Page 23 of Battling the Enemy
“I mean, she has a point, Deke,” Linnie chimed in. “Emerson and I might be open to a compromise, but what about Delaney?”
Ramsey snorted. “Compromise, my fucking ass,” he rumbled. “If we decide to go to Blaineview, instead of just starting a business now, Emerson’s going to go with me. End of fucking story.”
“I can’t go to Blaineview, Ramsey,” Emerson argued. “I never applied, and even if I had, I don’t have the family legacy to get in.”
We all watched as Ramsey reached out, grabbed Emerson by her arm, yanking her off the desk, and pulled her to stand in between his spread legs. “The second we clear that goddamn graduation podium in a couple of months, you’re going to be mywife, Emerson,” he hissed. “That’s all the fucking family legacy you need to get into Blaineview.”
The room was silent, but I didn’t miss the small head nod she gave Ramsey as she placed a hand on his chest to calm him down. I felt for the guy, though. Roselyn brining up Delaney had reminded me that what I felt for Delaney probably wasn’t even close to what Ramsey felt for Emerson.
“Okay,” Liam piped up, breaking the tense moment, “how about we see what we can do to get the girls into Blain-”
“What if I don’t want to go to Blaineview, Liam?” Roselyn challenged.
“Sweet Baby Jesus,” he breathed out, before channeling his inner Ramsey. “I don’t really give a fuck, Roz. You were never going to go to Columbia or wherever the fuck else you applied, anyway.”
Linnie gasped. “What does that mean?” Liam shot a glance at Ramsey, and I folded my arms across my chest, and got comfortable, waiting for the upcoming fireworks.
“Goddamn it,” Ramsey growled as Emerson stepped back and started looking back and forth between him and Liam.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
Ramsey moved his head side to side, cracking his neck, before he said, “We were hoping you girls would be so madly in love with us that you’d follow us anywhere, therefore, letting you guys decide your own futures, butnoooooooooooo…you guys had to go and be difficult.”
Roselyn jumped up off the couch. “Meaning?” she asked, hands planted on her hips.
Liam stood up also and I laughed as he gave up the fight. “You two she-devils are registered to attend Blaineview with us. Ramsey and I set it up a few weeks ago. We were just hoping you’d want to gowillingly.”
Emerson let out a soft, defeated laugh. “You’re such a manipulating bastard, Ramsey,” she said shaking her head.
Ramsey eyed her and simply said, “I know. But you also know I refuse to live even one day without you, Emerson. Deep down, you always knew you would end up wherever I was going to be.”
Emerson didn’t say anything for a few seconds, and even Roselyn seemed to accept their chosen fate, before Emerson turned to me. “Delaney?”
I looked into Emerson’s rare silver eyes and told her the truth. “I registered Delaney for Blaineview the day I kicked Reynold’s ass in front of the entire school, Em.”
Roselyn’s phone rang before anyone could comment on that bombshell. She pulled it out of her pocket and looked at the screen. “I don’t recognize the number,” she mumbled.
“It’s probably one of those scam calls,” Emerson predicted. “They’re so damn annoying.”
The phone went to voicemail, but then immediately started ringing again. And because Liam was just as much as a caveman as Ramsey, he grabbed Roselyn’s phone out of her hand to answer the call from the unknown number. “Hello?” he barked, and Ramsey laughed. But that all changed as soon as Liam’s back snapped straight, and he said, “Ava? Whoa, wait…yeah, okay...hold on.”
I was already off the barstool and reaching for Linnie’s phone as Liam handed it over to me. I put the phone up to my ear. “Ava?”
“Oh, thank God,” she rushed out. “I didn’t have your number or…anyone’s. I…I had to get Roselyn’s number from Cel-”
“Ava!” I barked. “What’s wrong?”
“Yeah, yeah,” she mumbled. “Sorry. Deke, it’s Delaney-”
“What’s wrong with Delaney?” Four little words, but they chilled the blood in my veins.
“I…Christ.I showed up to Trent White’s party and…and I found Delaney here, Deke. I found her here, and she’s drunk and…and I can’t…she won’t listen to me.”
I could feel the chill in my bones turn into a white-hot anger that scared me a little. What in the fuck was Delaney doing at a party drunk? What was she trying to prove? I let her get away with calling in sick today for school, but had I known what I knew now, I’d have gone to her house and held her hostage until I got my point across that she belonged to me now.
“Watch her, Ava,” I ordered. “I’m on my way.” I hung up and when I looked up, I saw the worried faces of the girls, and the pissed off faces of the guys.
“How bad?” Liam asked.
