Provoking the Enemy Read online

  “We’ve only been together a few months,” she replied.

  I lifted a brow. “That’s not what I asked, Delaney.”

  She gave me a soft smile. “You know me. I like swimming with the sharks.”

  I laughed. “Only if your leg is bleeding.”

  The rest of the day was spent invading Deke’s entertainment room where we kicked the shit out of some zombies. It wasn’t until Deke had finally made it home that I took my ass back home. Oh, Deke had invited me to stay, but I had meant what I said. Being around them made me uncomfortable. Even if it was in my own head, it didn’t matter. I still felt the ache of envy.

  Ignoring everything and everyone in the house, I headed straight for my bedroom, so I could shower and get ready for the party. It hadn’t bothered me that Delaney might not go. She had never been a partier. The first party I ever guilted her into going with me had been the night she had gotten caught in Deke’s crosshairs. She had gone to one other party, where I had been so worried about her, I had called Deke to come get her. After that, if she attended a party, she was basically limited to sitting on Deke’s lap.

  So, I was used to going to parties by myself and I liked it like that. It meant I didn’t have to be responsible for anyone else. I could arrive, scope out the scene, and decided how I wanted the night to play out. As reckless as I behaved, I was always in control.

  I chose how much to drink. I chose if I was going to do any drugs. I chose who I was going to sleep with, if anyone. I chose what I was wearing, who I spoke to, how I’d get there and get home, etc.

  I chose everything.

  I’ve made all the decisions in my life after Peter. And where most victims became promiscuous in some vain attempt to make the dirty memories go away, I embraced them. I became promiscuous to regain control over my mind, body, and emotions. Since I had been too young to seek counseling myself, I’d had to suffer with finding a way to cope alone. But once I got older, the method I had chosen worked for me. I knew all the hoopla behind the theories that my sense of control was false, and I was really just masking my pain behind drugs, sex, and alcohol. I knew a therapist would say I blamed myself, but I didn’t. I didn’t blame myself. I never did. Not completely. I knew what he had done was wrong. I knew my mom had betrayed me by not reporting him, and therein, lies the problem. Had I not been so aware, I might have been able to convince myself to get help. But because I was very aware of what had happened to me, and of my mother’s betrayal, all that had done was convince me that I couldn’t depend on anyone but myself.

  Chapter 6

  Ace~

  I had spent all morning unpacking and trying to make my room mine, but it had been no use. This was not my house, and no matter how casual my shit looked thrown around the room, I still didn’t want to be here.

  At all.

  Not to mention, I knew Ava had snuck out of the house last night and I hadn’t seen hide or hair of the girl all day. It wasn’t until I heard the garage door open earlier that I knew she was home. Elise and Dad had been home all day, so that garage door could only mean Ava was home.

  I had done my best to avoid Elise and Dad, but with absolutely nothing to distract me, I had been given the tour of the house, the grounds, the servants’ quarters, etc. They had even sat me down and handed me all my new bank account information, plus three new credit cards they thought I should have, in case of an emergency.

  It had blown my mind how casual they had been about the money. When I had logged into my account, my mouth had literally dropped at how many commas had appeared. Then rage quickly took over when I thought of all those times I had overheard my mother and father arguing over child support. Greg McIntire was a right bit greedy bastard.

  Not caring where Elise and my dad were now, I bounced up the stairs towards the tower that housed my hellcat. I walked into her room, just as sweet as you please, and started nosing through her room when I heard the water running from the adjacent bathroom. Ava was showering, and I realized I’d better find a distraction before I joined her.

  I was beyond pretending that I didn’t want to fuck the hot, curvy blonde. I stroked my dick to the image of her painted lips last night, and again this morning when I had woken up with a hardon from hell. I had imagined the base of my cock smeared in red and blowing my stacks all over those big tits of hers.

  I heard the water shut off, and I really went creeper status on her. I crawled onto her bed, but before I positioned myself leaning back against her headboard with my arms folded behind me, I smelled her pillow and I moaned like a pervert.

