Forced Out of the Darkness (3 page)

“Oh yeah, I do remember.”
Monti recalled some of their previous conversations. He also remembered telling
Cameron how he liked his supervisory role at his job. He recalled that he had
to write-up a couple of his problem employees. He told Cameron that he could
not stand some of his lazy employees and how they got on his nerves. He was
reminded of the employees he caught in the cleaning closet earlier today. They
were mature employees. The male had a prosthetic leg.

Monti laughed to
himself as he remembered the sight of opening up the closet door and seeing the
two of them going at it with the man’s prosthetic leg propped on the side of
the wall. He was so shocked initially, that he just stood there before he
realized what they were doing. They going for broke trying to reach climax,
only to have all sense of arousal snatched away by their supervisor. Monti was
so enthralled in his thoughts that he could not hear Cameron calling him by the
fictitious name he gave.

“Eric…can you hear me? Hello.
Come back to the table.” Cameron spoke. “Where did you go? I kept calling you
and you didn’t answer. The drinks and the salads are here.”

“Oh my bad, I was just
thinking about something that happened today at work. I thought about how crazy
it was to catch the two employees that I have been trying to get rid. Now, they
gave me the reason to write them up and potentially terminate them.” said
Monti.

“What happened?”
Cameron asked.

Monti shared the story
with Cameron. Cameron was listening to the story and when he got to the place
in the story where Monti had opened the door, he said that the employee with
the prosthetic leg looked over his shoulder and said, “Mr. Monti, what are you
doing?” Then he realized what he said and went back to correct it to say, “Mr. Eric,
what are you doing?”

Cameron was attentive
and immediately caught Monti’s Freudian slip. “Why would the employee call him
Monti when his name was Eric?” Cameron asked himself. The statement caught
Cameron’s attention. Cameron was not about to let it slide, but he needed to figure
out the appropriate way to address it.

The two shared more
conversation as they ate their food. The meal was coming to an end and the
server came back to ask if they needed anything else. Both Monti and Cameron
shook their heads no and requested the check. Monti was adamant about paying
for the bill and requested that the server bring one check. When the check
arrived, he quickly handed his credit card to the server before Cameron was
able to get his wallet out his back pocket.

Monti was trying to
figure out how he was going to ask to spend more time with this sexy man. The
date was going well and he wanted to get to know Cameron sexually. He did know
that Cameron was a flight attendant and knew that sometimes he was gone from
the city for days at a time. It was cool because he would be a good guy for a ‘
friends
with benefits
’ situation. Monti thought Cameron had some other guys he was
seeing anyway, so Cameron was a challenge. Monti wanted to win this challenge. Monti
knew that he was not seeing anyone of substance after all the drama that he
just went through with his ex. Monti would remember hearing the closing of his jail
cell doors and the feeling of cold steel on his wrists when he thought about
the situation with his ex.

“Montag…Montagu…Mr.
Burroughs, how do you pronounce your first name?” The server blew his cover. Cameron
raised his eyebrows hearing this information.

“It is pronounced
Montague, but I go by Monti.” He said as he nervously took the check and filled
out the totals and a two-dollar tip.

Cameron was observant
due to his time spent in the United States Marine Corps and in his career as a
flight attendant. He was trained to be aware of his surroundings and pay
attention to details. And two details in this picture were not adding up.

“Montague? That is your
name?” Cameron asked not trying to make a scene.

“Err…umm, yes that is
my name. People call me Monti for short.” He replied.

“You told me your name
was Eric. All this time I have been calling you Eric. Why would you feel it was
necessary to lie about your name? Were you wanting something more substantial
than just a date with a guy?” Cameron asked.

“Yes, I think you are a
good guy and I want to get to know you better. I just said Eric because we just
met and I did not know if you were some crazy dude.” Monti explained.

“But we have talked for
some time and I have shared some pretty personal stuff…. why did you feel that
you should lie about who you were when we would meet eventually?” Cameron
asked. “What else are you not being truthful about?” Cameron asked.

“Nothing, that’s it. Everything
else we talked about was straight up truth.” Monti said.

Monti knew that he had
messed up. He knew that he should have come clean before they met in person. He
knew that Cameron did not like to deal with dishonest people based on their
previous conversations. In a slight panic, a bead of sweat formed on Monti’s
temple while he was telling his brain to think and find a way out of this
situation. He knew that he had to do something to salvage this date because he
had a burning in his pants that he wanted Cameron to take away. They had deep
and sexy conversations together and Monti wanted to play out some of those
verbal scenes physically with Cameron. Monti reached under the table and took Cameron’s
hand. “Hey Cameron, I want to tell you that I am sorry for not being upfront
and honest with you about my name.”

