by Ellie Aiden
Luke nods in agreement. “That’s true. A lot of people will die. So how do we use the decency we think the Vater has left to keep that from happening?”
“We plead to his morals.” Every head turns in my direction waiting for me to continue. “We ask him to come to a peaceful meeting. Just the leaders, a couple other key people, and him. Of course we’ll allow him to bring his own people to make him feel better, but that’s it. Ash and I both can tell him again what happened to us. We can tell him again about the girls, and you can each tell him about the supplies being stolen.” I cast my glance between each of the leaders whose people have suffered because of that theft. “We do all that, and then we give him a choice. Banish every person involved in all that, and then tell the members the truth, let them decide how to proceed.”
When I pause to take a breath, Dakota encourages me to continue. “Or?”
“Or, we have no choice but to do it ourselves. Take out the bad, let the people know, and give them the choice how to proceed. Perhaps the church is done. Maybe it can’t go on. Maybe the compound won’t be a church anymore, instead maybe it becomes a lifestyle of communal living for everyone, even those that aren’t Christian.”
Sitting down with Luke on my right and Ash on my left, I wait. Ash and Luke both reach for one of my hands, squeezing before letting go.
The table is quiet for quite some time until Dakota is the first to speak. “I don’t think it’s a bad idea, Anna. I just don’t know if it’s the best idea. Think about it.” He turns his head to face Mateo, and then clears his throat. “Don’t you think if he was going to be willing to do something about any of this, he would have already done it?”
Around the table there seems to be an equal number of shaking and nodding heads, but in the end it only matters what each of the leaders think. Sure they’ve included us, let us voice our opinions, but their votes are the only ones that count.
Mateo stands before leaning over the table supported by his outstretched hands, and then voices his vote. “I’m ready to vote on the proposal. This has been going on for two days, and I’d like to try to play to the Vater’s conscience first. At least if it fails, I’ll know I tried. I vote in favor of a parlay.”
Ash and I both simultaneously lean over to Luke and whisper, “What’s a parlay?”
Laughing under his breath he explains as I hear Dakota stand and speak. “I vote against a parlay.”
Now that I understand what a parlay is, I sit back and watch Dakota reclaim his seat while Lord Paul pushes his chair back and stands. “I vote in favor of a parlay.”
And just like that. Parlay it is.
chapter 14 - I Feel Like A Pirate
ANNA
Yesterday a decision was reached to play to any decency left in the Vater and request a parlay. I didn’t know what a parlay was until Luke explained it to me, but now that I know, I can’t stop saying it. Rolls right off the tongue. Parlay. Parlay. Parlayyy! Also, I feel like a pirate every time I say it.
When the vote was complete, Dakota had said it was a fair vote and the Osage would uphold the decision, but when we woke up this morning he was gone, along with his men. He didn’t leave a note or a message, he just left. We assume that means he won’t be at the parlay. Ha, I said it again. And that if it comes to a fight with the church he won’t help. Mateo doesn’t seem too concerned, nor does Lord Paul. Both made similar comments at breakfast this morning. Something to the effect of, we have the numbers without them.
Luke on the other hand, left breakfast and went to our room to skulk. And that is where I find him now as I step through the doorway to our bedroom.
“You look broody,” I comment, seeing him standing, arms crossed, staring out the window.
Looking over his shoulder he tries to give me a smile, but he isn’t fooling anyone with that. I cross the floor, coming in behind him and wrapping my arms around his waist. Pressing my cheek to his back, he drops his arms to cover mine and lets out a sigh.
“I just don’t know if we’re making the right decision, Little Minx,” he says, as he strokes the back of my arm.
Making my way around to his front, I reattach myself to his middle, getting his attention before responding. “I get it, but I don’t think there is a right decision.”
