by Ellie Aiden
Luke chuckles, and I realize I made that sound out loud. Oh well, because it was accurate.
“I was kind of nervous there for a minute, Little Minx.”
“What could you possibly have to be nervous about?” I ask, continuing to check out the goods.
“It took you almost ten minutes to open the door. I thought maybe you’d changed your mind.”
Say what? “Oh my God are you serious?” He nods his head and I feel awful. “Luke, I’m so sorry. I had no idea. I was doing this deep breathing thing, trying to calm my nerves. I thought it was only a few seconds, but now I see it wasn’t and I’m sorry. I was just so nervous because I had worked this up in my head, and I haven’t ever been on a date before so I don’t know what the protocol is. And I’m rambling. Yeah, I see that now.”
A full grin splits his face as he lets out a deep chuckle before leaning in to plant a chaste kiss on my cheek. One hand has remained behind his back this whole time, and I feel like he’s hiding something. Just as I’m about to ask, he pulls the hand around in between us, and inside his grasp is a beautiful bouquet of flowers. Not just any bouquet of flowers, but the same wild flowers with a yellow rose in the center, just like the one he brought me back in the compound. They’re beautiful, and I’m having to force myself not to cry because…
“Luke,” I sniffle. “I know you don’t know this but, the day you brought me the flowers at the compound, that was my birthday. They don’t celebrate birthdays, and Ash is the only one that had even mentioned it that day. So the flowers meant more to me than you can ever know.” I let out another sniffle as Luke encases me in his arms.
“Oh, Little Minx, I’m so glad.”
Luke holds me for the longest time, and then I finally pull back, giving him my best smile before taking the flowers and laying them carefully on the dresser. I’ll need to ask Emily if she has a vase I can borrow later.
Making my way back to Luke, he offers me his elbow, which I take, and then shutting the door, the two of us make our way downstairs before walking out the front door onto the wooden walkway. I’m not sure where we’re going. I guess I had assumed Emily would have just made us dinner, but it looks like Luke has something else planned as we make our way to the end of the street. I want to ask him, but part of me wants to be surprised. I’ve never been on a date, and had I not met Luke and left the church, I don’t think I ever would have. So that part of me wins out, and leaning my head on his shoulder, I let him lead me away.
Once we make it to the end of the main strip, Luke turns right, and I see a charming horse drawn carriage. Not a wagon, like I’m used to. This is more like an enclosed wagon, with doors on both sides, along with several windows. It’s a deep blue color, almost matching Luke’s suit, and the windows are lined with white satin curtains.
I’m practically bouncing on my red bottom heels when Luke opens the door for me and helps me in. There’s a cushioned seat on either end of the carriage, and the walls are lined in navy satin behind our heads. Luke takes the seat next to me before reaching his hand out one of the windows and banging on the top, letting the driver, which happens to be Easton, know we are ready to go.
The carriage ride lasts a good half hour, and the two of us talk and laugh the entire way. When we come to a stop, I almost wish it wouldn’t end. I don’t know if this is the end of the date, but I sure hope not.
I see Easton pass the window before opening the door, and Luke steps out reaching his hand back to help me out after him. Ducking my head so I don’t ruin this amazing night, I step down and take in my surroundings. Yup, I’m gonna cry.
There are trees all around us in a perfect circle, except for the small opening the carriage came through. In the center of the circle is a cleared area with a round table covered in white linen, and a metal bucket on a stand with a bottle of some sort perched inside. Off to the right is a long table with a similar linen covering it, trays with covered lids lining the length, and behind it stands Emily. So she is going to make our dinner tonight just not back at the hotel. As amazing as all that is, it doesn’t compare to the lights. Little twinkling lights fill the tree’s, and since the sun set just a few minutes ago, it makes for an ethereal effect.
I’m not crying, you’re crying.
Luke brushes several stray tears from my cheek and nose, pulling me to him before starting a kiss that can only be described as breathtaking. My eyes flutter closed and I almost feel like I’m floating. I forget that Easton is behind us, and that Emily is off to our right. I forget about everything except for Luke and this kiss. This moment.
I don’t know how long we stay like that, and I’m not even sure who pulls away first, but the next thing I know we are both seated at the table and Emily is pouring us each a glass of what she referred to as pre-pandemic vintage champagne.
The bucket she pulled the bottle from is filled with ice, so when I take the first bubbly sip, its sweet and cool going down my throat. It might be the most delicious thing I have ever tasted. Except Luke, nothing is as delicious as that hot piece of man candy.
“You’re making a lot of really sexy noisy over there, Little Minx,” Luke chuckles, reaching his hand across the table to rest atop mine. “What were you thinking about?”
I try to give him a coy smile, but let’s face it, I suck at being sexy. And then giving him a wink I say, “I was thinking about how delicious you and the champagne are.”
“Cheesy,” he laughs.
Taking another sip of my drink, Emily approaches with our plates, and oh my God, I love this man. As she sets my plate in front of me, I see it isn’t some fancy food I couldn’t even pronounce, it isn’t even cohesive, instead it’s a hodgepodge of all my favorite foods. Bacon, lots of bacon, half a grilled cheese sandwich cut diagonally, apple slices that have been tossed in cinnamon and sugar, and then beautiful plump yeast rolls. I might be crying again.