“It makes me feel
uneasy that you would keep up this charade for so long.” Cameron said.

“I didn’t know who
‘Cameron’ was about or anything, but after dinner and conversation, I knew you
were a good guy and I wanted more with you. I was honestly going to tell you
tonight.” Monti paused looking for some sign of forgiveness from Cameron. “Cameron,
can you find it in your heart to forgive me and get to know me better. Make the
decision to move forward or not, after you get to know me better. Ok?” Monti
smiled trying to let Cameron see the sincerity of his request.

The voice in Cameron’s
head started to speak and say, “Get the hell out of here.” However, it was
drowned out by that smile. Though it was not perfect, it had what Cameron
needed to put him at ease. “Ok, I will forgive you this time but you can’t ever
lie to me, just be honest. I can deal with truth better than I can when I find
out a lie.” Cameron said. “And you better add some more money to that tip. Two
dollars on a fifty dollar check is not acceptable.”

Monti added another six
dollars to the tip and they stood up from the table. They made their way to the
door. Monti held the door for Cameron as he walked through. “What a gentleman
he was.” Cameron thought. Yes, Cameron was a guy also but he too appreciated
chivalry. It did not diminish Cameron’s manhood by being on the receiving end
of Monti’s masculinity. They made small talk on the way back to their vehicles.
Once they got to Cameron’s car, Monti stopped and looked Cameron in the eyes.

“Do you want this to
end now or should we extend this night somewhere else?” Monti asked.

Cameron was caught off
guard by Monti’s question.

Chapter Four

F
lipping
the
S
cript

“Did he just ask what I
think he did?” Cameron thought. “Who asks that? Was this chocolate man a
different kind from other guys Cameron met?” Cameron was instantly sucked in
but there still remained a silent pause in the conversation as Cameron searched
for a response. Did he want to seem eager or did he want to play hard to get?

“Did I say something
wrong?” Monti thought as the uneasy silence played on. It was only a few
seconds but it seemed like an eternity. Cameron broke through Monti’s
uncertainty. “Sure, I would like to extend this night a little longer.” Cameron
said.

Neither knew where they
should take this night. Cameron was working through a fresh breakup from a guy who
was very good to him. Their separation was not because of a lack of love, but
because of circumstance. Guy was a special man who put up with Cameron’s
immaturity and loved him in spite of it. Though Cameron was over a decade his
junior, he loved Guy because of his fearless embrace of who he was.

Guy Salinas was a forty-six
year old Puerto Rican of African decent. Born in Ponce, Puerto Rico, he still
had slight accent despite the many years living stateside. Most people think he
looks like he could be a baseball player at six feet even. He has a distinct
narrow nose that fit his face perfectly. He was just beginning to grey when he
and Cameron first met, and to Cameron, it was utterly sexy. He embraced
everything about himself and his evolution into the gay community. He had warm cocoa
brown eyes and skin that was colored by the Puerto Rican sun. His looks were
perfect on the screen and he made love to the camera every time he went to
work. Being an openly gay newscaster he had to keep a flawless appearance. Everywhere
that he and Cameron went, someone knew him. Cameron enjoyed the time they spent
together even going to Red Carpet events. Those were the good moments that they
shared. Their two and a half year relationship helped Cameron open up and
accept his sexuality without regard to what others thought.

Monti would not admit to
most people, but he wanted to love and to be loved. He knew that he had to work
on freeing himself from the demons he had but he wanted Cameron tonight. He was
going to do what he had to do to get him. He thought if he could sex Cameron up
well, he would help him to forget his ex, and he could make Cameron a friend
with benefits. He had talked to Cameron on numerous occasions about Guy, who
lived the good life in San Diego. He knew of the red carpet events that they
went to. He knew how Cameron talked about this man with such love and
admiration. Monti longed for someone to talk about him with the same love and
passion in their eyes as Cameron did.

“Why don’t we go to
your place and talk some more, it is only 8:45 pm on a Friday night. The night
is young.” Monti said. Cameron was all in and Monti knew it. If only he could
make sure that the conversation ended in the bedroom he would be able to ensure
that Cameron would want a repeat performance.

“Sure, we can go there.
I don’t have anything else planned tonight so that would give us some more time
to talk and get to know each other better, Eric.” Cameron winked as he elbowed
Monti.

“Oh you got jokes, I
see.”

“Just follow me and
make sure you keep up.”