I lean my head into Luke’s firm chest as he begins making long strokes up and down my hair. I can hear his heart beat. Strong and steady, yet quick. Luke is a good man, so if this goes south and people get hurt, he’ll blame himself. But none of this is his fault. Nothing that’s happened, and nothing that’s coming is his fault. Yet I know there is nothing I can say to convince him of that. Just like no one can convince me I’m not to blame for what happened to Ash, at least the severity and longevity of it.
So instead, I try to take his mind off it. “Tell me about you.” Raising my head, I see his eyebrow raise, a cheeky smile spreading from his lips. “I just mean, I’m a horrible girlfriend. I don’t know anything about your life, what your favorite color is, your parents. Tell me something.”
“Girlfriend?” He asks with a grin.
“Um, well I just mean…” So maybe I misinterpreted how far along we are in this relationship. Sure I thought of him as my baby daddy from day one, but I guess we hadn’t really openly put labels on it.
I know I’m blushing as he leans down, brushing a kiss across my parted lips, and then he calms my fears. “You are so much more than a girlfriend, Little Minx.” And then we’re kissing.
Making out is a more accurate description because sweet, baby Jesus! Probably shouldn’t be bringing Jesus into this as Luke deepens the kiss, picking me up and depositing me roughly on the bed. We bounce as the springs compensate for our weight, Luke rolling me so I rest on top. Luke bites my lip and I lose it, grasping his shirt before wrenching it over his head. My hands rest on his solid warm chest, and I want nothing more than to be skin to skin.
And then there’s a mother bleeping knock at the door.
“Go away!” We both yell, irritated.
Only whoever it is doesn’t go away, instead the bedroom door opens, and then I hear a giggle. Followed by several more giggles, and then the bed dips as Ash climbs up beside us.
Rolling my eyes in the direction of her sneaky little smile, she says, “You want a baby? Because that’s how you get a baby.”
“That’s my line,” I growl, as Luke grips my butt moving me to sit between him and my ex-BFF.
“Paybacks a bitch, Little Minx,” Ash says, in her best Luke impersonation.
Actually it was pretty good, even Luke laughed.
Flopping back on the bed as dramatically as possible and staring up at the ceiling, I ask her what she wants.
“Well, the letter went out this morning. They plan for it to be delivered tomorrow at noon on the dot. And Mateo decided on one week from today, but he plans to go two days early to work out any security issues.” Ash lies perpendicular to me as she continues, “I did some old fashioned eavesdropping this morning.”
We both laugh at that, and then Luke chimes in. “That’s a good idea. The going early, I mean. But also, stop eavesdropping.”
She makes a “Pshhh” sound, and then whispers, “Your boyfriend’s a real buzzkill.”
I just laugh as Luke picks up a throw pillow off the floor and chunks it at her head.
“Hey, I’m tellin’,” she whines.
And then we both lose it as Luke growls in our direction.
***
DAVID
This afternoon I was called into a meeting of the elders with Vater Henry. He informed us a letter had arrived signed by two gang leaders, Lord Mateo and Lord Paul. As soon as he said the names I knew this had to do with Anna Cress. I knew it was only a matter of time before she managed to rally them into attacking again. He’d told us they had requested a meeting. A meeting and nothing else. What a load of shit. Except apparently Vater Henry didn’t think it was a load of shit, in fact, he was actually considering attending.
“Yo
u can’t be serious,” I growl in the Vater’s direction.
He looks to me with a scowl, no doubt in response to my tone, and nods a confirmation. “I am, Elder. I am serious. It behooves us to hear them out. If I can do anything to prevent another attack on our compound when we are still rebuilding from the last, then it is my duty instilled by God to do so.” He pauses, checking each of the faces of the elders gathered around the table before adding, “And if nothing else it will allow me to say I did everything in my power. It will allow all of us that ability. If we don’t go, and the people find out, and then we are attacked, they could question our judgment, blame us.”
From my right Elder Berry agrees, “I agree with Vater Henry. It hurts nothing for us to go and see what they have to say.”
