Page 6 of Battling the Enemy
We weren’t big on secrets, and they deserved the truth if they were going to back me-which I knew they would. “When I had her up against the car, I wrapped my hand around her neck, and when I squeeze, she moaned,” I divulged.
Liam let out a whoop. “Oh, man,” he said gleefully, “that girl is so fucked.”
Now, while I’ve wrapped my hand around a girl’s throat before during sex, they expected it. They were those types of girls. They wanted dirty, rough sex. As much as sex was just a physical release for me, I wasn’t a complete asshole. I paid attention to the girl and made sure she got off and enjoyed herself. If I ever got the vibe that a girl wasn’t into choking, biting, or bruises…well, then I just fucked her easy-peasy style and sent her on her way.
Delaney wasn’t supposed to have liked that squeeze around her neck. Everything I’ve ever known about her suggested she’d get scared. That threat to her safety should have brought on pleas, tears, and apologies.
But it hadn’t.
The girl had moaned, and I had been ready to mount her right there against the car in front of every-goddamn-body.
While Liam was laughing at my predicament, Ramsey was more thoughtful; more insightful. “So, she’s the one, huh?”
Was she?
I wasn’t sure. But what I did know was that I’ve never had an emotional reaction to a girl like that before. Sure, I got turned on, and I hated tears, but the anxiousness Delaney made me feel was new.
I had to tug my dick to the memory of her body pressed up against mine last night, and again, this morning. “I’m not sure, Ram,” I admitted. “But nothing’s going to stop me from finding out if she is or isn’t.”
“Do we tell the girls?” Liam asked. “I mean…they need to know, right?”
I thought about that, and he was right. Emerson and Roselyn were my family now, and they deserved the same respect as Ramsey and Liam. “Yeah, but make sure they know not to interfere,” I answered. Nothing and no one would stop me from going after Delaney to see if this was real or not.
Ramsey snorted. “I’m pretty sure them girls will be setting up a betting pool by the end of the week. No way they’ll interfere.”
I laughed because, knowing Roselyn and Emerson, he was probably right. “Tell them to bet wisely, because I will win,” I joked.
“Never doubted it, Deke,” Ramsey said.
Chapter 4
Delaney~
Iwas a coward.
Okay, maybe not acoward,so much as a wimp.
Okay, okay, okay…I was a coward; proven by the fact that I’ve barricaded myself in my room and have turned off all notification on my phone because all everyone’s been talking about on social media is Deke’s…uh, interest in me last night.
And why wouldn’t it be news? Deke effin’ Marlow chased me down and held me hostage in front of everyone. And I knew it was the chasing that had garnered all the attention.
Deke Marlow never chasedanyone.
Even if I have never been a part of the royal hierarchy, Deke’s, Ramsey’s, and Liam’s reputations preceded them. They had never been short of female companionship, and if the rumors were to be believed, before Emerson and Roselyn came into the picture, all three guys were hit-it-and-quit-it kind of guys. They could have any girl they wanted, so it made no sense that Deke would single me out. By all accounts, I was the very definition of a nerd.
I never went to parties. I never drank. I’ve never touched a drug in my life. I didn’t go on shopping sprees or live lavishly, even though I had the money to do it. I think being raised by the cook, butler, gardener, etc. gave me a grounded upbringing. I saw how hard they worked for their paychecks, and that always stuck with me. As for boys…well, I always knew I was going to marry Winston Reynolds. Our parents had broken the news to us when we were like 10-years-old, or something like that.
My father, Jonah Martin, worked in pharmaceuticals and Winston’s father, Gary Reynolds, worked with insurance of some sort. Together they made a lot of money off sick people, and their greed never ran out of thirst. My mother, Shirley, was the perfect charitable socialite, whereas Winston’s mother had run off with the pool boy or something years ago. As far as I knew, she took off and never looked back.
I didn’t mind not having my parents around, though. They were horrible human beings, and the less time I spent with them, the less likely they’d rub off on me. I learned early on they weren’t nice people, especially when they had scarred my face using the excuse as medical research as the reason.
It was before we had moved to Sands Cove and my father was still trying to make a name for himself. He had helped develop a scar erasing serum that had made it possible for us to go from Upper-Class America to the One-Percent.
I could remember it like it was yesterday. I had been 6-years-old and I remember how my father and mother had held me down and ran a barbed wire across my face, slicing it open. I remembered all the blood. I remembered the pain-God, did I remember the pain. I remembered feeling the jagged edges of my skin hanging on my face. I remembered my parents discussing my injury with such detachment. My mother promised that they’d get the best plastic surgeon in the world to help me, but for now, I had to help the family.
The joke had been on them, though.
My father’s plan had been to use my face and the hook of me being his daughter to promote his serum. However, I had had such a horrible allergic reaction to some of the properties in the serum, it actually burned my flesh. While the serum has works for million others, I had been part of the small percent that suffered the rare side effects of the potion.
