Forced Out of the Darkness

by Jackson Jr, G. Wayne

  “That sounds good. I would like that Monti.”

  “Cool. You know something Cameron?”

  “What’s that?”

  Monti looked at Cameron. “I want to thank you for such a nice evening. I have to admit that when I saw you yesterday, I wanted you right then. I wanted to skip dinner and go right to dessert but you made the evening so nice. I can’t remember the last time that I enjoyed myself as much. I really hope to spend more time with you and get to know you better.” Monti knew that Cameron was different from the other conquests he had and wanted to take a gamble at what this could bring him.

  “The feeling is mutual, Monti.”

  The two of them walked down the two flights of stairs to the front door. As Cameron was reaching to open the door to let Monti out, Monti grabbed Cameron around his waist. He pulled him up against him, looked Cameron in his eyes and kissed him one more time. He had to let Cameron know that he meant what he said about seeing him again and getting to know him better. Monti kissed Cameron with all the passion that he had.

  Cameron stood there dazed and breathless as Monti walked out the door and closed it behind himself. As Monti walked to his Jeep, he knew he succeeded in putting the exclamation point on the date. Cameron stood in the foyer of his townhouse for a moment to take into account what just happened. He told himself that he had to take it slow and get to know Monti better but the stiffness in his loungewear told him it wanted to take the express road.

  Cameron went back upstairs and pondered getting back in the bed until he had to get ready to meet Shaine, but his stiffness would not let him. He went into his bathroom and turned on the shower. He lit the candles he kept in the bathroom for days when he just wanted to relax and soak the stress of the day away. This morning was not one of those days though, Cameron had a fire inside him that Monti ignited. Cameron was obligated to extinguish it. He took his loungewear and robe off and he disappeared into the hot steamy shower.

  He let the hot water cascade and envelope his nakedness as he closed his eyes and relished the night as he replayed the evening in his mind. With the ability to recall events in vivid color, he was able to smell and taste things he experienced. Last night and this morning were two events he was reliving. His stiffness grew as he thought about how his tongue danced with Monti’s. He thought about the feeling of Monti’s swollenness pressed against his stomach when they kissed at the front door. He knew there was no turning back. He had to relieve this pressure that was swelling in his manhood.

  He reached down and grabbed his black raspberry vanilla shower gel. He squeezed some into the palm of his open hand and rubbed his chest and stomach. The fragrance of vanilla and raspberry permeated the shower as he let his hands slip farther down his torso until they met his precum dripping manhood. As he leaned on the shower wall he slowly caressed his sex in his hand as he grabbed his family jewels with the other. He closed his eyes as his hips slowly thrust into his hand. He was feeling so good that he opened his mouth slightly as he began to breathe harder. His arousal started to take over his body and he began to moan as his abs tightened and his jewels pulled back.

  “Ahh”…escaped from his mouth.

  “Yes.” he said in the midst of ecstasy.

  “Oh…shit.” as he approached the point of no return.

  At the height of his arousal, he felt warmth radiate through his body as he pumped pure lust out of his manhood onto the shower floor. Cameron shocked himself as his orgasm took over and he yelled out…“MONTI”

  Chapter Eight

  t he Player Gets Played

  “Montague Burroughs, what is going on with you? You are the player…you don’t settle down. You know what happened last time you tried to give your heart to someone. It left you in jail with a felony. What are you doing?” Monti asked himself.

  Almost two years ago, Monti had been dating a thick corn-fed South Carolina boy named David Knight. David was just the kind of man that Monti liked. He turned Monti on sexually, but at that time, Monti was conflicted between his familial obligations and his sexual urges. He was never able to give himself totally to David but their sex life was phenomenal. David loved being with this alpha man. He also knew that there was something that kept the two of them from connecting deeper, enabling them to forge a partnership. David knew that Monti was not being completely honest with him.

  Monti would get phone calls and would immediately send the call to voicemail. When David would ask what was going on, Monti would get angry and say something came up. He would leave abruptly. David knew that he wanted a true relationship where there were mutual feelings. He didn’t want a ‘friends with benefits’ situation. After a year of dating exclusively, he was unable to forge that deeper connection with Monti. David knew that he had to move on. After a conversation that David and Monti had prior to the fourth of July, Monti promised that they would spend the holiday together. David felt that there was someone else in Monti’s life but was unable to prove his feeling. The fourth of July came and David called Monti early that morning. He wanted to know when they were going to get together. Monti didn’t answer his calls. At about 4:00 pm, David received a text from Monti saying that he could not get away from his family because his brother was in town from the military.

