The Enemy Series

by M. E. Clayton

  He hadn’t bothered to wait for her to agree.

  He hadn’t given her any time to consider his proposal.

  Deke Marlow wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

  “Liam’s actually going to drag Roselyn to the courthouse next week, and then we’ll be there next month. Our anniversaries will run one in June, one in July, and one in August,” he continued, ratting Liam out and stating his words as fact.

  “Hey, fucker,” Liam yelped, “it was supposed to be a surprise!” He looked at Roselyn. “Surprise, baby.” And then showed her two perfect rows of white teeth.

  I watched silently as my best friend stared down at the gorgeous ring that now adorned her left hand. I saw the tears cascade beautifully down her pretty face, and I couldn’t have been happier for her. She loved Deke beyond what she ever thought possible and I knew this was the beginning of the life she wanted with him.

  Delaney glanced up at him and smiled. “Okay,” she agreed.

  Deke snorted arrogantly. “Yeah,” he huffed, “because you had a choice and all. Baby, you never had a choice in any of this.”

  Delaney laughed and I couldn’t stop the tears when she jumped off the couch and threw herself at me in a hug. “Oh, my God, Ava,” she cried, “I’m getting married!”

  I hugged her back. “I’m so happy for you, Delaney,” I whispered I her ear. “Deke really, really loves you, friend.”

  She pulled back, happiness etched in everywhere on her face. “I know,” she grinned. “I know he does.”

  “We can have a celebration dinner tonight,” Emerson chimed in. “It’ll be awesome.”

  “Maybe there’ll be a September anniversary too?” Delaney teased with a bit of hope in her voice.

  I laughed as I dropped back in my chair and Deke pulled her back to his side. “Uh, no,” I chuckled, glancing at Ace really quickly before facing Delaney again. I guess it was time to address the real reason they were all here. “I…uh, I have a lot of things I need to work through first-now.”

  Liam spoke from his chair. “Yeah, about that,” he said. “You need to know that we’re all here for you, Ava. We’re all just one phone call away.”

  I couldn’t stop the tears if I tried.

  Ever since Delaney started dating Deke, I have done my best to keep this group at arm’s length believing that I’d never be accepted into their private clique, and here Liam McCellan was telling me he was only a phone call away; that they all were.

  I turned my head to face Deke as he added, “Yeah, you’re a part of this group, whether you realize it or not, Ava. We’re here because there’s no way I was going to propose to Delaney without you being a part of it.”

  My breaths were coming out ragged. These people were tying to be my friend, and it was scary as well as overwhelming. I’ve never had real friends outside Delaney before. I didn’t know how loyalty worked with anyone besides Delaney.

  “We’re also here to let you know that I’ve located Peter,” Ramsey announced. “I’ll let him live if that’s what you want, but I will make sure the rest of his life is complete misery, Ava. It’s your call, though.”

  My eyes bugged out of my head as I absorbed the reality of Ramsey Reed just telling me that he would have someone killed for me if I deemed it so.

  Who the fuck were these people?

  I mean, I knew they were too powerful and ruthless to be 18-year-olds, but I never knew the extent in which they could command the unthinkable.

  I sat there in shock, and it wasn’t until I felt Ace lift me and sit me on his lap, that I snapped out of my stupor. I glanced around the room and the seriousness of their offers was bright as neon beacons.

  They really meant this shit.

  “It’s okay, Kit,” Ace murmured in my ear. “Breathe.”

  I took some deep breaths, and it took about a minute or two for me to collect myself, but when I did, my eyes found Ramsey’s. I shook my head at him. “I…I don’t want him dead,” I said, finally answering him. “That…that’d be too easy.”

  Ramsey nodded. “I agree.”

  “But…” I had to breathe deep again before I could continue. “But…I need him gone from my life, Ramsey,” I said, trying to explain something that could not be explained. “Do…do whatever you deem fit and appropriate, but I don’t want to know anything about it. I want the peace that comes with revenge, but I don’t want him back in my life more than he already is. I’ll never be rid of him. He will always be a part of my past. I just don’t want him to be a part of my active future.” If I was going to seek help for my issues, I couldn’t do it if I was getting constant updates on what Peter was doing.

