sure, they flirted with other girls a lot, and they didn’t shower me with any special treatment, but Liam once told me that was because they didn’t want me getting any grief if the truth ever came out. By them flirting with other girls, no one would ever suspect what was really going on. I had even helped them along by making up stories about boys I messed with from neighboring towns.
It felt surreal to know that we’ve kept this arrangement up for almost a year now with no expectations. But, again, I didn’t want to be that girl. You know, the girl who promises she knows the score, but then starts acting like a tool because she ended up developing feelings after she promised she wouldn’t?
Yeah, that girl. I even joked with Emerson once what fun being a slut would be.
I almost let out a moan as I felt the heat from Liam’s body blanket my entire back. Liam was a couple of inches over six-feet, and since I was only spanning 5’3”, or so, Liam towered over me. It felt both intimidating and sensual.
One of my biggest weaknesses was the differences between men and women. I loved how where men were hard, women were soft. I loved how where men were warriors, women were nurturers. I loved how where men were brute force, women were quiet strength. I was all for women’s equal rights, but I believed men and women were created differently so, together, they could compliment those differences.
I felt Liam’s breath against the shell of my right ear. “Whatcha doing, baby?”
Having an emotional goddamn breakdown.
Of course, I didn’t say that. I stuck to the script. I played the role I volunteered for. “I couldn’t sleep,” I replied, and immediately felt stupid.
Liam let out a low whistle. “That doesn’t say much for me and Deke if you’re not exhausted, Roz,” he chuckled.
I bit my lip because he was wrong. They had exhausted me, but my mind was so wound up with girl issues, I couldn’t fall asleep next to him like I usually did.
My problem was that his casual references to Deke were starting to hurt. I was legit in love with Liam, and his off-the-cuff dismissals of what we did with Deke were constant reminders that this was just a sexual arrangement for him.
Liam placed his hands on my hips and slid them upwards underneath the t-shirt I was wearing. He cupped my breasts as he placed kisses on the side of my neck. It was hard to think when I was just near Liam, so when he was touching me, I went super simpleton status. “I…mmm…I just have a lot on…on my mind,” I said, my voice rough and my body shivering.
He kept kneading my left breast with his left hand as his right hand slid down over my stomach and in between my legs. My head dropped back to rest on his shoulder as I shamelessly widened my stance to let his fingers in. I wasn’t wearing any panties because there hadn’t seemed a point to putting them on. I learned early on that clothes were pointless when Deke and/or Liam were over. The only reason I had put a shirt on was because I wasn’t going to stand naked in front of the window.
“Did Deke leave?” he asked, already knowing the answer. Deke didn’t always leave right after sex. He always left right after Liam fell asleep. He acted like Liam falling asleep was the equivalent to the police knocking on the door to bust up the party. As if, once Liam was asleep, fun time was over.
I closed my eyes ready to give over to the sensations despite my earlier convictions. “He left a few minutes ago. You…you haven’t been asleep long,” I answered.
Liam’s fingers slid through my soaked pussy lips, and I couldn’t stop the moan that escaped my lips when two of his fingers dipped into my tender channel. As much as Deke brought to the bedroom, this is what I craved these days.
Liam’s touch; just his touch.
Too bad tonight would be the last time I would feel those touches.
Chapter 2
Liam~
I knew I just spent the last couple of hours tasting and worshipping Roselyn, but it still hadn’t been enough.
It was never enough where she was concerned.
My appetite
for Roselyn couldn’t be satisfied. No matter how many times I took her, and no matter in what way, I was always almost immediately hard for her again within minutes.
Deke’s often suggested that it was because she’s the first, and only, virgin I’ve ever bedded, but I’ve always believed it was more than that. While Deke might have a point about how her blood on my cock that first night might have triggered something in me, I think it was just Roselyn, herself, that did it for me.
“Mmm…Liam,” she murmured.
I worked my fingers deeper into her pussy as my kisses turned into bites. “I can feel you still dripping with my cum, baby,” I whispered against her skin. Roselyn loved dirty talk; the filthier, the better.
She pushed her ass back against my groin. “I know…”
When I saw her standing by the window with her head resting against the glass seemingly in deep thought, it felt as if my insides had taken a nosedive. She looked too serious for my liking. Roselyn’s usually easy going and drama-free, but something about her posture seemed off.
I pulled my fingers out of her pussy and let go of her tit so I could pull her shirt off her body. Roselyn’s petite frame should never be covered up. But before I could pull the offending garment off her body, she turned to face me. “Liam, th…the window-”
“Like I give a fuck,” I replied, interrupting her protest. “Let them all see me fucking you.”
She gasped, and I knew it was because that wasn’t part of our deal. When this started, Deke and I knew she’d be crucified if anyone ever found out what she was doing with us. And the torment wouldn’t necessarily be because she was sleeping with both me and Deke. It would because she was sleeping with both of us and not some other girl, and worse…because we’ve been sleeping with Roz for almost a year now exclusively. Sure, Deke and I have fucked the same girl before, but those times were just what they were; three teenage kids fucking for fun, and never at the same time.
The Enemy Series Page 20