Forced Out of the Darkness (28 page)

“Hurry up…” Cameron
said as he fell back asleep.

Monti took off his
clothes, walked back to the bed and looked on the nightstand for Cameron’s
phone. He found the phone and tried to open it but he didn’t know what the
password was. He took Cameron’s phone into the other room and used his phone to
call it in an attempt to access the phones contacts. He saw the call register
on the caller ID and answered the call. When he tried to access the home
screen, he got the password lock again. He hung up the phone and went back into
the bedroom. He got in the bed and soon sleep found him also.

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Responsibility: The Bitter Pill

Before Monti knew it,
his 4:30 am alarm sounded and he had to get up. Today was Friday and then he
had a three-day weekend. He performed his morning hygiene and found something
to wear. He typically dressed down on Friday’s. He also did his dry cleaning
run when he got off work on Fridays. After about a half hour, he was dressed
and gathered his dirty clothes together in a bag. That is when it hit him. He
had taken those ‘park clothes’ to the dry cleaners last week. He kissed Cameron
on the forehead and made his way down the stairs. He opened the front door and
stepped out. He set down his bag of clothes and turned around to lock the top
lock back. He turned back around and picked up his dry cleaning and dropped the
bag and his briefcase.

Monti’s stomach began
to turn flips as he looked at his vehicle. He saw a third manila envelope stuck
under the windshield wiper. Paralyzed in fear, Monti just stood there with
shallow breathing. He felt a panic attack coming upon him. After a few moments,
he broke through it and was able to take a step. One step led to a second and
soon he was in full out stride towards his Jeep. He opened the envelope and
found another note and some photos that looked like they were printed on a home
photo printer. He looked at the photos and saw that they were of Cameron and
Monti at the restaurant last night. One photo was taken when they were sitting
down at the booth and another one showed them walking to Cameron’s car as they
left the restaurant.

Monti opened the note
to and read it.

Monti Fuck-up
Burroughs,

I see you had a nice
time out last night. By now, I am sure you know I met Cameron. He is such a
nice guy. How did you, in your miserable existence, manage to catch such a good
guy? We had such a nice conversation yesterday. He really likes you and I
suspect that he does because he doesn’t know the real Montague Burroughs. No
respectable person in their right mind would give you the time of day. How long
are you going to be able to keep this façade before he sees through you? You
think you are better than the rest of us when you are just as bad as we are. Straight
up whore. Cameron can’t make a whore turn into a housewife. You are just going
to take him down like everyone else you have come in contact with. I want you
to pay for what you did to all the people you fucked over. You will pay for all
the relationships you messed up and the hearts you broke in the process.

Calvin

“How did he find me at
Cameron’s house.” Monti thought. Monti looked up and saw his things on the
porch. He went and retrieved his belongings. He put the stuff in his vehicle and
headed to work. He had to get to work and find a way to make it to the dry
cleaners to get that number. Instead of taking responsibility for his actions,
Monti began to take the victim stance. “Why do things always happen to me?” He
thought. He did not see how he treated others and how he had done wrong by them
but in each of the situations, he was the one done wrong.

Monti did not accept
that his philandering ways were what drove Yolanda into the arms of his best
friend. No, cheating was not right but all Yolanda wanted was love and when
Monti’s best friend offered a listening ear and a crying shoulder, she took it.
He knew of Monti’s antics and what he was doing. She did not have it growing up
and she thought her husband would be able to provide that. Monti chose to
maintain extramarital relations with anything that would give him the time of
day.

David wanted a healthy
relationship. He did not sign up for Monti’s antics. He did not care to be
cheated on. He didn’t care to be lied. Monti was unable to cultivate a
relationship because he was constantly feeding his inner-child by the multiple
conquests. David did not want to be stalked. Monti blamed David for the failure
of the relationship because he said David knew he was married when they got
together. Monti forgot that he told David that he was going to be the only one,
but the other ones could not or would not keep Monti’s secrets.

There were many people
that were left in the ruins of Monti’s conquests. There comes a time when one
must pay for the damage and destruction that they have inflicted upon others. Karma
had a way of balancing the scales of justice if a person did not right their
own wrongs.

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Are You Happy With Your Partner

Cameron woke up and
felt a slight hangover, but he knew that he had some things to do to prepare
for the holiday. He got out the bed and turned on the shower. He looked at
himself in the mirror and decided to have lunch at Union Street. He took a shower
and headed out to eat. His phone rang.

“Hello.”

“Hey Cameron. How are
you? This is Calvin.”

“Hey Calvin. How are
you doing? Did you make it to Atlanta safely?”

“Yes, I got here around
9:00 am this morning.”

“Cool, I am sure you
will have a good time. I have never been to Atlanta’s pride but I hear that it
is a nice time.”

“Yes, I come every
year. I gotta get to my freak parties.” Calvin said as he laughed. Cameron knew
he was serious because he heard about the sex parties where they only let in
the finest brothers. Some even did not allow people that were outside a certain
height and weight standard. Cameron was not comfortable with going to something
like that because he had body image issues and he could not bear the fact of
being turned away because he was not sexy enough or that he had too much
stomach. Cameron did not deal with rejection well so he stayed in his comfort
zone.

“I admire you for being
able to do that. I would love to have been able do the whole sex party thing
but I don’t have the courage to do something like that. I may not be sexy
enough.”