They both got in their
vehicles and Monti followed Cameron out of the parking lot and onto the
expressway. Cameron liked to do the majority of his talking when he was driving
from one place to the next and this was the time when he could call his best
friend and fill her in on Monti and make sure that she knew his real name and
his number in case something went wrong.

Shaine and Cameron met
some years ago and have forged a great relationship that never crosses the
sexual boundary. In all accounts, people have thought the two of them were an
item but most knew that Cameron was not into women that way. Shaine loved the
quality family time spent with Cameron and knew they would be best friends
forever.

“Hey Cam. How are you
doing?” Shaine answered.

“Hey baby, I am doing
well. How are you?”

“I am good just getting
ready to go to the Smoke and Bubbles party. You remember the one you didn’t
want to go to.” Shaine said sarcastically.

“You know I don’t smoke
nasty cigars and you also know I don’t like dry champagne. I ended up being
busy anyway. I’m leaving dinner and have this guy named Monti following me to
the house. He seems to be cool and I want to get to know him better. In case
anything happens, you know where I hide my computer and you know the password.
His information is there but here is his phone number so you have it. You ready
for the number?” Cameron said.

“You are a mess Cameron
but I love you. Is he another guy you met on the Internet? You know that Internet
is going to be the death of you. You need to get over this self-esteem stuff
and start meeting people like the rest of the world does.”

“After you did all that
talking, Shaine, I gotta do what I gotta do. I could have someone waiting for
me at every layover but I am trying to do this the best way I know how. Plus, I
ain’t trying to fly all over the country for some sex. Thank you very much.” Cameron
gave her the number and wished her a great time with the crew. They promised to
do breakfast, which meant brunch, tomorrow to fill each other in on how their
evening went.

Chapter Five

H
olding
on to the
P
ain

Monti could not help
but to call his friend Dee after his eventful dinner. He didn’t have much time
to go into details but he wanted to keep him up to speed with what was going on
with him. Plus he did not know if this sexy guy was a serial killer. He also needed
to tell him about that damn server.

“Man Dee, dinner was
good man. This kat is cool. He has good conversation and all that. I think he
might be a good one to try to know better.” Monti said.

“You seem to be excited
about him. What happened that you are so giddy about this guy?”

“Man he is sexy as hell
and he actually has great conversation.”

“What else happened at
the dinner?”

“Dee, I messed up man.
When I went to pay the bill, the damn server came back and asked me how I pronounce
my name after she butchered it twice.”

“Why was that an
issue?”

“I did not tell Cameron
my real name. I gave him my brothers name cause I didn’t know him.”

“Oh shit man, really?”
Dee asked.

“Yeah man. Cameron pays
attention to everything and he caught that right away. I had to explain why I
used my brother’s name.”

“How did he take it?”

“He was not happy about
it at all, but I was able to explain it to him. I think he is cool with it.”

“Are you all done for
the night?”

“No, we are going to
his house to hang out some more.”

“You are a trip man,
going to his house right out the gate. How are you feeling about him?”

“He seems to be able to
look at me and pull out things that I am not ready to talk about. He asked me
what the secret behind my eyes was. He said there is something there and I
needed to work on whatever it is.”

“For real? He does have
a point though. You do have some stuff that you need to handle.”

“Whatever man. I want
to explore this guy some more. I’m not sure how far this is going to go. You
know I don’t trust dudes. I am headed to his house now. Maybe I will be able to
release some of this tension I have in my nutts. It has been a minute since I
got some and I am overdue.”

“I told you about being
so damn secretive, Monti. You have to let go of that ex of yours. Just because
he did that stuff and got you caught up doesn’t mean that every guy is going to
do the same thing.” Dee explained. “You need to think about what you might want
from this situation. Is this gonna be a serious thing or is this guy you want
to hit and quit? That should be the deciding factor in how you proceed with him.
You know I ain’t about no relationship. I like to get my shit off and send them
boys home. You must have really liked this guy before you met to be going in
like this.”

“Man who knows but this
boy got some mad sex appeal and he is giving me the business. I have been
fantasizing about laying it on him so good that those hypnotizing eyes roll to
the back of his head. I think he is gonna be a cool guy…I may kick it with him from
time to time.” Monti answered. “I gotta get off here, we are pulling up to his
place. Man his crib is nice. I did not know they had these types of places down
here. We will touch bases tomorrow, aiight?” With that, Monti hung up the phone
as he took in the sight of Cameron’s townhouse. He thought, “Damn, this kat got
some good taste. Let’s see what the inside looks like.”