Page 19 of Rough Ride

“You’ve built quite the empire, Max. You’ve got a good legacy here. You should be proud,” Kye said, surprising himself with his level of sincerity.

“I owe a big part of that to you,” Max admitted, and Kye looked up at him. “You’ll run this place well when I’m dead. I’ve taught you a lot, these last ten years or so. You’ve got the balls for it.”

“You’re naming me your successor?” Kye asked more for clarification than for reassurance.

“Sure as shit ain't naming Riggs,” Max said loudly. “That prick would blow my fortune on pussy and pills before the year closed out. No,” Max said and flicked his joint into the dirt, “it’ll be you, kid. You’ve known it for a while, so don’t insult me by acting like you didn’t.”

“I won’t,” Kye said, putting out his own cigarette. He couldn’t tell if it was Max’s melancholy or his own mortality that was putting him in a sullen mood, but the old man seemed a lot colder than usual. “There’s been a lot of tension since bringing Eliana into the fold. I thought you might have changed your mind.”

“She’s a liability for you,” Max said, standing and grabbing the tennis ball from the ground. “You and I both know that. Don’t let that forbidden fruit get you all tangled up. Mess up your priorities. You didn’t flinch when I knocked her around; that’s good. Keep yourself detached. You’ve spent too many years busting your balls to throw it all away for a tight pussy.”

“I’ve no intention of throwing anything away,” Kye said honestly. He stood and stuffed his hands into his pockets. The two men fell in step as they walked around the building toward the front entrance. A large semi-truck was pulling in, and the driver waved to Max as he drove past.

“I’ve got to clear this shipment. Get back to the safe house and make sure she finishes those cases before tomorrow. I’ll want to see her when she’s done,” Max instructed and the truck, surprisingly, pulled up behind the bar instead of toward the warehouse.

“Sure, Max,” Kye said watching the truck pull to stop. The driver hopped out and moved toward the back where four security guards were waiting with automatic guns. The door to the back opened and several women jumped down before being ushered inside. Only after did the armed men begin unloading boxes.

“Do yourself a favor,” Max said placing his hands on Kye’s shoulders pulling his attention back to him. “Fuck her while you still can.”

“What do you mean by that?” Kye asked glowering slightly.

“Miss Granville won’t be with us much longer,” Max said casually, “she’s clearing her debt, isn’t she?”

“Right,” Kye agreed, but he couldn’t help feeling there was a double meaning in Max’s words.

“So fuck her and get it out of your system. When it’s all over, you’ll be glad to have that loose end tied up. Now get out of here,” Max ordered. They’d walked back to Kye’s bike, and he could no longer see the truck behind the building and put it out of his mind. Max was already walking off when Kye started up his motorcycle and headed back.

* * *

Eliana had crammed enough of her belongings into her bag to feel satisfied she’d cleared any evidence she had ever been there. She dropped her bag by the door and grabbed the magnetic notepad from the front of the refrigerator.

I’m sorry.

It was all she could think to write as she left it on the counter. Checking her pockets, she remembered her cell phone upstairs. Quickly racing to her old bedroom, she grabbed it from the nightstand. She paused a moment when she saw her old diary still laying on the floor where she’d tossed it the night before. Collecting it, she read the last line of the entry it was open to:

I know without a doubt, I love Kye and I’ll never be able to get him out of my system. I’d do anything for him. I love him.

Eliana sank onto the edge of the bed and sighed. Her stomach churned painfully as she imagined Kye’s face when he returned, and she was gone. What would happen to him when he reported back to Max that he’d not only left her at the safe house alone, but that she’d escaped? So far, she’d been able to push the thought out her mind, but now it came rushing back like a downpour.

Would the price of her escape cost him his life? Sighing again, she set her diary down. The feeling surging in her felt too much like the night she and her father had fled. They’d left Kye behind amid a spray of gunfire. Wasn’t she doing the same thing now? Sentencing him to a firing range?

Closing her eyes, she gripped two handfuls of the bedding underneath her. His scent was still thick in the room from the night before. Her body grew warm at the memory. Her knees squeezed together as her body recalled the feel of his tongue. He’d always been so damn good with that tongue.

It had nearly broken her heart the way he’d admitted he’d been with women he didn’t care about. The way he’d said it alluded to more than just casual sex. He’d spent more years as a pawn in Max’s game than anyone. What had that cost him already? It was beginning to become clear to her that when Kye pulled away it wasn’t because he was apathetic, it was because he didn’t know any other way to be. He’d had to play the soldier for over a decade. He was disassociated, just like anyone else would be.

Yet Eliana knew there was still warmth in him. There was still love. He hid it well, even from her sometimes. When she took a moment to put aside her own fear and anger at her situation, she could understand him a little better. His reserve wasn’t cold; it was calculated. The way he withheld from open defiance when Max had hit her wasn’t indifference; it was intelligence. Kye was planning his moves, patiently, carefully, strategically.

Maybe she’d spent too much time since they’d been reunited expecting him to be the open, carefree, and passionate boy she’d known in high school. He didn’t have the luxury of being open or carefree and his passion wasn’t a bonfire; it was an ember. Like magma, it lay dormant inside him. Threatening. Dangerous. Illusive.

Kye had grown up.

She stood a moment later and retrieved her bag from the doorway downstairs and returned it to her bedroom. For better or worse, she’d see this through. Kye needed her. She couldn’t leave him to face this alone. Even if that meant the threat of death lingered closer to her than she preferred. Where would she go, anyway? Max had known all along where she was. Or, at least, known how to find her. For all she knew, there was a tracker in the car, and she’d never make the state-line. No, she would stay. With him.

“Kye?” she called when she heard the front door open and close. Bounding down the stairs, instead of seeing Kye it was Grier. He was removing his cut as he looked her over.

“Hi there,” Grier said, appraising her. Eliana felt suddenly exposed in her tank top and fitted jeans. “All alone?” he asked, looking around.

“Kye went for coffee,” she said, unmoving in the doorway. “He’ll be back soon.”