Resurrecting the Enemy

by M. E. Clayton

  Lake’s head turned, and she looked up at me. I winked and that just pissed her off more. I’d blindsided all of them, and I was pretty sure they weren’t appreciating it at the moment.

  “I’m sorry if I’ve offended you, or you feel unwelcomed,” Mom went on.

  Lake turned back to face her. “It’s okay,” she lied before glancing back down at her lap.

  “I’m going to kill you, Ram,” Mom threatened, and I winked at her, too.

  But then Lake’s head snapped up. “So, it’s not just me who feels that way around him?”

  Dad’s fake cough did nothing to hide his laugh, while Mom’s eyes narrowed at me. “I assure you, Lake, he brings that urge out in almost everyone he meets.” Then she looked over at Dad. “The talent reminds me of someone else I know.”

  “What do you feel like eating?” I asked Lake, stopping what was surely going to be a horrifying recount of how I was just like my dad.

  “Anything’s fine,” she mumbled, still embarrassed.

  I started making her plate as Dad started making Mom’s. He had seated her as soon as I had asked Lake what she wanted, and that was the scene Maddox stumbled upon when he walked into the kitchen; me and Dad serving Lake and Mom.

  “Hungry?” Dad asked him.

  I could hear Mad’s smile. “I wasn’t until I heard Mom threaten to kill R.J., and now I know why.” Maddox immediately started making himself a plate, and it wasn’t until we were all seated that he said, “Well, isn’t this cozy.”

  “Did you know he had a girlfriend?” Mom asked, and it was clear she was going to hand me my ass as soon as it was safe.

  Mad finished eating a chip before saying, “I knew he was stalking her, but I didn’t know she agreed to be his girlfriend yet.”

  “Stalking?” Mom echoed and then cut a look Dad’s way.

  “She’s the witness,” Dad offered as way of explanation.

  Mom’s eyes flew towards Lake, but she didn’t say anything at first. After a long moment, Mom asked her, “How did you guys meet, Lake?” It was test. While Mom was very aware of the significance of introducing Lake to them, Mom wasn’t going to just stand back and do nothing if this was a bad idea. Mom didn’t need to like Lake; she needed to trust her. She needed to trust Lake with her family because we were a shady bunch.

  Lake stared Mom in the face as she said, “I came across him and his friends near the Lapis Creek inlet last Sunday. Ramsey took exception to me being there while they were…using the area.”

  “And now you’re dating?” she prompted.

  Lake shook her head. “I don’t know what the hell we’re doing, but Ramsey won’t leave me alone long enough to try to figure it out,” she confessed.

  “Sounds like love,” Mad chimed in before shoving an entire slider in his mouth.

  “And…did you see what they were doing out there Sunday night?” Mom asked her.

  Lake looked at me, stared me straight in the eye, and stuck to her lie. “No.”

  Holding Lake’s stare, I said, “She’s lying.”

  “Says you,” she fired back. “But you’ll never really know, will you?” I could hear Mom and Dad chuckle, and that was that.

  Lake had passed their little test.

  “So, do you go to Windsor, Lake?” Dad asked.

  I saw her face fall instantly. “Uh, no,” she answered, looking over at him. “I go to SC High.”

  “Plan on going to college?” Mom asked.

  Lake winced a little. “I’m not sure.”

  “Lake wants to be a photographer,” I supplied for them.

  “I…I’ve already applied to the California Institute of Art and the Academy of Art University, but I still have to submit my secondary projects and apply to a couple of more backup options,” Lake added. “Traditional college is one of those backup options, though I’m not sure where I’d want to go.” She gave my mom a timid smile. “Photography is my only passion. I’m afraid I’m putting all my eggs in that one basket.”

  Mom smiled at her. “Well, let us know if there’s anything we can do to help, Lake.”

  I watched Lake’s shoulders drop, and I could actually feel the tension leave her body. “Thank you, Mrs. Reed.”

  “You may call me Emerson, if you’re more comf-”

  Lake quickly shook her head. “I prefer Mrs. Reed,” she told her, and Mom just nodded and accepted Lake’s preference.

