“What…what are you going to do?”
Now, there was a question. One I’ve been asking myself since Sunday night. All I wanted to do was live a normal life and get lost in my photography. I wanted to get through high school, graduate, and get into a photography program, even if it wasn’t college. While my parents had saved for college, I still applied for scholarships and knew I’d have to work while going to school if college was what I chose.
And that was another thing, who in their right mind got into a serious relationship their senior year of school? That made no sense. Lives were going to change after graduation and long-distant relationships were very rarely successful. So, did that mean Ramsey just wanted a casual hookup? Was he just looking for something challenging, yet temporary? And like hell I would ask him. I didn’t need him knowing I was tempted. Talk about giving your enemy the edge.
“Stay away from him?” I suggested because I didn’t have a plan.
Eden snorted. “Yeah, I can see how well that’s working for you.”
“What can I do, Eden?” I asked. “Call the cops? File a restraining order? Never mind Ramsey Jr., could you imagine what that family would do to me if I went after their precious son? We’d have to leave the country.”
Eden let out sad sigh. “I want to accuse you of over-exaggerating, but I don’t think you are,” she said. “Rumor has it that his father would light a match in a heartbeat if his mother asked him to burn the entire world down. And if you went after her baby boy, I could see Momma Reed not taking too kindly to that.”
Of course, we didn’t know any of them personally, and this was just all rumor, but why gamble with that kind of power. Sure, they could be lovely people, but something told me you didn’t get the reputations they had because you were lovely.
“Maybe he just sees me as a challenge,” I reasoned. “Maybe if I…I don’t know. Maybe if I just sleep with him, he’ll let me be.”
Eden laughed. “Are you sure that’s a sound plan, or is that just your hormones talking?”
“Eden, c’mon…”
“What?” she asked.
“Cut me some slack.”
“All I’m saying is that, if you’re going to get broken in, who better than Reed Jr.?” she remarked. “Sure, he’s a rumored psychopath, and you’ll probably be left an emotional and mental mess, but, Lake, you can’t tell me it wouldn’t be worth it.”
“Uh, excuse me, my mental and emotional health are more important than sex,” I argued.
“How would you know?” she countered. “You’ve never had sex before.”
“Well, neither have you,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, well, I’m not being chased by Satan 2.0 with a six-pack,” she replied, picking up on how I had referred to Ramsey as Satan 2.0 during my recount of events.
I let out a deep breath, and I swear I wanted to bang my head up against something. “Do you think he’ll leave me alone if I just give him what he wants?”
Eden’s voice went from teasing to serious. “Lake, by your own recollection, he said he didn’t want sex from you. He said he wanted you,” she reminded me. “I don’t think it’ll be that simple, whether you sleep with him or not.”
“I don’t know what to do,” I admitted. “I just know I refuse to be some toy to amuse himself with.”
“And it’s never occurred to you that he might be serious about you?” Eden asked.
I had to laugh at that. “That guy can have any girl on the planet he wants, Eden,” I pointed out. “Every girl at Windsor is probably lined up to ride his dick, as he so eloquently informed me earlier. What could he possibly want with me, besides toy with me because he thinks I saw something I didn’t?”
“You’re beautiful, Lake,” she quickly rushed out. “You are every bit as beautiful as any of those girls who go to Windsor.”
“I’m not, but thank you,” I replied. “The point is, this is not about looks, Eden. This is about everything else, and none of it makes any sense.”
She didn’t say anything for a bit, and it was depressing. Finally, she said, “So, we go to Keri’s party Friday and forget Reed Jr. for a night, yeah?”
“Yeah, okay,” I agreed, but I wasn’t sure Keri’s party was going to have enough alcohol for that.
Chapter 11
Ramsey~
“So, want to know what else I found out?” I looked up from my laptop to find Maddox leaning against the door frame of my bedroom door.
I swiveled in my desk chair to face him completely. “What?”
He pushed off the door frame and walked in until he planted his ass on my bed. “Erica Chambers.”
“What about her?” When Mad had researched Curt Metcalf, Erica had made a small appearance during the research, and while I knew what she looked like, that’s all that had been added into Metcalf’s file. I had needed details about Lake, her parents, her best friend, and her ex-boyfriend. I hadn’t needed details about anyone else.
“So, because I’m don’t do shit half-ass, I dug a little deeper into your boy’s shit, and I was able to get into his DMs and shit, and Ms. Chambers went at that dude hard.”
I leaned back in my chair. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, she’d been hitting on him for a long time before he finally caved,” he answered.
My brows furrowed. “Before he started dating Lake?”
Mad shook his head. “No. Four days after he changed all his media shit to state he was in a relationship with your girl, Erica started messaging him and all kinds of shit. I dug in a year before that, and until then, they’d never messaged each other.” He popped a brow. “There was mutual shit for like parties and stuff, but nothing personal.”
“So, Erica wasn’t interested in Metcalf until he started dating Lake,” I concluded.
Mad nodded. “And, I gotta tell you, R.J., he held firm through the entire six months she chased him. And I’m talking sending him nude selfies and even videos of the shit she’s capable of.”
“So, what changed?”
