Resurrecting the Enemy

by M. E. Clayton

  Fuck, she was beautiful.

  “Now, unless you’re going to be a good sport and let Windsor get a taste of some SC High pussy, no matter how used, I suggest you get the fuck out of here and don’t come back,” I told her. “Things could get pretty ugly around here if you don’t.”

  Lake didn’t bother wiping away the tears that were now freely sliding down her face. But that’s probably because they were due to rage more than anything else. Instead, she lifted her chin again, and announced something that didn’t matter anymore. “I hate you.”

  “Awwwe,” I pouted snidely. “And just yesterday you were telling me how much you loved me. Oh, wait. It wasn’t that you loved me, it was that you loved my cock.” I shrugged. “My mistake.”

  She speared me with one final look of hate before she turned around and ran from the backyard.

  And it took every ounce of strength I had not to run after her.

  Chapter 34

  Lake~

  I came to with a start. Glancing around, it took me a second to remember where I was. The second reality set in, it took everything I had not to have another meltdown.

  After I had left Ramsey’s party, furious and heartbroken, I had gone home and had cried myself to sleep. Already feeling weak from the GHB, I hadn’t been prepared for the onslaught of emotions that had taken me under.

  And I had felt them all.

  Anger at Erica and Curt. Jealousy for that beautiful girl who Ramsey had defended so fiercely. Humiliation at knowing Ramsey had shared those pictures of me. Rage at Dash for daring to drag Eden into all of this. But mostly pain.

  Pain.

  Ramsey had done what I always feared he’d do. He had used me, then chewed me up and spat me out like I was nothing.

  The next morning, my parents hadn’t questioned how I had looked a mess, assuming it had still been the drugs in my system. So, they had given me space, and needing to find some kind of peace, some kind of balance, I had grabbed my camera and had started taking pictures of random things in my house that reminded me of love and loyalty.

  However, when I had gone to save them to my photography files, I had been met with an empty drive. Panic had engulfed me, and I had immediately opened my cloud account, and the only thing save to the backup had been an animated winking emoji.

  All my pictures had been deleted.

  Everything had been deleted, even my college application project and all the corresponding applications. Photos, both personal and professional, erased from existence.

  My past, present, and future erased on the whims of an evil boy who thought he had the right.

  But even while looking at an empty screen, I’d known Ramsey wasn’t done with me. Deleting those photos had been part of the appetizer platter he’d been serving up. The main course was still to come, only I had no idea what it was.

  After the shock and despair of losing a very important part of my life, I’d gone into overdrive. I had spent all day Sunday doing my best to pick up the pieces, and once I was confident I had, my plan to not give up was put in place.

  I’d gone to school Monday morning with my head held high, ignoring Erica and anyone else who had taken pleasure in viewing that disaster at Ramsey’s, and had gotten through the day. Curt had been noticeably absent and that had been small saving grace. The more I had thought about it, the more I believed he and Erica had crashed Eden’s party and set me up. And while I still had a lot of unanswered questions, I hadn’t been ready to face him.

  After school, I had gone home, eaten dinner, and as soon as my mom had gotten home, I had asked to borrow her car, and had driven all over Sands Cove, taking pictures. I was trying to recapture what I’d lost, but this time, I hadn’t uploaded my pictures. I had saved them to a flash drive. When I couldn’t find any more inspiration in Sands Cove, I had gone home and crashed.

  When my parents had questioned me the next morning, wanting to know why I hadn’t come home until past midnight, I had told them the half-truth. I had told him I lost everything, due to a virus, and needed to start over on my application projects. And being the wonderful parents that they were, they had felt awful for me, and hadn’t mentioned curfews or school nights.

  And on Tuesday, I’d done the same thing; school, dinner, photos, then sleep.

  And on Wednesday, I’d done it again.

  And on Thursday, I’d done it again.

  All week long, I’d gotten up, gone to school, grabbed something to eat, took off as soon as my mom got home from work, and then walked into the house around midnight, sometimes one.

