“Again, I’m not defending him, Roselyn, but…we’re not blind to what Ramsey, Liam, and Deke are. They’re…a different breed. They’re not like other teenage boys. Hell, they’re not like a lot of grown ass men,” she said. “I accept Ramsey for who he is, and that is a guy who has no conscience most of the time. Liam and Deke are pretty much cut from the same cloth.”
I sat up and looked over at her. “So, we’re just supposed to accept the shitty things they do to us because we’re aware they’re fucked up?”
“No. That’s not what I’m saying,” she replied. “I’m saying don’t act surprised when a scorpion stings you when you know that that’s what they’re designed to do. This is only the second time Ramey’s let me down, but I know it won’t be the last. He can’t help himself.”
“And you’re okay with that?”
“No, I’m not,” she answered with a snort. “But that’s mainly because there are going to be lots of times when I’ll let Ramsey down, too. I’m messed up in my own way, Roz. Ramsey and I are both messed up, but we love each other enough to…make the effort to understand that about one another.”
“I know I’m not perfect, Emer-”
She shook her head at me. “That’s not what I’m saying, Roselyn,” she interrupted. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that…you’ve known these guys a lot longer than I have. You’ve known their reputations and you’ve known how this town works. Liam had no business treating you the way he did, but you knew he was dangerous when you got involved with him. You knew both he and Deke were dangerous when you got involved with them. You’re hurt, but are you really surprised? You’ve heard it straight from the horse’s mouth what Ramsey was capable of. There’s no way Liam and Deke would be his best friends if they weren’t capable of the same unforgiving nature.”
I looked back out towards the water and I let her words rumble around in my head. I understood what she was trying to convey, but even with Liam’s vicious capabilities, I should have been the exception. There should have been a…switch, a line, something that would make him dial it back a bit, but there wasn’t. He spoke to me like I was…optional; disposable.
Optional like my father saw me, and disposable like Joseph saw me. And Brandon didn’t even see me as a real person.
“I’m not optional, Emerson,” I whispered into the wind. “I matter.”
Emerson’s arm came around my shoulders. “Oh, Roselyn,” she murmured, “of course, you matter. You are not optional. You…matter. You make a difference.”
The sight before me started to blur with unshed tears and I could feel anger doing its best to block out the pain of betrayal. “I’m done being…discarded,” I vowed. “I’m so fucking done.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to apply for independent study and then get the hell out of Sands Cove,” I told her.
“You know I’ll help you any way I can, Roselyn,” she offered.
I turned to face her again. “I’m going to need a place to stay. I…now that…now that I’m no longer friends with the guys, I don’t feel entirely safe living in that house with Brandon anymore. But I need something to tell my mom.”
Emerson’s clenched her teeth at the mention of Brandon, but she just nodded. “We can find you an apartment in town or something. I really don’t think your mom will be a problem as long as she can still get a hold of you. You’re also a legal adult. You don’t need her permission to go on independent study.”
“I hate to put you in this position, but…you can’t tell Ramsey where I move to, Em,” I said, feeling the weight of what I was doing in the center of my chest.
“I know, Roz,” she whispered. “Like I told them earlier, they can have their secrets and we can have ours.”
“Yeah, but…I don’t want to cause any more problems between you and Ramsey, though.”
Emerson arched a brow as her arm dropped from my shoulders. “You won’t. If he expects me to continue to respect his privacy and…secret life, well, then, he’s going to have to do the same.”
“Liam once told me that Ramsey lets you call the shots and you know it,” I divulged to her.
She chuckled. “I don’t think either of us calls the shots. I think we’re just twisted enough to make our crazy work well together.”
“I’m going to find me a good guy, Em,” I declared. “When…when I’m healed enough to move on from all the mental and emotional fuckings I’ve been given these past few years, I’m going to find a good guy. A guy who is just going to want to love me, nothing more and nothing less.”
“Do they still exist?” she asked on a whisper.
The tears fell. “I hope so, Em,” I replied. “I hope to God they do because I don’t ever want to feel this way ever again.”
“I’m so sorry, Roz,” she muttered, sadness for me lacing every word. “I’m so, so sorry.”
We sat side by side the rest of the afternoon not really talking but talking enough to pretend as if my heart wasn’t shattered into pieces. I had no real plans other than to go back home and pack some clothes, and stuff. I figured I could stay in a hotel tonight, away from the house in case Brandon made an appearance, and then I could look for apartments in the morning. I could skip school one more day, and once I got my living situation settled, I could talk to my school counselor about independent study.
I didn’t want to see Liam if I could avoid it. If he tried to apologize, I wasn’t sure I was strong enough not to listen. And I knew, without a doubt, that I didn’t want to listen to anything he could possibly have to say to me. I’ll never forget those words he said about watching his wife suck another guy’s cock. I’ll never forget anything he said to me this morning.
I’ll never forget that I really don’t and never did belonged.
Chapter 28
Liam~
I knew Roselyn had left school with Emerson and it had taken everything I had in me to continue on with classes as if I didn’t have a care in the world. I still didn’t know who that video came from and the risk of it leaking was still very high.
