23 - U-Turns

*Why didn’t you say anything to me? You’re my best friend. Why would you go through this without me? – Camille*
Camille arrived back at the Shack after visiting Priscilla and seemed upset. She disappeared and none of the Saints seemed to think that this was unusual. Darkness was forced to rely on the voices in the Shack to find her.
He made his way to the large gym towards the back of the building and found her wailing on a heavy bag. Stepping up behind it, he held the bag still while she continued to punch it. He didn’t say anything, didn’t ask any questions, never offered any useless advice. He held the bag and let her work out her frustrations in the empty gym.
After ten, fifteen and then twenty minutes, she continued to punch and kick with a strength that surprised him. He had held the bag for her before, but this felt different. She wasn’t working out like she did back in Baton Rouge. This was all emotion.
She was hurt. In pain. And scared. He held the bag and let her work it out. And when she finally stopped and walked around to him, he held her while she cried.
Again, he didn’t say anything, didn’t ask any questions, never offered any useless advice. He held the crying woman in the empty gym and supported her when her knees gave out.
Sliding an arm under her knees, he scooped her up and walked over to the padded workout bench and sat down. Her tears fell silently for several minutes as she had her face buried in his neck. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her close and let her cry.
The door opened and Darkness looked up and saw Toad approaching them. He sat back on his heels and gently touched her arm.
“I’m guessing that you’ve been out to see Becks?” he asked quietly.
“Yes, why didn’t anyone say she was that sick?”
“Most of the club doesn’t know. That’s how she wants it. She doesn’t want to be treated differently. Doesn’t want Molly or any of the kids treated any different.” He explained.
“These guys might not be all that bright, but they’re not stupid.”
He chuckled as he stood up, his knees cracking and a soft groan escaping as he was reminded of his age. Taking a few steps away he returned as he pulled another bench over and sat down, giving a soft sigh of relief.
“You old fucker.” Camille chuckled.
“Shut up, Worm.” He warned with a grin and no heat in his voice.
“Complain when I’m quiet, complain when I’m not.”
“I’m a very complicated man. You should know this by now.”
“I know more about you than I care to know.” She admitted with a grin. “I know a lot more about your men because they all seem to forget that my alcove is on the back hallway.”
He grunted. “They’ve gotten worse since you’ve been gone. Trev keeps them out of your alcove.”
“He’s one of my to favorite gay men.” She grinned as her phone chirped on the edge of the ring. “Oh! I told Pagan I would take his girls to go see a movie tonight.”
Toad tipped his head back and laughed. “That’s a hell of a conversation change.”
“Go get changed and we’ll go get the girls.” Darkness suggested and she nodded.
“Let me just pick up in here, put my stuff up.” She said taking off her boxing gloves.
Toad grabbed one glove and threw it in one direction and then threw the other in the opposite direction. Standing up, he knocked over the bench he had been sitting on. “Make it worse. As bad as you want.”
Camille was laughing as Toad went down the hall calling out, “Prospect! Get your fucking ass in the gym and get it cleaned up!”
“Does he not like the prospect?”
She laughed as she knocked over the weight stand. “It’s his nephew.”
He watched as the heavy weights scattered across the floor and he realized that she was stronger than what he had thought. She rolled several round weights across the floor with ease. Looking up after she rolled a seventy-five-pound weight across the gym, she caught his confused look.
“I worked out with Taz while I lived here.” She looked down at the bar in front of her and then deadlifted two-hundred pounds. Dropping it, Camille gave it a light kick in the direction that the gym slopped slightly. It picked up speed until it hit another weight rack and kettle bells fell.
“You need a shower, muscles.”
Twenty minutes later, she met Darkness in the bar, and they headed out to the parking lot. She opened the door to a Jeep similar to her own and slid into the driver’s seat. The engine roared to life as he got into the passenger seat.
“Who’s is this?”
“Technically, it belongs to Priss. But she only drives it if she’s going to a job site or it’s raining. We both got the same ones and listed them as company vehicles.”
“Smart.” He chuckled as they pulled out and headed into Monroe.
“Just a warning,” Camille said as she sped down the road, “Ashlyn and Alyssa are handfuls. I love them, love them to pieces. But they are … handfuls.”
“They can’t be that bad.”
Before they had even made it to the movie theater, he realized that he was wrong. The older one was obsessed with everything girly. The other one was going to give Wednesday Addams some serious competition.
When they would start to get on each other’s nerves and push the buttons, Camille would separate them and get them to settle down. At the little bakery café, the girls sat on opposite sides of the table with Darkness and Camille on the other two sides. With soft reminders, they were perfect little ladies.
Except when a Barbie head bounced off the back window.
“Roll the window down!” Baby Goth demanded.
“Camille!” Queen Diva cried.
Camille ignored them and did a U-turn at the next intersection. Both girls grew very silent.
“I’m sorry, Alyssa.” Baby Goth told her older sister.
Camille cleared her throat.
“I love you, you’re my sister and I should not treat your things like that.”
“Thank you, Ashlyn,” Queen Diva said as she accepted the doll back.
Camille cleared her throat again.
“I love you too and forgive you for acting like-“
Camille coughed.
“I love you too and forgive you.”
At the next intersection, she did another U-turn and headed back towards the movie theater. The girls were perfect ladies after that. However, they did sit with Baby Goth next to Darkness and Queen Diva on the other side of Camille.
Placing an arm around her shoulders as the live action movie played on the screen, Darkness made two decisions. Disney knew how to make a catchy song that would be stuck in his head for days to come.
He needed to take Camille on a real date.