Resurrecting the Enemy

by M. E. Clayton

  I had her slammed up against the driver’s side door, and, boy, was I fucking pissed. At my own stupidity? Yeah. But I was still pissed.

  “Let me go!” she yelled, and I immediately cupped one of my hands over her mouth as my body pinned her to the car, my left hand around her neck again.

  “Scream again and see what happens,” I threatened. “If you want to bring people running, you better believe I’ll give them a story to take back with them.” Her blue eyes widened again, but I wasn’t falling for it. This girl had a set of balls on her, and her damsel in distress cover was already blown.

  Pressing my body against her tightly enough to make her wince, I removed my hands from her mouth and neck and pulled the camera off her. This time, her face looked panicked, and that countered her claims that she hadn’t seen anything.

  I smirked. “I wonder what I’m going to find on here.”

  “Give that back to me,” she hissed. “It’s not yours. That’s…that’s invasion of privacy.”

  I snorted. I had been five seconds away from killing Ashton Childress, with a clear fucking conscience, and she thought violating her privacy was going to keep me up at night?

  “Tell me your name,” I demanded again, this time her precious camera dangling from my fingers.

  Her jaw popped, and the snarl sounded like it was coming from her soul. “Lake,” she bit out.

  She was pissing me off. “You got a last name to go with that?”

  “Lake Warren,” she answered in that same resentful tone.

  “I want it all,” I informed her mercilessly.

  “Why?” she stubbornly asked. “What does the rest of it matter?”

  I stared down at the gorgeous creature, who was fuming with hate and rebellion, and my name, alone, wasn’t doing enough to instill the kind of fear I needed from her. It wasn’t that I was worried about what she knew, so much as I didn’t like how she wasn’t cowering. Again, my parents would get me out of any trouble I ever found myself in, so this was more than that.

  I cocked my head. “How badly do you want this camera back?”

  Chapter 2

  Lake~

  My heart sank.

  That camera was my entire life as sad as that might sound. I had saved my allowance money for three years to buy that camera and all its components. All my life, I’ve loved capturing moments, so they couldn’t disappear, and it’s what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be a freelance photographer, and that camera was the start of making that happen. The pictures on it didn’t matter because the camera was already set to automatically upload the pictures to a backup cloud, but I couldn’t replace the camera. But I also knew who he was, and Ramsey Reed Jr. knowing someone’s personal business was not anything a person needed in their life.

  Least of all, me.

  But what choice did I have?

  There were no pictures of him and his friends on the reel because I wasn’t stupid or suicidal. When I had walked close enough to make out the clearing, the moonlight had been bright enough to make sense of the scene happening before me, and there was no way I was going to get caught up in whatever had been going down. But looking into those storming whiskey-colored eyes, I guess the joke was on me.

  “Spill it,” he demanded when I remained silent.

  I knew what he was asking, and I had to weigh that against the importance of my camera. But then, I almost laughed when I reminded myself that he was Ramsey fucking Reed Jr. Whatever I refused to tell him, he could find out on his own. It was no secret in Sands Cove, whether it be in town or not, that his father controlled the entire town and everyone in it. Ramsey Reed Sr. didn’t have a heart, and I imagined neither did his son, if this exchange was any indication.

  “I’m eighteen, but still go to SC High as a senior,” I bit out, and even his prestigious Windsor-pampered ass knew that meant Sands Cove High, our town’s only public high school. See, while Sands Cove was made up of mostly the obnoxiously wealthy, regular common folk still had to work the town, and their children-that’d be me-had to go to school somewhere. So, that left one public elementary school, one public middle school, and one public high school.

  “And?”

  “My father’s an IT tech, and my mother is the manager of the pet store in town.” Every piece of myself that I was giving him felt like a punch in the chest. But, again, I couldn’t lose that camera over things he could learn from his father, anyway. “No siblings.”

  His chocolate gaze swept over me from head to toe, and when his eyes met mine again, he asked, “Boyfriend?”