  David was upset at being stood up again. The following day, David went to the Eastland mall to catch some Independence Day sales. He was walking through the mall and saw Monti walking holding hands with a woman. Walking with them were two kids, one of which resembled Monti. David thought about confronting him but opted not to. He texted Monti and told him he was upset about being stood up. Monti asked him if he could make it up to him on Saturday. David accepted the invite to lunch.

  On the Saturday after Independence Day 2004, Monti was trying to make it up to David. They met at Joe’s Crab Shack in Sterling Heights, Michigan for lunch. Monti ordered a Long Island Ice Tea and David had a Top Shelf Margarita. Conversation was labored as they ate the perfectly seasoned seafood feast. After they had finished eating, David told Monti that he had been doing some soul searching lately. Monti said he had been doing the same thing. As Monti was getting ready to tell David that he wanted to get closer and make this more of a tight relationship, David said something that caught Monti off guard.

  “I’ve started searching for someone who is not living a double life. I am worth more than the dollar bill you are trying to buy me for. I want an honest man that doesn’t try to play me for a fool while he is a gay man trying to play house. I saw you and your ‘family’ at the mall the other day and I realized that if you are not going to be honest with the ones you are supposed to love, you’d never be honest with me. I never want to see you again you cheating fuck. Please lose my number. I hope you have enough money to pay for the bill.” With that statement, David stood up and walked out the restaurant, hoping to never see or hear from Monti again.

  David’s hopes were the furthest thing from the truth. Within minutes of David getting in his car, his phone started ringing. He declined the call after he saw that it was Monti. After the fifth call, David powered his phone off. David cried as he drove the 25 minutes to his apartment. He cried because he allowed himself to be in a relationship with a person who was not able to give him what he needed emotionally. He cried because he was back to the single side of life. He cried because he knew that the relationship was a dead end but yet he tried to see the good in it.

  Once he got to his apartment, he got his bag that he packed for this weekend. The previous night, he made reservations at the Southfield Westin. He knew he would need that Heavenly Bed for the weekend to gather his thoughts together after the break-up. He left his apartment and headed towards Southfield. He took the Lodge north which took him right to the Evergreen exit so he could get to the hotel.

  David checked into his hotel room and turned on the radio to V98.7 smooth jazz. He wanted to have everything he needed in his room so he went to get ice so he could pour himself a stiff drink or two, without having to interr
upt the pity party by leaving the room. Once back in his room, he poured himself a drink and laid down to take a much-needed break from reality.

  In all this, he did not notice that Monti was tailing him from the restaurant to his apartment and then to the hotel. He did not know that Monti took seven flights of stairs when he saw the elevator stop at the seventh floor and then return to the lobby. He did not see that Monti had hid in the stairwell at the end of the hallway and watched David return to his room with the bucket of ice.

  About twenty minutes later, when he thought that David was settled in the room, Monti walked up to the hotel room door and knocked on the door. David’s eyes opened not knowing who would be knocking at his door. He got out of the bed and walked to the door. He looked through the peephole to see Monti’s face.

  “Hold on a second, I’m in the restroom.” David said.

  David went in the bathroom, turned on his phone and called 911 to report a stalker. He then called the hotel operator and let them know that there was an uninvited guest at his door and he needed help.

  “Monti, what are you doing here? How did you know where I was?” David asked.

  “I just want to talk to you. I am willing to let everything go to be with you 100 percent.” Monti said.

  “I am not interested in being involved with a cheating married man. You should leave.” David replied.

  “I am just going to stay here until you take me back. Remember, David, I know where you work and I can come there if I need. Don’t make this difficult for me.” Monti got angry because he was not making any progress.

  Just as he said that two Southfield police officers came around the corner, having listened to Monti’s conversation. They swiftly arrested Monti for stalking and trespassing. The 75 voice messages and text messages Monti left for David were all that the judge needed to give David a Personal Protection Order baring Monti from contacting David in any manner.

  When David ran into Monti at the MGM casino for Friday Seafood night three months later, Monti tried to speak to David. David said, “I am going to tell your wife and Pastor that you are a homosexual and that you are living a homosexual lifestyle.” as he walked out of the buffet and into the casino.

