Facing The Enemy

by M. E. Clayton

  “Fuck, look at those tits,” Roman groaned out.

  “Oh, yeah, baby,” the other guy said, “you’re going to be the best fuck yet.”

  I didn’t response as Jamie straddle my stomach and ordered, “Get rid of her panties!”

  As soon as Roman let go of my feet, I started kicking and flaying, but it was no use. His hands ran up my legs and the tears almost came when I felt him yank my panties down, over my knees and down my legs.

  I kicked at him and he laughed. I watched in absolute horror as he sniffed my underwear and said, “Shit, boys, you have got to get a whiff of that pussy.”

  I kept screaming and I kept fighting. Jamie was still struggling to hold me down, and he let out a curse when I reached up and socked him in the face when the boy, whose name I didn’t know, let go of my arm so he could grab my breast.

  “You bitch!” Jamie yelled, spittle flying everywhere.

  “Stop it! Get off me! Stop!”

  Jamie peered down at me. “We’re going to fuck you until there is nothing left to fuck, you nasty whore!”

  I could feel the cool air hit my thighs and that’s when the panic set in and took over. Someone was lifting my skirt and getting a full view of my body. One of my bra cups had been ripped down and, once again, the cool air alerted me to the fact that these maggots could see all the private parts of my body.

  I won’t cry though. I won’t cry, and I won’t stop fighting.

  It turns out I wasn’t going to have to.”

  Chapter 19

  Ramsey

  I knew Liam’s voice as well as I knew my own.

  I could make out Deke and Liam in the dark, even if I was blind, deaf and dumb. That’s how I knew it was him when the roars from the hallway hit my ears.

  I didn’t think.

  I just ran.

  I ran down the school’s main center hallway and rounded the corner to see Liam in the middle of a melee with three other guys.

  I ran straight towards the fray and grabbed the first guy I got my hands on. It was Roman Cruz and I laid the motherfucker out with one shot to his face. I didn’t even wait for his body to hit the ground and I was already on Jamie Turner, while Liam finished up who I now saw was Ricky Peterson.

  I didn’t ask questions, I just started pummeling Jamie with everything I had. I don’t know why they jumped Liam, but they had to have known there was no way they would have gotten away with it, even if I hadn’t shown up.

  “You sick motherfucker! You piece of fucking shit!” Liam was screaming down at his victim with every blow to Ricky’s body. I wasn’t the only psychopath of the group. Liam and Deke fought like demons just like I did.

  Jamie was doing his best to fight back, but he was no match for me, and he knew it. Everyone knew it. He also had to know that this wasn’t going to be the end of it. No one messed with Liam or Deke and got away with it.

  No one.

  “I’m going to fucking kill you! Kill you all!” Liam shouted and when I looked over, I could see that he was definitely on the fast track to killing Ricky. I gave Jamie one last slam to the face and knocked him out cold, laying him out next to Roman.

  I ran over to Liam and pulled him off Ricky. “Liam, man, stop,” I tried to reason. “You’re going to kill him.” Liam’s right hand opened, releasing Ricky’s shirt and Ricky went sliding down to the ground in a bloody heap.

  I turned Liam around and shook him back to reality. “You okay? What happened?”

  Liam looked at me and I can say that I’ve never seen him look so crazed. He looked lost and out of his goddamn mind.

  He shoved my hands off his shoulders, and I watched as he ran his bloody hands through his hair and pull. Liam let out the most heartbreaking scream I have ever heard, and it had me worried.

  “Lee, what’s going on, man?”

  He turned back towards me, but before he could answer, I heard a faint whimper float in the air and my eyes followed Liam’s as he looked over towards the wall leading back to the library.

  My breath caught, and my mind froze, not wanting to process what I was seeing.

  Emerson stood leaning up against the wall, her arms wrapped around her waist, her eyes wide and her face blank. Her uniform top was ripped down the middle, her bra was twisted, and one breast was hanging out in the open. Her arms and legs were a bloody mess and her hair was in total disarray.