  “So, what are you kids going to do for Halloween?” Dad asked.

  “I already committed to D.J.’s party,” Maddox answered.

  I nodded my head. “Me, too.”

  “I’m…my best friend, Eden, is throwing a party, so I’ll be with her,” Lake answered, and I could feel my back snap.

  I looked over at her. “You didn’t tell me Eden was throwing a party.”

  “You didn’t ask,” she retorted. “Besides, sounds like you’re already busy anyway.”

  “Yeah, going to a party you were going to go to with me,” I shot back.

  Lake cocked her head at me, apparently no longer intimidated by my parents. “Well, then, I guess there’s been a change of plans.”

  “I can’t get out of this party,” I informed her.

  “And neither can I,” she replied.

  I glanced at my family, who were positively riveted with our little exchange, then looked back at Lake. “We’ll talk about this later.”

  “Yeah, because that’ll change something,” she deadpanned.

  “Awe, young love,” Mad laughed.

  Chapter 28

  Lake~

  The fact that they had turned out to seem like normal people hadn’t helped with the simmer of adrenaline that was still messing with me.

  I just met freakin’ Ramsey Reed Sr. and his wife, Emerson Reed, and the significance of that wasn’t lost on me. Not to mention how Maddox had joined in, also. Not an hour ago, I had lunch with the entire Reed Family, and it hadn’t been horrible. Well, other than the initial introduction where I thought Mrs. Reed was going to throw me out of her lovely home. Other than that, it hadn’t been too terrible.

  And now, we were back in Ramsey’s bedroom, where I so did not want to be. His parents were home, and this just seemed highly inappropriate, even if I was sitting on the bed while Ramsey was sitting in his desk chair, giving me the evil-eye.

  “Shouldn’t we be…in the living room or something?” I asked. The last thing I needed Mr. and Mrs. Reed to think was that their son’s girlfriend was a hussy. And as much as it still seemed unreal, Ramsey was adamant that I was his girlfriend.

  Ramsey leaned forward in his chair and clasped his hands in front of him. “So, Eden’s party…”

  I shook my head at him. “Don’t start, Ramsey. This is a big deal for her,” I told him. “It’s the first time her parents are letting her have an unchaperoned party, and I promised I was going to help her with it.” I was not going to let him take this away from Eden.

  He regarded me a bit before asking, “What are your costumes?”

  Our costumes weren’t scandalous by half, but they did fall under the sexy category. “Eden’s dressing up as a Fed-Ex delivery driver, and I’m dressing up as a UPS delivery driver.”

  “Got any pictures on your phone?”

  Of course, I had pictures on my phone. Eden and I had done a complete photoshoot when we’d gotten the costumes. And it really was on the tip of my tongue to refuse him, but I quickly recalled how he’s been hacking into my phone and social media accounts. He was going to see the pictures one way or the other, so I unlocked my, found a picture with the both of us in it, and held it out in my hand.

  Instead of standing up, he rolled his chair over and took the phone from my hand. His brown gaze took in the picture, and a tick in his jaw was his only reaction.

  At first.

  Handing me my phone back, Ramsey said, “Absolutely fucking not.”

  “Don’t start with me, Ramsey,” I practically hissed. “Our plans were made way before I ever met you.
”

  “So, if I’d already made plans to fuck some random girl in Port Lucia before we met, then it’s cool for me to keep with my previous plans?” he challenged.

  I couldn’t deny the painful thump in my chest at the idea of Ramsey with other girls, but I wasn’t going to back down. It wasn’t the same thing, and he knew it. He was just trying to manipulate a win out of this, and I refuse to let him.

  Staring him straight in the face, I said, “If you want to sleep with other people, that’s not really anything I can control, now, is it?”

  His head jerked in surprise, but he quickly masked it. “So, you have no problem with your boyfriend fucking other girls?” he asked.

  Ignoring the roiling feeling in my stomach, I shrugged. “If that’s what this is, if we’re in an actual relationship, well, it wouldn’t be the first time my boyfriend’s cheated on me, so…”

  Something came over his face, but he masked it again, giving me nothing. After a long moment of silence, he said, “You have to know it’s not okay to be dressed like that without me around, right?”