His smirk was laced with a touch of arrogance, but then, he had the right to be. Maddox was a hacking genius, and the government would be lucky to have him working for them. “Well, I was wondering the same thing, so I got to peeking at her texts and social media, and while there’s no smoking gun, she was careless enough to keep a text that was asking for some GHB.” My brows shot up. “I traced the number, and it belongs to a local dealer.” Mad’s nose scrunched up. “Well, I wouldn’t exactly call him a dealer, so much as a dude who can score good time drugs.”
“So, you’re thinking she drugged Metcalf?”
Maddox nodded again. “I really think she did,” he confirmed. “Her posts and text after the fact were too…braggy. She wanted everyone to know Curt cheated on Lake with her.”
“Why, though?”
“Oh, nothing complicated or sinister,” he chuckled. “Just plain, good, old-fashion jealousy.”
“Erica is jealous of Lake?” I had suspected as much with the little I had known, but Maddox was making it sound like it was something bigger than what I’d thought. “Over what?”
“That came up in the messages I had dug up from last year,” he answered. “Apparently, from the messages, Erica is into photography, too. I’m not sure she’s into it as much as your girl, but last year, Erica got some comeuppance when Lake won a photography contest over her. When Erica had disputed the win, the teacher had told her that it wasn’t enough to be beautiful, she had to be able to see beauty in all things. Even the stuff society deems as ugly.”
My shoulder jerked. “Well, that’s true if you’re going to go into photography.”
Mad smiled. “True, but the teacher hadn’t stopped there. She went on to tell Erica that surface beauty faded and people with substance were the ones who would make the difference.”
I laughed. “And the teacher’s words are Lake’s fault, I take it?”
Maddox nodded. “Yep,” he agreed. “Seems Erica has had it out for
your girl ever since. And it hadn’t helped when she went after Curt, and he hadn’t fallen for her charms. He kept picking Lake over Erica’s advances, and there you go.”
I eyed my brother. “So, you’re saying there’s a chance she might make a move on me?”
He scoffed. “A chance? Hell, no. I’m saying she will.” Mad shook head. “You being who you are, if she went after Curt as hard as she did, she’s going to definitely come after you, R.J.”
“I can handle myself, Mad,” I reassured him.
“That’s not what I’m worried about,” he retorted. “I think she’s going to hit on you, but I also know you.” I smirked. “Once you crush her spirit, she’ll back off.”
“So, what’s the problem?”
“I think she’ll go after your girl,” he said. “And I think it might get ugly.”
“Trust me, Mad. Lake is not as sweet as she seems,” I said dryly. “The girl’s got fight in her.” I scoffed. “I should know.”
Maddox placed his elbows on his knees, clasped his hands together, and leaned forward. “Are you going to tell her?”
My head jerked back. “Fuck no, I’m not going to tell her,” I bit out. “If she finds out that he really didn’t cheat on her, he might have action of getting her back, and that’s not going to fucking happen.” Maddox raised a brow. “She’s mine, Mad,” I told him. “She’s fucking mine, and I don’t give a fuck what the truth is. Hell, I don’t give a fuck if she wants to be mine or not. She’s mine. End of story.”
Maddox grinned. “You know, not telling her might come back to bite you in the ass later, if she ever finds out you knew and didn’t tell her.”
I lifted my chin. “She might get pissed,” I conceded. “But it won’t change anything. It’s not like I’ll let her leave me over it.”
“Christ, R.J., you sound like Dad,” he grimaced as he stood up.
“And was he wrong?” I challenged. “We wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for his perseverance.”
Mad let out a deep laugh. “Dude, we exist because Mom loves Dad enough to ignore that he’s unhinged. Remember that.” I didn’t comment because he wasn’t necessarily wrong. “So, how are you going to handle her going to SC while you’re at Windsor?”
I wasn’t worried about Lake cheating on me. Most people reject that sort of behavior once they’ve been on the receiving end of it, so that wasn’t a problem. My problem was getting her onboard with the fact that we were in a relationship, whether she wanted to be or not.
And I wasn’t worried about Metcalf pursuing her because, it’s been two months, and he’s made no progress where she’s concerned. Plus, I had no problem having a little chat with him, if I had to.
My issue was not having her with me, plain and simple.
“I could always have her transferred to Windsor,” I told him.
My brother looked down at me. “Dude, you are losing it,” he said as if this was something I wasn’t aware of.
“I am,” I agreed.
He regarded me for a long minute before saying, “Let me know if you need anything more.”
And that’s what it meant to be a Reed.
Actually, that’s what it meant to be a Reed, Marlow, McCellan, or McIntire. We walked a crazy path, but we didn’t walk it alone. We’d never be left to walk it alone. Loyalty had been instilled in us at birth. My brother might think I was losing my shit, but he wasn’t going to let me go down alone.
“Will do,” I promised him.
He didn’t look convinced, but he gave me a tight nod before heading out. I also knew this wasn’t the end of it for him. Maddox was probably going to spend the new few days still digging. He got a bad vibe from Erica Chambers, and that meant he was going to dig up whatever he could for insurance.
I picked up my phone and fired off another text.