  “Understood,” Ramsey replied. “I’ll handle it.”

  Ace looked up at Ramsey. “But I want to know,” he declared. “I want to hear the details. Every last painful, miserable one.”

  I turned to face Ace. “Why?”

  He looked at me and his golden orbs never looked so serious. “Because it’s not Ramsey job to avenge you, Ava. That’s my job,” he insisted. “But since I don’t have the resources Ramsey obviously has, I have to be a part of this somehow, or I won’t be able to live with myself.”

  It never occurred to me that Ace would struggle with his lack of involvement in what Ramsey, Deke, and Liam were planning, but I suppose it made sense. “It’s a poison that will damage your soul, Ace,” I told him. “You don’t need to be that close to it.”

  He pushed a lock of hair behind my ear. “Yes, I do,” he argued. “Your poison is my poison.”

  Chapter 24

  Ace~

  When Delaney joked about Ava getting married in September, a small part of me had deflated when Ava shut that idea down without a moment’s hesitation. Sure, I didn’t want to rush into marriage, but Ava hadn’t even entertained the idea as a joke. She had shut it down the idea immediately.

  I had wanted to pipe up and suggest we get engaged and then maybe marry next year in September, but I had to remind myself this wasn’t about me. We were all here for Ava. We weren’t here to sooth my insecurities.

  Delaney’s voice carried softly throughout the room. “Do you want to talk about it, Ava?”

  My arms automatically tightened around her waist, and even though all the people in the room were here for her, I wanted to sweep her away and just let her hide out forever. I wanted to do what was best for her, but I didn’t want to watch her suffer for it either. I could feel her take a deep breath, and my heart cracked down the middle.

  She was going to talk.

  Her hands clasped over mine and I turned my palms outwards so she could intertwine her fingers in mine. “It started like it always does for most children,” she said, her voice low and steady, but because everyone in the room was deathly still, we could all hear her clearly. “I remember feeling happy around him because, before him, none of Elise’s boyfriends had wanted anything to do with me. I was used to…my mom not being around often, but I always became invisible the second she got a new boyfriend. Oh, she’d introduce me, and pretend to be a doting mother, but the second the introductions were made, she’d leave me with the house staff and run off to do whatever it is she did.”

  Ava’s hands tightened in mine and I felt like I was bleeding everywhere. I brushed my lips against her ear. “You can stop whenever you want, baby,” I told her.

  I felt a small nod, but she continued, “So, when Peter showed up in the picture, I had been so starved for a family, I had felt positively ecstatic that he wanted to drag a 9-year-old girl around with them. He actually forced my mother to be around more.” Ava let out a painful laugh. “I had actually felt grateful to the bastard for paying attention to me and making my mom spend more time with me.” She shook her head at the unbelievable memory. “There was no ‘aha’ moment where I can pinpoint when he crossed the line that first time. People see an adult holding a child or rubbing their back and it looks innocent because it’s supposed to be. Your mind and eyes don’t register that there could possibl
y be anything inappropriate in those small acts, you know.” I glanced around the room and the girls had tears in their eyes, whereas the guys looked feral. “He had been touching me for a while before he finally made me touch him, only I hadn’t seen the sickness coming. Up until he had me put my hands on him, his touching had always been rubbing my back or brushing my hair or massaging my legs…things like that. He had never touched my…intimate places, so I didn’t think there was anything wrong with all those caresses.”

  Ava jumped out of my lap, and I watched, along with everyone else, as she paced the room. “He said…” She let out a deep swoosh of breath like she was going to lose it, but she didn’t. “He said, ‘You know how you like it when I brush your hair and scratch your scalp? You know how you like it when I rub your back? Well, you want to know what makes me feel good?’ I remember being excited to hear what he liked.” She let out a heartbreaking, strangled laugh. “I remember wondering if it would make me feel good too.” We all watched in silence as Ava sliced herself open to bleed all over place. “I told him I wanted to know what made him feel good. Jesus fucking Christ.”