  “Why?” I knew the answer, but I was daring him to tell me he didn’t trust me.

  His eyes narrowed. “Because I don’t trust that guys aren’t going to be trying to fuck you, dressed like that, unattended.”

  “Unattended?” I practically screeched. “I’m not a child, Ramsey.”

  “You know what I mean, Lake,” he snapped. “Don’t pretend to be obtuse.”

  I cocked my head. “No more than half-naked girls will be throwing themselves at you, looking the way you do, unattended,” I fired back. And, let’s be real here, Ramsey’s costume didn’t matter in this equation. Girls will always be throwing themselves at him, no matter what. Even if he were ugly as sin, his money, family’s reputation, and power were enough to entice most gold-digging vipers. I might have to fend off a couple of guys for one night, but Ramsey will be fending off females forever.

  Ramsey leaned back in his chair, his posture casual, but the fire in his eyes was anything but. “There’s not another girl on this planet who is a threat to you, Lake,” he stated as matter of fact. “Half-naked, naked, or otherwise.”

  I didn’t comment.

  I didn’t believe him, and he knew I didn’t believe him.

  We were at a standoff, and the obstacle standing between us was trust. Our relationship hadn’t started out conventional. I didn’t know Ramsey any better than he knew me. We were only two weeks into this thing between us, and while I had no clue as to his past relationship history, we both knew mine, and I had more cause to doubt him than he had to doubt me.

  Finally, he said, “Give me your phone.”

  “For what?”

  “Just give me your fucking phone, Lake,” he snapped, and I unlocked it and handed it to him again. Again, I already knew he could hack into my stuff, so this wasn’t a fight I had the energy for.

  However, when I saw his fingers flying over the screen, I asked, “What are you doing?”

  “Sending the picture to my phone,” he answered right before giving me back my phone.

  “For what?”

  “I’m sending Dash that picture and letting him know why we’ll be cutting out of D.J.’s party early to come back to Sands Cove.”

  My stomach roiled again. Ramsey was compromising, and I seriously didn’t know what to make of it. Instead, I asked, “Who’s D.J.?”

  Still texting Dash, he didn’t bother looking up when he answered, “A family friend.”

  Taking the win, I decided to change subjects. “Eden’s not interested in being Dash Marlow’s booty call. There’s no need for him to go to her party.”

  Ramsey kept exchanging texts when he replied, “And what makes you think that’s what she’d be?”

  I shrugged, but he wasn’t looking at me. “What else would she be?”

  His eyes shot my way, and the guy did not look happy. “A word of advice, Lake. I strongly suggest you and Eden aren’t entertaining anyone of the male variety when we get there Friday night, or shit’s going to get ugly really quickly.”

  “Ramsey, it’s a party,” I pointed out. “Of course, we’re going to be socializing and talking with people. Especially, Eden. It’s her party, for Pete’s sake. She’s the hostess.”

  Ramsey stood from his chair, walked over to his bed, sat down next to me, and I let out a yelp when he reached over, grabbed me, and planted me on his lap. I was straddling him, and that made me doubly aware that his parents were home.

  “What are you doing?” I hissed, trying to wiggle out of his hold, but his hands were damn near digging into my hips.

  His eyes glared with seriousness. “We’re going to get something straight here if you want to be able to attend that party without me, Lake.”

  I immediately bristled. “You can’t stop me from going, Ramsey,” I argued.

  “That’s debatable,” he replied. “But what I can do is throw my own party the same night and invite all of SC High.” Heat rushed down my spine, and I wondered, not for the millionth time, what was I doing with Ramsey Reed Jr. “Now, how many people do you think will attend Eden’s party versus mine?”

  We both knew the answer, and I hated him for that truth.

  When I didn’t comment on his threat, he continued to lay down the rules. “I will be picking you up from school Friday, and we’ll come back here, so I can fuck the shit out of you.” My body broke out in goosebumps, and I hated how he noticed. “If you’re going to go to a party without me, you’re going with your pussy pumped full of my cum.” His hand came up to dance across my collarbone. “I’m also marking the fuck out of you, so no one gets any stupid ideas since you’ll be dressed in close to nothing.”