  But I hadn’t just been snapping pictures around Sands Cove. I’d gone as far as three hours away to neighboring towns to find inspiration. And while I’d manage to capture a lot of beautiful images, I’ve yet to connect to any of them. The pictures I’ve been taking were good enough to hang in a waiting room somewhere, but they lacked life. And the more I couldn’t connect, the more desperate I was becoming. My dreams were at risk, and I was starting to panic a little.

  I was fighting for my future here.

  And now, coming back from Hornsborro, I’d had to pull over near a clearing for a quick nap. My eyes had started feeling heavy about an hour back, so I’d done the responsible thing and had pulled over, set my alarm, and had taken a nap. Was it dangerous out here in the dark? Probably. But it was better than falling asleep at the wheel and killing someone.

  My phone ringing, I stretched as I looked down and saw Eden’s name flash across the screen. And that was another thing that was killing me. While Curt had been out for the entire week, Erica hadn’t been, and she also hadn’t pulled any punches with that video she had taken at Ramsey’s. That video, along with a few others, had been posted all over social media, and there was no escaping it. However, there was also no escaping how that blonde had been all over Dash or how he had offered up Eden.

  When her anger at Ramsey had settled in the background, anger, humiliation, and regret had taken center stage. Anger that Dash would dare. Humiliation that he had shared their personal business, and regret that she’d ever given Dash Marlow the time of day.

  I had felt horrible that she’d been dragged into my mess, and I felt helpless that I didn’t know how to save her from it. Ramsey wasn’t above going after her just to hurt me some more, and that’s what I feared most.

  I picked up my phone and answered it. “Hey.”

  “Where are you?”

  My yawned and squeezed my eyes shut, then open, then shut again, trying to wake up. “About two hours from home, maybe,” I answered. “I just left Hornsborro.”

  “Damn it, Lake,” she whispered over the phone. “It’s already eight in the evening. By the time you get home, it’ll be ten.”

  “Eden-”

  “No, Lake,” she said, cutting me off. “You are running yourself into the ground.” This wasn’t the first time she’s said that.

  “Eden, I don’t have any other choice,” I replied, not for the first time. “I need to get as many pictures as I can.”

  “Lake, not only are you walking around school like a zombie, but you’ve lost some weight, too,” she pointed out. “I’m worried about you.”

  I let out a deep sigh. “I know you are, Eden. And…and I love you for it, but I can’t just…give up.”

  “I’m not asking you to give up, Lake,” she quickly replied. “I’m just asking you to take better care of yourself. This…this running you’re doing is unhealthy. You’re going to crash and burn eventually.”

  I let out a humorless laugh. “I’ve already crashed and burned, Eden,” I reminded her. “This is me rising from the ashes.”

  “Lake…”

  “How about I make you a deal?” I offered.

  “What kind of deal?”

  “I promise to sleep in tomorrow since it’s Saturday and no school,” I said, hoping she’ll take the compromise. The thing about Eden was that she wasn’t scared to upset me if she thought she was doing what was best for me. That meant there was
a good chance she’d go to my parents if I didn’t offer her some sort of truce with this thing.

  “Promise, promise?” she asked. “Not a fake lying promise?”

  “Have I ever faked lied promised you?”

  “Well, no,” she mumbled into the phone.

  “Well, then, there you go.”

  She didn’t say anything for a while and my heart hurt because I knew she was hurting for me. It fucking sucked. Anyone who has ever loved someone knows that someone hurting you is nothing compared to them hurting the people you love, and that’s what was happening with Eden, and I fucking hated it.

  Hated. It.

  Finally, she said, “Text me when you get home, okay? Just so I know you made it home safe.”

  “Of course,” I automatically replied. “I…”

  “What?”

  “I just need that one thing, you know?” I tried to explain. “I need that one thing that I can connect with, and then I’ll…it’ll be okay.”

  “I wish I could believe you,” she returned quietly, and I wished I could, too.

  Chapter 35

  Ramsey~

  It’s been a week since the party and I still felt wound the fuck up.

