Page 10 of Battling the Enemy
I hadn’t even bothered myself with wondering how Deke got my number. Even if he couldn’t get it, everyone in town knew Ramsey Reed had connections the CIA would envy. I had no doubt that whatever information Deke couldn’t find about me on his own, Ramsey would have gotten for him.
The bell rang after forty minutes of feeling like an exhibition animal at the zoo, but I knew next period would be the same. Hell, it would be worse because Deke would be in there with me. I ignored all the stares and rumblings as I made my way to my locker-andnotbecause Deke had commanded it. I had to go get my stupid calculus book.
I cursed his gorgeous face as he leaned up against my locker with his arms crossed over his chest, a stupid smirk on his face. He stepped out of the way as soon as I stood in front of him and waited patiently as I unlocked my locker to get switch books. “Go away, Deke,” I muttered. Why he was still playing this game after I slapped him was beyond me.
“I already told you, Delaney. That’s not happening,” he replied.
I shut my locker and turned around to face the asshole. “Why?” I demanded. “Why are you fucking with me?”
He smirked, and as God as my witness, I wanted to slap the shit out of him again. “I haven’t evenbegunto fuck with you, Delaney.”
I had been afraid of that.
Deke has been bolder than most, but I knew his antics so far haven’t even begun to scratch the surface of what he was capable. Right now, he was just teasing me. He was a deadly cat playing with a nerdy mouse. He was just waiting for me to do that one thing that would excuse him to go in for the kill.
“Why?” I asked again. This had to be about more than me just watching him get a blowjob. If what Ava said was true, he shouldn’t care this much about voyeurism.
He leaned down into my face, and I knew the people around us wouldkillto hear what we were saying. “Because you moaned,” he said, confirming my worst fears. “You moaned like a bitch in heat when I had my hand wrapped around your neck and Iknew. I knew you’d let me fuck you right then and there in front of everyone had I tried.” I stayed stubbornly mute because I didn’t trust my voice to sound strong enough and convincing enough to deny it. “I thought you spent all these years saving yourself because you were a good girl, but that’s not it at all. You’re still a virgin because you’re too scared to voice what you want.”
“Ho…how do you know I’m even a virgin?” I challenged. I couldn’t do anything about the roughness in my voice, but I wanted to know. “How do you know I haven’t slept with anyone already?”
His green eyes were looking right through the façade I was doing my best to project. “Because you wouldn’t have looked so needy when you were watching me get my dick sucked, Delaney. And if you’re not a virgin, then the guys you’ve been with haven’t been satisfying you for shit.”
The bell for class rang, and I thanked God. I wasn’t equipped to have a conversation with Deke Marlow about sex. He was right. I was a virgin. He was also right about why. It was probably the reason no boys had ever caught my attention here. They were all too…soft. When you’re handed everything you always want, where’s the effort?
I decided not to comment on his observations, and I turned to head to class. Deke stepped in line with me and I was startled stupid when he reached for my hand to freakin’holdit. Shock and sheer pride had me snatching my hand back. I didn’t know what Deke was about, but I wasn’t going to willingly be a part of whatever bet or game he was playing at.
What happened next will stay with me forever.
One second, I was walking to class trying to wrap my mind around Deke’s madness, and the next, my back was up against a wall with Deke looming over me. His eyes looked like green fire. “Understand something, Delaney, and it’s in your best interest to comprehend and understand this immediately,” he snarled. “I’m not Ramsey, and I’m not Liam.”
I was terrified, but I’d be damned if I would show him any weakness. IknewI was the mouse. “What does th…that mean?”
Deke looked positively lethal when he said, “It means, I’m not Liam who has been in love with Roselyn since forever, and I’m not Ramsey who gave Emerson a choice.”Holy shit.“It means if I say you’re fucking mine, then. You. Are. Mine. Don’t ever pull away from me again.”
“You can’t do this, Deke,” I cried. “You can’t just…just…” I was sputtering like a fool because he wasn’t making any sense. He’s ignored me for four years and, suddenly, he’s claiming me and proclaiming it as law?
“Who’s going to stop me?” he asked, and I had no answer to that.
Who would stop him? Winston? My parents? Winston’s parents? The law? The law could stop him, right? If everyone else failed, a restraining order would surely shut this madness down, right?
My mind scrambled for some kind of solution to my situation. It was one thing to tease me about sex; it was another to hold my hand in the hallway on our way to class. That hinted at shit that he couldn’t possibly want with me. I knew I wasn’t a complete toad, but I wasn’t powerful like Emerson or strong like Roselyn, and Deke Marlow needed a girl with a commanding presence to walk with him in that context. His group of friends wouldn’t tolerate a weak link, and I would totally be a weak link.
Maybe…
“I’ll make you a deal,” I whispered. He didn’t comment. He just arched an ebony brow. “I’ll let you…”Christ,I couldn’t believe I was even contemplating this, much less saying it out loud. “…be my first. I’ll let you…have your way, but then after that, you leave me alone.”Take away the curiosity, right?
“Oh, I’m going to be your first, alright,” he smirked. “I’m going to be your last, too. And I had better be your only, Delaney.” I stared dumbfounded as he said, “Let’s get to class.”
Ava was right.
I was going to have to tell him about Winston.
Chapter 7
Deke~
I’ve never tried to hold a girl’s hand before, and so, Delaney’s blatant rejection had had me seeing red like a sonofabitch. I had been so pissed when we finally got to class, I had dragged her with me towards the back of the stadium seating and planted her ass next to mine.
