Page 18 of Battling the Enemy
I wasn’t a fucking idiot. I knew grown folks shouldn’t solve their issues with their fists. However, I also knew the justice system was super corrupt. I just happened to be one of the fortunate people who could buy my way out of trouble. Everyone had a price; some were just higher than others. And if someone couldn’t be bought, well, they could be threatened or blackmailed. If I couldn’t buy my way out of trouble, I knew Ramsey would have no problem helping me blackmail my way out of it. That was Ramsey’s specialty. He knew the dirtiest dirt on the entire town of Sands Cove and almost everyone who has ever done business with his father. I didn’t fear landing in jail because between me, Ram, and Liam, there wasn’t anything we couldn’t get out of.
My phone rang in my hand, and I answered it willingly this time. “What’s up?”
“Just making sure you’re not off pillaging an innocent village somewhere,” Liam joked.
I smiled for the first time since lunch at school. “Nope,” I answered. “I’m at home working out in the gym.” I grabbed the bottle of water and took a swig before asking, “How is she?”
“Traumatized, I think,” he huffed out. “Seriously, though, she seemed…quiet.”
“Christ, Lee, she was already a quiet wallflower,” I pointed out, “how much more quiet could she have been?”
He let out a deep sigh. “She looked sad, man,” he finally admitted.
I ignored the pang in my chest and told him, “Sampson called to scold me about the fight.”
Liam laughed. “Are you serious?” I went on to recite the conversation, and by the time I was finished, Liam was cracking up. “What a fucking fool.”
“I should get Delaney pregnant,” I said seriously. “It’d solve all my problems if I did.”
Liam’s laugh dwindled to a chuckle. “I wish my moral compass was pure enough to tell you that getting Delaney pregnant at 18-years-old is a bad idea, but it’s not, and I can’t. If Roz told me tomorrow she was pregnant, I’d be ecstatic as hell.”
“Linnie would be an awesome mom,” I laughed, encouraging Liam’s madness.
“So, if I knock her up, I can blame you?” he asked, a smile in his voice.
“Sure,” I quipped. “Just let me and Ram know so we can get to work. There’s no way our children aren’t going to grow up together.”
Liam’s laugh was cut short with a real solid thought. “Christ, Deke,” he breathed. “Ramsey’s already out of his mind when it comes to Emerson. Could you imagine his level of insanity if he got her pregnant?”
I laughed. “I got a hundred that she’d kill him before the second trimester.”
Liam laughed. “I got a grand that says before the first month is up.”
Chapter 12
Delaney~
It was Wednesday afternoon and Deke was absent again. He hadn’t shown up for school yesterday and I hadn’t seen him this morning either. I hadn’t seen him in second period, and when he was still missing during third period, I knew he wasn’t at school again. Winston was a no show also, but that was to be expected.
I also couldn’t deny the pang in my chest at Deke’s sudden silence. In addition to him not being at school, he hasn’t called or texted or anything. When third period started without him, I had finally been forced to accept the effect he now had on my life. It was strange to know that it’s only been a few days since that party, but in these few short days, Deke’s impacted my life in a way I never thought anyone could.
Instead of doing homework last night, I had spent the entire evening reevaluating my current state in life. When mine and Winston’s parents as arranged our marriage at the age of ten, I hadn’t a clue what it had meant. Winston had been my friend, and at 10-years-old, the idea of spending forever with my friend sounded just fine to me.
As the years passed, I began to realize my personality was more solitary than outgoing, and I used our arrangement as a crutch to not have to get to know anyone beyond superficial acknowledgement. Ava had come into my life when we were both thirteen, and she hadn’t let me be shy with her. She had fascinated me with her loud personality and ballsy attitude. I’d never been anyone’s pushover, but I wasn’t sparkly like Ava. I cared what people thought of me. I cared if I did well in school. I cared if I was kind to people. I cared, period.
Earlier this year, when Ramsey had gone balls out and tried to humiliate Emerson in front of the entire school, I remember feeling sick for her. But then I remember how everyone had been struck speechless when she had walked out of Windsor without a backward glance with her head held high. I remember feeling envy at that kind of strength. Because, let me tell you, there is an impenetrable strength in not giving a shit what other people thought of you. It set you free in a way that nothing else could.
Even when she had returned and Ramsey had dropped to his knees for her in front of everyone, he hadn’t given a shit what anyone thought. His only thought was that of Emerson and her forgiveness, and I had been one of the girly-girls who had cried and clapped when she forgave him.
I saw it again when Liam had lost his mind over Roselyn. He fell in love with her and he hadn’t cared who knew or what his pursuit of her made him look like. When the rumors had started flying about Roselyn dating both Liam and Deke, he had shut that shit down like a tsunami taking out a small village. No one really knew if she dated both of them or not but, even if she had, no one would say a word. Besides, if anyone did, it would be because they were jealous. I might be a virgin, but even I knew being bedded by both Liam and Deke at the same time would be an experience most girls would kill for.
The other reason no one could pinpoint if the rumors were true or not was because if you look at all of them, Deke and Roselyn showed no signs of anything other than friendship. And Liam and Deke were as close as they ever were. There wasn’t a hint of jealousy or awkwardness anywhere amongst them.
“I feel like it’s the calm before the storm,” Ava mumbled as she leaned against the locker next to mine. We had just left fourth period and were putting our stuff away before heading to lunch.
I opened my locker and stuffed my backpack inside. “I know,” I agreed. “It’s like…I feel like I’m trapped waiting for…something. I don’t know…”
Ava hugged her books to her chest. “You do know that you’re going to have to make a decision about Winston when Deke does finally come back to school, right?”