  As my eyes scanned the length of her body, I saw that she only had one sandal on.

  It was the partner to the white pair she always wore.

  When my eyes searched around for the other shoe, I noticed something white tossed a few feet away from Liam’s feet.

  It was a pair of panties.

  My eyes shot back to Emerson’s face and I couldn’t get a grasp on everything I was feeling.

  She was making no effort to cover herself up and she wasn’t crying. She wasn’t doing anything but staring at the pieces of shit on the ground.

  I didn’t take my eyes off her when Liam spoke. “I was on my way to practice when I heard someone screaming. I ran in the direction of the commotion and I saw…” he paused as if saying the very words were causing him physical pain. “I saw Jamie on top of her and…” Liam trailed off, not being able to finish his accounts of what happened.

  Before I could comment or move, Emerson seems to snap out of her shock. Her eyes flew to where Liam and I stood, and I’d never seen so much hate on one person’s face ever.

  “Emerson…”

  She scrambled to right herself. She pulled her bra together and covered up her modesty. Her shirt was in tatters, but she did her best to pull it tight around her.

  I watched motionless as she stared down at her one shoe. When she lifted her head to search for the discarded match, I saw her entire body freeze as her eyes landed on her underwear.

  Liam and I remained absolutely still and didn’t utter another word as we watched a myriad of emotions play across her face.

  Her mannerisms were killing me.

  She wasn’t crying.

  She wasn’t hysterical.

  She wasn’t screaming.

  She wasn’t doing anything but assessing everything around her.

  A second later, all three of our heads snapped sideways when we heard a moan rise from the ground. One of the guys was coming to.

  I fucking wish he would.

  I wasn’t done with these three. Not by a long shot.

  I turned back to Emerson, and the agony that consumed my body was paralyzing as I watched her wobble forward and squat down to pick up her shoe. I watched in silence as she put it on, and then the anguish really took hold when she squatted down again to pick up her panties. She fisted them in her right hand, her left hand still holding her shirt together.

  Liam finally move and went over to pick up her backpack that had been tossed down the hallway. He walked up to her and placed it at her feet. Emerson looked up at him and just stared.

  “Emerson…” he went on to say but stopped. Neither of us knew what to say.

  Oh, we knew we were going to kill those motherfuckers, but we had no idea what to say to Emerson.

  I followed suit and walked up to her. I wanted to take her in my arms and make whatever she experienced go away. Back from the first time she ever saw her father hitting her mother. I wanted to take it all away.

  “Em-” Her silver eyes shot up to my brown ones and the pure fury in them shut me up.

  Emerson’s eyes scaled down my body and back up again in complete utter loathing. When her eyes met mine again, she said. “I guess there really is no limit to what you’ll do to win, huh?”

  Sonofafuckingbitch.

  Emerson thought I orchestrated her attack.

  She thought Jamie, Ricky and Roman went after her at my urging.

  That knowledge sliced through the heart I didn’t even know I had.

  “Emerson,” I said, my voice low and forceful, “I would never-”

  “Save it, Reed.” Reed? She turned her eyes
of wrath to Liam. “What I don’t understand, though, is why did you stop them, Liam? Isn’t that going against your master’s wishes?”

  Liam’s spine snapped. I could feel the rage and confusion radiating off him in waves. “Ramsey’s not my master, Emerson. And no matter what we’ve ever done, rape has never been a part of it.”

  She didn’t look like she believed him. And worse, she looked like she didn’t care.

  “Emerson,” I said, drawing her attention back to me, “they’ll pay for this, I swear.”

  I was expecting her to tell me to go to hell. I was expecting a reaction of rage and pain. Instead, she finished me off with a knife to my gut to match the piercing I felt lodged in my chest.

  Emerson’s hand loosened its grip on her blouse. Her shirt fell open, exposing her bra and bare stomach. She pushed it back off her shoulders and gathered it in the hand that wasn’t gripping her panties. She stood before me and Liam in nothing but her bra, uniform skirt and white sandals.

