Clayton James: A Sweet Gay Romance (James Brothers Book 1)

by C. E. Wilson

  “What about your parents, babe? Do you want to invite them to our wedding?”

  “I guess so. We will wait until the day before the wedding to tell them though. That way, Mom can’t come in and change everything we planned. She’s good at trying to take over as you found out when I was going to come home.”

  “Yeah, that’s not going to happen. Our wedding will be what we want, babe. I like your parents now that they have accepted you, but they are not going to run our lives. I wouldn’t let my parents either, but I don’t think mine would do that.”

  “I don’t either. I love your parents. Mom and Dad are great and so nice to me. Do you think Susan will come to our wedding?”

  “Sure, she will. I think Cathy and Bradley will too. Especially Bradley. He loves you so much and knows what you went through. I think he’s still going to stay in the closet until he graduates college. I hate that he has to do that.”

  “Yeah I do too, but Dad just might go off the chain again if he finds out his other son is gay too. He will be sure I caused this. He just doesn’t know about being gay. He won’t ever accept that it isn’t a choice.”

  “I tried to talk to him about it, and it was like talking to a wall. At least he does accept you now, and that’s all that matters to me.”

  John set two plates on the table with eggs, bacon, and toast. He also topped off their coffee.

  Chapter 16

  The rest of the day was spent on the couch. Clayton laid down and put his head in John’s lap and went to sleep. John watched a movie, and then it was time for Clayton’s medication. He slid out from under Clayton’s head and replaced himself with a pillow. He went into the kitchen and got Clayton’s antibiotic and gave it to him. Clayton sat up, and John told him to lay down and get some rest. Clayton nodded and laid back down on the couch, and a few minutes later, John heard soft snoring.

  John went into the kitchen and made some lasagna for Clayton. He put it in the oven and set the timer. He made some lemonade for them to have with their dinner. Clayton’s phone rang and John didn’t want to wake him, so he picked up the phone and answered it. “Hello, this is Clayton James’ phone. Can I take a message for him? He is asleep at the moment.”

  “Um yeah, this is Ben. Just tell him I called and if he feels like it to give me a call back.”

  “I’ll tell him. Can I ask your last name?”

  “Who is this?”

  “I’m Clayton’s boyfriend. Who are you?”

  The phone went dead. John shook his head and wondered what that was all about.

  When the timer went off, John woke Clayton up. He got a washcloth and washed Clayton’s face and hands so he could eat. He would have to get him in a plastic bag and get him in the shower later.

  Clayton stood up and kissed John then went and sat down at the table. John got the lasagna out of the oven and set it on a dish towel on the table. He sat the plates and got a big spoonful and put it on Clayton’s plate and then did the same with his own plate. He smiled at Clayton then said, “Your phone rang, and I didn’t want it to wake you, so I answered it for you. I hope you don’t mind. It was Ben. He said to call him when you woke up.”

  Clayton looked at John and frowned. “Ben, who? I don’t know any, Ben.”

  “I ask him what his last name was, and he hung up on me. You don’t know him from like work or something?”

  “No, I never met anyone named Ben. What is his number?”

  John reached to the counter and woke up the phone. “It is 555-6703. Our area code.”

  “Call it back and put it on speaker phone. I’ll find out who he is.”

  John did what Clayton said, and it was only a couple of rings when someone picked up. “This is Clayton James. You called me?”

  “Yes, I needed to talk to you about a personal matter.”

  “First, who are you? I don’t know any, Ben.”

  “No, you don’t know me, yet anyway. I am Bradley’s boyfriend. I want to meet with you and talk about Bradley.”

  “What about Bradley?”

  “I want him to come out, and he’s refusing too, so we have to meet in secret. I hate that, and I want to tell the world that we are in love. I’m sure you understand that.”

  “Bradley isn’t coming out of the closet until he finishes college. Our father won’t pay for his college if he tells him that he is gay.”

  “I don’t care about all that. I want the world to know that he’s my man. I don’t want to be a big secret anymore.”

  “Did you hear what I said. Our father won’t pay for his college if he comes out now.”

  “I heard you, but you didn’t hear me when I said I don’t care about that. He can work with me at the hamburger palace.”

  “It seems to me that you’re a selfish person. College means a lot to Brad, and he has to stay in the closet to go to college. Don’t you care what Brad wants?”

  “He wants me. He has me, and he should be happy with that.”

  “If I didn’t have a cast on my arm right now, I would come and hunt you down. You stay away from Brad. You are too selfish to be around him. He wants to go to college and make something of himself. Not flipping hamburgers. He is very talented, and I think you should think about him instead of yourself.”

  John didn’t say anything, just listened to the conversation. He shook his head and looked at Clayton. He raised a brow, and Clayton said, “Babe, hang up the phone and call Brad.”

  John did what Clayton said and put the phone on speaker when he answered. “Brad, where are you?”

  “Just sitting in the back yard at the pool. What are you up to?”

  “I just got a call from a guy named Ben. Can you talk about it?”

  “Yeah, I’m home alone. What did he want?”