  I stood up. “Ava-”

  She threw her hand up, palm facing forward to stop me. “It’s okay, Ace.” She went back to pacing and continued her story. “He had pulled his pants down and showed me his dick. I knew what it was, but I hadn’t known what all it was, you know. He wrapped my hand around it and, when it started to grow, he had made it sound so fascinating as he explained what it was doing. It was…unbelievably sick how I knew it was wrong, but I wanted to please him. He had been so nice to me and had helped Elise be a better mother, I…I convinced myself that it wasn’t wrong.”

  “You were nine,” Emerson snapped. “You didn’t convince yourself of anything, Ava. You are not responsible for this even if you knew it was wrong.”

  “No, Emerson,” she argued. “I twisted reality to suit what I needed at the time. I might have been young, but I knew boys were different from girls by then. I’m not saying it’s my fault, at all. What I’m saying is that…his manipulation worked. He was so nice to me I went through all the typical phases of wanting to please him back to not wanting to get him in trouble.”

  I watched Emerson cross her arms over her chest and Ramsey pull her closer. “Fuck that,” she muttered.

  I was surprised by the small grin on Ava’s face. I’d have to say she was probably feeling warmed by Emerson’s complete defense of her. “It didn’t turn dark and violent until he penetrated me for the first time. That’s when my true reality sunk in and I turned my back on everything I had been allowing. By that time, he’d become spoiled by how I let him use me to feed his depravity, he took what he wanted.” Ava stopped pacing and sat on the table, much like I had been earlier. “When it was over, he said if I told Elise, she’d disown me. She’d blame me and she’d send me off to foster care. And because Elise had been such a shit parent, it wasn’t a hard to believe his threats.”

  “Oh, Ava…” Delaney whispered, visibly torn apart.

  Ava looked over at her. “It went on for months until one day, Elise walked in on Peter with his hand up my skirt and his other hand wrapped around his dick.” Ava shook her head. “Elise had acted mortified, and all I could think was, this is it. Mom’s going to save me.” Another deep breath. “She didn’t. She told me I had better not say anything and accused me of instigating what happened because Peter was such a good man. Pedophiles were trash and Peter was not trash. He had a good job, came from a good family, and had money, so it had to be my fault.”

  Deke let out a dark, sinister laugh. “I swear to God, Ava. If I ever see your mother she better run the other way.”

  Her features soften and she gave Deke a tender smile. “Thanks for that, Deke, but that’s not necessary.”

  “The fuck it’s not,” Emerson snapped.

  Ava looked around the room until her eyes landed on mine. They were wet, but clear. I think after being along all these years to deal with this shit on her own, finally having people she could lean on was opening up a new world for her.

  She was finally feeling worthy; loved.

  Ava stared at me for a few seconds before asking, “What would you do if I walked away from everything in this house, my mother, school, this town, everything? What would you do if I just walked away from everything?”

  That was easy.

  “I’d follow,” I told her. “Wherever you go, however you want to get there, I’d follow you, Kit.”

  Ava looked back at Delaney. “I love you, Delaney,” she said. “You’re the only reason I ever had to stay here. Now that you’re going off to Blaineview, I think it’s time I…move on, too.”

  “Funny you should mention that, Ava,” Liam chimed in. “We know you’re registered at Georgetown, but we got you in as a late registration for Blaineview if you want to go to school with the girls.”

  Ramsey smirked. “That’s another reason we came by today,” he added. “You don’t have to go to Georgetown unless that really is the school of your dreams.”

  “Can…can I think about it?” she asked, unsure.

  “Sure,” Ramsey granted.

  Ava looked over at me and with no embarrassment, whatsoever, she said, “I’m tired, Ace. Can you just take me up to bed?”

  I stood up and picked her up in my arms. I scanned the room and said, “You guys can stay, leave, whatever. We’ll be upstairs.”

