Resurrecting the Enemy

By M.E. Clayton

What do you get when your father is a psychopath, and your mother is fearless?

You get Ramsey Reed Jr.

Ramsey Jr.
Ramsey Reed Jr. was the product of one of the most powerful men in the country and the formidable woman he had fallen in love with and married. Born into power, wealth, beauty, and privilege, Ramsey Jr. was untouchable. He was his parents’ legacy, and he took that role seriously. With the world and all its puppets at his fingertips, there wasn’t anything that was out of Ramsey’s reach.

With Ramsey in his final year of school, he was the reigning king at Windsor Academy, but then he always has been. Ready to take on the world, when he gets caught handling some business, all he can do is make sure the witness knows what’s at stake. However, when he finally catches his prey, there’s nothing stopping him from getting what he wants, and what he wants is Lake Warren.

Lake
Lake Warren was a just a regular girl, who went to a regular high school, and who led a regular life. Though she was surrounded by the opulence of Sands Cove, Windsor Academy, and all the wealthy families who owned all of Sands Cove, Lake didn’t live that kind of life. She was part of the working-class that made Sands Cove operatable. However, she didn’t mind. Lake had a good life, and she knew it.

With only one more year of school left, Lake is ready for the next chapter in her life. She wants to go to college, become a photographer, find love, and lead a happy life, God willing. When she finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time, her bad timing risks all her best-laid plans. Knowing what she’s up against, all she can do is run far and fast from the unstoppable threat, and that threat is Ramsey Reed Jr.

When the risk is dangerous, but the reward is just too tempting...
After Lake Warren turns Ramsey’s world upside down, there’s nothing stopping Ramsey from having her. Invigorated by the hunt, the more that Lake resists, the more determined he is to have her, and not just for the sake of winning. Ramsey plans on keeping Lake forever, no matter how hard she fights him.

After witnessing something she never should have seen, Lake finds herself caught in Ramsey Reed Jr.’s snare. Knowing exactly who he is, and what he’s capable of, Lake does her best to convince him that she didn’t see anything. She also does her best to avoid him, but he’s not making it easy.

When they can no longer stay away from each other, jealousy and betrayal infest their already volatile relationship. Soon, Lake realizes the truth behind the saying that there’s a thin line between love and hate, and there’s no doubting which side of that line Ramsey is on now.

Secrets will be uncovered, mistakes will be made, and people will end up paying a steep price. Everyone will also learn that when Ramsey Reed Jr. says he’ll burn the entire city to the ground in order to have what he wants, he means just that.

NOTE: This book contains adult language, adult situations, explicit sexual encounters, violence, and drugging. If sensitive to any of the aforementioned issues, please do not purchase.

• Language: English
• Publisher: M.E. Clayton
• Release date: Jan 1, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005405342

M.E. Clayton

M.E. Clayton works fulltime and writes as a hobby only. She is also an avid reader and Pinterest addict. When she's not working, reading, writing, or on Pinterest, she is spending time with her family and friends, or her dog, Boy, or her cat, Seatbelt. She lives in California with her husband and enjoys doing nothing but reading. Seriously. She does nothing but read. However, that's how she likes it.

Book preview

Just a couple of things before I let you go and get your read on. While I am doing my best to work with better editing and proofreading software, all my books are solo, independent works. I write my books, proofread my books, edit my books, create the covers, etc. I have one beta who gives me feedback on my stories, but other than that, all my books are independent projects.

That being said, I apologize, in advance, for the typos, grammar inconsistencies, or any other mistakes I may make. Since writing is strictly a hobby for me, I haven’t looked into commitments in regard to publishers, editors, etc. My hope is that my stories are enjoyable enough that a few mistakes, here and there, can be overlooked. However, if you’re a stickler for grammar, my books are probably not for you.

Also, I am an avid reader-I mean an AVID reader. I love to read above any other hobby. However, the only downside to my reading obsession is when I fall in love with a series, but I have to wait for the additional books to come out. And because I feel that disappointment down to my soul, when I started publishing my works, I vowed to publish all books in my series all at once. No waiting here…LOL. Now, the exception to that will be if enough readers request additional stories based off the standalone, such as in Facing the Enemy. At that point, if I decide to move forward with a requested series, I will make sure all additional books are available all at once. As much as this is a hobby for me, I am writing these books for all of you, as well as myself.

