68 - Fairie Room

*She doesn’t know about the cottage. – Darkness*
It had been a long time since Camille had felt this alone. Even after she had moved down here, she had never felt cut off from her family and friends. But today she did.
Surrounded by the fairies that the Cajuns had put in her room when she first visited two years ago. Along with the posters of fairies on the walls, there were pictures of the people closest to her, family and friends both here and back home. The cloth covered cork board that one of the bunnies here had made her was so covered with pictures that you could hardly see the purple cloth or LSU ribbon.
The fairy figurines around the room had increased over the past two years. Ceramic, plastic and resin fairies sat around the room in various stages of flight or daily activities. Rosie had gotten her the one standing over the smoking caldron with a look of surprise on her soot covered face. It had appeared in a gift bag hanging on her door only a few days after she had told Rosie and Candi about her multiple kitchen fires.
Her bed was covered by a bedding set with a dark gothic forest scene with fairies dancing inside a circle of dark purple mushrooms. She wasn’t sure where Darkness had found the set at, but she liked it much better than the childish set that had been on the bed when she first visited.
Surrounded by the fairies that Rosie and Darkness had given her, for the first time she wondered why she had moved so far away. But as she scrolled through her phone, she wondered if it would really make a difference.
Priss was dealing with her grief and didn’t need Camille calling with her jealousy.
Athos and Aramis were in their second year of college and trying desperately to have a better season next year. A single win would be a hundred times better than this year’s perfect streak of losses.
Porthos was back in Germany or Japan or wherever the army sent him. She could never keep up with where aby of the guys in the military were. She gave up after she discovered that Fort Worth, Texas no longer had a fort.
Her parents were busy with Allison and the results of her divorce.
All her other sisters had their families and careers to deal with.
Dutch had his kids, and Double D had his wives and their kids.
Critter…. She would rather tell Priscilla’s sister, Amanda, her deepest darkest secret than go to Chris for any relationship advice. Neither could keep a secret, and both would tell the wrong people at the worst possible time.
Typically, when she needed to talk to someone, she went to Darkness or Rosie. But they both had just ripped her heart out.
No matter what he said, she couldn’t go to Gator because he had warned her about this. Nor could she go to Toad. And after the way he had acted in Vegas, she was *not* going to Brute.
Clay and Trev were off doing whatever Clay and Trev did. She knew what they did. Trevor looked intimidating and Clay blew your brains out from half a mile away.
Dom would take care of any issue in a permanent fashion.
No matter how angry and hurt she was right now, she did not want that solution.
Scrolling through her phone, she was again reminded of how few friends she really had. The majority of her contacts had either a motorcycle or bunny emoji and a word after their name. Mother. Pops. Shack. Eagle. Mongrel. Texas. Cajun.
She had eight siblings. There should be someone that she could talk to.
A name with a rabbit emoji caught her attention. Candi.
*Hey – you around?*
Yeah, that was cheesy and almost sounded like she was wanting a hook up. She deleted the message before sending it. She tried a few more, but it all came off sounding wrong.
Dropping the phone on the bed she buried her face in Tink’s fur and cried. The sleek and powerful dog twisted around and kissed her wet cheek. She must be upset because she did not recoil at the face kisses. And she hated face kisses from animals.
Do you know what they do with that tongue? How they clean themselves? And each other? A shiver of disgust ran through her body, and she turned her face away from his. She would need to scrub her face extra hard when she was done crying.
There was a light knock on the door and turned his attention to where the sound came from. She ignored the next two knocks.
After another light knock, Camille finally moved off the bed. She opened the door and nearly slammed it shut again.
“Please.” Rosie begged. “I need to explain.”
Her mother said that the other kids all got loud mad, and you knew what was coming. Lots of yelling. Maybe a few fists being thrown. There was a distinct possibility that something was getting broken. Either a face or a vase.
But Camille got quiet mad. She plotted and planned. Her revenge was sometimes in the long game. Really and truly, you never knew what she would do. There had been a time that she came home with every battery that she could find in Dutch’s house. Her revenge might be petty. And sometimes it was taking her sister’s vibrator to another state.
Camille stepped back from the door and let the older woman into her room. After closing the door, she sat on the bed and rested her back against the headboard. Crossing her legs, she patted next to her and Tink laid back down with his head in her lap.
Rosie sat at the foot of the bed and looked at her with tear filled eyes. “It was my day off, but we had a meeting at the nursing home today about this COVID shit. It’s been a crap day, all I wanted was to crawl into bed and binge my weight in chocolate, French fries and Midol.”
Camille reached over and grabbed the plastic bowl of the space brownies and tossed them at the other woman. She knew what bad period cramps were like. No one should suffer that. Not even her current frenemy.
Rosie smiled her thanks. “Darkness sent me a message and asked me to meet him at a jobsite. I think he wants you to move to his room or something.”
“Why would you think that?” Camille asked quietly. Absently she stroked Tink and played with his ears. The dog shifted and gave a small snore as he snuggled in closer to his favorite person.
“He asked me to help him pick out sheets and blankets and shit that I thought you would like.”
Camille couldn’t help but give a small sad smile. “Like the bed swing on the back porch,” she said softly.
“Yeah. He was so nervous and cute.” She smiled back and reached over to place a comforting hand on her friend’s leg. “I’ve known him almost my whole life, my mom used to babysit him for Zydeco after his parents were killed. I’ve never seen him like this over a woman. Ever. I hugged him and kissed his cheek.”
“I was jealous.” Camille admitted. “I thought that he had fucked you. I can’t even get him undressed.”
“Oh, honey,” she squeezed her young friend’s leg. “It’s you he wants. But without all the prying eyes. I think some of the guys are reporting to your dad.”
Camille scoffed. “That doesn’t surprise me. He won’t tell us what to do or who not to date, but he’ll want to know everything.”
“He’s an MC president and dad. He worries. And you’re the youngest.”
“Yeah. I have Trigg as my real dad. Then Brute, Toad and Gator all seem to think that they are also my dads. And Dutch, Double D and Critter as older brothers. And three clubhouses protecting my virtue.” She gave a soft smile. “No wonder my mom encouraged me to move away to cash in my V-card.”
“Honey, are you still a virgin?”
“You met Dom. I wear her protection patch. Who the fuck is going to cross her?”
Rosie blushed, “I could so go lesbo for her.”
“You should meet her partner and his wife.”
“I would love to go down that road, but friend to friend, right now, you need to go talk to your man. He’s scared that he’s going to lose you.”
“He’s not going to lose me.” Camille whispered.
“Let him know that.” Rosie smiled. “Don’t tell him I said anything about the bedding. And don’t be surprised if I send you random pictures and questions.”
“I won’t.”
Rosie stood up, “Tink, you want to go get a treat?”
At his favorite word, he sat up, eyes wide and looking at Camile. “Go on.”