Resurrecting the Enemy

by M. E. Clayton

  Her fists hit me square in the chest, and she started screaming at me, heedless of all the people around us, watching. “You bastard!” Her hits were coming hard, but she wasn’t doing much damage, so I let her. “You fucking bastard!” she screamed. “I trusted you! I believed you!” Tears started streaming down her face, and I hated that I’d done this to her. It wasn’t until she slapped me that I finally went for her hands. “Don’t touch me!”

  She pulled away from me, and staring down at her tear-stained face, her heaving rage, the hate in her eyes, and the heartbreak all over her face, there was no way I was ever going to leave this girl alone. Lake was it for me, and there was nothing I wouldn’t do to make this happen.

  “Lake-”

  “Stay away from me, Ramsey!” she cried out, loud enough for me and everyone around us to hear. “Go back to your castles and your finery and your kind of people. Go back to your friends and your…your money, and…your perfect Windsor girlfriends, and just leave me the hell alone!”

  I’d humiliated her in one of the worst way possible, so the only thing I could do was give her the same opportunity to humiliate me. Unfortunately, whatever she did or said wouldn’t change anything. I was Ramsey Reed Jr., and my power, status, money, and reputation were enough to combat whatever she could throw at me.

  “I can’t,” I said loud enough for the people around us to hear and record. “I love you.”

  Lake shook her head. “You don’t love me,” she spat. “You love having someone to toy with. You love having someone to humiliate. You love having a mouse in your trap. A fucking idiot you can break.”

  “I was wrong.” This time I made sure my voice carried a little louder. “I was wrong, and I’m sorry.”

  “Fuck your sorry!” she yelled! “Fuck your sorry, and fuck you, Ramsey!”

  She turned to walk away from me, and with no mistaking the words, I said loudly, “I’ll do anything to make you forgive me, Lake.”

  She tuned back to face me. “Go to hell, Ramsey,” she said loud and clear. “That’s what you can do.” Lake was serious as fuck, and I knew it as she turned her back on me again to head towards the buses. I also knew I couldn’t let her get away.

  I just couldn’t.

  So, I ran after her, and grabbing her around the waist, I lifted her up and carried her, kicking and screaming, back to my car.

  “Let me go!” she screamed, and this time, it wasn’t going unnoticed. As I wrestled opened the passenger door to my Range Rover, I notice a couple of teachers making their way into the courtyard in front of the school.

  As soon as I secured Lake in the passenger seat, I child-locked the doors with my key fob and looked over at the teachers. Lifting my chin, I asked, “Is there a problem?” They both cowered like I knew they would, and when I turned my back to them, I noticed Lake reaching over and trying to hit the release button for the locks.

  I unlocked the doors, swung open the passenger side door, grabbed a handful of dark, chocolate locks, and yanked Lake back with enough force to make her cry out. She was thrashing around, but I quickly subdued her when I wrapped my other hand around her throat and growled in her face, “If you think I won’t tie you up and throw you in the back, just try me.”

  Those blue eyes of her were shooting hateful daggers my way, but she complied. She even sat still long enough for me to buckle her in. Was I worried this was all probably being recorded? Not at all. For anything to come of it, Lake’s the one who would have to file charges against me, and I knew she wouldn’t. Not because she was afraid to, but because I wasn’t letting her out of my sight until she forgave me and gave me a second chance.

  Getting in the driver’s side, I put my seatbelt on and started the car. My parents were in Port Lucia until tomorrow, and since Maddox was aware of my plans to kidnap Lake, I knew he wouldn’t be home. And even if he was, our house was a goddamn mansion, privacy wasn’t an issue.

  Nothing was said on the drive back to my house, but I preferred it that way. I wasn’t trying to argue with Lake while driving. She could potentially say the wrong thing and push me into driving us straight into a tree, killing us both.

  That’s how wound up I felt.

  Once we got to my house, I pulled into the garage just in case she decided to run, because why the hell wouldn’t she? Lake was beyond livid, and I couldn’t blame her. As sorry as I was, that still couldn’t erase what I’d done to her. My regret still couldn’t undo the emotional humiliation she had suffered at my hands.