  Before I could think any more on my rapidly growing obsession with her, the door to the bathroom swung open and out walked a very clean and very wet hellcat. She had a towel wrapped around her head in the way that girls do, and a towel wrapped around that lush body of hers.

  Ava was two steps in the room when she noticed me on her bed. “What the fuck?” she yelped.

  I didn’t hide the way my eyes raked up and down her body as I asked, “So, where were you all night and day, Kit?”

  She arched a brow. “None of your fucking business,” she retorted. “Now get the hell out of my room.”

  I gave one small shake of my head. “Don’t think so. I’m liking the view from here.”

  “Get out of my room, Ace,” she hissed. “I have shit to do, none of which is to deal with your crap.”

  “And what shit is it you have to do?” I asked curious.

  “I have a party to get ready for,” she answered, and it surprised me that she did. I was certain she’d go with the ‘none of your business’ answer again.

  “What kind of party?”

  Ava walked over to her closet and started rifling through her clothes. Her voice was condescending and haughty as she said, “The kind were people drink, socialize, get high, and fool around.”

  I barely met this girl yesterday, but I could feel the kick to my gut at her words. “And are you planning on doing all those things?”

  I watched as she pulled out scraps of material that didn’t resemble clothes, at all. “As a matter of fact, I do,” she sing-songed. “I plan on drinking, snorting some drugs, but also making sure I’m still sober enough to enjoy a good fuck. Rumor is one of my regulars will be at the party, and he’s one of my regulars for a reason.”

  I was off the bed and standing next to her before she could even turn around to inspect the outfit she had pulled out of the closet. I could tell I startled her, but her poker face fell right back in place. “And what is it exactly that you consider a good fuck, Ava?” I whispered in her face.

  “If I have to explain it to you, then I can only feel sorry for you,” she remarked snidely. “Ah, the difference between men and boys.” The towel on her head shook loose, falling to the floor, as Ava dropped the hanging outfit she had in her hands. I had her up against the wall with her hands holding the towel on her body to keep it from falling too. “What the fuck, Ace?”

  “I thought I told you last night that you need to be careful who you talk to like that, Kit,” I spewed, grinding the enamel clean off my teeth. It was one thing to give her room after being blindsided by her mother, but Ava was out of her mind if she thought I was going to spend the next three months bleeding out from her well-aimed barbs. “And, baby, you’re seriously confused if you’re mistaking me for a boy.”

  Her blue eyes were like live fire. This girl was a fighter, and I honestly didn’t think she cared who she was fighting, and that made her reckless. “I’m not scared of you, Ace,” she snarled. “I’ve gone up against bigger and badder, so take your pathetic attempts at intimidation and go eat a dick.”

  Now, I’m going to take this moment in time to point out one of the biggest mistakes made by men everywhere around the world. Women often accused us of not listening, and that wasn’t true.

  We listened.

  We listened, but our mistake was that that’s all we did. We listened to the words that came out of a female’s mouth, and assumed they were
saying what they meant and were meaning what they said. Our mistake was that we didn’t pay attention to anything other than the words being spoken, and that’s how we got in trouble.

  Like right now? Right now, Ava was telling me she wasn’t scared or intimidated by my closeness, and maybe she wasn’t. But what she wasn’t, was unaffected, and you know how I knew that? Because I wasn’t making that universal mistake. Oh, I was listening to the hate she was spewing, alright. But I was also noticing to the rest of her.

  I noticed the way her eyes were bright. I noticed how her breathing has picked up. I noticed how her knuckles were white around the grip of her towel. I noticed how her eyes kept flickering down towards my lips. I noticed how she kept scissoring her thighs. And I definitely noticed the new scent in the air. Ava was completely naked underneath that green towel of hers, and so, there was nothing to mask the scent of her arousal.

  So, she might be telling me I wasn’t man enough for her, but her body was begging to find out. “You think I’m trying to intimidate you?” I asked. “Maybe I’m just trying to fuck you, Ava. I mean, after all, I did hear you tell your mother how much you like a good, hard dicking down.” The second I mentioned her mother, I knew I had lost her.

