Enemies

HALEY

“Harder!” I demanded of Bobby.

I was on my hands and knees in front of him. His hands dug into my hips harshly while he took me from behind in his bed. Somehow, Bobby’s parents were never home.

“Fuck, Haley,” he growled. “I’m gonna cum.”

“If you cum before me,” I said menacingly.

“Fuck. Then get there,” he panted. Reaching between us, he stroked my clit like I’d taught him to.

“Mngg. Yes!” I cried. I was finally close. “Yes! Yes!”

“Fuck,” he grunted. I felt him slam into me, hold still, and release himself inside the condom.

I always used condoms with the guys I messed around with. And I was on birth control. No way was I going to let a pregnancy derail my college plans and dreams of getting the hell out of Lake City.

Bobby and I worked together at the movie theater. I worked way fewer hours during the school year, but I still worked two or three days a month.

This way, I had gas money and money for whatever other activities I deemed worthy of spending from my sparse college fund.

He pulled out of me and rolled to the side. My body collapsed onto the bed. It was almost two in the morning. We’d worked the evening shift together before he invited me back to his place.

I was never one to turn down his invitations. He was pretty decent in bed. He also didn’t know who my father was. He knew jack all about Lake City and therefore had no reason to be terrified of him.

“Tell me again why you don’t have a boyfriend,” he panted.

I watched him discard the condom before walking to the attached bathroom. Bobby’s bedroom and attached bathroom were almost the same size as the trailer I lived in with my entire family.

“Because I don’t want one,” I snorted. “Boys are only good for one thing.”

“Glad to be of service,” he winked while walking out of the bathroom.

Bobby came back out and tossed a wet washcloth in my direction. On his way back to the bed, he stopped at the beverage fridge in his room and grabbed two bottles of water. “Here.”

“Thanks,” I said, taking a generous sip after I’d cleaned myself and tossed the used washcloth into the hamper in the corner of the room. “And why don’t you have a girlfriend?” I asked.

“The only girl I want is in love with my best friend.”

That was the thing about my and Bobby’s friends-with-benefits status. We weren’t jealous, and we were also the only two people that the other knew from our respective towns.

Having unfiltered honesty with someone was refreshing. I got that from Sassy. Unfortunately, I couldn’t give her the same.

“Yikes,” I said.

“It gets worse,” he said.

I furrowed my brows, waiting for him to continue.

“She’s got this kink,” he said.

My eyes rose and widened. How did he know about her kinks?

“She likes to be shared. And Adam shares her with me.”

“He doesn’t know you’re in love with her?”

“Fuck, no,” he snorted.

He’d put boxers back on, but I was still lying there naked. I didn’t care about it. He’d seen everything there was to see on more than one occasion.

“He can never know. They’re literal soulmates. She loves being shared with more than just me.”

Damn, I’d like to meet this girl too.

“And I wouldn’t be able to share her. She thinks the sun rises and sets on Adam’s ass and is beyond in love with him, even if she wants dick from more than just him.”

“And he doesn’t mind.”

“He loves it,” he told me. “He gets some sort of possessive high from knowing that other guys are only participating because he allowed it.”

“They do sound kind of perfect for each other,” I said.

“They are. But it sucks at the moment. I’m applying to different colleges than they are. Which means I’ll find someone there.”

“And in the meantime, you’re still gonna screw her whenever he decides to let you.”

“Obviously,” he said, rolling his eyes. “Unless you finally decide you want to be my girlfriend.”

“You gonna share me too?” I deadpanned.

“You wanna be shared? I can have two guys here in ten minutes,” he quipped, reaching for his phone.

“Not a chance, bud.”

I was not ever going to let myself be shared. It was not on my list of kinks. Men who liked to share women were dominant in bed, and I was anything but submissive. Bobby could attest to that.

“I gotta go.”

He laughed at me. He wasn’t really serious about me being his girlfriend anyway. Especially after he just told me that he was in love with someone else.

I felt bad for him. Bobby was a good guy, and good guys were hard to find.

“When do you work again?” he asked as I opened the door to his bedroom.