  Shutting the door behind us, I said, “You know the way.” She shot me a look of pure hatred, but she started walking towards the foyer. I followed her, and I was surprised she hadn’t made a play for the front door. Instead, she adjusted her backpack and headed towards the stairs.

  Even though I knew we were alone, I shut and locked the door behind me as soon as we entered my bedroom. I expected things to get ugly, and I expected her to eventually make a break for it.

  When Lake pulled out her phone, I asked, “What do you think you’re doing?”

  “You basically kidnapped me, Ramsey,” she snapped. “And with everyone recording it, I’m texting Eden to let her know I’m okay.” Her fingers went flying across the screen. “I’m also texting my parents to let them I’ll be home late.”

  “Do they know about me?” There was damage control, and then there was dealing with someone’s parents.

  Lake shook her head. “No,” she answered. “There’s no way I’m telling them about you.”

  That stung.

  I arched a brow. “Awe, are you saying Mom and Dad won’t approve?”

  “I’m saying I don’t want them to worry,” she corrected. “And associating with you is cause for any parents to worry.”

  “Did they approve of Metcalf, the soccer star?”

  Her chin came up. “Yes, they did,” she informed me coolly. “And I hear he won’t be much of a soccer star anymore.”

  “He’s lucky I let him live,” I told her.

  Lake set her backpack on the floor and went to go stand by the balcony windows. She stared out into the yard and it felt like my entire life was tied up to this one moment in time.

  When she finally spoke, it wasn’t what I wanted to hear. “This doesn’t change anything, Ramsey,” she said. “I still don’t want to forgive you.”

  My lungs filled and emptied with a sigh of relief.

  I walked up behind her, wrapped my arms around her waist, and pulled tightly. “But you didn’t say you can’t forgive me, Lake.”

  “I would be stupid to forgive you,” she added. “You’re the worst thing that’s ever happened to me, Ramsey.” I refused to believe that. My actions might have been the worst thing that’s ever happened to her, but not me.

  Plus, she was letting me hold her.

  “I love you, Lake,” I told her, my arms tightening around her. “Find a way to forgive me because I’m not letting you go.”

  “I could always tell my parents,” she threatened. “And then ask them to go live with my Aunt Janelle in Pennsylvania.”

  I reached up and pull her hair away from her neck. I leaned down and kissed the soft skin just behind her ear. She shivered, and I was back to using my ace in the hole.

  “You could,” I agreed. “But then I’d go after your parents and aunt, and then go after you.” I placed another kiss against her neck after delivering that dark promise.

  And then she really threatened to drop me to my knees when her entire body began to shake, and she started crying in my arms. I turned her around and pulled her close as she cried into my chest, and her pain was enough that, if I were a better person, I’d let her go.

  However, I wasn’t.

  “Baby,” I whispered in her hair, “I’m so fucking sorry. I’m so goddamn sorry, Lake.”

  She was shaking her head, her face pressed against my chest. “I don’t care how sorry you are,” she lied.

  “Yeah, you do,” I replied. “Because you know I’m not lying to y
ou.” She started crying harder. “I might have been cruel, I might have been aggressive, and I might have been an asshole, but I’ve never lied to you, Lake. Even when the facts were ugly and you were fighting against them, I still never lied to you.”

  “I hate you,” she insisted. “I hate you so much.”

  “And I love you,” I countered. “I love you so damn much, baby.”

  She looked up at me, and she looked a hot mess. Her face was splotchy, her eyes were red, and her makeup smeared, but she was still the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Love did that. Love made you recognize a beauty that was deeper than visual. Love made the girl in my arms looked better at her worst than other girls at their best.

  “I need you to take me home,” she said quietly, and her words were like a kick to the chest.

  “No,” I replied a bit desperately. “I’ll do anything you ask of me, except that.”