“Are you serious? Man
you are quite the looker Cameron. I would have talked to you if you were single
and all that.”

“Thanks for the
compliment Calvin. I appreciate it…makes a brother feel good. You are handsome
yourself.” Cameron smiled. He enjoyed when people gave him sincere compliments.
Calvin seemed to be sincere so the compliment was well welcomed. “You were
saying something at the nail shop about my partner. Do you know him?”

“I know more about him
than I would like to know.” Calvin said as he was figuring Cameron out. “Cameron
you are a really good guy. From our brief conversation yesterday, you seem to
have it going on. Are you happy with your partner?”

“Monti?” Cameron
answered. “For the most part I am happy. I am sure that we will have our share
of issues as most relationships do but I am happy. Why do you ask?”

“I am just asking. I
just know the kind of guy that Monti is. Do you know any of his friends?”

“No, not yet. We are
having a small get together on Monday with just us and our two best friends. Maybe
one day, we can have you over for dinner.”

“That is nice of you
man. Who knows maybe one day that will happen. My advice to you would be that
you should make sure that you ask questions. Make sure that you meet his
friends and the people that he hangs with.”

“Now that I am starting
my new job, I will be here more so I should be able to get to know more of his
network. I am excited about that possibility.”

“Did he tell you about
what happened between him and his ex-David?”

“Not much, he said
something about David cheating and got caught. I felt bad for the both of them
that they were not able to work though those situations. I hate when
relationships fail.”

“Hey, sometimes the
best of people can’t make it work.” Calvin had heard enough about Monti
Burroughs for the day. “Hey Cameron, do you mind if I call you a little later,
or better yet how about we talk face to face when I get back in town?”

“No problem man. I’d
enjoy that. Enjoy yourself and have some fun for me.”

“You got it. I’m sure
that we will talk again some more real soon.”

“Later.”

“Bye.”

Cameron thought about
the conversation and wondered why Calvin asked him about knowing Monti’s
friends and his past relationships. “Was Calvin one of Monti’s exes?” Cameron
said inquisitively. “Next time we talk I am going to ask him.” Cameron said to
himself. Until he got some clarity on this subject, Cameron decided to keep
this conversation under wraps.

Chapter Forty

Above Your Pay Scale

“I can’t believe that
lying bastard said that shit about my cousin…David got caught cheating. That is
some crazy bullshit. It was Monti who was trying to live a double life and got
my cousin caught up in this shit. I am sure he did not tell Cameron about his
felonious past.” Calvin was pissed off.

Calvin picked up his
phone, went into his settings and blocked his caller ID from showing up when he
made a call. He dialed Monti’s work number. Calvin was very resourceful. He had
connections in healthcare, law enforcement and in legal circles.

“This is Monti
Burroughs, EMS supervisor, how can I help you?”

“You are so pathetic.” Calvin
said sarcastically. “Is this the job that a felon gets because they can’t
control their dick?”

“Who the hell is this?”
Monti asked as he felt his anger begin to build.

“You know who the hell
this is you fucking bastard. You think you can hide from me. Haven’t I proved
to you that I can find you? I obviously know that you carry your ass to the damn
park on the regular.”

“What the hell do you
want? Do you want some more of this dick? Is that what you want?”

“Don’t flatter
yourself. If you think that you are all that, your whorish ass is sadly
mistaken. What I want is to see your pathetic excuse of a world to crumble and
to see you reduced to the bullshit that you really are.”

“I don’t see you saying
that to my face.” Monti said. He could feel the blood rush to his face as he
began to perspire.

“You know, as well as I
do, that you don’t deserve that sexy ass Cameron. He is way above your pay
scale.” Calvin laughed. “But I am sure you are aware of that.”

“Fuck you. You don’t
even know me. Why the hell are you calling my job?”

“I know more about you
than you think I do. You don’t want me to call your job? Is that it? What…you
don’t want me to make you lose your job?”

“Hell no!” Monti said.

“Would you rather that
I called you on your cell phone? Would you rather that I called your boyfriend?
Or better yet, would you prefer that I called that director who doesn’t like
your taste in clothing? Humm…and when or if I call them what do you think I
would tell them?”

Monti was silent. He
did not know what to say at this point. This guy obviously did his homework and
knew much more about him than Monti was comfortable with. “How did he know all
of this stuff about me?” Monti questioned.

“Oh so you aren’t such
a bad ass now I see, you punk ass bitch. I will be in touch with you soon,
Monti.” Calvin went to hang up the phone but then he thought that he needed to
put an exclamation point on the conversation. “Oh yeah…enjoy your holiday get
together.” He said as he hung up.

Monti thought about the
conversation but he was not thinking clearly. He felt helpless. Who did he piss
off that was looking to get back at him? Monti sat there numb from the
conversation. The sting of it had worn off and he was just left there as if he
was just administered a spinal tap. He could not feel anything right now. Monti
looked at his watch to find out that it was 2:00 pm. He had to come out of his
numbness and complete his reports. He still had to go to the cleaners and
hopefully find Calvin’s number; however what was he going to do with it at this
point. His pride would not allow him to talk about this to anyone. Plus he did
not know how much information that Calvin had on him and did not know where he
got the information.

Monti finished up his
reports and did his briefing to his second shift counterpart and headed to the
cleaners. After he picked up his clothes he headed home to Cameron’s house. He
used this time to try to think about what was going on. He did not know what to
do. He decided to call Cameron to see how his day was.