Page 16 of Battling the Enemy
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. Butlikehim?
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 and 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 youwantto get to know him? Do you 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 he was one movement away from killing someone, Ihadbeen 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 be the catalyst that turned Deke’s toying and teasing into a battle of wills. The switch had been flipped and the Deke Marlow that was staring me down in the hallway after the fight was therealDeke Marlow. I suspected his friends knew it too, and that’s why they had followed. They 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 left school, I 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, 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.
