Challenging the Enemy

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. So, 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!

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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 one part-time job, plus a family that 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:

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Story Notes

The Enemy Series

Next Generation Standalone

Resurrecting the Enemy – Ramsey Reed Jr. & Lake Warren

Next Generation (1) Series

Resisting the Enemy – Dash Marlow & Eden Rudolph

Confronting the Enemy – Chance McCellan & Harper Crosby

Fighting the Enemy – Maddox Reed & Cassidy Spears

Challenging the Enemy – Crew Marlow & Athena Ashford

Daring the Enemy – Delaney McIntire Jr. & Kadon Sharpe

Storyline Notes:

Sands Cove – Windsor Academy

Ramsey Reed Jr. – College

Maddox Reed – College

Chance McCellan – College

Neo McCellan – Senior

Gideon McCellan – Sophomore

Port Lucia – Regal Academy

Dash Marlow – College

Crew Marlow – Senior

Zane Marlow – Junior

Lennon Marlow – Freshman

Delaney McIntire. Jr. – Senior

Maggie McIntire – Junior

Playlist

Resisting the Enemy

Stop Dragging My Heart Around – Stevie Nicks ft. Tom Petty

Wherever You Will Go – The Calling

Live To Tell – Madonna

Against All Odds – Phil Collins

Challenging the Enemy

Killing Me Softly – Roberta Flack

The Rose – Bette Midler

Little Liar – Joan Jett

Walkaway Joe – Trisha Yearwood Ft. Don Henley

Fighting the Enemy

Stand Back – Stevie Nicks

Hit Me With Your Best Shot – Pat Benatar

Love Look What You’ve Done To Me – Boz Skaggs

Bliss (I Don’t Wanna Know) – Hinder

Confronting the Enemy

I Go Crazy – Paul Davis

Tainted Love – Soft Cell

Run Away – Live

Broken – Everlast

Daring the Enemy

Bother – Stone Sour

Fallen – Alicia Keys

Every Little Thing – Carley Pearce

Piano In The Dark – Brenda Russell

Prologue

Even though I was used to parties like these, I still wasn’t. Apart from my family, I didn’t connect with people because they were too much responsibility once you did. It was also doubly worse when you were surrounded by rich, spoiled, weak, entitled assholes. Now, while I could be considered rich and entitled, I wasn’t spoiled or weak.

Never weak.

Looking around the backyard, I saw nothing but a bunch of assholes with too much money and no parental supervision, and that made for one hell of a dangerous combination. If the girls’ last name wasn’t McIntire, I’d be worried about them being here, but everyone knew better than to mess with anyone with the last name McIntire. For that matter, everyone knew better than to mess with anyone with the last name Reed, Marlow, and McCellan, too.

With a beer in my hand, music thrumming in my eardrums, and my mind calm, my only saving grace was that Lennon wasn’t interested in any of this shit. Though Regal Academy was considered one of the most elite prep schools in the nation, the students were all horrible people, us included if we were pushed to that point. The fact that my baby sister wasn’t interested in partying yet was a good thing. There’s no way that I could handle her getting caught up in the bullshit that was happening here, even if Lennon was proving to be as ruthless as the rest of us, if not more.

Taking another sip of my beer, it’d be a while before I polished it off. While most the people here were free to indulge in their chosen vice, I didn’t have that luxury. While my protective instincts prevented me from getting drunk because the girls were here, my self-preservation prevented me from getting drunk because I wasn’t emotionally stable enough to let my guard down.

Making my way closer to the poolside, you’d think that the naked girls in the pool would do something for me, but they didn’t.

No girls did.

I was immune to them all, and that was fact. With my last name being Marlow, I’ve had more than enough girls try their hand at getting my dick hard, but I’ve never been interested, and I still wasn’t. It was all a part of that emotional instability that I’ve always had to wrestle with.

Well, not always.

Once upon a time, my demons had slept. They had existed quietly in the back of my head, allowing us to live peacefully for a short time. I’d never known that kind of peace before, but once I had, it had felt like a hit of heroin to my bloodstream every morning.

Now, I worked day and night to keep those fuckers from surfacing because it didn’t take much. I had three moods: content, indifferent, and unhinged. Mostly, I was depended solely on the energy surrounding me, and right now, the energy was good enough that I was here, trying my best to have a good time.

Going to check on the girls, knowing that they were probably playing pool inside, my feet came to a stop when I heard a laugh that’s haunted me for over two years.

My heart sped up.

My breathing shortened.

My stomach clenched.

My hands shook.

My blood began to ice over in my veins.

I stared at the rim of my beer bottle, trying my best to focus on something tangible, something that could keep me tethered to what was real. However, when I heard that laugh again, my left hand clenched hard enough around the beer bottle to cause it to splinter into a thousand pieces.

Ignoring the gasp somewhere behind me, and ignoring the blood running between my fingers, I lifted my head and listened for that laugh again. When I heard it, nothing mattered but seeing the proof with my own two eyes.

Heading back around the side of the house, I didn’t stop until I was standing only a few feet away from a group of people, two girls and three guys.

While the girl with waves of platinum blonde hair had her back to me, I’d know who she was anywhere. I knew her in my dreams, and I visited her often in my nightmares.

Athena fucking Ashford.

Yeah, the night just got a lot more interesting.