“Hey,” I looked up to see Ramsey sitting down, “I just found out Brandon and some of his buddies will be at the Marshall’s to sample a new batch of fresh coke.”
“Did you call Marshall to confirm?” Deke asked. We were all sitting at our regular lunch table.
“Yep,” he answered. “I offered him a one-time trade. Let us have Brandon and his friends and I’ll erase that drug charge he got when he was partying in Graceville a few months ago.”
“We’re going to have to grab them all at once,” Deke said.
Ramsey nodded. “As far as I know, it’s going to be Brandon, Landon Miles, Jeremy Rollins, Jack Carl, Bret Simons, and Marshall who’ll dip as soon as we get there.”
“Guns or no guns?” Deke asked as casually as if he were asking if he should bring beer to the party or not.
Ramsey looked to me to answer. This was my deal, after all. “I think they’re all pussies, but we’d technically be outnumbered, so...I say we take our straps but only pull them out if any of them get froggy.” I looked at my two friends and knew I needed to be completely honest with them. “I can’t guarantee I won’t kill someone though, if I’m being honest.”
“And we’ll handle it if it comes to that,” Ramsey replied, his voice just as casual as Deke’s.
Fuck.
We really were psychopaths.
“When are they due at Marshall’s?” I asked.
“They’re ditching sixth,” Ramsey answered.
“Then I say we head over there after lunch,” Deke suggested. “I’d rather they come to us than us walking in on them.”
Ramsey nodded. “I agree.”
I looked over at Ramsey and said, “Thanks, man.” He didn’t reply, but I knew he wouldn’t. Ramsey had the dirtiest secrets on the cleanest people, and he could find out anything about anyone. He played with people’s lives constantly, and he was using his knowledge-is-power now to
bend Marshall to our side.
“I can’t wait to fuck some motherfuckers up,” Deke said gleefully, looking forward to unleashing his dark side.
“Let’s do this,” I said, and thirty minutes later we were at Marshall Denton’s in Manotile, the next town over.
Deke pulled up to Marshall’s house, but we parked in the alleyway behind his house so Deke’s car wouldn’t be seen in the front. Marshall assured us that Brandon and his friends always pulled up to the front of the house and we’d be fine in the back.
We knocked on the backdoor and Marshall answered. “Hey,” he said greeting us as he stepped to the side to let us file in.
“What’s up,” Ramsey replied, while Deke and I just gave him a head nod.
“They’re not due for another hour or-”
“We’re here to check out the place before they get here,” Ramsey told him. “We’re not about to get caught with our dicks in our hands, Marshall.”
Marshall wasn’t much to look at, but he scored the best drugs. He was about 5’9” with white blonde hair, weird green eyes, and was as wide as a telephone pole. He was cool as hell though and he never had beef with anyone. He was a pretty standup guy for a drug dealer.
“Come on, Ramsey,” he whined. “You know I’d never do you guys like that.”
“But you have no problem setting up Brandon Greene,” Deke snorted, shedding light on the oxymoron of his sentence.
“That’s different,” Marshall debated. “Brandon Greene means nothing in this town. Plus, I’m not like you guys. My family’s name and money can’t buy me out of the felony drug charge I’m looking at. This is really a matter between saving myself and saving Brandon. I choose me.”
At least the dude was honest.
I turned to face him. “And if we have to kill one or all of them?”
“Not my business,” he muttered.
We ceased the chitchat and cased Marshall’s place. We’ve fucked with people countless times in our lives, but when it was personal, the situation took on a whole different meaning.
Marshall hosted us, by offering us food and drinks as we waiting, and I almost laughed at how comical the situation was. Here we were lying in wait to fuck some assholes up, and Marshall was offering us beers and talking about the possible NFL playoff picture. However, a short hour later, we could hear Brandon and his buddies pulling up.
Marshall’s house was a standard set up where you walked right into the living room with the kitchen off the left and the garage on the other side of that. The rest of the house was towards the back and Brandon and his friends would have to head towards the back bedroom where Marshall kept his stash room. The plan was that Marshall would get them all situated in the room while we waited in one of the other bedrooms. Marshall would make an excuse to exit the room and that’s when we’d come in.
We stood in Marshall’s extra bedroom, checking our guns, and making sure we were good. It wasn’t five minutes later that Marshall gave the lightest knock on the door letting us know we were free to get to it. All guns tucked in the back waistband of our jeans, we filed out of the room and made our way to Marshall’s stash room.
Marshall had left the door open, and I wanted to laugh. He knew he was doing us a solid so we could see and assess the room as we entered.
Brandon, Jeremy, and Jack were standing around the table of samples, while Landon and Bret were sitting down on the twin bed pushed against the right side of the room. The immediately stood when they saw us walking into the room.
“What the fuck?” Jack muttered upon seeing us.
I looked at Brandon and the look on his face said it all. He knew we were here for him. His eyes shot towards Deke and Ramsey, but then quickly returned to land on mine. “What’s going on?”
Deke took his spot next to Landon and Bret while Ramsey stood next to me facing Jack and Jeremy. All my attention was centered on Brandon. “What did I tell you would happen if you messed with Roselyn, Greene?”