  “My costume isn’t that bad,” I insisted. “Not compared to what’s out there.”

  “It’s bad enough,” he countered.

  “And what about you?” I asked. “While I’m…a…a mess because of you, where’s my claim?” I didn’t feel the need to stake my claim, but I was trying to make a point here.

  Ramsey lifted his chin and bared his neck. “I’m all yours, baby. Do whatever the fuck you want to my neck or any other part of my body.”

  So much for making my point.

  Chapter 29

  Ramsey~

  I wasn’t a big fan of dressing up for Halloween, but this was D.J.’s first party, and we’d all promised to humor her. In exchanged, she had to promise not to dress like a slutty nurse, doctor, policewoman, or really a slutty anything. The compromised was a military battalion.

  And since the party was for sixteen and older, only me, Maddox, Chance, Dash, Crew were here with D.J., while the others had gone to their own parties or were hanging out with the parentals. So, we were all dressed in military garb, with D.J. covered from head to toe. Mad had wanted us to dress up as wicked skeletons, but Chance had argued that he didn’t want to smear his face paint all over some lucky girl’s thighs later in the night. The guy had voiced a valid point.

  Looking around, as far as first parties went, D.J. was killing it. Uncle Ace and Aunt Ava had made her stick to our normal party rules, and that was that the houses were always off limits. All our properties were big enough to host a party outdoors with room for everyone. The pools were all heated and each of our homes came with a pool house that we used for our parties.

  And while I was having a good time, and I was happy D.J.’s first party was a success, I was itching to get back to Sands Cove. And I wasn’t the only one, either. After I had sent Dash that picture of Lake and Eden’s costumes, he’d been more than happy to make the hour drive back to Sands Cove to crash Eden’s Halloween party.

  That all came to a crashing halt though, when Mad stormed over my way. He looked pissed, but also grim. Not saying a word, he jerked his head for me to follow him inside the house. Though the house was off limits for the party, that didn’t include family.

  Once we passed the kitchen and entered into the living room, Mad started pacing and I
waited patiently for whatever he was about to tell me. I knew that, whatever it was, it couldn’t be good, but Maddox was a thinker. Right now, he was working the words inside his head before he said them. He got like that when he was pissed, upset, or serious.

  He finally stopped pacing and came to stand in front of me. “Do you remember how I told you I planned on keeping tabs on your boy and Erica Chambers?” I crossed my arms over my chest and nodded. “Well, I get notifications if they’re posting shit,” he told me. “I…” He trailed off as he handed me his phone. I didn’t have either Curt or Erica on my social media feeds, so I wouldn’t get notifications of what they were up to. I could view what was public on their accounts if I wanted to, but that’s about it.

  I grabbed Mad’s phone, and everything in me froze as my eyes tried to make sense of what I was seeing.

  Erica had posted a selfie of herself, but in the background of her picture you could easily see Curt and Lake wrapped around each other, heading into a bedroom. The caption read ‘I guess she finally got her man back. Hope she enjoys my leftovers’.

  “There’s more,” Mad quietly informed me, and my fingers immediately went to scrolling Erica’s social media page, and there were a few more pictures of her with Lake and Curt in the background, talking or drinking or whatever.

  I went back to the picture of them heading into the bedroom, and if someone were to ask me to explain what I was feeling in words, I wouldn’t be able to. This wasn’t anger. This wasn’t rage. This wasn’t fury. This wasn’t wrath.

  No.

  What I was feeling was something completely foreign.

  Earlier today, I’d done just what I had told I was going to do, and that was pick her up from school, take her back to my house, and I had spent an hour fucking her with enough ruthlessness that she had begged me to stop. And I had, but not before I had marked her and pump her full of my cum. And even as enraged as I was, there was a sick satisfaction in knowing that, if he was with her, he had her used. Lake had bled on my cock her first time, and fuck Curt Metcalf.