  “I don’t-”

  My lips came down on hers, stopping her pleas for escape. Was it wrong that I was trying to manipulate her again, knowing what my touch did to her? Fuck yeah, it was. But I never pretended to be a good guy. I never pretended to have morals. I never pretended to be anything other than what I was. When I wanted something, I got it. Whether it was given to me or I took it, I always succeeded, and I never wanted anything like I wanted Lake.

  I needed her.

  Sliding my hands in her hair and holding her captive, I pulled back and demanded, “Say yes, baby.” Lake whimpered and the sound hit my dick like a sledgehammer. “Let me show you how sorry I am.”

  “Ramsey, I-”

  “Let me love you, Lake,” I begged because that’s all I had left, and it was no less than she deserved. Her blue eyes filled immediately, and the significance of her regretful nod wasn’t lost on me.

  Lake was never going to forgive me.

  She was going to stay with me, and she might even love me one day, but she was never going to forgive me for what I did to her, and I was going to have to live with that for the rest of my life.

  That was my penance.

  I was going to have her forever, but I was never going to have all of her. She was always going to hold a piece of herself back because Lake was never going to trust me not to turn on her again.

  In this moment, I finally knew real heartbreak.

  Did that mean I was going to let her go? No. Did that mean I was going to ever stop trying to win her over? No.

  My hands tightened in her hair, and my lips crashed onto hers. I was going to have to show her.

  I was going to have to show her, every day, for the rest of our fucking lives.

  Chapter 40

  Lake~

  I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to forgive Ramsey, but with his hands in my hair, his lips on mine, his tongue playing a seductive tune inside my mouth, I knew I wasn’t strong enough to just walk away from him. Oh, I wanted to be. I wished to be. I didn’t want to be stupid. I didn’t want to feel like a fool.

  But I wanted this feeling of being in his arms more.

  As dangerous as the decision to stay with him was, I wanted him. I wanted to keep feeling what only he made me feel. Six months with Curt, and I never even felt a fraction of what it was that Ramsey did to me. And my broken heart wanted that to mean something.

  I broke off the kiss and told him everything I was feeling in one sentence. Staring into the face of Satan, I said, “I think I’m lost.”

  Ramsey let out a painful moan. “No, baby,” he replied. “You’re exactly where you’re supposed to be.”

  “Doubtful,” I cried. “Or else this wouldn’t hurt so much.”

  His hold on me became painful. “Let me make it go away. Please, Lake,” he begged. “Let me make you forget.”

  And that was it.

  My arms slid up his chest and around his neck, and I gave myself over to him. I gave myself over to a boy who was sure to destroy me in the end, but I couldn’t bring myself to care because I was in love with him, and love made you fucking stupid.

  “Baby,” he growled against my lips.

  Soon, clothes were flying off and Ramsey’s hands were everywhere, burning me with every touch, but still making me beg for more.

  With his lips and tongue dancing all over my skin, his teeth finally found a home when he latched onto the left side of my neck and drew blood.

  I screamed.

  He sucked harder.

  “You’re always going to have my mark on your body, Lake,” he vowed as his tongue licked the sting on my neck.

  “Ramsey, please…”

  “Fuck, I love it when you beg for me,” he rasped out right before taking another piece of flesh between his teeth. My head dropped back against the window, and I let him do what he wanted to me.

  My eyes closed as his hand slid from my breast downward until his fingers were separating the folds of my sex. The sounds of slickness echoed around us, and two fingers were stretching open before I knew it.

  I moaned like a slut, ready to take it, and I really thought Ramsey was going to carry me to the bed and hand me my every wish.

  But he didn’t.

  Instead, I felt him pull his fingers free, grab the back of my thighs, and lift me up, walking us until my back hit the wall. I wrapped my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist, and I could feel his cock positioned right where I needed him. All he had to do was move his hips.

  With the wall supporting most of my weight, Ramsey’s hand came up, grabbed my jaw, and he squeezed. If I thought he was going to make love to me as proof of his regret, I was wrong. Ramsey was reestablishing his ownership of me.

  “You’re mine, Lake,” he said, proving my suspicions correct, as he slammed up into me.