  Ava shoved at my chest, and I let the force push me back. I watched as all arousal vanished, and pure unadulterated hate seeped out of every pore in her body. “Oh, make no mistake, Ace,” she said scathingly. “There’s nothing I love more than a good, dirty, violent fuck. But I don’t need you for that. I have guys on speed dial for that shit. So, if you need to get laid, try Elise or a girl in town, but stay the fuck away from me.”

  I threw my head back and laughed. Ava was out of her mind if she thought someone else would do. Ava’s fire was calling to unchartered urges I never knew I had. The fuck I would stay away from her. “That’s not going to happen,” I announced. “As a matter of fact, I’m going to that party with you.” If she was getting fucked tonight, it was going to be by me. What she didn’t realize was that I didn’t like not being in control. And the more uncontrollable she behaved, the stronger the urge to contain her burned in my blood. When I found out I was moving to Sands Cove and I’d be sharing the house with Ava, I had assumed the house would be big enough that we’d be able to stay out of each other’s way. But that had all come to a screeching halt when she had stormed up to me by the pool and started acting like an entitled bitch. I had wanted to shut that pretty mouth up with my dick and make her come to heel. And the mouthier she was, the more the need grew.

  “The fuck you are!” she yelled.

  I smirked at her. “You want me to stay away from you,” I reminded her. “How else am I supposed to get some pussy if I don’t go out and make new friends?” It was fascinating watching those blue eyes of hers go from turned on, to pissed off, to calculating.

  Ava Hill was not a stupid girl.

  She shrugged a naked shoulder. “Fine,” she relented. “Come along. I’m sure I can introduce you to a lot of girls who are more your…pace.”

  I smiled. But little did Ava know, she was going to be the one who I’d be balls-deep in by the end of the night. I wasn’t going to this party to find a random piece of ass. I was going to this party to make sure I was the guy Ava came home with.

  If I had to endure three months of One-Percent bullshit, the very least I should get out of it was some world class ass. And I couldn’t imagine anyone in this town topping Ava Hill. With her face and body, I couldn’t imagine anyone else comparing.

  Even if she was a slut.

  Because I was fairly certain Ava Hill was a good one.

  Chapter 7

  Ava~

  Delaney had text me telling me that they weren’t going to be in attendance tonight, and I gave a silent sigh of relief. I hadn’t wanted her to see me in action tonight. Ace had awoken a horrible need to prove I was in control after he had made me feel out of control with the intimidation act in my bedroom earlier.

  I had been surprised to see him in my bedroom, but I had felt positively violent when he’d had me up against the wall, wearing only a towel, and my body reacted to his aggressive ways. I felt betrayed by my own body, and I hated that.

  I’ve slept with a lot of guys in my life, but the sex was always the same, for the most part. It was urgent, teenage coupling. I very seldom engaged in foreplay because I didn’t want to be doted on. I wanted to be fucked. I knew guys used me for sex and I was okay with that. What I wasn’t okay with was when they tried to confuse what we were doing with tender caresses or sweet kisses. And if a guy wanted to get his dick sucked, well, there were plenty of girls walking up and down Windsor’s hallways that were superstars at that shit. My kink was sex. I didn’t mind blowing a guy, but I preferred sex, and the dirtier the better.

  I needed to enjoy the distance just fucking provided, because if I couldn’t embrace the safety of calling the shots in bed, I’d put a bullet through my head to erase the paralyzing fear of knowing that, at any given moment, I’d could be at the mercy of someone else.

  Rape couldn’t exist if you’re giving it away.

  No guy will ever force me again because no guy would ever feel like he needed to. I will always open wide for any guy who wanted it.

  Any guy except Ace McIntire, that is.