  I didn’t move or say a word as I watched her scrunch up her blouse and throw it in my face. Besides the clenching of my jaw, I didn’t react. She had every right to lash out.

  Emerson threw her wadded up panties at me next. They hit my face and tumble to the earth, landing next to her blouse.

  Her eyes volleyed back and forth between me and Liam as she said, “I’d rather them have raped me than me owe either of you anything.” I felt her words like a kick to my chest. “I may be trash, but at least I’m not a rapist or a bully. If you think you guys are going to get credit for putting out a fire that you guys started, you’re not. The both of you can go to hell!”

  She walked passed us, half-naked, leaving us to suffocate on her words.

  Chapter 20

  Emerson

  I showed up at school Friday morning full of scrapes, scratches and bruises.

  After I had left Ramsey and Liam standing in the hallway, I had gone home-thank God I hadn’t run into Bailey-threw away my uniform and bra and soaked in my tub for over an hour. I had to replace the cool water with scalding hot twice before I had finally felt clean enough to crawl into bed.

  In all actually, I wasn’t upset over the attack so much as I was upset that I hadn’t seen it coming. The worse I expected was keying my car, maybe flattening the tires. Or, maybe, actually getting into a fist fight with someone.

  I hadn’t expected gang rape, though.

  Had I had any inkling that Ramsey’s decree would result in that, I’d have taken better precautions to not get caught slipping. I would have worn my uniform pants instead of the skirt. I would have made sure I walked to my car while other students or teachers were around.

  I just would have done more.

  I underestimate just how entitled these kids felt.

  The entire time I was soaking in the tub, I replayed Jamie’s words in my ear. While Ramsey may have left me unprotected, Jamie’s actions didn’t come from a place of trying to please Ramsey. No. They came from a deep seeding hate for him. Jamie was not only trying to hurt me yesterday, he was trying to hurt Ramsey, too. He as jealous of Ramsey, that much was obvious.

  When I got ready for school this morning, I did it with the intent to look unaffected by the attack yesterday. I wore my hair up in a messy bun like I usually do. My makeup was the bare minimum. I wore my custom uniform button up and the matching skirt. My white sandals survived the attacked, even if they were scratched, so I wore those like I always did.

  I had given myself a quick onceover in the mirror and all my injuries were front and center. I looked like I had been in a car wreck and it fueled my resolve to not cower in front of those people. I was going to walk down those hallways and sit in my classes with my head held high, reminding them of their evils.

  I was not going to brush attempted rape under the rug. While I wasn’t going to bother with filing a police report, because if the police didn’t put in effort to arrest a rapist in the poorest of neighborhoods, they definitely weren’t going to do anything to rich people. But I wasn’t about to act like it didn’t happen. I knew it was going to be the poor, trailer park trash’s word against three affluent, upstanding Windsor students, but I didn’t care.

  And I was in no way confused about which side of the line Ramsey and Liam were on.

  I got out of my car and walked across the yard to the entrance of the school. I was halfway across the perfect, green manicure lawn when I felt Ramsey’s hand grab a hold of my arm, turning me around.

  I knew it was Ramsey because I had already committed his scent to memory. My body was already trained to know when he was near. I could feel the sonofabitch and it made me hate him even more.

  I yanked my arm out of his grasp and looked up at him. I was ready to continue with my tongue lashing from yesterday, but the look on his face stopped me.

  He looked absolutely wrecked.

  Ramsey face was one of pure devastation.

  I stood there as his eyes took in my appearance and a whirlwind of emotions battled in his russet eyes. When his eyes returned to mine, he asked, “What are you doing here, Emerson?”

  I turned my back on him and kept walking. I didn’t owe him an explanation.

  I didn’t owe him shit.

  I didn’t get far, though. I had just made it inside the building when Ramsey had me up against the wall, very much like he did that first day of school. I drew myself up to my full height and snapped at him. “What do you fucking want?”