“Three weeks,” I told him.

“I’ll see you.” He winked.

“Bye,” I said through my laughter.

I was freezing when I walked out of his house. September was that magical month where it was still boiling hot during the day, but the nights were downright ice cold.

The drive home took about thirty minutes. Bobby lived one town further away than the theater was.

When I got home, it was nearing three in the morning. It was good I didn’t have a curfew.

The lights were still on, and a row of motorcycles was parked in front.

Why the members of my dad’s crew felt the need to ride their motorcycles when they all lived within one thousand feet of us was something I would never understand.

Taking a deep breath, I prepared myself for what I was about to walk in on. It had been the same for as long as I could remember. And this time wasn’t any different.

When I walked in, my dad was sitting on the big reclining chair that was his throne. Mom was on his lap, where she always was when he was trying to put on a show for his men.

She was bent forward, one of her nostrils plugged while the other had a rolled-up bill in it. I walked in just in time to watch her snort the cocaine off the table.

She wiped under her nose with her thumb before leaning back against my dad, the effects already hitting her.

Snake was there too. He had started becoming a more and more permanent addition to the living room meetings.

Along with Snake, there was Snake’s dad Bull, Trent, Marcus, and of course, Judge Richardson.

“Join us,” my dad said. It sounded like a polite invitation to everyone else in the room, but to my ears, it was a threat. If I didn’t, there would be hell to pay.

Dad wouldn’t be the perpetrator of the violent beating I’d get; he’d force Mom to do it.

I’d once read something about the cycle of abuse, and I didn’t buy into it fully, but in this case, it was true. Dad beat my mom. My mom beat me.

Thankfully the cycle ended there, and nobody had ever been abusive toward Chloe.

Snake caught my eye. He patted his legs in invitation. We’d gotten good at pretending that there was something between us when the watchful eye of my father was on us.

He bought into my reasoning that I wanted him to sow his wild oats or whatever, to get his fuckboy stage out of his system because once we were married, I wouldn’t tolerate that.

It was a plausible enough excuse. The real one was that I didn’t want him and that we would never be getting married. I set my bag down on the kitchen counter, walked toward him, and sat on his lap. My father nodded his head in approval.

Despite not having romantic feelings for Snake, I felt safe in his arms. He was my best friend. He laid his arms closely around my waist, pulling me close.

It looked like an act of possession to the others in the room, but it was an act of protection toward his best friend.

The few times we’d talked about what would be expected of us after graduation, he’d agreed it would be weird for us to sleep together since we’d been best friends our entire lives.

But he was also adamant that he would have no trouble falling in love with me.

I’d rolled my eyes, especially when he said it would be impossible not to fall in love with me based on nothing more than my body.

If that was the case, Sassy stood a fighting chance because that girl was genetically gifted. She looked like a damn Instagram model without even trying.

Me? I was average size, not skinny, but certainly not plus-sized, just perfectly average.

I had fat around my stomach, my boobs were too small for my body, and my ass could be a little bigger, but I was happy with the way I looked.

I’d decided a long time ago that I wouldn’t let society dictate how I felt about myself.

I had enough self-confidence that that was true, even if someday I gained a hundred pounds and became too big for society’s standards.

And I would settle for no less than a man who thought the exact same way that I did.

“Relax,” Snake whispered low enough for only me to hear. “And Jesus, you smell like sex,” he said even lower. I turned and gave him a sheepish look.

“Shit, you probably do too,” I said, taking a deep breath of him. “Yup.”

We both laughed, and instead of reprimanding us, my dad thought we were having a cute couple’s moment and let it slide.

He didn’t know that we were commenting that the other smelled distinctly of sex with another person.

“As I was saying,” Judge Richardson continued, clearing his throat awkwardly. “Currently, there are no warrants out for arrest for anyone in the club.”

The last time he’d slipped and called it a gang, Dad had nearly beat him to death. It was a gang, but whatever.

“Thank you.”

Mom was leaning forward and doing yet another line of coke. The rest of the guys were passing a joint back and forth, but it wasn’t offered to Snake or me.

