95 - New House

*Darkness, honey, I’m so sorry. Oh, God, girl, David just told me. What can I do? What do you need for those babies? Do you have a plan of custody? Do you need assistance with that? Tell me what you need. - Jenna*

Camille tried calling Celt, but it went to his voicemail. She left a message and then sent a text message also. When she called her parents, she got the same result. And the same with Athos and Aramis.

With Priscilla, she received a message that the phone number was out of service.

Something was going on back home, but she did not have time to worry about that right now. They had their own crisis to deal with. While she was trying to reach someone back home, Darkness reached out to David. Darkness got up from the table and moved to the kitchen to finish making dinner.

Trying to reach her mom again, she was frustrated with being unable to reach anyone back home. Calling Allison, she anticipated the same results. It was a little shocking when her sister picked up before the second ring.

“Hey, I can’t get ahold of anyone,” Camille told her sister.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” Allison admitted. “Dad called mom, she took the call in the office and then left. She told me to lock up, activate the alarms and not answer the door.”

“Did they call a lockdown?”

“No, more like a lockout. I guess that’s what you’d call it,” the older sister said with a nervous laugh. “I’ve been told to stay away from the clubhouses, all three, until further notice.”

“Why is no one showing up when I look at the Wolf Pack app?”

Allison was quiet for a moment and Camille was not surprised by her sister’s response when it finally came.

“All tracking has been turned off and mom left their phones in the safe.”

“Oh,” was the only answer that she could give and her sister’s heavy response of “Yeah,” encompassed everything that Camille was feeling. They exchanged endearments and farewells before Camille ended the call.

Darkness sat a plate of Chicken Alredo, and oven roasted vegetables in front of her before sitting down with his own plate. “What does that mean? Tracking is turned off and your parent’s phones are in the safe?”

“Dad always says that there was a time that they were Devils than Saints. This is one of those times. They don’t want people to know who all is where or who is together. Most likely, they are killing someone.”

“Well, damn,” he said, not even trying to hide his shock.

“Did you get in touch with David?”

He nodded as he chewed the food in his mouth. After swallowing, he took a drink and then wiped his mouth before answering. “Said that he’d stop by on his way home in about an hour.”

They ate in silence for a while before moving to the kitchen to clean up and pack away the leftovers for lunches. Afterwards, they sat down on the couch with her tablet to plot out the next steps. Classes start next week, and this weekend would be the best time to go get the kids.

She went and grabbed her computer and ordered the school supplies that the three kids and herself would need. There were a few weeks until classes with LSU started up again. Technically, she was still in the second session of her summer semester. The professor that she had for the only class she was taking stated that they could work on their own schedule as long as everything was completed by the last day of class.

“I love your Jeep, but there is no way that we can all fit in it,” Darkness laughed, and Camille knew that he was picturing the five of them and Tink crammed into her Wrangler with the kid’s luggage.

“We could,” she argued. “It would be really fucking tight, and I would not want to be in there like that for more than about two and half minutes. But we could.”

“Let’s not,” he replied, dryly.

“Agreed,” she opened a new tab on her computer internet browser and searched for Jeep dealers between Baton Rouge and Hot Springs. They were looking at a few different Jeeps at a dealership just south of Hot Springs when there was a knock on the front door. Tink jumped off the nearby recliner and rushed to the door.

Darkness kissed the top of her head as he stood up and moved to the front door. Unsurprisingly, David stood on the other side, looking tired and freshly showered. He wore denim shorts and a police department T-shirt. Leaving his flip flops on the front porch, he went and sat on the far recliner, relaxing in the comfortable, plush chair. Automatically, he placed a hand on Tink’s head and gave him a gentle pat and scratch.

Pointing to the mask on his face, David asked, “Do you mind if I take it off?”

“Go for it, you want anything to drink? I have a beer.” Darkness asked, giving Tink a command through a hand signal and the dog went and settled into the other recliner. He curled up and his soft snores soon filled the room.

David removed the mask and smiled up at the other man, “That would be great. In fact, more than great.”

Chuckling, Darkness moved to the kitchen and grabbed a couple of bottles of beer from the refrigerator. He handed one of the twist top bottles to David and they tapped the necks of the dark glass bottles together. Both men twisted off the lids and took a drink, giving a soft sigh afterwards. Camille laughed at them as Darkness sat next to her and handed the bottle to her.

“Is that like a standard operating procedure for when men have a beer together?” she asked before taking a drink herself.

“Well, hell,” David said with a straight face. “We’re going to have to wipe your memory to ensure that you don’t tell any other women or secret code.”

“Okay, Agent D,” she laughed.

“Who told you my agent name?”

“Lucky guess,” she grinned.

Squinting his eyes, he made the I’m watching you motion between him and her. With a little shake of her head, she shrugged at him.

“Although I’m not going to object to being invited over for a beer, which, by the way, thank you,” David tipped his beer bottle at the couple sitting on the couch. “I’m assuming that there is something else going on here.”

“My, um, my brother’s wife died today.”

David closed his eyes and shook his head, then looking at his friend, asked, “Covid?”

Nodding, Darkness explained, “She was an emergency room physician, and my brother is a cardio-pulmonary thoracic surgeon. He’s sick himself.”

“Fuck, Darkness, I’m sorry,” he shifted to sit forward, resting his elbows on hid knees. “What can I help you with?”

“We’re going to go get the kids this weekend, and as much as we love this little cottage,” Darkness motioned to encompass the house that they sat in, “it’s not big enough for us and three teens.”

“Ouch, yeah, no, you would literally be on top of each other.” David agreed.

“Jenna was saying that you guys were having a hard time renting her parent’s house,” Camille grinned. “How much are you guys wanting for rent?”

“That is actually a Jenna question, you want to walk down with me?”

“Tink?” Camille asked and the dog lifted his head from his recliner. “You want to go see Damien?”

Jumping out of the chair, the dog trotted down the hall.

“Um, is that a no?” David asked as he stood up.

“No,” Darkness chuckled as they also stood up and Camille followed her dog. “We keep his harness and lead in the office.”

David chuckled. “Smart. I’ll meet you two at the house. Give me a few minutes to break the news to Jenna. She’s still hormonal and post-partum has been rough this time around.”

“Sounds good,” Darkness agreed, and he held the door open for his landlord.

Just a few minutes after David left, they also left their little cottage and walked the opposite direction to the house that David and Jenna lived in. At the stop sign, they crossed to the other side of the road and walked back up the other side.

When they reached the yard for the other house, Jenna approached and hugged both Darkness and Camille. She gave them her condolences and then apologized for crying.

They talked for a few minutes and then settled on an amount for rent. Jenna went inside and retrieved the keys to her parents’ house.

When they arrived back at their little cottage, Camille reserved two small moving trailers. While she took care of that, Darkness made arrangements with Gator for some of the Cajuns to help them move to the new house.