  I bristled a bit, but that was because that was still a sore subject with me. I had just broken up with my boyfriend about two months ago, after catching him cheating on me. Yeah, we’d only been together for about six months, and it hadn’t been love, but it had still stung.

  “No.”

  He regarded me silently for a bit before asking, “What am I going to find on this camera, Lake?” I inwardly grimaced at how good my name sounded coming from his lips. Ramsey had a deep, rough and tumble voice, and it suited him.

  “Nothing,” I told him. “I…I take pictures of stuff. It’s a hobby.”

  He arched a brow. “So, you just have pictures of nature and shit like that on here?”

  I tried not to cringe. While I didn’t have any pictures of him and what had been going down in that clearing, I did have a few pictures on there that I’d taken but hadn’t been brave enough to send to Curt, and thank God. Nudes, or semi-nudes as was this case, should only be exchanged between spouses.

  Seriously.

  “I didn’t see anything,” I tried again. “Look, Reed-”

  “Reed?”

  It also wasn’t a secret that everyone called him Reed, besides his family. He and his brother, Maddox, looked so much like their father, everyone got to calling this Ramsey by his last name to eliminate any confusion. However, rumor was that his family and close friends called him R.J. while only his mother and father called him Ramsey or Ram. Of course, that could all be bullshit because he wasn’t close to a lot of people, but I did know everyone in town called him Reed.

  “Isn’t that what everyone calls you?”

  His eyes searched mine, and I wasn’t entire sure what he saw in them, but he surprised the hell out me when he said, “Call me Ramsey.”

  My throat threatened to close up. “I’d rather not.”

  He smirked, and it was more evil than it was sexy. “I don’t really give a fuck what you’d rather. I said, call me Ramsey.”

  I wasn’t going to do this with him. “Give me my camera back,” I told him. “I answered your questions, now give it back.”

  “Ah, ah, ah,” he mocked. “Not until I check for myself that you’re not lying.”

  “I’m not,” I snapped.

  “Well, then you shouldn’t have any problem with me seeing for myself, now, should you?”

  “You’re invading my privacy,” I said again.

  “And ask me if I give a fuck,” he snarled, his temper shining through again.

  Ramsey was so much stronger and taller than me, I’d only look like fool if I made a play for the camera. I knew this. So, all I could do was stand here, like that same fool, and hope he didn’t scroll past tonight’s photos. Ramsey already had the upper hand, so I didn’t need him to see pictures of me in only my underwear. That wouldn’t be good.

  The wait was excruciating as I watched him click through the photos on my camera, and heat and humiliation immediately coated my cheeks when Ramsey dark eyes flew to mine.

  He went past tonight’s dated photos.

  What I hadn’t expected was the anger burning in his dark gaze or the brutal rumble in his tone when he said, “I thought you didn’t have a fucking boyfriend.”

  “I don’t.”

  “Then why the fuck do you have photos like these on your camera?” He sounded truly pissed and I didn’t know what to make of that.

  “We…we broke up two months ag-”

&
nbsp; Ramsey had me pinned to the side of the car again, my camera now resting on the top of the car. His left hand was digging into my hip while his right hand held my chin in between his fingers, crushing my jaw. “He has these pictures?” he snarled down at me.

  I shook my head the best I could with his hold on me. “No. I…I…chickened out. I…never sent them.” He looked goddamn feral, and I could only pray he’d believe me and let me get the hell out of here. I wasn’t a wimp by any means, but I knew I didn’t want to tangle with Ramsey Reed Jr.

  “How badly do you want your camera back?”

  “Wh…what?”

  “How badly do you want your camera back?” he repeated, his thumb now rubbing back and forth over my lower lip.

  “It’s my camera,” I bit out. “I’m not negotiating to get it back.”

  The corner of his lip curled. “You are if you want it back, my little diamond thief.” Diamond thief? What in the hell did that even mean?

  “I already answered all your-”

  “I want those pictures,” he said, and I could feel all the air leave me.

  “What?” I whispered in disbelief.

  “I want those pictures,” he repeated, and I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

  I shook my head. “No.” There’s no telling what he’d do with those kinds of pictures of me.