I zoned out, not caring to listen to my dad and Judge Richardson go back and forth about whatever illegal activities the club was involved in.

It couldn’t be anything all that interesting since everyone in this room was broke. That or they either snorted or shot the money they made like my mother was currently doing.

When Judge Richardson was finished speaking, my dad just waved him off without a care, rudely dismissing him from the conversation.

The power dynamic between them was strange. Judge Richardson probably only didn’t throw him in jail for fear of his own life.

My father would surely kill him.

“You can go too,” he said, dismissing both Snake and me.

“Come outside with me.”

Chloe was asleep in our room, so we couldn’t go in there. I nodded, heading outside into the cool night air. Snake lit a cigarette and offered me one, but I shook him off, too tired to partake.

“Who were you with?” he asked.

“Some guy from the movie theater. You?”

“Bridgette.”

I rolled my eyes.

“Do you actually like this one?” I asked.

“Fuck no. There’s only one girl for me.”

Snake said the words like a joke, implying it was me, but one time last year, I’d actually gotten him to admit that there was someone he wanted to be with.

But because he and I had to be together, he didn’t even want to let himself get a taste of her.

He was also adamant that I didn’t know her, and it didn’t matter, which is why I could never convince him to tell me.

I should tell him my plans so he could be with whoever he wanted without having to worry about me.

But that would require me telling him about my plans to leave, and I wasn’t sure if he was more loyal to me or the club. I couldn’t trust him like that.

“You need to be more careful.”

“I didn’t know there was a meeting tonight,” I told him.

“Still. Be more careful.”

“I will,” I assured him.

The door to the trailer opened and the rest of the men came stumbling out, including Snake’s dad. “Later, sweetie,” he said seductively, leaning in and kissing my cheek.

“Bye,” I offered him my best seductive smile.

We’d gotten good at this game. How our parents didn’t know that Snake was a manwhore, sleeping with anything that moved was beyond me.

I watched the bikes roll away, waking up everyone in the trailer park before heading back inside.

“You dumb, stupid, fucking whore,” my dad seethed.

He wasn’t shouting the words, which made them somehow even more terrifying.

“I told you you could do one line, not fucking three. You used up everything for the week. What the fuck am I supposed to do now? How the fuck am I supposed to keep supporting your habit?

“Go spread your fucking legs again and get paid to let some fuck inside this tight little cunt and then you can buy your own shit.”

I watched my father pull my mom’s head back roughly by her hair before he slammed her face forward into the coffee table she’d been snorting her lines off.

“Fucking slut.” He spat the word at her before tossing her now limp body to the side and stepping over her.

He glared at me, taunting me, daring me to say something. But I didn’t. I never did. My father and mother were the only people who scared me.

So, like every good kid from an abusive home, I kept my mouth shut and went to my bedroom.

Tomorrow I’d be on the receiving end of a violent beating from my mother. I always was after she had to suffer one from my father.

But it was fine. As long as I was here to take them, she wouldn’t turn on Chloe.

I had to protect Chloe.

But how was I going to do that when I was all the way on the other coast?

I couldn’t stay. Not even for her.

I couldn’t.

***

I woke to the loving sound of my mother’s voice screaming at me.

“Get up! Get up! Get your lazy ass out of bed right fucking now! ’You didn’t clean the living room before bed last night. Get up and do it right fucking now.”

It didn’t matter that it was barely eight o’clock in the morning, and because of her and Dad, I hadn’t gotten to bed until after three.

“I’m up. I’m up,” I said groggily.

What I wanted to say, and what I would have said to anyone else, was, “Fuck off and do it yourself.” But if I played the dutiful daughter, I may be able to prevent the beating I was expecting.

Those hopes and dreams vanished when as soon as I was out of bed, my “mother” kicked the back of my knee, making me fall to my hands and knees.

She then proceeded to kick me once, harshly, in the stomach before stepping over me. The wind was knocked out of me, and I struggled for breath on my bedroom floor.

“Haley,” I heard Chloe’s voice.

Turning, I found her squatting next to me.