  My problem with Ace was just like I said, he was a choice that wasn’t mine. He was forced upon me by Elise and Greg and I didn’t like it. And with every push back we engaged in, it reminded me that he wasn’t my choice. I had a virtual stranger living with me and there was nothing I could do about it. Ace had absolutely no respect for his father, so there was no reason to suspect he’d have any respect for me. And, aside from Delaney, I had no real friends. I had no one to rescue me if Ace became too much.

  After getting ready earlier, dressed in a black barely-there tank top that hung loosely under my breast and a red skirt that flared out around my hips, I had yelled out that I was leaving, not caring if Ace could hear me or not. He had met me at the front door, and for a quick second, I wished I had met him under different circumstances.

  Ace McIntire looked delicious in his dark blue Quicksilver shirt, black jeans, and Timberlands.

  He hadn’t bother to pretend as if he hadn’t been taking inventory of my appearance, but I had just rolled my eyes and walked out the door, leaving him to follow. I knew I what I looked like. I looked like a girl set out to get in trouble. My clothes were scraps, really. I had five-inch black heels, and my face was made up like a call girl’s. My blonde hair was straight down my back, my black eyeliner winged, and my lips blood red.

  The entire ride to the party was made in silence and it had been sheer pride that had kept me from engaging in conversation with the asshole. A curious part of me wanted to see his first reaction to a Sands Cove party, though.

  Our parties were usually the same old shit, but our standard parties were gold standard in comparison to teenage parties everywhere else. Whoever’s house it was at was big enough to accommodate damn near the entire school. There was unlimited booze and almost every drug you could think of. There wasn’t a shortage of coke, ecstasy, crack, and even heroin. Fights were known to break out, and they didn’t come to a stop until the best man was left standing. And sex was on tap everywhere, bedrooms and privacy were optional.

  I pulled up to Christof’s, and his house was just as ostentatious as the rest of the town’s, except for our towers. We were the only fools in town who had towers. I quickly found a parking space and slid my Audi in its spot. Getting out, I watched Ace scan the front yard, as there were already drunken and drugged out teenagers everywhere. There was even a lucky guy leaning up against a white SUV getting his dick sucked from a girl whose top was off. I couldn’t help but smirk.

  Ace fell in step with me as I walked up the walkway, up the porch steps, and into the house. The second we cleared the doorway, I glanced up at Ace because I didn’t want to miss a thing. The inside of the house was outside times ten with music. I also knew heads we
re going to turn because, not only was Ace hot as sin, but I’ve never arrived at a party with a guy before. I always arrived alone, so I could vet my options and not be committed if my date turned out to be a tool.

  “So, are you still worried about finding easy pussy?” I smirked. Ace looked down at me, and my cocky grin almost faltered at the sheer force of his gaze.

  He looked hungry.

  He looked hungry, and suddenly, I felt complete disgust at the fact that jealousy sneaked through my veins at the real thought of him picking up some random girl and taking her home.

  Why in the fuck was I jealous?

  I’ve never experienced that emotion when it came to any guy in my life. But I knew what the feeling was, and I wasn’t going to pretend I didn’t. However, I knew just what I needed to make it go away.

  I twiddled my fingers at him with a smug smile on my face. “Good luck hunting, Ace. Don’t worry about me.” And because I was still feeling pissed and bitchy about feeling anything towards Ace, I stuffed my car keys in his front pocket and said, “You’ll probably need those before I will. I don’t want to leave you stranded when I find my…uh, distraction for the night.”

  His hand wrapped around my wrist and he squeezed hard enough to leave a mark. His golden eyes looked like molten crystals. “Don’t do it, Ava,” he warned.

  Ace’s words were like a catalyst of unwelcomed and unbridled emotions that I wasn’t equipped to deal with. With the exception of my love for Delaney, my hate for my mother, and my desire for the male penis, I didn’t do emotions. I had harbored so much hurt and hate for so many years, they didn’t make room for any other emotions. Hell, the recent guilt I felt for sleeping with Liam and Ramsey was a result of my love for Delaney and wanting her to be happy with her new friends. If Delaney had never started dating Deke, I wouldn’t have given Liam or Ramsey another thought.