Curves in the Road (The Southern Devotion Series Book 2) (11 page)

“No, not exactly. I don’t think she meant it that way. I think it’s my hormones.”

“What did she say exactly?”
Derrick pleaded once more for an answer.

A pet peeve of mine is when someone tells me something that someone said that has the potential to mar my image of them. My thoughts on the subject are that everyone should make up their mind about someone else based on their experiences with that person. It isn’t my place to help Derrick decide if he likes this girl.

Changing the subject was the easiest way out of this. “Gavin needs you right now. He’s taking your father’s death pretty rough. He’s been forcing himself to be strong for you and Ash but he’s breaking. He needs his brothers around him.”

“I’m not sure I can help him, I haven’t come to terms with it myself.” Derrick said, his gaze dropping to the floor in shame.

With my index finger I lift his chin to make eye contact with me and say, “Then help each other. Spend the next few weeks doing brother stuff, reminiscing about your dad, family dinners, whatever it takes. When this little one comes into the world, Gavin will be busy with daddy duties himself. Take this time for you. I have a week left of my internship, three weeks left of pregnancy and then I’ll be coming home. We can figure out us at that time.”

“So, that’s it? You’re going to leave again?” His stance became rigid, his tone harsh.

“You knew I wasn’t home for good, Derrick. This is a time you need to be with family.”

“I thought
we
were family. You always say that about your friends, does that not include me anymore?” Derrick asked, sounding dejected.

Gracie appeared in the kitchen doorway. She glanced from Derrick’s sad face to mine and asked, “Are you two alright?”

“Ask her, I haven't got a clue,” Derrick said as he turned and left.

Gracie stepped forward, “What happened?”

“He lost his dad.”

“I mean between the two of you,” she replied.

“I know. Right now there is too much grief in his heart for there to be a discussion about the two of us. He needs to cope with this loss first.”

“Maybe you can help him…”

I cut her off, “Drop it, Gracie. Please. I’m only here a few more days, how about a girl's day tomorrow like old times?”

Tristan walked in at that moment and said, “Mind if I crash girls
day?”

Gracie wrapped her arm through his, “We don’t mind at all. Cameron lets us give him makeovers when he crashes. Are you up for some nail polish and hair dye?”

He eases out of Gracie’s grasp, “On second thought, maybe I’ll hang out here and watch a movie.”

Gracie laughed and bumped her hip against his, "No worries, Tristan. We won't torture you that way. Of course you should come with us." She gave a fleeting look to the door of the kitchen,
and then whispered, "I want the guys to spend some time together so I'm going to convince Cameron to leave Gavin's side to join us as well. I think it would be good for the three brothers to have this time together."

"Great minds think alike," I said to her. "Go get Cameron and let's
make plans."

Chapter Thirteen

**Derrick**

Mary Jane was right, even though I hated to admit it. I needed to get through this with my brothers before she and I start a relationship again, if we decide to do that. I know it's what I want, she's all I want. I'm not sure she feels the same about me anymore. Though that kiss we shared gave me a problem that couldn’t be handled around my brothers. A few deep breaths and thoughts of anything but MJ helped me relax.

Ashton, Gavin, and I were going to rent a boat to go fishing and drink a toast to dad. We drove up to Dale Hollow Lake in Byrdstown Tennessee
, only two hours away, where we'd spent many vacations camping out with our dad. Gavin only made it on one of those vacations. Shortly after he came into our family dad wanted to make him feel at home. He planned out a boy's getaway in May before it would get too crowded at the lakeside resort we always stayed in.

It was early morning when we left so that we could enjoy the full day. We stop first to
rent the boat. While Ashton paid for that, Gavin and I gathered up the fishing supplies from Ash's truck. "Let's drop these in the boat once Ashton gets the keys and then we'll head over to the convenience store and pick up some snacks and a six pack."  Gavin nodded silently in agreement, he was quiet most of the ride up. Resting my hand on his shoulder, he stopped to look up at me, "He was really proud of you, Gav. I'm sorry your daughter won't get to meet him."

Gavin smiled, "Thanks, Derrick." He points
toward the convenience store, "I think I'll go grab those snacks and drinks, man. I'll be back."

Ashton headed over waving the keys, "Time to get going," he looks around and says, "Where's Gav?"

Once out on the boat we all assume our lounging positions with a beer in one hand and a fishing pole in the other. “So, I’ve taken Gracie fishing before, either of you going to take your significant others fishing to keep up tradition?” Ashton asked.
 

I laughed softly, “Tradition? Dad took Mom once and she hated it. She thought it was cruel to lure them in with food just to kill them.”

Ashton replied, “Yeah but when it came to Dad’s fried catfish dinners she wasn’t complaining then!” We all laughed at the comical hypocrisy. Ashton turned to Gavin, “You going to bring Cameron to fish sometime?” 

