Page 50 of Battling the Enemy
I did the math; it was only 7pm here, so it was only 4pm in California. If I could get a direct flight, I could be in California by nine, maybe ten. The hour drive to Sands Cove would land me at home no later than eleven. It was a Saturday night, so Deke was sure to still be up that late. I could get to him and explain how the picture was from last year.
“Okay,” I told her. “Let me get an Uber and I’ll text you with my flight information once I get a ticket.”
“Be careful, Delaney,” she replied. “Be careful but get here before Deke does something stupid.”
“Yeah, okay,” I said before hanging up and ordering an Uber.
As soon as the car pulled up, and I confirmed it was my driver, I directed him towards the nearest airport. In the backseat, I dialed Deke, and when he didn’t answer, I dialed him again. After the fourth time of him not answering, I sent him a text. I waited, and waited, but he never responded or called back.
When I got to the airport, I had to put Deke on hold to get my ticket. And because The Lord was on my side, I managed to get a direct flight off a cancellation. It costs me-or rather, my parents-an arm and leg, but I didn’t care. I was feeling…uneasy, and I needed to get home.
I texted Ava my flight information, and after one last attempt to get a hold of Deke, I stowed away my phone and boarded my flight. To avoid being on the news as a missing persons or a runaway, I had sent off a quick text to my parents to let them know I caught a flight home. I wasn’t sure if they’d even see it, but I didn’t care. I knew, now, that they set me up and stole my phone. They wanted to make sure I wouldn’t see what Winston posted. They wanted to make sure it was up long enough to ruin me and Deke.
But the joke was on them. This wouldn’t ruin anything between me and Deke because…well, we were in love. People in love don’t choose the words and actions of others without listening to their partner first, right?
Sure, that picture looked bad, but once I pull it up on my social media account and show him the first time it was posted, he’d see the manipulation tactic for what it was, right?
Right???
Once we were up in the air, I called Deke again, but this time when he didn’t answer, I left a message. I explained that, while the picture was real, it had been taken last year. I rambled on so much, the voicemail cut me off.
The problem was that this was all my fault, and I knew it.
It was my fault for still harboring that deep-seated need to believe that my parents aren’t the same people who held me down and scarred my face for profit. While the latchkey kids of Sands Cove were used to absent parents, it didn’t necessarily mean welikedit that way. We wereusedto it, but that didn’t mean we were unfeeling and didn’t want loving parents.
When my mother had agreed to a compromise, I knew deep down she was up to something, but the hopeful part of me convinced myself that her offer had been genuine. I knew better, but I went anyway. Deep down, I knew better, and I had to take responsibility for that.
Sitting on the plane, I knew my life before I boarded was over. My parents would end up resorting to blackmail, and I knew I’d have to walk away with nothing to my name. After all, I was a legal adult. They were no longer obligated to care for me if I didn’t want to play by their rules.
I thought about my bank account and how it was a joint account with their names on it. I was going to have to go into town and withdrawal as much as I could in the morning. Luckily for us, the financial foundation of Sands Cove was prominent enough that we had banks that were opened during the weekend.
Also, lucky for me, because my parents didn’t want to deal with me, I was authorized to withdrawal as much as wanted. I was going to have to hit the bank first thing and buy a car next. The car I had now was in my parents’ names because they paid for the insurance.
Holy Christ…I was going to have to find a job!
I knew, even if Deke was upset with me, Ava would let me stay with her until I figured things out, but I was hoping it wouldn’t come to that. I had hundreds of thousands in my bank account, and while I couldn’t afford a house like I have now, I could easily afford a condo or something small in town. Sands Cove had a working-class population just like every other town in the world, and the people who made this town possible lived affordably in town. I could do that, too.
I didn’t need…extra.
I glanced at my phone and still saw nothing from Deke. The part that loved him hoped he was just partying and not checking his phone thinking I was busy in New Hampshire with my parents. The part that loved him was hoping he was playing basketball with Ramsey and Liam. The part that loved him was hoping he was in an online battle with Ramsey and Liam for zombie domination.
But the part of my brain that trumped love with logic told me he was avoiding my calls and messages. Common sense told me there was no way Deke could avoid his phone or social media long enough not to have seen the picture or see my texts.
Common sense told me I was in deep shit.
Chapter 31
Deke~
Delaney was texting and calling so much that I finally turned my phone off. I didn’t need it on anyway, since the only people who I gave a fuck about were here with me.
After Ramsey, Liam, and I discussed the details of how we’d handle ourassignments, we convinced the girls I wasn’t psychotic, and we all headed out to the day party at the cove. The girls hadn’t really been on board, but what could they do? Wanting to make sure none of us ended up in prison, they had to follow.
We had arrived around six o’clock because we had convened in Ramsey’s study and did our research into the Reynolds and the Martins. It had taken longer than I had anticipated, but by the time we were done, we had everything we needed to ruin their lives as they knew it.
Their debts and finances had been easy, but Ramsey had been able to dig up some dirt on Winston’s father. Apparently, he’s not as heterosexual as he pretended to be. And, while there was nothing wrong with being gay, there was when you were married to a woman and you were cheating on her with twinks during your random travels.
Winston had nothing on him other than he fucked anything that moved, but that didn’t matter. Delaney knew he fucked around, and she really hadn’t cared. Anything else he did was no worse than what the rest of us did, so he was a dead end.
