Page 16 of Rough Start

Eliana could feel the tears freezing on her face even as they fell. Despite her perfect GPA, flawless attendance record, and Harvard acceptance letter, Eliana had never felt more stupid in her life. Here she’d been sitting, waiting, fantasizing about that college apartment that was close to campus and the auto shop that Kye could work at. So, she sat. And waited. And dreamt. And of course, Kye didn’t show—again.

“So stupid,” she muttered angrily. Shoving her phone into her pocket, she descended the rope ladder and ducked out from under the willow tree. “You can pass advanced chemistry, but you can’t take a hint.” How many times had she tried calling him before the reality of his apathy set in? “Ten… you called him ten times…” she answered miserably as she walked across the park. The sound of her sniffles was lost, however, the roar of an approaching motorcycle shattered the quiet evening.

Eliana paused on the curb to let the biker pass, but to her dismay, it began slowing down. Her fear spiked when she saw the Screaming Demon logo. The bike stopped just before it reached her, and Eliana stumbled when she turned to run. Landing ass first in a snowdrift, she barely had time to scramble up before the man was right in front of her.

“Eli, hey wait!” Kye caught her by the arm as she was trying to stand, intending to help her up, but the shock of his voice coming from behind the bandana sent her sliding into the snow.

“Don’t!” she snapped when he reached for her again. “Don’t ever touch me again, Kye Driscoll!” She couldn’t see it, but his face had paled.

“I know I’m late. I’m sorry I got hung up with…”

“What? You got hung up with what? Can’t think of another lie!” She wasn’t even attempting to stand anymore and in her rage, she began hurling snow at him. “You weren’t at a college visit! Or have the Screaming Demons opened an academy now?” Kye looked somber when he pulled down the bandana, and he watched wordlessly as she stood. “So is this why you’ve been gone?” He nodded once. “Does this have anything to do with what happened to your leg?” Again, Kye nodded. Eliana scoffed and threw her hands in the air. “I don’t even know who you are anymore.”

“Come on, yes, you do!” he said, grabbing her hand and stopping her from storming off.

“The Kye Driscoll I spent all summer with never would have lied to me about getting shot!”

“How did you know?”

“Oh, come on, Kye, you don’t need a degree in forensics to guess what a bullet wound looks like. I can’t believe you got shot. What happened?” She had pulled her hand back and was holding it up to stop him. “No, wait. I don’t want to know. I can’t have anything to do with this. If I’m even associated I could lose my scholarship.”

“That’s not going to happen, I won’t let it,” Kye said adamantly.

“Yeah? How are you going to do that? Get shot and bleed on someone else’s bathroom floor?”

“Ideally, I won’t get shot again…”

“Are you kidding me? You’re going to make jokes right now?” she asked and shoved his shoulders.

“I’m sorry, okay!” He took her by the arms and held her for fear she’d run away. “I’m sorry I lied. I’m sorry I put your scholarship at risk. I’m sorry I’ve been gone. You deserve better than this and trust me, it’s not how I wanted to leave things.”

“I’m still mad at you,” Eliana said, crossing her arms but turning her body to face his. “Why did you have to join the Demons? Don’t they sell, you know, drugs?”

“Among other things, but yeah, they do.”

“Have you sold drugs?”

“Yes.”

“Kye!”

“You wanted me to tell the truth, and that’s what I’m doing. I’ve sold them, and I’ve made good money doing it too. I’m probably going to sell more. I’ll sell as many as I need to put space between me and the streets.”

“Is that what this is about?” Eliana asked, sniffling again. “Kye, you have other options than selling drugs and joining biker gangs.”

“Like what? Harvard isn’t exactly knocking on my door!” he defended.

“Don’t you dare! I worked my ass off to get into that school. You don’t get to trivialize it!” she screamed.

“Hey, I’m not,” he said, dropping his voice and pulling her into his arms. “I know you worked hard and no one, not even me, gets to take that away from you.” She finally stopped struggling and relaxed into his embrace. “I don’t like every aspect of being a Demon. There are things I have to do that I don’t like…” He forced the memory of red lips out of his mind. “I just need to get some money in my pocket and open up a few doors before I’m eighteen and kicked out.”

“The Duncans are kicking you out?”

“They said I could stay on, but I’m not going to.”

“Why? I don’t understand,” Eliana said as she tucked a section of hair behind one ear.

“You can’t understand, Eli, you’ve never been in the foster system. It sucks,” Kye said, kicking a piece of ice with his toe. “You’re only as useful as your check every month, and you’d better not be more trouble than you’re paid. Bounced from home to home, sleeping on a dirty mattress if they even have one. Watching kids get adopted, like Liam, while I’m constantly left behind… unwanted.”