Page 108 of Darkness Falls

Seeing my family so happy and carefree is everything. "If I get in that water, I'll be helping him, not you," I tease.

Barrett wraps his arm around her stomach and pulls her back to his chest as she screams and kicks her feet. He leans down and peppers kisses all over the side of her face, tricking her into relaxing into his hold before he bites down on her neck. Although she cries out, I can tell she's resisting the urge to moan at the same time. Our dirty girl.

"I'm going to go get the food going. It should be ready in about ten minutes," I say as I watch Callie turn into Barrett’s hold and wrap her arms around his neck.

"Yeah, we'll be there," Barrett says with his entire focus on her.

I shake my head, thinking back to when we first brought her here. These fuckers told me I was her little lap dog and that she had me on a leash. Looks like we're all leashed and collared by our girl now.

When I walk past Seb and Natasha, they follow me inside, most likely wanting to give Barrett and Callie a moment to themselves. The three of us make quick work preparing dinner, getting the burgers and sauteed veggies cooking. It's a fairlysimple dinner tonight, but Seb's burgers are better than any gourmet restaurant.

As Natasha is setting the table, Callie and Barrett saunter inside, holding hands and whispering to each other. She locks eyes with me and runs over to where I am standing, wrapping her arms around my waist.

"You were supposed to come save me," she teases.

"Last I checked, you weren't the kind of woman who needs saving, wanderer." I lean in and kiss her cheek tenderly.

"Maybe I wanted to pretend to be a damsel in distress so you can rescue me."

"I like the idea of you being in distress and at our mercy." A sly grin spreads across my face. "Maybe we can throw you back in that cell for a night or two and do some role-playing," I say, only half joking.

"Only if I can watch." Barrett laughs from the other side of the room, and she turns the brightest shade of red. It's cute how even the simplest words still affect her, especially after last night.

"Enough, you three; we have important things to discuss with Natasha," Seb interrupts, and I think we all roll our eyes at him at the same time.

"You need to take him to bed. He's being grumpy again. Have your way with him and cheer him up," I tell Callie, and she slaps my arm.

"Stop it, my mom's here!"

"LeeLee, I can leave the room if you all need a moment."

"Oh my god!" she exclaims, and everyone laughs.

It feels good to have a normal, playful banter between all of us without some sort of darkness looming on the horizon. Although we have some serious discussions planned for the dinner table tonight, none of them involve our sex lives with Callie.

"Nope, we're done talking about my personal life. Momma, we need to talk to you about the women and children of Rouge."

Natasha's eyebrows furrow, and instantly, the playfulness of the room changes its tone. She straightens her back in her seat, expecting to hear some sort of bad news. We did tell her we blew up the compound, but we only spoke of the men. I'm not sure if she considered what happened to the rest of the society.

"Are they—" she whispers, not able to finish the sentence.

"We aren't that cruel, Momma. That would make us no better than Father and the rest of the men with Rogue. The women and children are all safe and have been staying at Mary Mayweather's farm."

I don't miss the way Natasha lets out an exhale, allowing her body to relax over the news. She cares about them, and I don't blame her. A lot of these women only had each other to talk to, based on what Callie told me.

"Callie spoke with them and let them know their husbands are all dead. They were surprisingly understanding about the whole ordeal," I interject.

"Of course they were understanding. I'm sure most of them spent their entire lives feeling like nothing. Rogue wasn’t kindto us, no matter how hard we tried to pretend it was. The men were raised to believe a woman's place is by his side, and there were so many who were treated even worse than Callie and I were. We all knew not to talk about it because if word got back to our husbands..." she trails off and shakes her head before taking a bite of her food.

"Momma, I know you've been wanting to find something to devote your time to. What if you led them?"

"Me?"

"Well, yes, you. They trust you. You were married to their leader for such a long time, and they feel comfortable around you."

"I don't know, Callie. I just got free from that life."

"If I may interrupt." I cautiously look between them. "We aren't suggesting you give them rules or tell them how they should live. Only that, maybe, we could have a place for them to come to if they need help. We are thinking of a broad spectrum here. What if it wasn't only limited to the people affected by Rogue? What if you had a place where anyone who feels like they need to escape can go?" I give her a moment to soak in the words because I truly think she is the perfect person to fill the position.

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