Thank you, for everything!

NOTE:

Reading this book, you’ll find some recycled names. Since I had never planned on writing this book, I used names in the Epilogues that I felt free to use in other books:

Dash – You Again

Gideon – The Problem with Dating

Chance – Our Broken Pieces

I’m terribly sorry if that takes away from the experience of the stories, but I didn’t want to go back and re-write the other books to true them up against new names.

Thank you for understanding. Enjoy!

Contact Me

I really appreciate you reading my book and I would love to hear from you! Now, unfortunately, because I do have a full-time job, and a family I love spending time with, at this time, I’m afraid it would be very hard for me to maintain a multitude of social media sites. However, for the sites I do participate in, here are my social media coordinates:

Website

Facebook

Instagram

Email

Newsletter

Dedication

For my son –

In these past ten months, you’ve lost your brother-in-law, your best friend, your grandmother, and your godmother, and you are still grateful for the blessings in your life. Your strength is amazing, and I’m so proud of you.

Playlist

Underdog – Banks

Hard For Me – Michele Morrone

Seven Wonders – Fleetwood Mac

Body Say – Demi Lovato

Watch Me Burn – Michele Morrone

Talking Body – Tove Lo

Treasure – Bruno Mars

One Last Breath – Creed

Heartbreaker – Pat Benatar

Don’t Let Go – En Vogue

Broken – Seether

Let Me Go – Three Doors Down

Hemorrhage (In My Hands) – Fuel

Lately – Samantha Mumba

Back For Good – Take That

Storyline Notes

Dear Reader…because a next generation storyline had never been planned for this series, I had given the Reeds, McCellans, Marlows, and McIntires a boatload of offspring, never imagining that I’d be writing Ramsey Reed Jr.’s story one day. However, here we are, and you can thank my beta for that…LOL.

The Enemy Series

Storyline Notes:

Sands Cove – Windsor Academy

Ramsey Reed Jr. – Senior

Maddox Reed – Junior

Chance McCellan – Junior

Neo McCellan – Sophomore

Gideon McCellan – Middle School

Port Lucia – Regal Academy

Dash Marlow – Senior

Crew Marlow – Sophomore

Zane Marlow – Freshman

Lennon Marlow – Middle School

Delaney McIntire. Jr. – Sophomore

Maggie McIntire – Freshman

Prologue

Is he dead?

I wanted him to be, but you could still see his chest moving up and down in painful, torturous breaths. Unfortunately, he was still with us, but. I. Wanted. Him. Dead.

I also wasn’t the only one.

Maddox, Chance, and Dash all stood with me, surrounding the asshole on the ground, and I knew that they wanted him dead, too. However, as the oldest and the most sadistic, it had fallen on me to take care of this piece of garbage. Maddox, Chance, and Dash had only come along for the ride. They were here because they needed to see and feel the satisfaction of this motherfucker getting what he deserved.

Unfortunately, no, I replied, barely winded from the fury that I had rained down on Ashton Childress.

Are you going to kill him? Maddox asked, not satisfied with my answer.

I glanced over at my brother and smirked at how bloodthirsty he was. Not sure, I answered honestly. I want to.

Do it, Dash glowered from where he was standing. We’d be doing the world a favor.

Correction: I glanced at all three guys and smirked at how bloodthirsty we all were.

I dropped on my haunches, and while I was pretty sure that Ashton could barely hear me, I went for flare anyway. You hear that, Childress? I got two in favor of killing you. Without looking up, I asked, And what about you, Chance? What do you say we do with him?

I knew Chance’s answer before I had even asked the question. Fucking kill him.

See? Now that’s three in favor of killing you, and you already know how I feel about you, I taunted sadistically.

His only response was a faint grunt that had to hurt with the effort.

I stared at the bloody mess on the ground and knew that I was probably going to kill him. Was I worried that I’d get caught? Not at all. We might be a bloodthirsty bunch, but we weren’t stupid. Our parents had made sure of that. See, our parents weren’t like the other parents of Sands Cove. Our parents had made sure that we’d have everything that we’d ever need for anything that we’d ever do in life.

Including killing someone.