“It hurts everything,” I yell a little too loud as I stand up knocking over my chair. Reigning it in a little I continue, “This is a trap. How can you people not see that? They get our leader, our head of security, maybe a couple other elders outside the safety of the walls, and then take us out. That leaves our people ripe for the picking. Open your eyes, Vater.”
“I have full faith in your capabilities, Elder,” The Vater reassures.
And with that it’s clear the meeting is over as Vater Henry rises from his chair before leaving. With a growl I leave the room, making my way to the backside of the compound where a group of new recruits are training.
Over the last few days as I recruited new men for my security force, I’d tried to focus on men between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five, but unfortunately that only got me to one-hundred and fifty. I needed another one-hundred men to feel like we could defend the compound against just about anything. The north wall rebuild was complete, so that certainly helped, but it wasn’t enough. Things were changing, and the Vater was too stupid to see that. All he knew is that the walls had been enough to protect us for more than two decades, but they weren’t enough anymore. And if he couldn’t see that, then maybe we needed a change in leadership.
Sure he had given me what I asked for. I had my men, after upping the age to forty, but even though he had given me what I wanted, it was clear he was only pacifying me. As evidenced by his choice to meet with the Diablo and Titan gangs.
No matter. If the Vater wanted to act like an idiot, I would just have to compensate for that.
“Brian!” I bark, meeting the man half-way as he sits down his knife on a demonstration table.
“Yes, sir,” he responds, meeting me.
“I need a team put together. The Vater has chosen to attend a meeting with two gang leaders.” I pause, allowing that to sink in. “We’ll need to be in Bonham a day early to take a few security precautions.” I turn to head back inside with my office as the destination, and Brian follows. “You’ll be with me inside the meeting, along with at least one other person. I’ll let you know who later.”
As we make it to my office door, he pulls out a notepad and pen and starts jotting down notes. Making it inside, I sit down in my desk chair as Brian takes the seat across from me before I continue.
“The meeting is taking place on the first floor of Hotel Bonham, apparently the owner will be closing her establishment to the public to ensure everyone’s safety. We’ll need two men outside each entrance and then…”
As Brian continues to take notes, I explain my plan. We’ll have men in street clothes stationed sporadically throughout town. Then we’ll need a team of five on either end of the main road, just in case there’s an issue and someone tries to make a run for it. I also think it would be smart to have another ten waiting near our horses and wagon. It’s going to be imperative that we only take those we have absolute trust in. Not just that we can trust they will do their jobs, but that if things go south, we know we can trust them not to come back to the compound running their mouths.
Brian and I work for the rest of the day, going through each of the men’s files to determine who fits what we are looking for. In the end, we settle on a team of thirty men, that should be more than enough to maintain order. It also leaves us with plenty of men back at the compound.
We have to make sure we leave enough men behind to defend the church because if I’m right, and I usually am about these things, I’d say there’s a good chance the gangs are using the meeting as a diversion.
***
ANNA
Tomorrow morning at sunrise we leave for Bonham, and this is officially the most nervous I have ever been. We’ll be arriving two days early to allow Mateo’s men to make necessary changes to ensure everyone’s safety, and according to Mateo we’ll have a better idea if they too will send security in early.
We have no idea if Vater Henry or anyone for that matter from the church will show up. They didn’t send a reply, but in fairness the letter from Mateo and Lord Paul didn’t request one. We are going no matter what. If they don’t show up, then we plan our next move from Bonham.
Of course, not everyone is going to Bonham tomorrow, or even at all. I was hoping Ash would go for moral support, but she’d said she just wasn’t ready to see David. And we all knew David would be there. Last night she had said, “I don’t want to ruin this for everyone. If they can achieve peace, I think that’s good, but if I see him, I can’t promise I’m not gonna rip off his…”
You get the idea.
With Ash opting out, Chase chose to stay behind with her, and Cody as well. As far as our group is concerned it’s just me, Luke, Easton, and Tommy going. Then of course Mateo Daniel, and the General, plus Lord Paul. On top of that, each leader is taking an additional ten men.