  He stood in front of me with his muscular, corded arms crossed over his chest. “What are you doing here, Emerson? Why aren’t you at home resting?”

  His voice sounded so sincere, I almost believed he cared. “Did you really think I’d be curled up on my bed, a crying mess, cowering from the world?”

  I could see his chest heave in a deep, tortured breath. “No. I guess not,” he answered.

  God, I was so mad at him.

  So fucking mad!

  Ramsey didn’t deserve an insight into my mind, but I was so mad I couldn’t hold in all the things that were eating me alive. “I’m here because even though nothing is going to happen to them, I’m not going to let this school go about their days as if there aren’t rapists sitting in the classrooms, playing sports or eating lunch just as sweet as you please,” I spat at him.

  I was past the reaction of flinching due to violence, so when Ramsey started punching holes in the wall next to my head, I didn’t shrink away or recoil. I stood my ground and waited until he was done.

  I had noticed the entrance was enrapt in complete silence at Ramsey’s loss of control. But if the rumors were true that Ramsey’s rage was ice cold, this little display of heat was sure to make people stop and stare. It didn’t escape my attention that this was the second time Ramsey’s pounded his fists into a wall when dealing with me.

  He flattened his hands against what was left of the wall on either side of my head and leaned down to where only I could hear him. “I took care of it, Emerson,” he said, looking into my eyes. “I took care of those pieces of shit.” His chest was heaving, and I could tell he was doing his best to temper his rage. “No one will ever touch you again.” Ramsey dropped his forehead to mine. “I swear to God, no one will ever touch you again.” He pulled back and looked down at me. “No one but me, Emerson.”

  My knees almost gave out and my heart skipped several beats.

  Shame like I’ve never known coursed through my body.

  I could feel the tingles in my nose and the pressure behind my eyes. I was so furious for wanting to believe him. I was so disgusted with myself for wanting to believe that he knew nothing about what Jamie had planned for me.

  And worse of all?

  I felt deep seeded shame that I could still be turned on by his promises to be the only one to touch me. I had just been attacked in one of the worst ways possible and it did nothing to deter my sick cravings for Ramsey Reed.

  Maybe I deserved to be attacked. Maybe that was Karma’s way of telling me my desires wer
e wrong and I was a bad person.

  I shook out my thoughts and decided to focus on what I could control. “What do you mean you took care of it?”

  “You’ll never have to see them again, Emerson,” he answered. “And while they might not go to jail for what they did to you, I imagine it won’t be long before one of them, or all of them, puts a bullet through their head.”

  Jesus Christ. I may have wanted them to pay for what they did, but enough to commit suicide over it? “What did you do, Ramsey?”

  His jaw clenched as he said, “It’s nothing for you to worry about. Just know that you’re safe, Emerson. You’re safe.”

  I couldn’t do this with him. Maybe he was right, and I should have stayed home and rested, because I felt like my emotions were everywhere. Granted, I always felt like this whenever I was dealing with Ramsey, but this time I felt exhausted on top of confused.

  I let out a deep breath. “Just leave me alone, Ramsey,” I spoke.

  He sounded like he was on the edge, but not defeated. “That’s never going to happen, baby,” he whispered across my lips. “I’ll give you today, but tomorrow you’re mine and we’re going to figure this shit out.”

  Rage pushed back all other emotions. “What’s there to figure out?” I shouted. “Just leave me the fuck alone, Ramsey!” I shoved my way past him and headed to first period.

  I knew it wasn’t going to make a difference since we shared the same first three periods, but I didn’t care. I had to show him that his word wasn’t law. He might be able to play with other people’s lives, but I wasn’t going to let him play with mine.

  Either he wanted me, or he didn’t. It was that simple.

  And that was heartbreaking, because I knew I wanted him.

  Despite all his cruelty, despite all his taunts and insults…despite it all, I wanted him.

  I wanted him because his touch drowned out the insults. His kisses dissolved his cruelty. His intensity evaporated my doubts. The way he made my body feel, it made everything else fade away.