  After Lake had run out of the party, I had gone back into the house, where I had stayed for the remainder of the party. Even D.J. had stayed away, that’s how feral I had felt.

  Still felt.

  Regret had been trying to creep in all week, but I made sure to feed my rage enough anger to keep it at bay. However, that hadn’t been hard to do. Every time someone mentioned Lake, I lost my shit. Every time someone mentioned the party, I lost my shit. Every time a girl hit on me, or a guy mentioned heading into town to scope out SC High, I lost my shit.

  I. Was. Losing. My. Shit.

  And home was no better. My parents suspected something but were giving me space and time to come to them willingly. Maddox was also more quiet than usual. And if that wasn’t enough, Dash, D.J., Crew, and Chance kept calling and texting, checking on me.

  Needing to get out of my room, before I broke everything in it, I decided to head downstairs and work out in the gym room. I had a shitload of pent-up fury and I needed to release it somehow. But on my way to the gym, I was met with a sight I never thought I’d see.

  Eden Rudolph was in the living room with my mother.

  My eyes scanned the room for signs of Lake, because I was a masochist like that, but she wasn’t anywhere.

  When I looked back at Eden, my mom finally spoke. “Oh, Ram, I was just going to go get you.”

  I spared my mom a quick glance before looking back at Eden. “What are you doing here?” If my mom had any opinions on my rudeness, she didn’t say anything. But Eden Rudolph came prepared to say enough, it seemed.

  Her eyes were alive like green fire, and she didn’t seem to care that my mother was in the room with us, or that my last name was Reed. “You no good cocksucker, leave Lake alone,” she demanded.

  Mom gasped as I crossed my arms over my chest. “If I were you, I’d be careful who I spoke to like that. I suggest you take a moment to remember whose house you’re in, Eden.”

  “And I suggest you go fuck yourself, Reed,” she spat. “I don’t care who you are, or who your family is. Leave her alone!” She was full-on yelling when she finished her sentence. “Lake’s never done anything to you!”

  My arms dropped and I took a step forward. “You call fucking her ex nothing?!” I yelled back.

  “She never fucked Curt!” she lied.

  “Bullshit!”

  “What the fuck is going on in here?” I didn’t bother turning around as my dad’s voice came up from behind me.

  Eden turned towards my parents, and said, “I’ll tell you what’s going on. Your son is ruining Lake’s life because he’s a fucking asshole.” Before my parents could comment, her head whipped back towards me. “You’re also a fucking coward!”

  “You have five seconds to get out of my house, Eden,” I told her. “I don’t care that she’s your best friend. She’s a cheating slut and deserves everything that’s coming to her.” I smirked. “Because I’m not even close to being done with her.”

  Eden straightened to her full height, and she was looking at me like she’d kill me if she thought she could get away with it. “A cheating slut,” she repeated.

  “Yeah, a cheating slut.”

  “Well, you want to know what that cheating slut was doing last Friday night?” She didn’t give me a chance to tell her I didn’t care. “That cheating slut was at my party, nursing one cup of beer, because she didn’t want to get drunk. She knew you’d get upset if you showed up, and she was plastered.” Eden was damn near snarling as she spoke. “That cheating slut was also at my party, fighting with Curt, telling him to leave her the fuck alone, because she knew you’d get pissed if you showed up and saw him talking to her.” My stomach started to roll a little, but I tapped it down. “You want to know what else that cheating slut was doing Friday night? She was at Banks Medical, getting her blood drawn and being monitored, because she’d been drugged.”

  “You’re fucking lying,” I growled.

  She had to be.

  Satisfaction danced in Eden’s gaze as she told her accounts of what happened with Lake on Friday night. “We didn’t know it at the time, but Curt and Erica crashed my party to set her up. Curt kept bothering Lake, and somewhere in between their arguments, he dropped some GHB in her drink and drugged her.” She looked me down like I was an insect beneath her shoes. “That picture of them going into the bedroom was Curt supporting her through the door. I was in the kitchen when a guy mentioned how stupid Lake was to be cheating on you. I asked him what in the hell he was talking about, and he told me he’d seen her and Curt going into one of the bedrooms.”