Gavin let out a big hearty laugh, “I love the man, but he’d never in a million years go fishing. In some ways I think he created the gay stereotype himself. The man’s idea of roughing it is to stay in a 3-star hotel.”

Ashton and I laughed at how true his statement sounded for Cameron's personality, and then I asked, “How did you two fall for each other? You're so different.”

Gavin smiled reminiscently, “He makes me laugh. He has the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever met. It doesn’t hurt that he’s hot either.”

Ashton replies, “I can easily see that, if I was gay I could see me falling for Cameron. When I first met him I thought he was over the top, but the more you’re around him you can’t help but love the guy.”  He turned to me, “What about you, D? Are you going to take MJ fishing?”  

Saved by the pull of my fishing line I reeled in a nice large bass. It was as long as my arm so not a bad size at all. Ashton opened the
cooler; I unhooked the fish and tossed it in the bucket of ice. “Nice one, D. Gavin we have to top that now.” 

Gavin chuckled, “Right. You know me, I always catch the shoes, license plates…” all three of us chimed in
to say, “the dead fish.”  For the next few moments we all laughed at the memory.

During Gavin’s first trip out here, we spent all evening fishing with dad and the only one that caught anything decent was Ashton. After a while, I gave up and just sat back to watch them. Suddenly Gavin got a big tug on the line and we all jumped up to help him reel it in. It wasn’t fighting but it was heavy. Somehow, he was able to hook a large mouth bass by the rip in its jaw. He gave one last tug on the line to send it soaring out of the water straight at our faces. We ducked out of the way just in time to see the rotting fish land on the boat and splatter its few remains on the deck.

“I think Dad laughed harder than any of us, especially at the horrified look on Gavin’s face when it happened.”  Ashton states with laughter.

Gavin shook his head, “Yeah, Yeah. You guys are just jealous because mine was bigger than any you had caught.”
 

Ashton
retorts, “That only counts if it’s edible and in one piece!”

We laughed for a while before it grew serious again. "You should bring MJ here, Derrick," Ashton said, pressing the subject once again.

"I don't know that there will ever be anything between MJ and me again, Ash. She wants me to take time away from her to deal with dad's death. She wanted me to move on while she did her internship. Then she pulled me back in to drop me again to have a baby and lie to me about it. Her actions don’t seem to display any hope for a future with me. She pushes me away every time we get together." Saying it out loud was the first time I really thought it all through and came to that conclusion. Everything Mary Jane has done in her life has kept us apart; perhaps that's what she's trying to tell me.

After a few minutes of quiet, Gavin spoke up, “What MJ did for us, I can’t even repay the sacrifice she made. Don’t hold it against her Derrick for not telling you about it. We tried to talk her out of it, that girl has a heart of gold. She's putting her body through hell to give Cameron and me a child we may never have been able to have any other way. And it's Cameron's biological child which is even more amazing for us. She loves you and she put her dreams of a life with you on hold, possibly permanently, to make this sacrifice. She's something special.” 

My stomach clenched with different emotions; anger, grief, heartache, but most of all, love. “She’s definitely amazing.
  I’m not holding anything against her. She's the most unselfish person I know. All I'm saying is that she doesn’t seem interested in being with me and I don’t want to push her.” 

Gavin clicked his tongue and then asked, “What about Lanie? Anything there, is that holding you two up?”
 

I scoffed, “Hardly. She’s cool, not bad looking, and we had a
semi-nice date but there wasn’t much chemistry there for my part at least.” 

“You think she felt more?”
Ashton asked.

Shrugging I say, “Maybe. She said something to MJ that hurt her feelings but MJ wouldn’t tell me what
exactly was said; apparently it was something to do with me not being attracted to her. I’m not sure how I feel about that, not knowing what was said and all. Besides, she’s Katelyn’s teacher and it seems wrong to pursue her almost. Katelyn doesn’t know we went out though and I plan on keeping it that way. I try to keep my relationships off her radar so she doesn’t grow attached. Mary Jane was one that couldn’t be helped.”

Ashton nudged me with his elbow, “I still think you guys will work things out.”

“You think Mom’s going to be okay? They’ve been married a long time. She seemed to be holding up alright, I guess.” I said staring off into the clear water, purposely changing the subject from my love life.

Ashton shrugs his shoulders, “It doesn’t seem to have hit her yet. Gracie’s been checking on her for me while I made all the arrangements. Autumn seems to keep her occupied and strong.”
 

“We shouldn’t have left her alone to
day.”  I said feeling regretful that we didn’t include her.

Ashton responded, “She’s got her two sisters, Aunt Miranda and Aunt Iris, she’ll be fine. You know how those women are when they get together.”
 

The song
Rainbow Connection
started playing on Gavin’s phone. Ashton smirked, “Did Cameron choose that to be funny?”

Gavin nodded with a smile before answering, “Hey babe, are you having a good time with the girls?” Gavin laughed at whatever Cameron’s response was then said, “Yeah, we’re doing good. Just having a few beers and fishing out on the boat. The guys said you should come along sometime.”
 

