Free A Leap in the Dark (Assassins of Youth MC Book 2) by Layla Wolfe

twenties waving a giant cross around. They stood on the side of the road as though hitch-hiking, but they weren’t. They were just standing on the shoulder, waving a cross as tall as them. Like one of those sign spinning guys who stand on the corner dressed like Spiderman twirling a giant arrow.
    “His way is holy! His purposes are eternal!” they shouted.
    “Whose purposes?” I asked Cloydean.
    “Oh, Verlan Turley,” she said wearily. “Everyone’s fighting for a piece of the pie, and Verlan Turley says he’s the cat’s pajamas and all that.”
    I also drove past a couple groups of women walking toward the gate. Strangely, they seemed to be older women with grey hair. One of them used a cane. I asked Cloydean who they were.
    “Widows. There’s Vella Zabriskie. She was sealed to Immanuel, who ran the Altar of Sacrifice Mine.”
    “Why are they leaving?”
    “They’re cleaning house. Too many old women like me cluttering up the place.”
    The whole thing was unsettling. I wouldn’t miss a thing if I never had to return to that place again.

CHAPTER SIX
    LEVON
    “T here’s a leadership vacuum in Cornucopia,” I told Oaklyn in a low voice. “There are two camps. Those who want to keep things status quo as Allred Chiles created it, and those who want to usher in new ways.”
    She snorted. “Like what? Letting people see your ankles? Did you know they have to wear long underwear even in the broiling heat of summer?”
    “I know,” I said bitterly.
    Oaklyn gasped. “I’m sorry. I keep forgetting you grew up there. I guess it’s just too hard to comprehend, someone like you living there.”
    “I changed,” I admitted. “For the better, I’d like to think. And I guess Gideon didn’t think of it when he asked me, but going back there today brought all sorts of shit rushing back to me. I don’t know if I can continue doing his business for him.”
    We had to whisper because Nana was sleeping in one of our bedrooms. Deloy was off on a Bountiful run. I’d gotten up at one in the morning, unable to sleep. I’d put a bottle of Jim Beam in the kitchen, so I padded out shirtless to pour a few fingers. Oaklyn had wandered out too in a powder pink satin robe that made her look like an innocent angel. She wanted a few fingers, too, so we’d put on jackets to go onto the back deck, me a black leather one, and her a fake furry thing that rendered her absolutely luminous.
    “Oh, jeez,” she said, “I didn’t think about that. Have you had any contact with your mom or dad? They obviously did nothing about your Nana’s condition.”
    Oaklyn’s Dr. Lee had diagnosed multiple conditions for Nana in addition to her diabetes. It had caused advanced nerve damage to the point where she couldn’t feel her feet. Foot ulcers were so bad that another week without treatment would’ve meant amputation. He’d also tested her for pulmonary lung disease and a bunch of cardio stuff. He was already recommending she be put into assisted living, and some of the tests hadn’t even come back yet.
    Nana had been suffering for who knew how long. I didn’t want to think what might’ve happened if I hadn’t decided to take a spin down to Avalanche and rent out a martial arts studio. And obviously not one of my eleven plus siblings had lifted a finger for her. They were all brainwashed Morbots, programmed to the core.
    “Nothing. They were party to my excommunication, so I want nothing to do with them. Some still have a little contact with their parents. Deloy’s mom has been sending him some token amount of money every now and then. He doesn’t need it, but takes it to make her feel good.”
    Oaklyn looked thoughtful. “I never thought before about what it’d be like to have such hateful parents. Our parents were all right. Not the most shining examples in the world, but nothing you could cry ‘abuse’ over. Just very upright religious folks. Your parents sound like the poster children for abuse.”
    “My parents,