Chapter 1

Crew~

I stood on the fringes of the group, not daring to get any closer, and I had to battle down the urge to kill her where she stood. My hands were still shaking with the impulse to tear this entire house down, but I’ve learned to curb those destructive compulsions.

Barely.

When it came to controlling my emotions, there were only two options: ice them into nonexistence or let the fire burn bright. There was no in between when I found myself in the middle of my emotions, and most people knew it. When I was younger, those two options hadn’t existed. The only one that had existed for me back then was letting the fire burn. While I hadn’t felt hostile often, when I had, it hadn’t been pretty. For whatever reason, I had a challenging time processing my emotions, and no amount of therapy or violence helped. My only saving grace was that my mother was a criminal defense attorney.

So, standing only a few feet away from Athena Ashford, I had a decision to make, and I had to make it quick. Plus, even if I did want to turn this into a bloodbath, I knew that it wouldn’t be long before Zane and the girls discovered that she was here. Once they did, I knew we’d all be leaving.

Fairly certain that I could handle this without any bloodshed, I said, Well, isn’t this a nice surprise? I watched her entire body still, and I got some petty satisfaction out of that.

Slowly and carefully, Athena turned around, and when those light grey eyes of hers met my green ones, my hands curled into fists at my sides, and blood started rushing through my ears in a wave of white noise. I could feel my breaths stutter in rage, and the flood of emotions was threatening to erupt all around me, bystanders be damned.

Athena looked two years older, but exactly the same as the last time that I’d seen her. Standing at only five-foot-three, her platinum blonde hair hanging down to the middle of her back, her grey eyes so big that they made her look like she had a doll’s face, and that petite body that was slim in design, but had hidden curves that sucked you in once you got her clothes off.

Two years later, she was still the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen, and I wanted nothing more than to ruin that beauty and crush every emotion that she has ever had.

Crew, she whispered, and if saying my name like she had the right to wasn’t enough to push me off the edge, seeing the guy standing next to her, watching me with hooded eyes, was enough to.

At six-foot-two, whoever he was, he was a couple of inches shorter than me, and though he looked like he had enough muscle to make his punches matter, I wasn’t worried about that. I knew what my hands were capable of, and I wasn’t afraid to use them on anyone. I liked pain, and I liked blood, and I liked using both to exercise my demons. While my preferred method to tame them was the violin, violins weren’t always available. However, luckily for me, assholes were.

I eyed him, taking him in, and while he looked familiar, I couldn’t place him. He definitely wasn’t a Regal student because we knew every name attending Regal Academy. He had brown hair and blue eyes, but that didn’t tell me shit. A lot of people had that color combination. However, it was the way that he was standing so close to Athena that told me that we’d never met. If we had, he’d know better.

I think you must be lost, I told her, my voice deceptively even. Or did you not get the message?

Never one for being a coward, Athena’s back snapped straight. What message is that?

You’re no longer welcomed at Regal Academy, I replied. And since this party is for Regal students only, you should probably be on your way.

I watched her chest move with deep, steady, concentrated breaths. I watched the way her eyes ran over my face, searching for a hint to what I was feeling. I watched her jaw tick with the clenching of her teeth. I watched as she did her best to figure out her next move.

Finally, she said, I’m enrolled at Regal for my senior year.

The news hit my chest like a twenty-gauge firing directly in front of me. Unfurling my fists, I quickly ran my thumb over my bloody palm, letting the red wetness soothe me as best as it could. Focusing on pushing down that torrent of anger that was threatening to appear, I started pushing on my palm, forcing more blood free.

When Athena’s grey gaze landed on my hand, I saw her face pale a bit, but I knew that she wasn’t going to address what was happening. She knew better than anyone not to provoke a feral animal. Plus, it looked like her boyfriend was the type to try to step in should shit go south, and Athena knew better than to let something like that happen.

Feeling a bit steadier, I decided to break the news to her. Not for long.

Crew-

What does that mean? her boyfriend asked, but before I could rush him, Zane and the girls were already at my side, and it was enough that no one was stupid enough to mess with just one of us, but four of us? Yeah, that wasn’t happening.

Even though Zane was two years younger than I was, he was still six-foot-one, and looking just like me with our black hair and green eyes, there was no mistaking that we were brothers. In fact, all my siblings looked alike. We’d all taken after our father, and even Lennon had black hair and green eyes, though her features resembled our mother’s pretty face.

Then you had D.J. and Maggie standing on the other side of me, and there was no mistaking that they were sisters. While D.J. was eighteen and Maggie only sixteen, they’d both taken after Uncle Ace and had dark brown hair with these bright amber eyes. They were the only people in the entire school who had those strange, amber-colored eyes, so it was an easy guess to assume that they were sisters.

Still, Athena knew all of this. She knew that Zane was my younger brother, and that Delaney Jr. and Maggie were my sisters, though the girls weren’t related to me by blood. Athena also knew just what Zane, D.J., and Maggie were capable of. While I didn’t need anyone’s help to fight my own battles, D.J. and Maggie were always available to handle any female problems that might arise. The only thing that was probably saving Athena right now was that Lennon wasn’t here.

I felt Maggie grab my bloody hand, and I smirked as her thumb replaced mine in smearing the blood around. She was doing her best to calm me down, and I truly did appreciate it. My entire family was used to my episodes, so they all had their own way of