  As if he could read my mind, he said, “For me. They’d only be for me.” His voice took on a darker quality when he added, “I’d never let anyone else see you like that.”

  “Reed, pl…please-”

  I jumped when he let go of my hip and his fist pounded against the hood of my car. “Ramsey,” he practically shouted. “I fucking told you to call me Ramsey.”

  I stood there not knowing what to do. Satan 2.0 was asking me to trust him with pictures I hadn’t even been brave enough to send my boyfriend in exchange for my camera. I was in a lose/lose situation, and I was burning with the injustice of it all.

  But what choice did I have?

  Two hours later, the clock on my nightstand flashed that it was past two in the morning, but I knew sleep wouldn’t come.

  Not with knowing that Ramsey Reed Jr. had pieces of me I couldn’t get back.

  Chapter 3

  Ramsey~

  I sat on the hood of my black Range Rover, waiting for Maddox, Chance, and Neo to pull up, but I didn’t mind waiting on them. Maddox had been running late this morning, having forgotten to set his alarm, and Neo and Chance always cut shit close to the wire.

  With my parents and Uncle Liam and Aunt Roselyn being the only close families who resided in Sands Cove, only me, Maddox, Chance, Neo, and Gideon went to Windsor Academy. While I was eighteen, and the oldest out of the entire brood, my brother and Chance McCellan were seventeen and juniors at Windsor. Neo McCellan was fifteen and a sophomore, while Gideon McCellan was only thirteen and still in the middle school section of Windsor Academy.

  Uncle Deke and Aunt Delaney lived in Port Lucia with their kids, which was an hour’s drive from Sands Cove, and where the RMM Investments & Securities main office was located. Uncle Ace and Aunt Ava also lived in Port Lucia with their kids, but because we were all so close, an hour’s drive wasn’t shit.

  Twenty years ago, my father and uncles had gone into business together and RMM Investments & Securities was now one of the most prolific and successful financial firms in the world. Upon establishing themselves, my parents and Uncle Liam and Aunt Roselyn had decided to come back to Sands Cove to set up their homes and families, while Uncle Deke, Aunt Delaney, Uncle Ace, and Aunt Ava had chosen to stay in Port Lucia. Sands Cove held bad memories for my aunts, so my uncles had chosen to live closer to work. So, that meant their children went to Regal Academy in Port Lucia, and as much as I wish we could all be together, I was happy they had each other over there.

  Uncle Deke and Aunt Delaney had Dash who was eighteen, Crew who was sixteen, Zane who was fourteen, and their only girl, Lennon, who was twelve. And, let me tell you, that little girl was protected better than the President of the United States.

  Uncle Ace and Aunt Ave had only two kids, and that was Delaney Jr. who was sixteen and Maggie who was fourteen. Now, D.J. and Maggie having no blood brothers, it fell on the rest of us males in the family to look out for them, which was what we’d been doing Sunday night.

  A lot of people thought I was a sociopathic psychopath because I didn’t give a fuck about much, but I wasn’t. I loved, and I cared. Now, those emotions were limited to my family and friends only, but they still existed. And if they existed, then that blew all those pop-psych theories out of the water.

  Another reason I knew I wasn’t a complete sociopath?

  Lake Warren.

  I had a lot of feelings where that girl was concerned.

  After I had blackmailed her into sending those semi-naked selfies of herself to me, I had let her go. There’d been no pictures of me beating Childress on her camera, and after checking her phone, too-because I wasn’t a fucking idiot-I had let her go.

  With her camera.

  Once I had gotten home, I had gone straight to Maddox’s room, and he had filled me in on how the guys had dropped him off at home, so he could tap into all the cameras that were within a three block radius of Sands Cove Medical, and manipulate the feed. While numbers were my thing and I could do complicated math in my head, Maddox was a genius with computers. He was a gifted hacker that could probably land him in federal prison one day, if not for our parents.

