Leaving The Way: Book Two (The Way Trilogy), стр. 19
The kiss grows intense, and I know if we go much further, neither one of us will be able to stop. But the decision is taken out of our hands when a loud thud comes from my guest bedroom. The two of us pull apart, eyeing the door before we make our way over hand in hand.
After opening the door, I see Ash has toppled her chair over and lays on her side in the floor, still tied to the chair. The room is really starting to reek of piss, so I should probably do something about that, but I want to enjoy her like this for a few more days.
Ash raises her head, and seeing the two of us, her eyes widen with fear. That’s good, she should be afraid.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Oh little girl, did you actually think you could get away?” I scold, making my way over and kneeling before her.
A very unladylike growl escapes her lips as she attempts to jerk herself free. Tara lets out a gleeful laugh, and Ash spits in her direction.
“Oh, you are going to regret that very much, little girl”
chapter 7 - You Owe Me Five Bucks, Chica
ANNA
The first two days after arriving at The Castle that serves as Diablo’s headquarters was fairly uneventful. The first morning, we’d met Mateo’s brother, Daniel, who had given us a tour of TheCastle as well as the property surrounding it. He’d explained not everyone lives inside TheCastle, in fact, while they had converted the basement into four small bedrooms, the main two floors only had a combined total of four additional ones. Luke and I had shared the only unoccupied bedroom on the second floor, reserved for visiting guests, while Cody and Chase had stayed in one of the newly remodeled basement rooms. Luke had mentioned Easton and Tommy had friends who lived elsewhere on the estate, so that’s where they would be staying. So other than us, Mateo and his girlfriend Brea occupy the master suite, Daniel and his wife share a bedroom upstairs with their daughter Kayla who is just two years old, and a guy everyone calls the General who I have yet to meet stays in the only other bedroom upstairs. Then in the other three bedrooms in the basement there are several sets of bunk beds lining the walls where various friends and family stay.
The estate itself actually spans about a thousand acres, surrounded by only a waist high stone wall. Clearly, security hasn’t been much of an issue for them here. Throughout the acreage, at least forty single and multi-family dwellings have been constructed, housing an additional one-hundred and twenty-five people, give or take.
Daniel had explained that not all the members live on the property, many of them live throughout the territory they claim, like Luke. He had said each town or village had its own leader, and those leaders then reported directly to Mateo. I had also found out Luke was the leader over an area that included the town of Bonham.
Daniel seemed like a really nice guy, and I appreciated that he didn’t seem to mind my incessant questioning. He’d even gone into detail about the power system they had on the property, and how they not only had enough to ensure hot water, but they could light their homes, cook, and pretty much anything else you can think of. Once again proving the church is preaching nothing but false propaganda to their members.
After our tour with Daniel, Luke had taken over, escorting us around to various homes, introducing me to all his friends. The whole thing was slightly overwhelming, but Luke seemed to enjoy it, so I would smile and nod before moving on to the next person.
It was kind of mind blowing that there wasn’t a single person Luke didn’t know. I lived in a compound for thirteen years and maybe knew twenty people, with the exception of our elders. Granted, there were only slightly more than a hundred people here, but he didn’t just know their names. He knew their family’s names, their hobbies, hell, their life stories. Each time we passed someone he would stop to speak. Shaking hands and kissing babies. Guess Mateo was right; Luke may someday take over as the head of Diablo.
On the third day after arriving at The Castle, our team, along with Mateo and Brea, as well as Daniel and his wife, sat down for what they called family dinner. The food was delicious and the conversation had been light. When dessert was served, and after Mateo had clearly had one too many drinks, he announced he would be throwing a party for us Saturday night. Just something to welcome us to the Diablo family. I smiled and laughed with the rest, but inside I couldn’t help but think how I wasn’t sure I wanted to be part of the Diablo gang. Sure everyone seems awesome so far, but do I really want to leave one compound for another. Maybe that wasn’t how he meant it, perhaps he just intended to celebrate having guests at The Castle. That, I was okay with.
When Saturday afternoon arrived, my nerves were truly shot. I sat on the end of my bed, sliding the hem of my green dress through my thumb and forefinger. There was a lot to be worried about. We hadn’t even remotely discussed saving Ash, or how to put an end to all the horrible things the church was doing. Anytime I or someone else even mentioned either of those things, Mateo would completely shut down. I’m crossing my fingers he gets drunk tonight and I can get him to open up.
On top of all that, once again I find myself in a situation where I don’t fit in. Don’t get me wrong, everyone has been more than nice, especially Mateo’s girlfriend Brea. She has taken it upon herself to take me under her wing the last