Page 2 of Rough Start

“Kye?”

* * *

Eliana was shamelessly searching for him. He could tell by the way her eyes danced around the room even while engaged in conversation with others. Despite his height, he prided himself on his ability to fade into the background and go unnoticed. It was easier to stay distant. Kye Driscoll had learned at an early age to be observant at all costs. Observant and distant.

He'd meant to keep his presence at the funeral secret, but when he’d watched Eliana struggling he was unable to keep himself tucked away. Her relatives among the pews hadn’t the sense to come to her aid so he’d stepped up to the task.

Eliana was never a woman to seem meek. Perhaps that was why it pained him to watch her struggling to contain her emotions. Despite her taller than average height, especially in those shoes that made her slender legs look a mile long, she’d seemed so childlike and small. Seeing her again was like stepping back in time. Her hair was shorter now than he remembered. Probably opting for a more modern cut, the chocolate tresses she’d since straightened were cut into a smart bob, the length of which barely brushed the tops of her shoulders. With her back turned he’d been granted a view of the milky skin of her neck. She’d finally looked up at him through tear-soaked eyelashes, and he’d almost reached a hand up to take her by the neck and keep her face fixed toward his.

Almost.

Now as he watched her dance between attendants who were happy enough to keep themselves fed, he quietly followed her from the church as she made her way to the front parking lot. She stood with her back to him, giving him another glorious view of the soft skin of the back of her neck, arms wrapped around herself at the impending cold of autumn. Head turning from side to side, she spotted his motorcycle parked on the grass under the overhanging beech tree.

She moved quickly toward the v-twin engine Shadow that stood out amongst the four-door cars and vans on the gravel lot. Kye finally relented to put her out of her misery as she clearly wasn’t going to stop searching until she found him. The sheen of midnight blue paint reflected her face as he stood behind her. Seeing his own face looking at her, she turned around quickly to look up at him once again, only this time her eyes were wide and dry.

“I-I was looking for you,” she admitted, her left hand resting on one of the handlebars. It didn’t escape his notice that her hand remained ring-less.

“You found me,” he replied shortly.

“Rather you found me,” she stated, having regained herself from surprise. “I couldn’t believe it was you. I’ve felt surrounded by ghosts today.”

“The past has a way of feeling like that,” Kye said and lifted his right hand, the one that brandished a rather prominent silver ring with the letters SD, to brush the hair off her shoulder. She shivered.

“Kye…” she spoke his name, and he felt the hair on his arms prickle. “Thank you for earlier. I was making a spectacle of myself up there.”

“Some things never change,” he cooed with a grin. “You were never one for subtlety.”

“One of us had to be blunt,” Eliana defended, her light brown eyes full of defiance. Their eyes locked, and the air between them felt charged as though humming with electricity. Behind them, the church bells began to toll, and Kye used her momentary distraction as the crowd began to pour out of the stone structure, to take her wrist firmly and pull her to the opposite side of the tree out of sight. “Kye!” she cried as he pressed her back against the trunk, and his hand flew to her mouth to silence her.

His breathing was coming in short rasps, and with one hand over her mouth, the other on the tree above her head, there was barely a whisper of air between them. Indeed, when she took a sharp breath her chest brushed his, and Kye squeezed his eyes shut. They remained like that for several long moments until the rumble of vehicles departing had ceased. He could sense her discomfort as she began to squirm, and he pressed his hand more firmly against her lips.

“Eli, listen to me,” he demanded, his voice eerily deep and calm. When he opened his eyes again to look down at her, it wasn’t with familiarity or friendliness; not even with attraction and lust, but with a warning. She stilled instantly. “I came here for a reason. There has been a long-standing debt between your father and the Screaming Demons. One that I’m sent to collect on.” Her eyes went from wide and fearful to narrowed and angry in an instant. She pulled his hand off her mouth and gave his chest a firm shove.

“My father’s dealings with your gang don’t include me. I’ve paid enough of a price for his involvement.” She made to walk away, but Kye took her by the waist and had her up against the tree again in a flash.

“You might think you’ve paid, but the debt Henry accrued is much higher than your meager pains…”

“Meager?” She spat, pushing against him again. “Meager? You really are a bastard, aren’t you?”

“Yes. I am.”

“Then what, money is it? How much did he take?”

“Fifty thousand.”

“Fifty thousand?”

“Plus ten years interest. Likely more for the insult of betrayal.”

“That could be any amount. Hundreds of thousands. A million? They don’t pay twenty-eight-year-old lawyers that much, Kye. Might as well have saved yourself the trip.”

“A life.” His short sentence had her balking. “A life,” he repeated. “Yours. I’ve come to collect. Today.”

PAST

Snow crunched underfoot. The weeks of snow were recently dusted with fresh powder, and as Eliana walked, hands tucked in the pockets of her thick coat, she smiled as she approached the playground on the corner of the block. It was late. The moon was high overhead and shone like a polished mirror behind the white clouds. It was a quiet evening, her footfalls the only sound until she saw him sitting on the swing staring at something in his lap. Quietly setting her book bag down, she picked up a pile of snow and pressed it together between her mittens.

Kye toppled backward in alarm as something struck the top of his head. For a moment, he thought the sky had fallen, but the ringing laughter from his friend told him otherwise. Sitting up in the snow, he hurled a snowball back at her, and Eliana cowered away from the icy onslaught.