Gavin pushed the speakerphone button when Cameron responded, “Honey, you know you ain’t ever getting me to hold any fishing pole or go anyway near a body of water that has a creature of any kind in it. I need an indoor pool with hot lifeguards to save me if I pretend to drown for attention.”
 

Gavin gave us a look of ‘I told you so’ before responding, “I know, it never hurts to ask.”

Cameron replied, “You boys have fun now, love you Gav,” he said with a kissing noise before Gavin took him off speakerphone and said, “Love you.” 

Ashton sighed, “It’s peaceful out here. Don’t get me wrong, I love my daughter more than life itself but sometimes I need a break from the crying.”
 

“You’re preaching to the choir, man. You’re lucky you have Gracie but I was lucky that I had mom and dad to help me too. I miss Katelyn every second I’m away from her, but I still need a break even now. She has gotten so girly lately,” I pointed at Gavin, “I blame your husband for that.”
 

Gavin gave a sympathetic smile, “I know. I am going to have a handful with him and our daughter striving to be fabulous all the time.”
He reeled in his line, and then set his pole to the side of him on the floor of the boat. He ran his fingers through his faux hawk and said, "She's never going to know the man who saved my life." Ashton and I followed suit, reeling our lines in to sit back and let Gavin speak. "I never told you this, mostly because Ashton had enough to deal with at the time. When Addison died, my parents came to the burial site after it was all over. They hadn’t spoken to her since the day I had come out and she'd defended me along with Ash.  Your dad…
our
dad…offered to help me take some of the flowers that had been delivered to my house over to her grave. When we arrived we saw them standing there embraced at her temporary placard. I asked him to give me a moment to speak to them alone. That was a mistake."

Ashton could see the emotion welling up in Gavin's eyes. He leaned forward, placing his hand on his shoulder and said, "You can tell us later if this is too hard for you."

Gavin continued, "No, I want to share this with you both.  As soon as my parents saw me, my father went into a rage of insults again. He blamed me for Addison's death, for the fact that they hadn't spoken to her in several years. My mother fell to her knees in tears screaming that I stole her children from her, that I was the devil in disguise. My father couldn't calm her down so instead he lunged for me. He knocked me to the ground, wrapped his arms around my neck and began to choke me. I heard our dad screaming my name and my vision was starting to blur at the loss of oxygen. Dad pushed him off me and they fought until I was able to get to my feet. Dad knocked my father down and then stood in front of me as a barrier. He told them both to stay away from me or he'd call the police. Something scared them in the way he said it, like he knew something that could really hurt them, but he never told me what it was."

"Damn, Gav, how did you and Addy come from such terrible people?" I asked. Addison was one of the kindest women I'd known growing up, I sort of had a school boy crush on her myself when she was dating Ash, not that I'd ever admit that to him or would have acted on it either.

Gavin shakes his head, "I have no idea. They took their religion to a dangerously ignorant level. You know that cult that protests funerals of soldiers, or homosexuals?" Ash and I nod. "They never understood why people thought it was wrong of them to do that. They would defend it saying it was God's will. Too many people use their faith as an excuse to hate. Those same people are the ones that cause others to lose their faith. Your mom and dad actually restored my faith in religion. They went to church every week, prayed at every meal, even read the Bible nightly, and they never once judged me based on my sexual preference.  My biological parents never even gave me a chance. I'm tired of this crap. I'm tired of being hated by the people that brought me into this world; the ones that turned their back on me when I needed them most. And then after all that pain and suffering I lose the only father I've ever really had in a freak accident only weeks before my child is born? What makes this fair?" 

By this time, Gavin had gone from his normally calm demeanor to having tears run down his face as he yells out in frustration like a scared child. Ashton and I exchanged a look hoping the other knew what answers to give but we didn’t. We'd grown up with amazingly loving and accepting parents.

Gavin stood up, moved to the side of the boat and began to heave over the edge of it, losing the contents of his lunch as he released more emotions. He had placed his phone on silent and it was buzzing now. Ashton went to comfort Gavin while I answered his phone. "Hey Cameron.  Gavin's fine, he's having a moment right now but I'll have him call you back. I promise you, he's in good hands."

When I turned, Gavin had collapsed against the boat with his back against the wall, knees pulled up to his chest, head resting on his knees. Ashton knelt in front of him with a bottle of water. "Let it all out, Gavin. You know you're not judged by us."

Gavin took a swig from the water bottle, close the top and set it down. He waved me over. I took the empty floor space beside him and he put one arm around my neck, pulled Ashton in to wrap his other arm around. We were now sitting with our heads together as if in a football huddle. "I love you guys. You really are my brothers. Even though it seems like a creep factor since Ashton dated my sister."  We all three laughed at his inappropriately timed but much needed humor. "Seriously, I'd be shit without you."