  “He wants me to talk you into coming out so he can tell the world you’re his man. I told him he was selfish. He doesn’t want you to go to college, he wants you to flip burgers with him.”

  “Yeah, I know we have been fighting over it. He thinks if I go to college that I will find someone else. I plan on that. I have had it with Ben. I haven’t broken up with him yet because I’m afraid he will go tell Dad about me.”

  “That’s a good possibility now Brad. I don’t know what to tell you, but that guy is an idiot. He’s happy about flipping burgers and wants you to do the same thing. Why would that be his goal?”

  “You already answered your own question bro. He’s an idiot. I think I am going to date a girl in school, so if Ben does say something to Dad, then I can say I am dating a girl. That’s the only thing I can think of to say.”

  “You need to be honest with the girl your dating. It wouldn’t be fair of you to lead her on and then later tell her your gay.”

  “It will be fine. She’s a lesbian and doesn’t want to let her parents know for the same reason as me, so we can help each other that way. I can even bring her around the house, and then Dad will think I am straight. You should have done that back when all that went down with you.”

  “I had full scholarships, so I wasn’t worried about college funding. I did it all on my own. I know you don’t have that, but if this girl is willing to help you out like that then good luck. Make sure you go to her house as well.”

  “Yeah, I will. Tell John I said hi. I need to go and study for a big test. I want good enough grades to make it to college.”

  John said, “Hi, Bradley. We have you on speaker because your brother is over there eating lasagna. Good luck with that, Ben. He is something else.”

  “You made lasagna and didn’t invite me over?”

  “There’s plenty if you want to come now.”

  “Naw, I think I need to study. We don’t have much time until graduation. I will talk to you guys later. Bye.”

  Both John and Clayton said bye and John hung up the phone. John chuckled. “He’s a smart kid. I never thought about dating a lesbian. That’s a good idea.”

  Clayton frowned. “I wonder how Ben got my phone number. I don�
��t think that Bradley would give it to him. He usually doesn’t give out any numbers.”

  “That Ben probably got it from his phone at some point. He might have gotten your Dad’s phone number as well. I hope that works out for Bradley. If not, we might have to put him through college. That’s going to be expensive for us.”

  “Dad will buy him dating the lesbian. He doesn’t want Bradley to be gay, so he will believe that he isn’t if he sees a girl around Bradley.”

  John nodded. “I guess we need to make some plans when you get to feeling better.”

  “What kind of plans babe?”

  “Well, first, our wedding. I think we can live here until we are ready to adopt the second child.”

  “We have to find a surrogate for the first one first. I want the first one to be yours and the second one to be mine.”

  “I have a few ideas about that. There are a few that do this for a living. They come into our hospital to have the child. Then when the child is born, the fathers take over from the moment of birth. We would both be in the delivery room. Do you think you could handle that?”

  “Yeah, that would be great to be there when our child is born. I would love that. Check that out after we get married. Do you think that your parents will let us get married on their back deck?”

  “Is that where you want to get married, babe? I know my mom will love us getting married there. It is a beautiful place. How is Bradley going to get up there?”

  “Well, I was thinking of asking him to be my best man that way I can bring him with me up there. I think you need to put the address into my GPS because I don’t know if I remember the way there.”

  “We can always drive up there together. Bradley can come with us too.”

  “Where were you thinking of getting married?”

  “I really hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. I was just thinking about getting you well so we can set a date then pick a venue for the wedding. If you want to get married at Mom and Dad’s place that works for me. I love that back deck of theirs. Dad can grill for the reception.”

  “Yeah, that would be really good. Think Mom will be ok with us getting married there?”

  “Oh, she will love it. She will have a better reception than the BBQ they had for Memorial Day. Mom will take care of the food and even the cake. I want us to plan the rest of it though. I want to write our own vows. What do you think about that?”

  “Yeah, I would like to do that too. It seems the standard vows wouldn’t be right for us. Do you know a pastor or judge that would be willing to come up there and marry us?”

  “Yeah, one of my dad’s buddies is a judge, and he will be more than happy to marry us. We got that for sure. Now, what do you want to eat? Mom is going to want to know and then have it for us.”

  “It doesn’t matter to me, babe. As long as I don’t have to cook it. I don’t want to give you food poison on our wedding day.”

  “I’ll just tell Mom to surprise us then. Dad will get upset if we had finger food, and he wouldn’t be able to BBQ.”

  “We don’t want to upset Dad. I know how he is about his grill.”

  John rolled his eyes. “I think that he loves those grills of his more than he loves Mom. He spends more time with them than he does her.”

  Clayton laughed. “You’re so crazy, John.”

  “I’m crazy about you, Clayton. Do you think your mom and dad will come to the wedding?”

  “I don’t know babe. All I can do is ask them. As soon as I get this cast-off, I want to set a date. Is that ok with you?”

  “We can set a date now. You will be in the cast for six weeks, and you have already had it a week so five more and it will be off.”

  “This is the middle of June so let’s set a date for September the first. Or on Labor Day weekend. That will give us some time before we have to go back to work.”

