Enemies

by Tijan

I hated meeting people. Like, truly hated it. I was what you’d call an introvert extrovert. I was chatty once I got to know someone, but let’s be honest here, because of a certain incident, I was very peopled-out.

“French angelfish love should be cherished. Indulge while you can still feel those emotions.”

I was firmly team Wyatt here. “If you want to rip into the new girl, fine. I’m with you, but make sure it’s because she’s done something that deserves it.” My team allegiance was slipping.

He had no idea what I went through because I knew him, because the wrong person found out I knew him. I was here because of that sick and twisted someone.

There’s a pocket in your mind where you go when you feel unsafe, where you can’t handle whatever is happening in real life, and you lock yourself in there because you feel protected. Self-preservation. I was there, but I wasn’t completely there.

“I’m not Dust to you. That died a long time ago. My mom died, Stone! Your father fired mine so he didn’t have to pay the medical insurance and my mother died so your dad could keep more money in his pockets.”

I mouthed at him, “Fuck. Off.” He read it, and then his lip twitched before a full laugh left him. “Shit. There you are. Still fucking fighting while you’re literally bed-ridden. I have no clue why I’ve stayed away.”

“I don’t give a fuck. You want to know about the costs? There are none. Wanna know why?” His chest was rising up and down, his eyes almost going wild. “Because I fucking paid for everything. Hospital, too. No. Not my parents. No, not your aunt. And goddammit, no way in hell, not you. Because after you lit all that shit up for me about what happened, I did my own digging and found out what my father did to yours. And I’m sorry, okay?!”

“I paid for goddamn everything, and you don’t get to sit there and hate me because of it. Not another thing on the list. You want to pay me back? Because I know you probably will keep a fucking tally till the day you end up in an old folks’ home, fine. You can pay me back. I’ll set it up with my lawyer, but you don’t have to pay me back. I know you hate me. Fine. Dandy. Whatever the fuck. I’m not the biggest fan of yours either, but it’s done. So now you do your thing and heal. Get better, then we’ll deal with everything else.”

“I fight you, I fight them.”

The tears were coming, but my God, no. I didn’t cry in public. He saw them, and he chided softly, almost mocking me, “Pull yourself together, Phillips.”

I was back to crumbling. He saw it and grunted, “A little bit longer, Phillips. Keep it together.” On it. I could do that.

I started for the guest area, but he caught the back of my jeans. “You’re good. You look hot anyway.” He nodded for the back door. “Let’s go. I told my coach I’d be there by now. I know he’s waiting.” Stone thought I was hot. What. The. Hell.

“Do you want me?” “Yes! I mean, shit. You’re my only family. You’re my sister.”

“You are so fucking stupid.” Yep. I so knew that. But on the flipside, I was now a single mother-figure. So, yay that?

“No. I don’t need that, but I do need to come back here after these two weeks are done. I need to be a normal student, and I need Mia and Lisa to continue being bitchy to me. I need that because—well, I don’t know why, I just need it. Please don’t say anything about me being in Stone’s lap. We have a weird history.”

“I care. Fucking hell. I care, okay? I wouldn’t be doing any of this shit if I didn’t still care about you. Those people didn’t give a fuck about you, except the one girl. Not a goddamn one of them, and you’re asking me to look away from that? I can’t. Me being a guy and caring about a girl, I can’t do that. It’s not how I was raised.”

“I would give you up in a heartbeat to get them back.” Still, he remained silent. A beat. Then, “So would I.” Oh. Damn. Damn!

“All I’m saying, maybe we’re not the enemies you like to think we are.” “We were.”

“Just if you want to fuck someone else, talk to me first. If I’m fucking someone more than once, I don’t fuck another girl. No place for that drama in my life. So I’m telling you, I’m not planning on stepping between anyone else’s legs. I’d like the same appreciation.”

“Good. I like you standing.” His eyes flashed, growing molten. “I like you in other ways, too, but I want you fighting the most. I need you to fight again.”

I was okay now. Now. Maybe not tomorrow, the day after, but now. Right now, I could stand. I was here.

Grief is a right bastard. Sneaks up on you, blasts you, hits you, pounds you, leaves you wrecked. There’s a moment of peace. You never know how long it could last. Minutes. Hours. Days. You’re starting to believe you can ‘do this’ and the bastard comes back, knocks you over with a battering ram. But if you fight it, deny it, ignore it, it’s still there. The bastard is just waiting until your shields are down, then he gets you again. Only way to deal is to take the beating, then breathe once he’s gone, and wait for him to return because it would get better.

My man. Her words echoed in my head. Stone and I said no romance. We hated each other, then bam, death put us in bed together, and that’s where we still were.

I just hugged him harder. The two of us, we were crushing their memories between us. Gail and my dad. Who were they? If we hugged just a bit harder, we’d make them disappear, or bring them to life. Right? That’s how it worked?

“You okay?” “I will be.” And I meant it.

Finally, he came for me. Finally, he sought me out. Finally, he remembered me. Finally, he cared.

“Because I could fall in love with you, and I know that you don’t love me. You’ll never love me. I’m a body you think fondly of, and if you care anything about me, give me that much honesty.”

Because that’s what she was. Mine.

And she’s mine. I ain’t keeping quiet about that anymore.

All night long, I be scoring. All night long, I be winning. All night long, because I was Stone The Rampage Reeves.

“I love you and I want you to let me love you and I want to make you mine. My woman. Just mine. All mine. I don’t care what you want. I can’t let you be someone else’s. Mine, babe. Mine.”

“Oh. I was furious when you told me, but I knew what it was. You were pushing me away for a final time.” He grinned. “Good thing I don’t give a shit when it tends to come to you. You’re mine, Dust. You can’t push me away, not anymore.”