“Go back to bed, squirt,” I said, calling her by her nickname. “I’m fine. Get another hour of sleep. I’ll make pancakes when you’re up.”

“Haley,” she said my name again, this time only sadder.

“I’m fine. And then, this afternoon, I’ll take you to lunch at the diner, and we can get ice cream after.”

The only time I put my stingy budget and savings plan aside was for Chloe.

“I can help you clean,” she said.

“I’m fine, squirt. Go back to bed.”

Begrudgingly, she nodded and trotted back to bed.

My breath had finally returned, so I stood. Quickly, I made my bed before heading out into the living room. There wasn’t a trace of either of my parents, thank God.

Dad would show up sometime this afternoon, presumably from whoever his side piece of the month was.

He’d have flowers and chocolates for Mom and a big apology, encouragement to make her not piss him off so much that he had to beat her.

There were remnants of drugs all over the coffee table. Using a paper towel, I swept them into a glass before rinsing and washing it.

The best thing about a small house? It took me less than an hour to clean all the surfaces and the bathroom.

The place was spotless. It had to be. Otherwise, I’d get another beating from Mom. I was sure I’d get another one today for some reason or other, but it wouldn’t be for my lack of cleaning.

Once I was done, I started making pancakes for breakfast. The pre-made stuff was too expensive. Basic ingredients were cheaper, so they were from scratch.

Not being able to afford the remade stuff wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. I was a good cook because of it, and things made from scratch always tasted better.

There was bacon too, surprisingly. It must have been on sale.

I grabbed it and fried it all, but Chloe and I would only each get one slice. I didn’t know if it was for something else and if we finished all of it, I’d be in for a beating.

I may even take one for the two pieces I took, but the way Chloe’s face lit up when she saw her stack of pancakes and a piece of bacon on her plate made it worth it.

“Thanks, Hilly.”

You’d think Hilly would be short for Hilary, but when Chloe was little, for some reason, a’s of all vowels gave her a hard time, and Haley came out sounding like Hilly.

It stuck, and she was absolutely the only person allowed to call me that nickname.

We were both finished when there was a knock on our door. It opened before I could say anything, meaning it was Sassy.

“Hey.” She smiled happily.

“Go,” Chloe said. “You cooked.”

I looked at her nervously.

“Don’t worry,” she said softly. “I’ll make sure it stays spotless.”

“Thanks, squirt.” I kissed her head, something she’d hated since turning thirteen and becoming a teenager. But she was my little sister, so I did it anyway. “I’ll be back to take you to lunch.”

“How was last night?” Sassy asked when we stepped out of the trailer.

“I hooked up with Bobby again,” I told her.

“Was it good?”

“It’s good because I taught him exactly what I like,” I laughed. “You might still be holding onto your V card, but trust me, babes, you’ll have to teach them all.”

“Even if they’ve had tons of sex?”

Sassy was so sexually naive, and I couldn’t figure out how. She was best friends with Snake and me, who were anything but.

“Yes. Because women all like different things and men can’t figure that out, so we have to teach them.”

Bobby was easy to train. It helped that the equipment he was working with was adequate.

“Whatever. Enough sex talk.”

“Yeah, why don’t we talk about crushes instead?”

“What?” she asked, looking at me confused. “I don’t have a crush on anyone,” she lied horribly. “Do you have a crush on anyone?”

“Please. We both know I don’t do the whole feelings bullshit.”

“How do you have sex without developing feelings?” she asked.

I shrugged my shoulders. “I just do.”

She nodded, biting her lip.

“I figured it out, you know.”

“Figured what out?” she asked, her beautiful drawn-on eyebrows furrowing while she looked at me.

“Who you have a crush on.”

“There’s nothing to figure out,” she said.

We’d been walking around the outskirts of the trailer park like we always did. And right on cue, Snake pulled up. I heard the way Sassy’s breath hitched as she looked at him.

I might not like him like that, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t aware that he was damn fine to look at.

He had tan skin, piercing dark brown eyes that were nearly black, and his jet-black hair was always slicked back. He could be described as every girl’s dream bad boy.