He blinked in surprise and I wondered if he was that good an actor. “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Liam,” he replied. “I haven’t talked to Roselyn since she hit me up about…that stuff.”
I ignored the irritation at not having known that Roselyn had spoken to Brandon about what we told her and pressed on. “You’re lying,” I accused.
He shook his head. “I’m not,” he insisted. “I haven’t done anything to Roselyn. Why? What did she tell you happened this weekend?” He actually sounded offended.
“Any of you know anything about a video,” Deke asked, and that’s when it was all over. Jack’s breath hitched, and when I looked over at him, his widened eyes told us all we needed to know.
I had the table in between us knocked to the side and Jack slammed up against the wall with my arm blocking off his air ways. “If you want to live past these next five minutes you better tell me what you know,” I snarled, ready to kill him.
“Nuh uh, boys,” I heard Deke sing-song before I heard some crashing behind me. I didn’t take my eyes off Jack to see Deke fucking whoever up.
Jack’s eyes flew over towards Brandon and my burning rage tripled. I turned my head to see Ramsey deliver a vicious blow to Brandon’s midsection before throwing him up against the wall. Then he had Brandon positioned in the very same way I had Jack. I wasn’t too worried about the other three because I knew Deke had them handled.
“I will gut you from gullet to groin if you don’t start talking, Greene,” Ramsey threatened.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!” he yelled. “I haven’t done anything!”
I looked back at Jack. “Start talking or I will kill you on the spot, Jack,” I told him.
He looked at Brandon again, but self-preservation kicked in. “It was Tiffany,” he confessed.
“What?!” Brandon shrieked. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
Hmm…interesting.
“Dude, I’m sorry,” Jack said panicking. “But it was her.”
“What was her?” Brandon asked, confused and scared.
“Yeah, Jack,” I seethed. “What was her?”
He closed his eyes and shook his head in defeat. His brown eyes shot to mine. “I’m sorry, man,” he whined. “I…”
“Somebody better motherfucking start talking,” Deke’s voice boomed in the room, “before I get to killing motherfuckers.”
“I…I don’t know,” Jack rushed out. “She…she told me about a video she took of…you and Roselyn and she said it was juicy and she was going to ruin Roselyn.”
“What are you talking about?” Brandon asked again as Ramsey took a step back and focused on what Jack was saying.
I stepped back too and removed my arm from his throat so he could get his story out. “The other night when we were partying at her house, she…she was drunk, and she told me she…she told me she had a video of you and her and she had the biggest secret.”
“Did she tell you what it was?”
He shook his head. “Just that,” his eyes flicked to Brandon again and back, “that she was going to make Roselyn pay for making Brandon’s life hell.”
“Oh, Christ,” Brandon muttered, and before I could do anything, Ramsey had him back up against the wall, his fists holding Brandon up by his shirt.
“Here’s the thing, Greene,” Ramsey began saying, his voice cold and unemotional, “we don’t put hands on females if we can help it.” Well, we never have, but I wasn’t about to contradict Ramsey. “So, since Tiffany is your girlfriend, and she did this for you, you’re going to deliver her to us yourself and she’s going to sit there and watch as Liam makes you unrecognizable and I have a little fun with Jack.”
Deke laughed. “Did any of you other motherfuckers know about this?” Landon, Bret, and Jeremy all gave quick denials.
“Rams-”
Ramsey slammed Brandon up against the wall again. “Bring her to us, or we will unleash a hell upon you the likes you’ve never seen, Greene,” he promised.
“Roselyn Bell and Emerson Andrews are untouchable,” I said loud enough for all of them to hear me. “Best get that through your heads.”
“Liam, I didn’t know,” Brandon said pleadingly.
I looked at him. “And, yet, Jack knew,” I pointed out. “Why would your girlfriend confide in Jack, but not you?”
His jaw clenched, and I knew I hit a nerve. “I don’t know,” he answered.
Ramsey let him drop, and in a show of power, he pulled his phone out of his back pocket, dialed, and let everyone hear his side of the conversation. “Yeah, I need everything you got on Tiffany Sulton. I also need every trace of her internet use and accounts wiped from existence. I want everything on her parents, and I want everything on the life she was planning on living.” He hung up without a goodbye and I smirked at the look on Brandon’s and Jack’s faces.
Priceless.
“And now we’re going to the back for a little fun, boys,” Deke chuckled.
“Oh, hey, wait,” Landon squealed, “we didn’t do anything!”
Deke’s voice was positively jovial when he said, “You really should have picked better friends.”
The rest of the afternoon ended in us beating the shit out of all five guys in Marshall’s backyard. After that, we dragged Brandon and Jack to Tiffany’s house, and because every parent of Sands Cove was shit, she was alone at home like we all always were.
Ramsey took his anger out on Jack because he knew Brandon and Tiffany rightfully belonged to me and I beat the fuck out of Brandon in front of Tiffany until he was a bloody mess and she passed out from hysterics. Deke had gone through the house checking all Tiffany’s computers and her cell phone to make sure the video wasn’t stored anywhere else. We chose not to believe Tiffany when she swore she had the only two copies of the original on her phone and the one she sent from the burner.
The Enemy Series Page 33