I don’t waste any time digging in and Luke does the same. We eat in companionable silence until I’m satisfied my stomach won’t be growling anymore, and then we both engage in small talk before Luke changes the subject.
“So, I remember you asked me something a while back, and we were very rudely interrupted.” I’m not sure what he’s talking about so raising an eyebrow I just wait. “You said you were a horrible girlfriend, which is false by the way, and said you needed to know more about me, and I want to tell you.”
I rub my palms together as if we are finally getting to the good stuff, and then I nod for him to continue. For over an hour he tells me everything he can possibly think of about himself, his past, everything. He tells me about his parents, and how he never knew his father, but his mother was an amazing woman. He talks about how he grew up with his mother and several cousins inside the Diablo gang, and then one day his mother went out on a supply run and was attacked. She was badly injured and didn’t make it. That was when he was seventeen, and when Mateo really took him under his wing. He told me his favorite color is navy blue, which I thought was a weird favorite color, but who I am to judge. He also told me two of his three cousins that he grew up with had both been killed in attacks by the church on supply runs in the last two years. I felt an immense amount of guilt about that, like somehow I was responsible having been a member of the Church of The Way, but he’d brushed it off and told me that was ridiculous. He’d told me how when he was eight a lightning bolt struck near him in a field behind The Castle and he couldn’t hear for two days. They thought he would never hear again, and then suddenly it returned. He told me everything, and then when he couldn’t think of another thing, he asked me to do the same, and I did.
Another hour later, Luke had walked me back to the carriage before escorting me inside. The ride back was peaceful, and we might have made out a little. When we got back, we’d walked upstairs to our room before changing into sleep clothes and then climbing into bed. We laid there, cuddling late into the night, and at no point did Luke pressure me to get more intimate than that. I know he couldn’t know how
much I appreciated that, but I did. I’d grown up in a church where every other Sunday the Vater would preach about the purpose of sex, and how important it was to God that it only be between husband and wife. So while I wasn’t certain if that was true, part of me did want to wait. Part of me wanted him right this second don’t get me wrong, but the other part of me couldn’t stop thinking about how special it would be if we waited.
And that’s exactly what I fell asleep thinking, and it brought about some very special dreams.
chapter 20 - A Few Tricks Up Our Sleeves
ANNA
A week had passed since Vater Henry woke up and he seemed to be doing much better. His voice was officially working, and he had answered all our questions. Well, he’d answered all Mateo and Lord Paul’s questions. I hadn’t been there because no one saw fit to come get me, but whatever. I’m not bitter or anything.
When I had gone to speak to the Vater, it was just me and Luke in the room, relieving Tommy so he could go grab some dinner. I had asked him everything that had weighed heavily on my mind, and his responses had not reassured me. Mostly I think he just wants revenge. He wants to see David removed from his position and destroyed in front of everyone. Not very Christian like if you ask me, but who I am to talk.
Nothing much had happened since then until this morning, when the Osage had paraded into town. We had all been sitting at breakfast when their Chief, Dakota, had come strolling in as if he had been here this whole time. He’d apologized for his previous actions, and said we had his and his tribes full support. Well full support to the extent that he’d brought one hundred of his best fighters. Which was great, because that brought our total to just over four hundred. That’s more than David has, at least trained, and assuming the rest of the members of the ,hurch don’t take up arms against us. There’s just over twenty-five hundred people inside those walls, four hundred wouldn’t do crap if they all decided to fight. We just had to pray that didn’t happen.
I think we’re really close to making our move, although a date hasn’t been set yet. Mateo, Lord Paul, and Dakota are in a closed door meeting as we speak, and according to Luke they’re discussing logistics. He also mentioned Lord Paul wants to send another request for aid to the Republic, but Dakota is against it. I don’t think they’ll come, but I also don’t think it will hurt anything to send them a letter. I hope Mateo at least tries to reach out to them one more time. Although, that would cause us to have to wait even longer, considering the Republic’s headquarters is as much as a week away on horse. Meaning it would take a week to get them the letter, another week for them to get here, and that’s assuming they don’t need any time to prepare in between, which I’m sure they would. In the end, I think the men and women, the leaders, who are here right now, are all that will be here when we attack the compound. We need to figure out a way to make this work with what we’ve got.
And that’s just what we plan to do, which is why Chase is meeting with Andy again tonight. And it’s also why I’m going with him. No one knows that yet, except Chase, but it’s happening.
When I found out the leaders had asked Chase to meet with Andy one last time, I’d asked Chase to secretly meet with me this morning before breakfast, and I convinced him to let me go. He didn’t really like the idea or understand why I wanted to go, and to be honest, I’m really not sure why it’s so important to me, I just need to feel like I’m doing something, anything.
That’s why I’m sitting here in the ally, waiting on Chase to leave. I left Luke a note on our dresser because I didn’t want him to worry, and had snuck out while everyone was eating dinner.
“Pssst.”
