Page 12 of Resurrecting the Enemy
She got in the fucking car.
Chapter 7
Ramsey~
Lake was beyond pissed, and even her friend it the back seat knew it, therefore, making the drive uncomfortable as hell.
Mom and Dad had stayed through dinner last night, but the moment they had taken off for Port Lucia, Maddox and delivered all the goods on Lake Warren to my room. He’d handed me four folders, one labeled, Lake Warren, one labeled Randal/Bethany Warren, one labeled Eden Rudolph, and the final one labeled Curt Metcalf. Maddox had gotten everything on Lake, her parents, her best friend, and her ex-boyfriend.
After spending all evening pouring through everything Mad had gotten me, I found out that Lake lived a relatively normal life with photography being her only real passion. Her parents were normal, and they worked normal jobs, and their lives were blessedly normal.
Going through Eden Rudolph’s file, she lived pretty much the same existence as Lake. Only Eden’s passion was entertainment as in music, movies, plays, etc. Her parents were just as normal as the Warrens, and Eden was between boyfriends at the moment. I also found out Lake and Eden have been best friends for most of their lives. They were a tight duet.
As for what Maddox had dug up on Curt Metcalf, other than being a cheating asshole, he led a pretty normal life, as well. He was a Sands Cove High soccer star, and up until his lapse in judgement where Erica Chambers was concerned, it appeared as if he’d really been committed to Lake. However, that didn’t win him any points with me. If I’ve learned anything from my family, it was that cheating was a cardinal sin. It was one of The Ten Commandments for a reason.
There were many things a woman might forgive, but choosing another woman over them, wasn’t one of them. Nothing damaged the fairer sex like another woman in the picture. Cheating was one of the most humiliating things you could do to a female because, unlike men, we weren’t raised with the same social pressures as women were. Men reach the age of fifty, with greying hair and potbellies, and the world doesn’t blink an eye. Women reach the age of fifty with greying hair and weight from childbearing, stress, or just life in general, and that’s unacceptable. Her husband ends up trading her in for a younger model, and no one says shit. It was a crappy deal, if you asked me.
Pulling up to Ryland Street, Eden piped up from the backseat. “My house is-”
“I know,” I said, interrupting her. It was all for Lake’s benefit, of course. She was probably stewing with resentment that I knew where her best friend lived.
The car was silent when I pulled up next to the curb in front of Eden’s house. Nothing was said as sounds of Eden getting out of the car filled the uncomfortable silence. But as Eden shut the door behind her, Lake reached for her seatbelt, and my fingers flexed around the steering wheel.
“Well, it-”
“Put your seatbelt back on,” I commanded. “I’m not dropping you off here.”
Just then Eden tapped the passenger side window and Lake lowered it for her. “You…uh, are you getting dow-”
“Yes.”
“No.”
Eden wisely kept her mouth shut, but the poor girl looked like she wanted the ground to swallow her whole. She clearly had no idea what to do.
Lake took a deep breath before looking over at me. “I can get a ride home from-”
I leaned in a bit, not caring if Eden could hear me or not. “Do you honestly believe I went to SC to give you a ride to your friend’s house?”
“I don’t know why you went to SC,” she fired back. “And I really don’t care.”
“Well, you should,” I informed her. “Especially, since I went there foryou.”
“So you already said,” she replied. “But I can’t see any reason why you felt the need.”
I arched a brow. “Oh, you don’t?”
Lake shook her head and reached for the door handle. My hand snaked out and grabbed her upper arm. My eyes pinned to hers, I said, “I hope you do try to get out of this car, Lake.” The look she shot me would have leveled a lesser man. “Take your fucking hand off that handle and put your goddamn seatbelt back on, Lake. Or, so help me God, you’ll regret it.”
And points for Eden, she came to her best friend’s defense. “Oh, hey,” she jumped in. “You can’t force her to go with you, if she doesn’t want to.”
I leaned in farther to make sure Eden got a good look at my face. “Who’s going to stop me? You?”
Lake looked back at me. “That’s enough,” she bit out.
I jerked my head towards her friend. “You better get that shit under control if you don’t want her becoming a Reed casualty.”
Lake’s blue eyes fired with anger and a good amount of hate. “Do not threaten my friend,” she seethed.
