Forced Out of the Darkness (27 page)

Chapter Thirty-Six

Just
Saw A Ghost

Monti got himself
together and made his way down I-75 to the downriver area. When he got to
Cameron’s he parked in the front. He put both notes and the photos inside one
envelope and put them in the back of the Jeep under the last row seat. He went
into the house and went straight for the 1
^st
floor bedroom where his
clothes were and cracked the door behind him. He had to find those jeans and
that flannel shirt. As he was looking through boxes and boxes of clothes, his
phone rang.

“Hello.”

“Hey Monti. I wanted to
let you know that I will be home in about thirty more minutes. I stopped off to
get a manicure and pedicure as a congratulations for me and I didn’t want you
to be waiting on me.”

“Oh, no baby, that was
a very good idea. I should have thought about that. Take your time. We will go
when you are ready. Just call me when you are leaving so that I can be ready
when you get home.”

“I will. See you soon.”

“Bye.”

Monti kept looking and
could not find the jeans. He did not pack in an orderly fashion so he had
clothes everywhere. He continued to search for the clothes that he wore that
night but he was unable to find them. As he looked around the room, he knew that
he had to try to get things back in order before Cameron called because he did
not know what his reaction would be when he saw the room in such disarray. Then
he heard the garage door open. “Shit, I gotta hurry up and get this together.” He
said in a panic. It was too late; Cameron opened the door from the garage and
came in. He was on the phone deeply in a conversation so he didn’t notice the
cracked door and the clothing thrown about. From the sounds of the
conversation, he would be on there for a little while. Monti waited until he
heard Cameron walking above him and he continued to put clothes back in boxes
and stacked them neatly on top of each other. Monti had two more places to look
for these clothes but he would not be able to look today because he had to get
ready for dinner and drinks.

Monti composed himself
and exited the room. He headed up the stairs to greet Cameron and to get ready
to head out. Cameron was wrapping up his call when Monti came into the bedroom.
He smiled when he saw Monti and walked over and gave him a hug as he was saying
good-bye to whomever he was talking to.

“Hey Monti. I thought
you had beat me home. I didn’t hear you come in. I meant to call you but one of
my coworkers called me and was telling me congratulations about the new job.”

“That was nice of them.
I am going to jump in the shower and get ready.”

 “I showered before I
went to get my pampering.”

“Hey babe, can you do
me a favor?”

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Can you pick out
something for me to wear while I shower?”

“No problem. I can
handle that.”

“Thanks.” Monti said as
he reached out and pulled Cameron close to him. Monti looked into his eyes and
kissed him passionately.

“You better stop before
we miss dinner and go right to dessert.”

“Alright, Cam. Get
ready.”

Monti went to the
bathroom and turned on the shower. They were comfortable with each other so
they never closed the bathroom door when they were showering. Cameron went into
the closet and found some nice jeans that Monti had hanging in the closet and a
polo shirt. He laid out a black jock strap and some socks with the new Ralph
Lauren Polo boots that he bought Monti just because.

After Cameron had
finished laying out Monti’s clothes, he called Monti.

“Yeah what’s up?” He
responded from the shower.

“Have you been to this
place called Capers before?”

All Cameron heard was
banging and a noise from the bathroom. He ran to the bathroom to see if Monti
was alright.

“Are you alright?”

“Huh, umm…yes. I am
alright.” He managed to get out.

“What happened?”

“I dropped the soap and
then when I tried to get it I slipped and had to catch myself on the shower
wall.”

“You got to be careful.
You look like you just seen a ghost.” Cameron said as he made his way back into
the bedroom. He turned on the television but turned the volume down so that
they could continue to their conversation.

“No, no ghost here. I
am ok.”

“Have you heard of that
place?”

“Yeah…I have been there
a couple times. Why?”

“I was at the mall
today getting my manicure and pedicure and there was a guy that came in after
me. He ended up sitting next to me. We started talking about stuff in general
and he was telling me about it. He seemed to be a cool guy. I had never seen
him there before but he said he comes there often.”

“How did Capers come
into the conversation?”

“We were talking about
what our plans were for the night. He obviously was gay so I told him that we
were going for dinner and drinks. He asked me if I had ever been there because
they have good strong drinks.”

“Oh ok. What did this
guy look like?”

“He was a little taller
than you with a bald head. He was interesting looking because he only had a
thin moustache with no goatee. He looked like he worked out on a regular
because his chest was huge. He said his name was Calvin or something like
that.”

Cameron again heard the
sounds of falling. He ran back into the bathroom. “Monti, you got me worried
here. No one falls twice in the same shower.”

“I’m ok. I need to get
out of here now anyway.”

“Yes, I agree.”

Monti did not know what
to do at this point. He didn’t want to alarm Cameron that he could possibly
know who Calvin was but he had more questions for Cameron. He wanted to know if
they had exchanged numbers or had made any plans to meet up again. What was
Calvin doing? Did he want to make a point and show Monti who was in control? He
succeeded in getting Monti’s attention. Monti needed time to think about what
he had to do to address this guy and to make sure that he left Cameron alone.

“Did you invite this
guy
to come out tonight to celebrate with us?”