  After he had manipulated the feeds, he had sent a text to Chance and Dash to let them know it was okay to dump Childress in a nearby alley. If he crawled his way to the hospital, great. If not, that was great, too. I also wasn’t too worried about him talking. Even if the others lived in Port Lucia, our reputations, and those of our parents, were legendary enough to put the fear of God into both towns, if not the entire state. Ashton Childress really hadn’t known who D.J. was when he had tried to take advantage of her. Had he known, he would have steered clear of her. However, that fact hadn’t excused him from what he’d had coming.

  Once I’d been satisfied that Ashton Childress had been properly taken care of, I had asked Mad to get me everything he could on Lake Warren. I had given him the little bit that she had already told me to give him a starting point, but even with just a name, Maddox would have still been able to get all the goods on the girl.

  I had also told him to dig up everything he could on the ex-boyfriend once he found out that name. It wasn’t that I was worried about the guy, but the more information, the better. It was something my dad has always instilled in us.

  Hearing a car pulled up beside mine, I looked back and saw my brother smiling through the windshield. While I had a Range Rover, Maddox had a Lotus Evija that had cost a little over two million dollars. Now, why in the hell would my parents get him a car like that, you ask? Because, last year, Maddox had hacked into the prison system and had ‘accidentally’ transferred good, ol’ Grandpa Andrews into general population, instead of that cozy protective custody he’d been granted after going to prison for killing his wife. The poor man had found himself on the business end of a nasty fight that had led to his unfortunate demise. When Mom had gotten the notification, all Maddox had said was ‘Happy Birthday, Mom’, and the bastard had gotten that Lotus for his very next birthday.

  When I had asked my dad why he had never taken care of that man, knowing how Mom felt about him, he had told me that Mom had told him that the man was so worthless, it wasn’t worth the risk of it ever being traced back to him. And we all knew nothing would ever get traced back to Maddox. He was just that good.

  Getting out of his ridiculous car, his backpack slung over one shoulder, he was still smiling. Looking at his watch, he said, “They got this shit down to a science.”

  I grinned. “It’s not like we’re going to get in trouble for being late, anyway.”

  Maddox leaned against my car. “True,” he agreed. “But I’d rather be a smart rich fuck than a
dumb rich fuck, and I can only do that if I get my education.”

  I barked out a laugh. “I can see your logic, Mad. However, I still don’t think that’s enough to get Chance and Neo here any earlier.” Just then, our heads turned at the familiar sound of a white Lexus LFA Nurburgring pulled up on the other side of Maddox’s nonsense. Shaking my head, I realized I was probably the least pretentious asshole out of us all. My car didn’t cost nearly as much as Chance’s half a million-dollar Lexus, and of course, Maddox’s bat-mobile.

  “We’re here,” Neo announced as he got out of the car, and I just loved the kid. Since Uncle Liam and Aunt Roselyn were both blonde with blue eyes, all their sons took after them in coloring. However, being all boys, they had all inherited Uncle Liam’s features, and that was something Aunt Roselyn absolutely loved about her kids. That’s how much she loved Uncle Liam.

  Before any of us could remark on Neo’s announcement, the first warning bell for class rang throughout the school. I hopped off the hood of my car. “We better get going,” I told them.

  Chanced glanced back at the school’s front entrance. “I’m so glad our parents hadn’t made us do the year abroad thing,” he said. “I can’t imagine being stuck in high school for one more year.” He shook his head. “Why the hell would anyone want that?”

  Windsor had a requirement where all incoming freshman had to spend a year abroad to study in whatever country would benefit them most to follow in their family’s footsteps and businesses. Our parents had left the decision up to us, and when we had all decided against it, our parents had ended up having a little one-on-one with the school’s board, and we’d been exempt from having to fulfill that requirement. And I was with Chance on this one. Who in the hell wanted to add an extra year to their high school life if they didn’t have to?

  We all headed towards the entrance, knowing that Neo would take a hard right as soon as we entered the building. Being only a sophomore, his locker was with all the other lower classmen at Windsor. Sure, we could have had him moved with us, but Neo had argued against it. When I had mentioned it, he had assured me that he wasn’t scared to walk to his locker alone.