  “Yeah, because she a fucking slut,” I insisted because the alternative couldn’t be true.

  “I raced towards the bedroom, and he followed because he knew something was wrong,” she continued. “Xavier had to kick the door down because Curt had locked it. Surprised, Curt had jumped back, and Lake fell into heap on the floor. I called an ambulance while Xavier beat the shit out of Curt.”

  “You’re a fucking liar!” I roared.

  “Ramsey…” But we both ignored my dad’s voice.

  “Fuck you!” she yelled back. “Lake was in the hospital all night and didn’t wake up until Saturday morning! So, while you were busy being the judge, jury, and executioner, Lake was having to listen to the police tell her there was nothing they could do since she couldn’t remember being drugged!” Eden’s face was red, and fury was dripping off every part of her body. “While you were throwing parties and fucking other girls, Lake was home, thanking God that I’d gotten to her before Curt could rape her! You fucking bastard!”

  “Stop it,” I growled. “You’re lying.”

  “And when she showed up here to tell you the truth, even after she saw you with another girl, what did you do? You tell all the assholes at Windsor that they can have her because she likes to be passed around.”

  My mother’s gasp felt like a punch in the chest.

  This time, Eden stepped to me. “I don’t care who you are. I don’t care what your family is capable of. I don’t care what you do to me, Reed,” she hissed. “Stay the fuck away from Lake.” Her hand waved, gesturing to our surroundings. “Stay in your castles and behind your gilded gates and leave us peasants the fuck alone!” She turned to storm out of my house, but before she slammed the door behind her, she looked back at me and said, “Go near Lake again, and I will kill you myself.” The front door slammed on her threat, and I was left behind with my parents and the feeling that my knees were going to give out.

  No one said anything as I tried to process everything Eden just told me. She had to be lying, though. She had to be.

  She had to be.

  My eyes on the front door, I said, “Dad.”

  His voice spoke immediately. “This is Ramsey Reed, I need to speak to D
r. Larsen,” he said into the phone. “Now.” He’d know exactly what I was asking of him.

  I stood there, praying Eden was lying. I’d rather deal with Lake cheating on me than face what I’d done to her if Eden was telling the truth.

  “Dr. Larsen, do I need to save you the trouble of discussing HIPPA laws with me by reminding you of who and what I am?” There was a bit of silence before Dad said, “Good. Last Friday night, a young girl named Lake Warren was taken into the ER. Why?” Addressing me, Dad said, “He’s looking it up, Ram.” I didn’t remark, but soon, Dad was ending he call, saying, “Thanks.”

  I finally turned to look at him. “And?”

  He only confirmed what the expression on his face had already conveyed. “They found a high dosage of GHB in her system. So high, that they couldn’t release her until Saturday late afternoon.” When I didn’t say anything, he asked, “Do you want me to see what the police have?”

  I nodded. “Yeah, please.”

  My mother was completely silent as Dad made the phone call, and he was told pretty much the same thing that Eden had said. Unless Curt confessed or Lake’s memory came back, and she could recount when and how Curt had drugged her, there was no proof and nothing they could really do. I was on the verge of losing it when Mom turned this entire thing on its head.

  She looked over at Dad. “I know this isn’t about me,” she said. “But I’m going to need a minute.” She turned and walked out of the room, and I was about to ask Dad what she meant, but I didn’t get the chance before Dad lost his shit.

  “Motherfucker!” he roared before grabbing the nearest lamp and hurling it across the room. I stood stunned as it shattered in a rainfall of glass and ceramic.

  He started pacing, and he really looked like there’d be nothing left standing soon. “Dad?” I said, trying to get his attention. “Dad, what’s going on?”

  “Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he chanted, his voice a wave of anger. “Fuuuuuck!”

  “Dad?!” I yelled. “What’s going on?” He stopped pacing and ran his hands through his hair. I’d never seen him like this, and I was seriously starting to worry. “Dad?”