Page 105 of Close Quarters

He clearly had a plan in mind, and I wasn’t going to argue since his last one had gone off…well, not perfectly, but it was hard to argue with the results. “What did you mean about?—”

“Boss!” came the voice from the radio again, and Elliot gave a snarl of frustration, tightening the third zip tie around Edgar’s wrists before snatching up the radio.

“Listen here, you sackless piece of shit,” Elliot snapped into the radio. “Two of your guys are dead, and we’ve got your boss hogtied, ready for Christmas dinner, got it? So either sit around with your thumbs up your asses waiting for an order or be smart and get the fuck out of here while you have the chance. Because I’m definitely using this radio to call out on the emergency channel, and every ranch in the area is gonna come this way.”

I stared at him while we worked on tying Edgar’s ankles together. Only for Elliot to follow through on his word, rooting around in Ed’s pockets for a moment and producing more ties to create a tight loop between the bands on Ed’s wrists to his ankles. The result resembled something like a holiday meal or the ones people associated with the holidays anyway. We were lucky to even see a package of ramen in our house most of the time, let alone a turkey or ham.

“I’m going to get the rope,” Elliot said, setting the radio down roughly.

I caught his wrist, holding it tight. “Elliot?”

“What?”

“He’s not going anywhere for the moment, and I’m pretty sure you scared the shit out of the other two. So…what happened?”

Elliot tugged at my grip but began to sag after a few seconds. “I killed him.”

“Keith?”

“Yeah. We were walking to their camp, and he…he decided he wanted to…he was going to have his way with me. Pinned me against the wall and started…kissing me.”

“Okay,” I said, rage flaring inside me.

“I knew what was going to happen next, and I…grabbed a rock,” he said, his steady voice finally cracking. “I didn’t think. I just brought it down on his head with everything I had. I hit him so hard. Oh God, I caved in his fucking skull Reno, his fucking skull.”

I didn’t hesitate. I stood up and brought him close, wrapping my arms around him as a sob bubbled out of him and then broke. He sagged against me, his shoulders shaking as he released the torrent of emotions built up inside him. I didn’t let go, knowing he needed this after what he’d gone through. The almost rape would always exist like a ghost in his mind, but it was the taking of another life, deserved or not, that would be the true demon for years to come.

“It was awful,” he said in a crackling voice against my chest. “It took him forever to die. I could see it in his eyes. Sometimes, he knew what was happening. Other times, it was like he was so confused. And fuck, the noises he made. And this guy, he just…it was like his neck exploded and he…he dropped. I couldn’t watch it, not that one.”

“Good thing because you saved my ass,” I told him, waiting until he pulled away to smile at him. “More times than one, by the way. Jesus, Elliot, do you realize how much you did today?”

“Too much,” he said with a sniffle, then began wiping his face. “Way too much.”

“You saved your own life and…saved yourself in other ways,” I told him gently. “No one is going to hold that against you. And then you still had the control to find a way to save me, save us both.”

“Like I was going to leave you behind to deal with this shit,” he said with a shaky laugh.

“Well, you’re not going to hear me argue,” I told him with a smile. “Let’s get Eddy here tied up properly, and then we can call for help.”

“Yeah,” he said, wrapping his arms around my neck. “Sorry, I’m gross right now, but?—”

I kissed him without giving one shit about what he looked like. What mattered was that we were both alive and, other than a few cuts and bruises, mostly unharmed. This night would haunt Elliot more than me, but we were alive and together. All that mattered was that I could hold him against me, appreciating the idiot for all he was worth.

It turned out that when Elliot said he was intent on making sure Edgar didn’t get free, he wasn’t kidding. After several minutes of tugging the ropes out of the bag, he had Edgar bound so tight his limbs were mostly rope, his body position so uncomfortable I almost felt bad when the guy woke up.

“What the…” Edgar began, looking around. Rolling my eyes, I sat down and pulled off my boots as his mouth contorted when he saw me. “You?—”

“No,” I interrupted, shoving one and then another of my filthy socks into his mouth. For good measure, I used the last bit of rope to wrap around the socks and tie behind his head. “I’m done talking to you.”

I turned to find Elliot watching, his nose wrinkled. “I don’t even want to think about how that tastes.”

“Not our problem,” I told him. “Though I have to say, your knot-tying is impressive. Didn’t realize you’d picked that up in your time at Boy Scouts too.”

“That…wasn’t from the Boy Scouts,” he said, smiling for the first time. It had the same wickedness he always reserved for when he was being a shit.

“Oh? Remind me to look into some ropes when we get back to our cabin,” I told him, and he sighed.

“God, to be back in the cabin would be…so great right now.”

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