Luke mentioned this morning his team is already stationed in or near Bonham. That’s another fifteen men and woman. Which is of course the difference in the church and the gangs. The church would die before they let women fight their battles for them, but Diablo, the Titans, they recognize women are just as capable. I don’t know if I’ll ever want to be a member of any gang, even Diablo, but that aspect certainly helps.
Even with all the preparations they have already made, and the ones they’ll make once we get to Bonham, my stomach is still churning, and I’ve been nursing a migraine all day. There are just too many things that could go wrong.
It could be that the Vater doesn’t show up at all, or that they set a trap for us. You know the one where they swoop in and kill us all when we least expect it, like when we are sleeping the night before the meeting. Or maybe they come, but the Vater denies everything, goes back to the compound and we accomplish absolutely nothing. That is the scenario I think is most likely. Luke agreed when I told him at lunch, Ash too.
But no matter what, at least we are doing something. At least we are taking a step in the right direction.
chapter 15 - Well That Escalated Quickly
ANNA
After arriving in Bonham yesterday morning, I spent most of the day in Luke’s room on the third floor while Luke and pretty much everyone else rushed around town taking all the necessary precautions. As a last minute decision they had reached out to everyone living in or near the downtown area and asked them to stay with friends outside the town limits for a couple days just to be safe. No one seemed to have an issue with that, and the last of the citizens of Bonham with the exception of Emily the Hotel owner had left town by this morning.
Luke had attended a meeting this morning after breakfast where they assigned each person their post. They would have several men hidden upstairs, and two back in the kitchen out of sight. Then they would have two men at each exit, along with another ten stationed in the street out front and five out back. They would also have at least two men in each building along the main road, and a couple placed in the alley where I had hidden waiting for Luke to find me weeks ago.
It seems like they’ve thought of everything, so as I sit on my stool at the bar, waiting on Luke to have dinner with me, I can’t figure out why I’m still so nervous.
“Loca, chica!”
My head shoots up, connecting with Brea’s beautiful fac
e. “Brea! What are you doing here? I didn’t think you were coming,” I say, leaving my place at the bar and crossing to her.
Throwing her arm around my shoulder and dragging me to where I was, she laughs. “Don’t every leave the bar on my account, chica.” The two of us take up the same seats Ash and I had sat in the very first time I had visited Bonham, and spinning on her stool, she faces me to explain. “Well about five hours after you guys left, Camila and I both felt like it was bad luck that we weren’t going to be here. And once we got that in our heads, well…we loaded up and headed out.”
“Thank God,” I laugh. “I’m pretty much the only girl and it sucks.”
“Hey, what am I, chopped liver?” A very pretty woman appears through the kitchen door before making her way down the bar to face us. Emily.
We all share a laugh, and then Brea yells, “Shots!”
And when someone yells shots, they all come running.
Camila is the first to round the corner, sliding in her socks and nearly busting it, clearly having been upstairs. Daniel isn’t far behind her, laughing at her near fall. Luke steps through the front door next, followed by Mateo, Easton, Lord Paul and Tommy. A few other members of Diablo, including the General join us, and before long I’m three shots in.
You would think I had learned my lesson about tequila, but clearly not.
The fun lasts late into the night, with everyone eating, drinking, laughing, and talking. No one even mentions the meeting tomorrow, or the church. The conversation stays light, and I’m so grateful for it. I’m even more grateful for Brea. She did this. She wasn’t even supposed to be here, but she came anyway and turned a very stressful time into one of the most fun nights of my very short life.
After the party dies down, each of us says our goodnights. Luke and I make our way to the third floor and into his room. Luke quickly changes into sleep clothes, and with me still being a little shy, I make my way into the bathroom to change. When I come out, Luke is sitting up in bed, the covers on my side turned down as he pats the bed beside him. Crawling in and curling my body into his side, he wraps me up in his arms before kissing my temple. I let out a dramatic contented sigh, causing Luke to chuckle, shaking my body with the force.