Me: Every thought about going 2 Windsor?
Lake: Ever thought about getting counseling 4 ur issues?
Me: I only have 1 issue right now
Lake: Leave me alone, and u’ll be issue-free
Me: Never
She didn’t reply, but I really wasn’t expecting her to. She was probably fuming, debating changing her number, though it wouldn’t do her any good.
And I wasn’t worried about graduation either. My family had enough money and power to make whatever I needed to happen.
And I needed Lake Warren to be mine.
Chapter 12
Lake~
I sat at the table with my parents, dinner served and underway, but my mind was not on dinner or dinner conversation.
Ever thought about going to Windsor?
What kind of question was that?
Hell, no, I’ve never thought about going to Windsor. I couldn’t even fathom what that might be like. Sure, they wore uniforms, but I was pretty sure they were sewn from imported silk and the buttons were probably made of diamonds. No way I’d ever get caught dressed in something like that. Not to mention being around all that high-class pedigree.
No.
I was happy where I was, and I was happy with who I was. I was happy with my normal parents who were home every night and had normal work stories to tell. I was happy on my side of the platinum gates that separated the town of Sands Cove from the hills and mansions that surrounded us.
My dad was a computer tech who helped me with my tablet when it acted up, and I had a mother who shared adorable stories and pictures of the animals at her pet store. I didn’t want the drama or pressure that came with dating someone like Ramsey. But, God, I really didn’t know how much longer I could keep up my resistance.
“Lake? Lake, honey?”
My head snapped up at the sound of my name. “Huh?”
“So, are you sure you’ll be okay?”
“I’m sorry…what?”
Mom smiled at me. “Rough day at school today?”
I shook my head. “No. No, Mom, I was just…daydreaming,” I lied.
“We were saying that I’ve made plans to take your mother to Rosario next weekend for our anniversary,” Dad said. “We just wanted to make sure you’ll be okay on your own for a couple of days.”
“Dad, I’m eighteen,” I reminded him. “I’ll be fine.”
“You might be eighteen, young lady, but you’re still our little girl,” he sweetly replied.
“I’ll be fine, Dad,” I promised. “I can always have Eden stay with me if I get bored.”
“That’s a good idea,” Mom chimed in. “You girls will have a good time.”
I smiled. I liked how my parents weren’t worried about a raging kegger happening on their weekend away. They trusted me completely, and why wouldn’t they? I’ve never given them a reason to worry about me, and I didn’t plan on giving them any reason to in the future.
“I’ll be fine,” I repeated. “I think it’s neat you guys are celebrating your anniversary. You guys never do.”
Dad looked over at Mom. “We celebrate it every day, Lake.”
That was the thing about my parents; they were in love with each other. They weren’t big on celebrating Valentine’s Days and things like that because they appreciated each other every day. They didn’t take each other for granted, nor did they bullshit each other. If one of the was upset with the other, then that was communicated. Over the years, they’ve shown me the good balance of a healthy relationship and it was pretty picture perfect.
“You know what I mean, Dad. I think it’s neat that you guys are actually doing something special.”
“Well, we’re leaving Thursday evening, and we’ll be back Sunday afternoon,” Mom informed me. “I’ll make sure the fridge is stocked and you have some emergency money.”
“Mom, it’s three days,” I said softly. “It’ll be fine.”
“I know,” she grinned. “I just…well, this isn’t something we do often, is all.”
“Look, Eden will be more than happy to stay with me, and I promise no drugs, alcohol, boys, or occult sacrifices.”
My dad sco
ffed. “We’re not worried about any of that, Lake. We trust you.”
“Although, with Halloween only a couple of weeks away, if you do decide to engage in some sort of occult sacrifice, do it outside and don’t use the emergency candles. Buy some new ones with the emergency money we’ll be leaving you.”
“Ha. Ha. Mom,” I deadpanned.
She just grinned. “We’d love you just the same if you did practice in the dark arts, honey,” Dad added, and I started laughing. They were such goofballs.
I felt better after dinner and finishing up my homework. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I was probably freaking out over nothing. If I really wanted nothing to do with Satan 2.0, all I had to do was not engage. I could block his number. I could block him on all my social media sites. I could make sure I headed straight to the bus stop, instead of lingering about. I could even have a teacher, or someone, walk me to the bus.
There were a million and one ways to avoid Ramsey if I really wanted to. Sure, he could retaliate somehow, but bullies only get satisfaction if they get reactions, right? If I didn’t react, Ramsey would get bored and move on. And, yeah, he had those pictures, but…so what? Like Eden had said, they were rather tame in comparison to what was out there on the internet. Me in my underwear was no big deal, right?
With that in mind, I grabbed my phone and got to blocking Ramsey Reed Jr. from all my media sites and his number from my phone. Like a temptation I didn’t need, all I had to do was take him out of the equation. Could he unblock himself? No way. And we didn’t have any mutual friends that he could link himself through.
Feeling confident, I sent Eden a text.
Me: I blocked Satan 2.0 from my phone and all my social media
Her response was immediate.
Eden: Do u think that’s wise?
Me: It sends a statement
Resurrecting the Enemy Page 6
