Page 20 of Rough Ride

“Left you alone? He must trust you,” Grier said, walking over to her. Eliana took a step back.

“He trusts you too,” she said, hoping to force the implication that he shouldn’t do anything to break that trust.

“Yes, he does, we’re old friends,” Grier replied, his eyes dropping from hers to her chest. “Jez was wrong about you,” he muttered.

“In what way?” Eliana asked, realizing she was still backing up when her backside hit the couch in the living room.

“There’s a bit of talk about you.” Grier looked in her eyes again, his lips pursed. “About what Max will do with you when you’re done here. The popular vote is you’ll be killed.”

“And the unpopular vote?” She swallowed hard.

“There’s always room for another Wall Kat. Jez thinks you’ll be nothing but trouble, but you won’t cause trouble, will you?” Grier ran a hand down her bare arm. She shuddered in unpleasantness.

“I’m not a whore,” she said sharply. “I’ll not willingly stand on a wall waiting for some horny, drunk biker to decide he wants me.” She made to push past him, and he caught her arm.

“You think half of those women stand there willingly?” Grier asked with narrowed eyes. “Willingness isn’t a Wall Kat virtue. Obedience is. And if it happens to you, thank whatever god you pray to that I’ll find you long before a ‘drunk and horny’ biker does.” Eliana pulled away, her eyes widened at him.

“What do you mean those women aren’t willing?” Grier sneered at her question and moved back to the kitchen to grab his cut.

“You’re supposed to be the smart one; figure it out,” he whispered to her dangerously before slamming the front door behind him.

Eliana sank to the floor, images of the women from the bar flashing in her mind. ‘You’ve no idea what this place really is, do you?’ Jez had asked her.

“Oh, God…”

Kye could hear the clattering as he unlocked the front door. He hadn’t even remembered locking it when he left. Eliana was in the kitchen scrubbing dishes in the sink. Her back was to him, and he could see her rigid posture.

“Hey,” he said, setting the cardboard tray with two coffees on the counter. Eliana stood taller but didn’t turn to face him. “What are you doing?”

“Dishes,” she said shortly. Oh yeah, she was stressed. He could tell by the terseness in her voice.

“We had a dishwasher installed…”

“Old habit,” she interrupted and finally turned to face him. Wiping her hands on a dish towel, she met his eyes. “Did you know?” she asked quietly.

“Know what?” he asked in return. The serious expression on her face had him worried.

“Don’t fuck around, Kye, did you know?” she yelled. Kye walked toward her and placed his hands on her shoulders.

“I’m not, tell me what you mean,” he said gently. Eliana looked up into his eyes. Her brown ones were searching his blue, trying to find any hint of deception in them. When she found none, she elaborated.

“The women in Jez’s bar,” she began to Kye’s surprise, “human trafficking, Kye.” He was quiet for a moment as he processed her statement. “Maybe not all of them, but a lot of them.”

“No,” Kye said, shaking his head, “we’ve had Wall Kats for years. It’s just part of the club. It attracts that kind of attention.”

“Yeah, some, but not all,” Eliana said and followed him as he paced around the kitchen island toward the table. “Jez was alluding to it the other day, and then Grier said something…”

“When was Grier here?” Kye asked, rounding on her. She halted in her tracks, and he fixed her with a hard stare.

“About an hour ago,” she confessed. “He stopped by, but I’m not sure what he wanted. He was in and out really fast. He said something about the popular vote is that I’ll be killed before this is all over, and if not then I’ll… I’ll…”

“What?”

“He didn’t say specifically…”

“What did he say un-specifically?”

“That I’ll have a place on the Wall.”