“No, I didn’t he was
cool and all but I didn’t know him like that to break bread with him so soon. We
did exchange numbers and he said he would call me soon. He was leaving to go to
Atlanta early tomorrow morning to celebrate Atlanta’s Black Gay Pride but would
be back after the holiday.”

“That is cool.” Monti
breathed a sigh of relief as he finished drying himself off. He went into the
room to put on the clothes that Cameron had picked for him. At least Calvin
would not be around for a little while to allow Monti to find a way to get his
number from Cameron without causing any alarm. Monti was so used to living in
secrecy that he would be able to keep this under wraps at least for the
evening. Tomorrow at work he would devise a plan on how to get the number. Cameron
had a password on his phone because of the text message incident.

“You know one year we
should go to one of the prides festivities outside of Detroit’s Hotter than
July. I know you are not very comfortable participating in the openly gay
events here but at least you could see what it is about.”

“You know I am not into
a lot of gay shit. The only thing they do at those things is have fuck party
after fuck party.”

“Have you ever been to
a ‘fuck party’?”

“Back in the day, I did,
but I only went to the private ones that some of my friends would throw. We
would get a few sexy bottoms together and then the fellas would get it in
good.”

“Wow, I guess. I mean I
have done my share of stuff in Europe but never with a bunch of friends. I
don’t have many friends that are into the freaky shit.”

“Those days are far
behind me.” Monti said trying to convince himself that he was purged of those
whorish ways.

“Are you about ready?”
Cameron asked interrupting Monti who was deep in thought.

“Yes, I am. Let’s get
out of here and start celebrating.”

“But you can’t
celebrate too much because you have to work tomorrow.” Cameron reminded.

“You are right. Tomorrow
is Friday so we can continue the party through the weekend.”

“That’s cool. Let’s get
going. I am hungry and need a drink.”

The two of them arrived
at the restaurant and had a great time. Cameron noticed that Monti was not as
plugged into the nights events as he was, but he had a nice time anyway. Monti
made sure that Cameron had drinks that made him feel relaxed and carefree. It
was his night to celebrate his new job. He did not want what was going on in
his world to cloud Cameron’s. Monti’s world was getting darker and Cameron’s
was shining brighter.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Completely
Free

Cameron was inebriated so
Monti chose to drive back to the house. Monti parked Cameron’s car in the
garage. His vehicle was still sitting out front. Once back to at the house,
they went up to the bedroom. Cameron got undressed and sat at the end of the
bed.

“Is there ever going to
be a day when you let yourself be completely free?”

“What are you talking
about?”

“You are holding so
many secrets and hurt. When do you want to live in freedom?”

“You are drunk. You
should probably lie down.”

“I might have had a few
drinks, Monti, but you know I am speaking the truth. I can see the darkness and
hurt in your eyes. You are only continuing to hurt yourself in the process and
for whatever reason I feel that it is going to consume you and hurt others in
the process.”

Monti was floored that
he heard these words from an inebriated Cameron. Where did he get such insight?
“Babe, you need to lie down and get some rest. I am going to go get you a glass
of water. The Tylenol is on the dresser. I don’t want you to have a hangover in
the morning.”

“Ok, but Monti, you are
going to have to face your demons and might have to do that sooner than you
think.”

“I’ll be right back.” Monti
went downstairs to get a glass of water and the conversation hit him. What was
Cameron talking about? This Calvin thing was so close to him that he was very
unsettled. He did not know what to think. He had received two notes, photos and
now this guy had made contact with Cameron. Obviously there was someone that
Calvin was working with because he could not take the pictures himself,
especially because he was busy getting his life in that clearing. Monti began
to feel regretful of his action. He hated that he was not in control of this
situation.

Monti always liked to
be in control seat of life. Early in childhood, he did not like the controlling
parental influences and vowed that when he was an adult he would maintain
control of his life. He would decide what happened in his life. He did many
things to many people based on his own self-absorbed personality. He refused to
take responsibility for the course of actions he took, which lead to the demise
of relationship after relationship. He looked at people as a conquests and what
he could get from being the victor of the chase.

Monti was in, yet,
another relationship and destruction had already started working its way into
this relationship also. All he knew was that he loved Cameron and he wanted to
grow old with him. Since he had moved in with Cameron, his wandering ways had
diminished. It was not because he wanted them to diminish but because it was
harder to find space to get out. Monti had not experienced enough to want to
open up and uncover all the darkness. He felt that he could continue to keep
the darkness locked up deep inside.

The only way for Monti
to truly be free was for him to pull back the covers and expose himself but was
he ready to rip off all the scabs that covered his mental, personal and
emotional wounds to allow him to heal. As long as he allowed himself to remain
broken, he would continue to call brokenness. Cameron was different. Yes, he
had his flaws but he was truly a relationship person. He had some maturing to
do to ensure that he was a good partner but these were maturity flaws not
personality flaws.

Monti took the glass of
water back up to Cameron who was sleep by now. Monti gently shook Cameron on
his shoulder. He was beginning to smell the liquor coming from Cameron’s skin.

“Yeah…what?” Cameron
said in his inebriated state.

“Drink this water
Cameron.”

Cameron took the
Tylenol and drank the full glass of water that Monti presented to him. “Are you
going to come to bed?”

“Yes, I am coming. Let
me get out of these clothes.”