Page 31 of Rough Start

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Having spent the entire day holed up in the library finishing her senior project that was due before graduation, Eliana could sense something was wrong even as she walked up the driveway. It was late March and the snow had turned to rain, but even through the thick drops, she could see the smoke billowing out of the kitchen window. Racing inside, she saw the metal pot on the stove had completely melted, and the heat had caused the dishtowels to catch fire. Sitting so near to the counter where she’d been studying her textbooks over breakfast that morning, three of the five freshman books were completely incinerated, and the other two were still burning.

She’d screamed for her father, who was passed out with his head resting on the dining table. He’d only come-to after she’d put the flames out. In his entirely unhelpful manner, Henry had grabbed one of the pitchers of water that held several of her roses and poured it over the counter where her papers were. What damage hadn’t been caused by fire and smoke, the water had completed.

Eliana was fuming with rage even as her feet carried her into town. She now understood why Kye had left the Duncans’ house early. Once the prospect of freedom was near, it was hard to find any reason to stay. Now that Eliana had a small fortune in her bank account and graduation was less than a month away, she was at the end of her rope. Thirteen years of tolerating her father’s bullshit was enough. No more.

Her temper was momentarily interrupted by the growl in her stomach. Without realizing it, she had gone the whole day without eating. Taking a sharp left, Eliana ducked into Mauve’s Diner. With her hood from her sweatshirt pulled over her head to shield her from the rain, she hadn’t seen the motorcycles parked out front.

“Just one please,” Eliana said to the older woman who was clearly working by herself that evening. Not that it made a difference, the place was a ghost town. With the recent increase in crime, the streets were rarely crowded despite the warming weather. As Eliana followed the older woman toward the crescent-shaped counter, she found her path blocked by two boys who couldn’t have been much older than her.

“Where you going, sweetheart?” one of them asked in a suggestive tone. Eliana glanced up at him and then to the other boy, who she could only assume to be his twin brother based on their similarities in appearance, and kept walking.

“Woah, woah, not so fast!” the second boy said, standing in front of her. “Let’s see that pretty face.” He pulled the hood to her sweatshirt back, and she swatted at his hand.

“Feisty!” the first boy taunted and held her upper arms from behind.

“Come on, why don’t you let us buy you a milkshake?” the second and taller of the boys said as he stood directly in front of her. “If you’re good, I’ll let you lick the whipped cream.”

“Get off me!” Eliana snapped and shoved him with all her strength. The boy tumbled backward and into the chair behind him causing a loud commotion.

“What’s this?” an older, bald-headed man asked as he rounded the corner from the bathroom. It was then Eliana noticed the Screaming Demon logo on his leather vest. She felt the heat drain from her face. The grip on her upper arms had tightened and she squirmed, trying to free herself.

“Found a playmate, Wayne,” the boy behind her said and Wayne, the bald man, shamelessly looked her up and down.

“Doesn’t look like much,” he observed and took a hold of her chin.

“Don’t touch me,” Eliana protested and made to slap him away, but he caught her hand. A short game of tug-of-war began as she tried to pull her hand back, but his strong grip didn’t relent.

“Then again, this could be fun,” Wayne said to the boy behind her. His face had turned into a mixture of amusement and something predatory that caused a trickle of panic to crawl up Eliana’s spine.

“I’ll call the police!” the small voice of the older woman behind the counter called over the raucous.

“No, you won’t,” Wayne observed without so much as looking up at her. He tugged Eliana toward him, and she felt utterly repulsed as he wrapped his arms around her. “Come here, sweet thing,” he said into her ear.

“No!” she screamed and kneed him in the groin. He doubled over, and Eliana turned to run when she was caught by one of the twins. She screamed again, and the others laughed.

“Boys, boys, boys,” a loud voice called over the commotion. Eliana tore herself free from the shorter twin and smacked into another leather-clad vest. This boy was definitely her age and similar height. He had curly blond hair and dark green eyes that were full of mirth and determination. “You’ve got no way with the ladies,” he said, slinging an arm around Eliana’s shoulders. She was about to push him away when he spun her around to face the direction he’d come and to her astonishment, she saw Kye sitting in a booth looking stoically at her.

“Ky..”

“Why don’t we order you some food,” the blond boy interrupted and walked her to the counter across from the booth. Eliana was too stunned to say anything as they walked past Kye. He didn’t so much as stand up when they did. “Go on now, get whatever you like.” Eliana looked up at the boy who still had his arm around her shoulder, she realized now was more protectively than anything, and shook her head.

“I’m not hungry anymore,” she protested and slid from his grasp.

“They won’t bother you anymore,” he said quietly, and Eliana looked over his shoulder to see the three harassers from before were still laughing with each other but making their way out the front with cigarettes in their hands.

“Why are you helping me, aren’t you with them?” she asked, still baffled why Kye was sitting there in silence.

“Technically…” he said, trailing off, but his charming smile had returned, “but as your boyfriend is my best friend, I’ve got divided loyalty. Go order something, and I’ll walk you out,” he instructed. With an urging nod, Eliana walked back to the counter and the older woman, who looked near fainting, took her food order.

“You have no idea how much I owe you,” Kye said in a lowered voice to Grier, who was still standing near the edge of his booth.

“You just sit there and keep quiet,” Grier suggested. “If any of those chumps find out she’s your girl, it’ll be bad news for both of you.”

“You’re sure about that? I hate just sitting here. She's going to hate me…”

“At least she’ll be alive,” Grier interrupted in a serious tone. “Everyone knows you have a bid for the fourth chair, and it’s rubbing a lot of the other guys wrong. Especially the guys who’ve been around longer than you, like Zeke and Nathan.”