  My head hit the wall as I cried out, “Ramsey…”

  His hand back on my thigh, he held on, his fingers digging into my flesh, as he rammed into my body over, and over again. “This pussy’s mine,” he ranted. “Your entire body’s mine. Everything. All of it.”

  “Yes,” came my only reply. Ramsey was stretching me so deliciously, all I could do was agree with him.

  “I’ll never let you go, Lake,” he swore, his voice rough against my ear, the heat of his chest absorbing into my skin, the head of his cock hitting deep and hard.

  My arms tightened around his neck, and I held on, letting him claim the deepest parts of me. “Please, Ramsey…” I moaned. “Please…”

  “You need to cum, baby?” he asked between thrusts. “You need me to make you cum?”

  “Yes,” I cried out. “Please…”

  My body started to clench around him as he growled wicked promises in my ear. “After I make you cum, you’re going to swallow my cock and suck it clean, baby.” The very idea was scandalous, but I couldn’t deny how much it turned me on. “And after you lick it clean, I’m cumming down your throat.”

  My orgasm hit me with a surprising quickness, and I screamed out his name as my body tightened all around him, and waves of pleasure wracked every limb, every inch of me.

  Letting me absorb the pleasure, Ramsey held me against the wall until I was able to come back from what my body had just gone through. But it wasn’t seconds later that he made good on his demands.

  Ramsey set me down, and as soon as my feet were planted firmly on the floor, he wrapped my hair around his right fist, and pushed me to my knees. When I looked up, his chest was heaving, and he looked like an avenging god. “You know what to do,” he instructed.

  I reached out, and slickness coated my palm as I wrapped my hand around his cock. Breaking eye contact, I leaned in and took his hard, thick heat into my mouth. That first weekend we’d been together, I’d done this a lot because I’d been scared to get pregnant, so I learned quickly what he liked and what it took to take him over the edge.

  Swallowing as much of him as I could, I did my best to lick him clean of my release. “Fuck, baby,” he moaned above me, “you do that so good.” I kept working him with my mouth and hand, and soon, h
e was ready. “Fuck, Lake…I’m gonna cum,” he warned me. “I’m cumming, baby.” And even if I hadn’t wanted to swallow his release, he didn’t give me a choice. His hands grabbed fistfuls of my hair, and he held me prisoner as stream upon stream of his release hit the back of my throat. “Fuck…” he hissed, and all I could do was swallow what I could.

  Ramsey’s harsh breathing was the only sound in the room, and when he reached down and grabbed my shoulders, yanking me to my feet, his next words had me reeling. His thumb wiped across my lower lips as he said, “Your ass is next.”

  “Rams-”

  “All of you, Lake,” he reminded me. “I own all of you.”

  “And what about you?” I asked, still vulnerable. “Do I own all of you?”

  His chocolate gaze never left mine as he said, “You have every piece of me, Lake. My heart, my mind, my body, and my soul. And I will never let anything, or anyone, come between us ever again.”

  I didn’t necessarily believe him, but I couldn’t punish him forever. Forgiveness or not, I wanted to be happy and holding this over his head wouldn’t accomplish that. So, I said the one thing I knew to be true. I said the only thing I was feeling right now. “I love you,” I whispered.

  Ramsey closed his eyes and his forehead dropped to mine. We stayed like that, with his hands cupping my face and my hands holding on to his hips, for a while. And it wasn’t until I got a chill and my body shivered in Ramsey’s arms that he carried me to the bed, tucking me inside the covers. And crawling in after me, he wrapped me in his arms and just held tight.

  Our breathing finally evened out, and a comfortable silence fell throughout his room. I was close to falling asleep, sex and my emotions finally taking their toll, when he said, “I meet your parents tomorrow, Lake.”

  “What?”

  “I meet your parents tomorrow,” he repeated. “Then we head over to Port Lucia, so everyone can make things right.” I thought about that, and I wanted no part of his friends right now.

  I wasn’t ready.

  “You can meet my parents,” I compromised, “but I want nothing to do with your friends.”