  “That sounds good to me, babe. Let’s make it for Saturday in the morning and then we will have three days together. Well, Saturday all day we will be at Mom and Dad’s house for the reception. That’s going to be a long day for us. I want to come home after the reception, though. I know that Mom is going to want us to spend the weekend, but I would rather be here and have an at home honeymoon.”

  Both men fell silent as all that ran through their heads.

  Chapter 17

  John was the first to break the silence. “What are we going to do for a honeymoon. I don’t think I can get off again for a while. I took two weeks this time, and when we get married, it will be too soon to take another one.”

  “I have the same problem. With taking time off to heal, I can’t get off that soon either. Let’s just wait and take our honeymoon and our first anniversary and go somewhere we can be alone and celebrate both.”

  “That’s a good idea, babe. I am on board with that for sure.”

  “Don’t you think that you better call Mom before we make any more plans and make sure it’s ok if we get married on her back deck?”

  “Yeah, let me get my phone.” John stood up and walked to the counter in the kitchen. He sat back down across from Clayton and dialed his mother’s number. She answered the phone. “Hello, Darling. How is Clayton doing?”

  “He’s doing good. Mom I am going to put you on speaker so Clayton can hear your reaction to what I am about to tell you.”

  “Sure darling.”

  John put the phone on speaker and laid it between him and Clayton. “Mom, can you hear me?”

  “Yes, I can hear you. Hello Clayton. Are you feeling better?”

  “Yes, Mom, thank you. I’m doing fine.”

  “Mom, Clayton and I are getting married over Labor Day weekend, and we want to have the wedding on your back deck. Are you all right with that?”

  All they heard was squealing. “Sam come here quickly. John and Clayton are getting married and want to get married on the back deck. Come here, please. Yes, John, we would love to have you married here. I’m already making plans for decorating the deck.”

  “Calm down, Mom. We don’t want anything fancy just maybe a few flowers or something.”

  “John Davis Willis. You are our only son, and you want me to calm down. No son I am going all out for this. Do you want Dad to BBQ, or would you rather have a catered meal? We can have the reception on the back deck after the wedding.”

  “We want Dad to BBQ, and then you get to choose what goes with it. Neither Clayton nor I care what you have there. We do want a cake, and that is your decision as to what it looks like just don’t go overboard with it ok?”

  “Nonsense, John. We are going to have a nice big wedding for our only son. You can put up with that for one day.”

  John rolled his eyes. “All right, Mom. Have it your way. Just tell Dad to make the same meat he made for the Memorial Dad BBQ. Clayton and I both loved that food.”

  “I need lists from both of you for guests. I want to send out invitations out in the next week as soon as the print shop can get them out. Also, you need to register at a store so I can put that on the invitations. That way they can see what you need for your house. Oh, dear, where are you going to live? At your condo or Clayton’s house. I think if you're going to have children that you need a big house. I will have Dad looking for a good house for you, and that will be our wedding present to you both.”

  “Mom, we are going to sell the condo and the house and buy a big one. We will do that ourselves. That is too much money to spend on us since I know you're not going to let us pay for anything for the wedding.”

  Sam said, “No, we’ll get you a house. I did that for Susan, so you get one too. No, you’re not paying for the wedding. We did that for Susan too. I’m sure you want to live in the same area you are now. Let Clayton look for a house since he is a real estate lawyer and then let me know what house you want and then I will go buy it for you.”

  “You’re not going to take no for an answer are you Dad?”

  “Nope. I want it big enough that my grandchildren have their own rooms
and a big yard to play in.”

  “All right, Dad. As soon as Clayton gets well, he will start looking for what you said to get.”

  “Clayton don’t worry about the price. Just get what you like as long as it’s big and pretty. I want a nice big yard.”

  “Yes, Dad. I’ll start looking when I can go back to work. John and I will start checking out the available houses. I have a good relationship with a real estate agent, and I am sure she has what you’re talking about.”

  “Ok good just let me know when you find the right house. I’ll get it taken care of. Are your parents going to be invited to the wedding? I would like to meet them.”

  “Yes, I’m going to invite them, but I don’t know if they will come or not. Dad is sort of accepting of me now, but I don’t know how he would act if he did come.”

  “Just leave that to me. I can make him act right without doing anything at all. Invite them, and Mom can take care of your mom too.”

  “Thanks, Dad. I will. Maybe if they see how you treat your gay son, it will show them how to treat me.”

  “Trust me, son, they will be taught that.”

  John said, “We are going to go Dad. I will talk to you and Mom soon. We love you.”

  Sam said, “We love both of you too. Bye.”

  John looked at Clayton and grinned. “We can get a new house and still keep our old ones. That way, we can have rental property.”

  Clayton shook his head. “Do you have any idea how much a house like he’s talking about is going to cost? I hate to let him buy us a house like that. That’s a lot of money, John.”

  “I know we never talked about finances, but my Dad inherited a billion dollars from my grandfather. He’s very well to do and has set up a trust fund for my sister and me. I have two million, and Susan has three just because she is older than me and has gotten more interest. None of us are hurting for money. I could buy the house and still keep both of ours but if Dad wants to do it, he will. It doesn’t matter if we like it or not. It is just easier to go with whatever he wants to buy.”