Sure, I liked to look, but there was no romantic attraction, just pure acknowledgment of a beautiful human.

“Then why are you drooling?” I asked her.

“I don’t want to talk about this,” she said softly.

“Okay,” I told her. “We don’t have to, but know that we can, if and when you want to.”

She looked at me and nodded, thanks clear in her eyes.

If she didn’t want to talk about it, that was fine. I’d gotten the admission I needed, and now my determination to prevent Snake and me ending up together was only more solidified.

“Do you want to go to lunch with me and Chloe?”

“No thanks. I’ve got to start working on my history presentation.”

“Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.”

Sassy knew that my mom hit me sometimes, but she didn’t know the extent of it. She didn’t need to.

She’d only found out accidentally when my mom had backhanded my face, leaving a mark from one of her rings. She’d smartened up since then.

Although when she’d hit me this morning, my face had come down against the door, but it didn’t hurt and therefore probably wouldn’t bruise.

***

“Are you finished?” I asked Chloe.

Thankfully the diner food was cheap. I could feed both of us a three-course meal for less than fifteen dollars. But we’d only gotten one course and were going to get ice cream across the street.

“I’m so full,” she said, pushing away the few remaining fries and remnants of the burger left on her plate.

She’d ordered a double bacon cheeseburger. It had been bigger than her head.

“Guess that means you don’t want any ice cream then.”

“Well, you see,” she said, sitting up seriously. “My food stomach is full. But my dessert stomach, the little stomach above my stomach, that one is demanding ice cream.”

I laughed at her. She was too good and too pure for this world, especially the world she was born into with her father as a gang leader.

I flagged down Suzie, the waitress who had to be in her late seventies. She was a Lake City fixture. Everyone in town knew her.

“Here,” I said, handing her a twenty, which was plenty for food and tip.

“Thanks, girls. Have a great day.”

Chloe and I walked across the street to the ice cream place. She ordered a scoop of chocolate chip cookie dough and dark chocolate in a waffle cone.

I had to tease her mildly for being basic. I ordered salted caramel and butter pecan for myself, asking for a chocolate dip and chocolate sprinkles.

It gave me the best of all worlds, salted caramel, sweet and salty pecans, and chocolate to cover it all with. Did I feel superior about my ice cream order? Yes.

We were walking out of the shop and back toward my car when I spotted Will walking down the street toward us. He would never give me the satisfaction of just ignoring me.

“Take the keys and get into the car,” I told Chloe.

He wasn’t a threat, not really, but I still didn’t want her to be a target for his wrath. She wasn’t as strong as I was.

“Haley,” he said, using my first name. He was always so much nicer when it was just the two of us.

“Roberts,” I said, using his last name like I knew he hated. “No bimbo today?” I asked.

“I don’t date bimbos,” he said.

“Oh. You broke up with Mackenzie then?” I asked, fake concern lacing my voice.

He inhaled sharply.

“Oh, you’re meeting her here. Poor girl doesn’t even know she’s a bimbo then?”

Was it low to be talking negatively about another woman? Should I be more feminist than that?

Absolutely, but Will made my blood boil, and talking about his precious girlfriend would be a sure-fire way to get under his skin.

And I enjoyed getting under his skin.

“Watch—” He cut himself off as he stepped close to me. “What happened to your eye?” he asked suddenly. Shit. It must be bruising.

“I fell,” I said.

He looked concerned, more than he should and more than I wanted him to.

“What happened, Haley?”

“I fell, Will. Drop it. We’re not even friends.”

“Do you need me to talk to my dad?” he asked. He was acting genuinely concerned.

“No!” I snapped at him. “Leave it alone, Will. I’m fine. We’re not friends. Let it go.”

I brushed past him. But again, just like in school last week, he caught my wrist.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Will. I’m. Fine.” I bit out each word through gritted teeth. “Go find your girlfriend.”

Pulling my wrist away from him, I headed back down toward my car. I could feel his eyes staring at me. And that had nothing to do with the reason I swayed my hips a little more than usual.

That and the ridiculous tingles my body and stomach got whenever he touched me.

No.

It had absolutely nothing to do with that.