Addressing the limp body on the ground, I said, Now, I know that you didn’t know who she was. I know you thought that she was just some random girl at a party. However, I also know that she’s not the only girl that you’ve ignored when she’s told you no. My bloody fist came down on his face again because I just couldn’t fucking help myself. I also want you to understand that the only reason that we’re not destroying your entire family or getting the parentals involved in this shit is because I know we taught D.J. well. I chuckled darkly. D.J. would be Delaney, I clarified for him. Delaney Junior, actually. The girl you tried to rape.

Another faint grunt, but there was nothing this guy could do to save himself.

D.J. had come across this asshole at a party she had attended last night, and he hadn’t appreciated her rejection. Even though D.J. had no blood brothers, she had me, Maddox, Chance, Neo, Gideon, Dash, Crew, and Zane. It didn’t matter that she was sixteen and that Neo, Zane, and Gideon were all younger than she was; they’d kill for her, too.

Staring at him, I knew that I was probably going to beat him to death. I needed a way to exorcise all the rage that I still felt at what he’d tried to do to D.J. and all the girls before her. Luckily, with so many honorary brothers in her life, D.J. knew how to defend herself, and that’s what had saved her last night.

The rustling of some leaves caught my attention, so I stood up, my head whipping around, along with the others. My ears open and my eyes focused, I scanned the trees surrounding the small clearing that we’d brought Ashton to. It was past eleven, so we had brought flashlights, though I had worked Ashton over by the glare of the moonlight shining through the trees.

No one should have been out here this late.

Not on a Sunday night.

Then I saw it.

About a hundred feet away, the reflection of two minuscule orbs brought to life a shadowy figure hidden behind a cluster of trees.

I looked back at the guys. Don’t kill him, I instructed, because if Ashton was going to die, it was going to be by my hand. But take care of him. I took off running, knowing that they’d do what I had instructed.

The rustling of leaves and brush told me my prey had taken off running, too, but I wasn’t worried.

Nothing would stop me from catching whoever it was.

There was also nothing that I wouldn’t do to ensure their silence.

Chapter 1

Ramsey Jr.~

I raced through the cluster of trees and let my ears lead the way. The poor sucker unfortunate enough to get caught in my crosshairs wasn’t doing anything to minimize the sounds of their escape, and that told me they were running for a reason.

That reason was seeing something they shouldn’t have.

Now, was I worried? No. I had no doubt that I’d catch them, whoever they were, and I had no doubt that I’d be able to erase whatever they thought they saw from their memory.

That was one of the things about being raised inside a powerful family; there wasn’t much that I feared. I had a father who was arguably a psychopath, and he had dirt on the entire city of Sands Cove and most every person who has ever crossed his path in the past twenty years. I also had a mother who supported his psychopathy one hundred percent.

So, did I fear the consequences of killing Ashton Childress? No. First, there was no way that I’d get caught, as cocky as that sounded. You’d think with DNA, cameras, and motive that I’d have some worries, but I didn’t. Even if I did fuck up somehow, my father would move Heaven and Hell to clear my name. While my father was a ruthless individual, there was one thing that the man didn’t tolerate, and that was my mother being unhappy over anything. Her eldest son in prison for life would definitely make her unhappy, even if she still had Maddox.

The sounds of fleeing footsteps were getting louder, and that just meant that I was getting closer. Just as I cut through a couple of Cottonwoods, I saw a figure in all black running as fast as they could. Even from the distance and through the exertion, I could see that the person was a lot smaller than I was. Maddox and I both took after our father in build, so that put me at six-foot-two and Mad at six-foot-one.

Kicking up my speed a notch, I quickly caught up to my second victim of the night, and just as they were about to hit a clearing, I reached out, grabbed the hood of their sweatshirt, then pulled them back. I could hear the swoosh of breath as their body collided with mine, but the impact was minimal on my part. I’d barely felt a thing.

Like a true cornered animal, they had started a full-on attack to escape. However, being much taller and bigger, I had them slammed up against the nearest tree in seconds. The impact left them breathless, and it left me easy access to pin them up against the tree.

By their fucking throat.

I pulled the hood down as their head snapped up, and suddenly, they weren’t the only one who was breathless.