Looking to the mouth of the ally, I see Chase on a dark bay, waving me over. Standing and taking a quick glance around, I make my way to him before Chase gives me a hand up so I’m positioned behind him with my arms wrapped around his middle. Giving the horse a nudge, we take off at a slow trot in the direction we need to go first.
Unfortunately, we can’t just ride up to the compound and risk being seen. Which means we have no choice but to take a roundabout way before leaving the horse a half a mile out from the north wall and then travel the rest on foot. We’ll pass right by the dilapidated house we holed up in the night of our escape, and we could pass right over Talon’s grave. I’m not looking forward to either of those things.
We left Bonham four hours before our meeting time with Andy. Chase has made this trip a few times in the last couple weeks, so I don’t doubt he knows what he’s doing. The two have been meeting outside the north wall during Andy’s perimeter checks. Andy is a member of the security department, so he told Chase what nights he’s scheduled on the perimeter, and Chase arrives early and simply waits for him to make his rounds. Andy works four hour shifts when he has perimeter duty, and during that time he will pass the north wall once every hour. His shift starts at midnight and ends at four a.m., so we should be arriving in the wooded area outside the north wall shortly before midnight, and then we just wait.
The ride to our first stopping point seems to take forever, and its clear Chase and I are both nervous, given neither of us have spoken a word in over two hours. When he slows the dark bay to a stop before dismounting and then helping me to do the same, he speaks for the first time.
“We have about a forty-five-minute walk. Let me lead from here, and no talking. Sound really carries out here.” He waits for my confirmation, and then he turns, setting off in the direction of the compound as I follow close behind.
The forty-five-minute walk seems like two weeks, and I have to actively remind myself not to talk. I don’t want to give away our position, but I’d give just about anything for the time to pass quicker. The silence causes my mind to wander, and just as I can’t take another minute I see the north wall. The last time I saw it large sections of the wall had been blown up, leaving massive chunks of concrete littered about. Now as we get closer, it’s as if none of that ever happened, as if the attack itself never happened.
Less than two hundred yards from the cleared walkway at the base of the wall, we crouch behind a thorny bush as we wait for Andy to come into view. Several minutes pass in silence before a figure appears on a path that will pass right by us, only its immediately clear it isn’t Andy. In fact, I recognize that face, it’s Brian, David’s right hand man. As he gets closer, his head quickly turns in our direction, and I’m certain he’s sees us, but Chase grabs my wrist, holding me still. It’s almost as if he’s staring straight at us, but he quickly passes us by and continues on his original route.
Once he’s completely out of sight, Chase leans back, pressing his cheek to mine before whispering, “We’re early. Brian must be on the eight to midnight shift. His shift is probably about to end, which means Andy should be by in about twenty minutes or so.”
I nod my head, feeling relieved as Chase sits back once again facing the wall.
I’m surprised when Chase pretty much hits the nail on the head as Andy comes into view no more than twenty minutes later, his head scanning the tree line as he nears. Chase makes a bird noise in the back of his throat, and Andy’s steps falter. He searches behind and in front of him before cautiously turning in our direction. When he’s no more than twenty yards from where we crouch, Chase crab walks in his direction and I follow.
Seeing us, Andy lets out a brief sigh, and then squats down with his back to Chase and I. I’m guessing it’s so he can keep a constant eye on the compound and any possible threats. No reason we can’t talk to his back.
Once each of us are situated, Andy speaks first. “What’s up, cuz?”
Chase lets out a low snort before taking on a more serious expression and getting straight to it. “We’re getting close.”
Andy doesn’t move a muscle as he asks, “What do you need from me?”
Before Chase can respond, a noise sounds to our right as we collectively freeze. I don’t even want to breathe or turn my head to see what it might have been. Everything inside me says we are abou
t to get caught. That any minute, David is going to appear from behind a tree, and Chase and I both will be back within his clutches. Knowing how much that man hates me, I have no doubt the horrible things he would do to me. Probably far worse than what he did to Ash, given he’s the new Vater and there’s no one to stop him now.
When a squirrel scurries along a branch to my right, making the noise again, we each finally take a breath. We need to hurry this along because next time it might not be an animal catching us out here.
It seems Chase is thinking the same thing as he immediately picks up where they left off. “I know you’re putting yourself at great risk, but we need something big from you. Real big.” He pauses, as Andy looks over his shoulder at him, nodding for him to explain. “We need you to seek out anyone and everyone you can, tell them David stabbed the Vater and left him for dead. Don’t tell them he’s alive though. We’ll save that for later. You need to get the rumor going, and then people you think believe it, let them know, well…”
He pauses almost unsure what to say next, but I know what to say. “We need two things to happen, Andy. One, when we attack, they need to stay in their rooms. We need them not to fight us, and as hectic as things may be, if they are running around in the open, that’ll make it hard for us to know who’s with us and who’s against us.” It’s fairly dark out here under the cover of the trees, but I can still make out his nod of understanding as well as Chase’s agreement, so I continue. “Two, they can help us get in. We need a diversion, Andy. If we have to spend too much time trying to get through the gate, well, that could significantly decrease our numbers. We need all our men and women alive and uninjured when we make it inside.”
