“Luke old boy, I dare you to drink that entire jar in under three minutes.” Mateo laughs at his own genius, but Luke does not look happy.
I turn to Luke to tell him he most certainly does not have to do this, but with a grimace he reaches for the jar, and then tipping it to his lips, he swallows every last drop in one go.
“Holy shit, psycho,” Brea squeaks.
“Damn, man. I didn’t actually think you would do it.” Mateo’s eyes are wide, as he adds, “Dude, you’re definitely gonna puke tonight.”
And with that Easton and Tommy begin chanting Luke’s name from the other side of the room.
Luke’s face looks a little pale, and there’s a blue tint to his lips, so much so that I’m legitimately worried, until he says, “Anna, truth or dare.”
You son of a bitch.
Ugh, do I want to do a truth in front of all these people, but then again these people probably know all my secrets. On the flip side, do I want to do a dare with my parents on the other side of the room.
“Dare,” I practically yelp.
He legit just cackled, like God’s honest cackled.
Reaching over I pinch his side, whispering, “Remember, I know where you sleep.” Only I suck at whispering so pretty much everyone heard it as they let out amused giggles and chuckles.
From the grin that splits his face, it’s obvious he does not care that I know where he sleeps, and then he says, “I dare you…”
Only he doesn’t get to finish as one of Mateo’s men trips through the front door, blood pouring from his mouth and right eye.
Everyone moves at once. Mateo jumps over me as he and Luke make it to the man first. He’s stammering, trying but unable to get any words out. Luke and Mateo help him to the chair he just vacated as Emily makes it over with her black medical bag.
While Emily gets him cleaned up, I notice Ash making her way to me on the other side of the table. Sitting down, she leans in and whispers, “It’s four thirty, Anna. a.m.”
It doesn’t dawn on me at first why this matters, other than the fact that we are all going to be nursing hangovers tomorrow, until the man interrupts my thoughts, his words shaky and scared.
“They have Chase.”
And that’s all it takes for my best friend to push her way past me, getting in his face and grabbing him by the shirt. “What do you mean?” It’s a growl, that sounded more like it came from Mateo’s mouth, and I’d believe that if I hadn’t seen her mouth move.
“They sent five…men to…deliver the message,” he stammers, pausing to take a breath before trying to finish. “David said…tell the little…bitch, I have Chase. And then…they beat…” he can’t finish as he practically hacks up a lung. He doesn’t need to though; we all get it.
Chase was caught meeting Andy, and now David has him.
***
DAVID
I knew there was a fucking traitor inside my compound, I just didn’t know who it was until tonight, and I couldn’t have enjoyed it more. Brian and I had been discussing plans to ward of the imminent gang attack when one of my men had come in claiming to have information he thought might be important. He’d been on gate duty several nights this week while Andy Baker had been on perimeter duty, and he’d noticed a few things he thought worth mentioning. He’d claimed that two nights in the last few days, Andy didn’t have consistent walks. Meaning, one full walk around the compound might take forty minutes, while the next over an hour. Now, this might not be cause for alarm if Andy had submitted any reports that would explain why some of his walks were taking longer. Like maybe a suspicious noise or an issue with the wall, but instead he hadn’t submitted a single report in more than two weeks. Brian had also mentioned Andy’s name had been brought up several times regarding the rumors circulating the compound. Then when we’d pulled Andy’s file, low and behold, he was Chase Hurst’s cousin, their mothers having been sisters.
I was immediately livid with myself. I should have already conducted a cross check on anyone in the church that had any kind of a relationship with Anna Cress, Ash Booker, or Chase Hurst. How could I be so stupid? But at least it answered the question of who our little traitor was.
Once we’d figured that out though, sure we could take him into custody without any hard evidence. I have no qualms about doing whatever I want, for whatever reason, but I wanted to catch him. I wanted to catch that little shit in the act.
So we’d set men in each of the turrets with the sole purpose of watching Andy Baker while he conducted his perimeter checks tonight. And as for me, well given the north wall was a favorite of the gangs, I had laid in wait just outside the wall, covered by the foliage of a copse of trees.
Shortly after midnight, Andy had turned the corner at the north wall, and after passing me and making it about halfway down the length of the wall, he’d stopped. I’d waited and watched as he searched for something just inside the tree line and then traipsed through the underbrush before disappearing. I’d quickly called in back up, not knowing how many gang members were out there with him, and then we’d surrounded them, taking both Chase and Andy into custody.
As much as I enjoyed beating
