Page 1 of Rough Choice

The door crashed open so harshly, the knob left a large crack in the wall. Kye stormed inside and immediately flew into the kitchen where he grabbed two fistfuls of Grier’s shirt and slammed him into the fridge that rattled loudly.

“Where is she?” Kye roared as though possessed. Grier, whose feet were dangling nearly six inches off the floor, pushed Kye, but the man was unwavering. Slamming him against the fridge again, Kye resisted punching him in the face.

“Relax!” Grier snapped as he struggled to free himself. “She’s in the living room.” Kye dropped him so hard that Grier stumbled forward and into the counter. Kye was already moving across the house until he entered the darkened living room.

“Eli!” he called and fumbled on the wall to turn on the light. When he did, he saw her sitting motionlessly on the couch with a shoebox next to her. “Oh my God,” he said, racing to her. Sliding on his knees in front of her, he took her face in his hands. Her face was covered in purple bruises. When he lightly touched one and she didn’t flinch in the slightest, his brow furrowed.

“They’re fake,” Grier said from the doorway. Kye glanced up from Eliana for the briefest moment to look at the blonde. “We had to make it look convincing,” Grier elaborated. Looking back down at Eliana, he noticed she was trembling slightly. Her bottom lip was swollen.

“This doesn’t look fake,” Kye said through gritted teeth as he glared up at Grier.

“She did that herself,” Grier said, waving a hand through the air.

“I bit it,” Eliana said quietly. “I was scared… scared to die.”

“You’re not going to die. I told you— I’m going to keep you safe,” Kye said hurriedly. Eliana was already shaking her head.

“No,” she said, meeting his gaze with her watery eyes. “The gun… I shot… the gun Grier gave me. I pulled the trigger. To shoot myself.”

“You shot yourself?” he shouted and began looking her over, frantically searching for a bullet wound.

“Not exactly,” Grier added as he leaned against the doorframe.

“Someone had better start explaining really fucking fast,” Kye raged as he stood to his feet. “I saw that photo. Eliana looked dead. These bruises look pretty fucking real, and now you’re saying she didn’t ‘exactly’ shoot herself?”

“Grier said it was a test,” Eliana began. Her voice was trembling more severely than her body. “Max was going to kill you if you didn’t agree to his terms. We knew that. Grier had a plan, to send proof to Max that I was already dead so you didn’t have to decide. He was either going to help me fake my death, or he was going to kill me.”

“You were going to kill her?” Kye asked vehemently, and Grier’s only reply was a slight inclination of his chin.

“I couldn’t let Max kill you because of me. So... when Grier offered up a gun, I took it. If I was already dead then you would be alive, and you could help stop all the destruction that Max is causing. I put the gun to my head, and I pulled the trigger.”

“It was empty,” Grier explained before Kye could ask the question. “I needed to know that she loved you. That what we’re doing for her, because of her, was worth it.”

“That wasn’t your call to make,” Kye snapped.

“Yes, it was,” Grier defended with raised eyebrows. “You’re not the only one with a stake in the game. A lot of us have had our hopes riding on you for years. We weren’t going to get this close to blow it on someone who wasn’t loyal to you. Turns out, she really does love you. Values your life above her own. She was ready to die for you, Kye. Just like the rest of us.”

“The rest of you?” Kye asked as he sank onto the couch next to Eliana and wrapped an arm around her.

“Jez was here,” Eliana said, looking up at him. “Turns out, she’s not just good at covering bruises, she’s good at faking them too. She put on some makeup, made it look like I’d been knocked around and my throat slit.” Eliana pulled the collar of her shirt down to reveal the expertly applied gash in her throat. Touching it timidly, Kye could feel the prosthetic.

“Fuck,” he breathed, raking a hand through his hair. “Then you sent the photo to Max’s phone,” Kye pieced together. Grier nodded.

“Told him she was like that when I got here,” Grier added. “A little fake blood on the floor looked pretty convincing. We hoped it was anyway. You’re alive, so it must have been.”

“I was with Max when he got the picture,” Kye informed them. “He was ecstatic when he thought I had done it. You… saved my life,” Kye said and looked back to Eliana. “I would never be able to agree to kill you. I love you.”

“I love you,” she admitted softly and placed a hand on his cheek. She was still clearly rattled from her near death. Though the gun hadn’t been loaded, she hadn’t known that when she’d fired. Eliana was willing to kill herself to save him. Now here she was confessing her love for him. Kye dipped his head to give her a chaste kiss.

“Where’s Jez now?” Kye asked when he noticed she wasn’t anywhere to be found.

“She’s gone,” Grier said shortly. Kye looked at him with brows raised. “Packed a bag and hauled ass out of town. She’s out, Kye. I guess this was her final act of charity.”

“Where did she go? It’s not going to be safe for her when Max finds out,” Kye said.

“Jez can take care of herself. Right now the three of us need to figure out what our next move is. If I know anything, Max is going to want a body.”

“He wants proof, that’s for sure,” Kye agreed. “I told him I’d send a video of Eli in the levee.”