Almost an entire foot shorter than me, bright blue eyes stared up at me in horror and shock. As dark as it was, I could still make out dark brown hair that was pulled back in a ponytail, and there were no bangs to distract from those startling fucking blue eyes of hers.

Her brows were arched like they came with attitude. She had a petite nose, soft cheekbones, and a pair of pink lips that should be outlawed. Especially, with the way that they were opened right now, pants of mint-scented breaths coming out in a rapid tattoo.

She was fucking beautiful.

Beautiful and not in that Windsor Academy kind of way. The way that, if you weren’t born with it naturally, then you bought it at the most expensive price. The way that, if you weren’t contoured to perfection, then you didn’t stand a chance of being part of the popular crowd. The way that, if you didn’t have the right pedigree, then you didn’t belong.

She was dressed as if she were going to commit a diamond heist with her black hoodie, black jeans, and black shoes. However, the one thing that stood out more than her get-up was the fucking camera that was hanging from her neck.

I tightened the hand around her neck, the one that held her captive against the tree, while the other one latched onto her hip, digging in.

She whimpered, and my fucking dick got hard.

Are you lost? I growled down at her. Her eyes widened further before she started shaking her head back and forth. What did you see? And don’t fucking lie to me.

I…I didn’t see anything, she said, lying to my face, her voice going straight to my hard dick.

I looked down at her chest, and though the hoodie she was wearing was baggy as fuck, the heaving of her chest, plus the rise of the camera with each of those breaths, told me she had to have an impressive rack hidden underneath her clothes. Still, as enticing as my dick thought that was, I was more interested in the camera at the moment.

I let go of her neck, traces of Childress’ blood now on her skin, but still kept her pinned by her hip as I reached for the camera to remove it from her neck. Even if I hadn’t killed Childress, I didn’t need pictures of me beating him stupid to exist anywhere.

When I went to pull it up and over her head, the little hellcat went to fighting again. What are you doing?! That’s mine!

I let go of the camera, then grabbed her by the neck again. Only, this time, I pressed my hips against hers, holding her captive with my entire body. Her eyes flared, but she still looked mutinous.

I was going to get the camera, there was no doubt, but I decided to give her a fighting chance. What’s your name? She remained stubbornly quiet, so I decided to hit her with some truth. Look, if you have any hope of making it out of here unscathed, you better start answering my questions, Thomas Blood. She immediately looked confused, and it was obvious that she had no clue who Thomas Blood was. I guess the curriculum at Windsor was better than public school, and there was no doubt that she went to public school. Had she attended Windsor, I would have made her mine already.

I already answered your question, she fired back. I didn’t see anything.

Let’s forget that you’re lying for a second and tell me your fucking name, I demanded, glowering down at her. When she didn’t answer fast enough, I added, "Or how about I tell you who I am."

She surprised me by saying, I already know who you are.

I leaned down further into her personal space. Then you know I’m not one to fuck around.

I didn’t see anything! she yelled in my face.

Then let me see that damn camera! I roared back in hers.

We stared at each other for a bit, a mental game of chicken, before she finally let out a deep breath, and said, Fine. The word came out like she’d been chewing on shards of glass, and I knew that it was killing her to give in.

I let go of her neck and took a step back. While the camera looked expensive, it wasn’t very big. However, I knew that I had to give her some room to remove it from around her neck.

Big fucking mistake.

As soon as I had given her some breathing room, she took off like a rabbit. My stupid ass barely got to her in time as we hit the clearing where a car-presumably hers-was parked on a dirt trail. She must have driven up after we’d all arrived because we had scanned the entire woodlands before we had brought Childress out here.

I had her slammed up against the driver’s side door, and motherfucker, was I fucking pissed. At my own stupidity? Yeah. However, 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, then 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, then pulled the camera up over her head. 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 that was fuming with hate and rebellion, and I knew that my name alone wasn’t doing enough to instill the kind of fear that I needed from her. It wasn’t that I was worried about what she knew, so much as that I didn’t like how she wasn’t cowering. Again, my parents would get me out of any trouble that 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 had loved capturing moments, so that 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 for me. 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 afford to replace the camera itself. However, I also knew who he was, and Ramsey Reed Jr. knowing someone’s personal business was not anything that a person needed in their life.

Least of all, me.

Still, what choice did I have?

There were no pictures of him or 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