  Emerson stood up. “We’ll go ahead and leave and give you guys some privacy,” she replied. “But we expect you guys at Deke and Delaney’s tonight for their party.”

  I chuckled. I imagined not a lot of people told this girl no. “Sure thing, Your Highness,” I teased as I threw a wink at her.

  Ramsey rolled his eyes next to her and said, “Christ, don’t get her started, dude.”

  With everyone laughing, I walked Ava out of the living room and up the stairs. Once I got her in her room, I sat her on the bed and knelt down in front of her. I ran my hands up and down the top of her thighs as I looked into her blue beauties. “I can’t imagine how difficult that was for you, Kit.”

  “The hardest thing I’ve ever done,” she agreed. “But also the most…liberating.” Her face was soft and emotional. “But…did you see? Did you see how they didn’t judge me or pity me? Ace, they defended me. They treated me like I mattered.”

  I couldn’t promise I wouldn’t kill Peter Scranton if I ever saw him, or Elise, for that matter, if I ever saw her again. “Ava, baby, that’s because you do matter,” I growled before slamming my lips down on hers.

  Chapter 25

  Ava~

  It was almost six o’clock, and we were supposed have been at Delaney’s by now, but Ace had let me sleep the day away after making me lose my mind-twice, and now we were running behind.

  Telling everyone what happened to me this morning had been the hardest thing I had ever had to do. The sexual abuse was something I had to endure, but exposing my demons had been something voluntarily grueling.

  These past few days have showed me that I was never in control of the effects Peter had on my mind and emotions. All I had managed to do, all these years, was become an easy victim versus a reluctant one. I was so afraid of being raped again, of being helpless again, that I became an accomplice instead of the fighter everyone thought I was.

  I didn’t want to be that anymore.

  I didn’t want to be an accommodating victim.

  I wanted to be better.

  I needed to be better.

  I needed to be what Ace saw in me.

  That’s the girl I wanted to be.

  “I’m registered to go to Stanford in the fall,” Ace blurted out from where he sat on the bed, putting his shoes on.

  I turned away from the closet and looked over at him. “You are?”

  He sat up, planted his hands on the top of his thighs, and looked over at me. “Yep.” That was in California, close enough to Blaineview. “But I’ll follow you to Georgetown if that’s where
you want to go, Kit. I can figure something out when I get there.”

  I walked over to where he was sitting, picking out an outfit all but forgotten, and knelt down in front of him. “It’s been three days, Ace,” I reminded him. “You’re really willing to rearrange your future to follow me to Georgetown?”

  His golden eyes blazed as he said, “I’m willing to rearrange my future to follow you anywhere.”

  “I’m going to have setbacks, you know,” I pointed out as if he needed reminding.

  “I’m strong enough for that, Ava,” he stated, no doubt at all. “I’m strong enough for whatever you’ve been through and whatever you’ll ever go through.”

  My eyes watered as Ace reached out to caress my face. “Complete honesty here?” He nodded his head. “I’ve survived a lot, but I’m not sure I could survive us not working out, Ace.”

  His hand clasped my shoulders, and he pulled upward, forcing me to stand in front of him. He placed a kiss on my navel as I was only wearing a bra and panty set. I had been over by the closet looking for a dress when he had announced where he was registered to go to school.

  Weaving my hands through his hair, I looked down as he pulled back and looked up at me. His hands were roaming up and down over my hips and this felt like one of those random perfect moments in time. “Baby, I might not be ready to marry you,” he smirked, “but I’m not going anywhere. Ever.”

  I stepped forward until he was forced to lean back and I climb onto his lap. His cock nestled perfectly between my legs as I straddle him.

  Screw it.

  We were just going to have to be really late to the party.

  Ace knew exactly where I was going with this. “Baby, we’re never going to make it to that party if you don’t get up from my lap,” he warned.

  I wrapped my arms around his neck. “We can be late,” I whispered as I ran my body across his already hardening length.

  “We’re already late,” he pointed out, his lips dancing across the skin of my collarbone.