  Monti panicked and took out his phone and called David repeatedly. That next Monday, David made his way to the 36th District court to show the court this PPO violation. A bench warrant was issued immediately for Monti’s arrest and a show cause trial date was set. At the trial, Monti plead guilty to felonious stalking and was given $1,000.00 fine, six-month probation, and ninety days in jail. With a felony on his record and no remorse for what he did, Monti set out to continue to live his life without making any changes to his behavior.

  Chapter Nine

  O ne Good Ole’ Laugh

  “Hey Shaine. Thanks for meeting me. You know I love the ribs here at Chili’s. What is going on with you?” Cameron asked.

  “I am good here honey. Just working extra hours at this store, you know I have to stay up on the latest fashion. I am working my way up to one day having my own store. What is going on in your world?”

  “I met this guy.” Shaine rolled her eyes. “Don’t roll your eyes. I think he is a cool guy. I mean we have been talking for about a month. We just met and had dinner last night.”

  “I hope that is all you had was dinner”

  “I had dinner and dessert, but not the dessert you are talking about.”

  “What happened?”

  Cameron told her the events of the night. She was happy that her best friend did not succumb to temptation. She had witnessed her best friend go through some terrible moments in his spiritual walk. Cameron was brought up in the black church. He knew early on that he felt some kind of way around guys. He knew that when a beautiful woman walked past him it did nothing for him; however when a fine man did the same, he could not keep his eyes off of him. He loved everything there was to love about a man. This attraction caused him a lot of conflict though. His religious convictions came head to head with his physical attractions. Cameron attended church as much as he could with his job as a flight attendant. Shaine used to fly the friendly skies but grew to know there was more to life than serving peanuts and pretzels at 35,000 feet.

  Cameron would sometimes come home from church really weighted. When this happened Shaine knew that the sermon was talking about gay people. It didn’t matter that the church administrator was lurking on the Internet hooking up with guys all around the Detroit Metro area. It didn’t matter that half of the male ministerial staff were experimenting with each other. Even the legendary “Gay row” at the church would praise God in their own way, like only the children could do, even though they would experience verbal hazing from Sunday to Sunday. Cameron would endure this because of his love for God not because he loved it. He would go on celibate binges where he would fast and pray, attend revivals, and go to the prayer line for some Divine intervention only to be let down when the preacher put his number in Cameron’s coat pocket while he was praying for him. Yet, Cameron would not let go of his faith in God, even though the messengers on earth did not resemble God in any way shape or form.

  Cameron stopped telling his story about Monti after he called Shaine twice without a response.

  “Shaine…”

  “Yes, honey.” Shaine responded after being snapped out of her daydream.

  “You aren’t even listening to me.”

  “I’m sorry. Go ahead.”

  “He got caught lying about his name by the server.”

  Shaine let out one good laugh and said, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “No Shaine, he said he didn’t tell me because he didn’t know me and wanted to make sure I was cool before he let me know.”

  Shaine was not about to buy any of this down low garbage that obviously Cameron had purchased. Shaine was a church going lady who was very in tuned with her inner voice and she knew that there was something about this Monti that her best friend met that she didn’t like. She could not put her finger on it but she knew that something was not right.

  “That’s it? He kissed you when he left and that’s it?” Shaine wanted to know every little detail.

  “Yes that is it.” Cameron said omitting the aftermath of the kiss because that was something that he needed to remain a secret. Not that Shaine was a gossiper or anything but Cameron wanted to keep some things sacred…plus she did not want to hear about his intimate personal moments.

  “Well, honey bunny,” that was Shaine’s pet name for Cameron, “you just take your time and really get to know him. You don’t have to rush into anything you have the rest of your life to form a relationship.”

  “I know…I know.” Cameron said dismissively. “Shaine, what is going on in your world? Who are you seeing now? Any new prospects?”

  Shaine was a shopper and knew fashion inside and out. She was a master of understanding what fashion was emerging and what was fading. She was a trendsetter and an icon in the making. This also was a curse for her…she only wanted to find love. She had the career and the material things. The only thing that was missing was a man of her own, who would be her strength, her equal, and her soul mate. She prayed daily to ask God to send him to her. She refused to find him on her own because she knew the bible and knew that she had to wait until her husband found her…she always wanted to remain in the perfect will of God and never be in the permissive will of God. She wanted her husband to be the one that was created for her.

  “No, I don’t have anything to report on that front. I know I had to let this greasy mechanic go. He was very good to me and treated me like the Princess that I am, but he had a lot of baby momma drama going on. I need a man who checked his baggage under the plane and didn’t bring it in the cabin with us on this ride.”

  Shaine always had a way with words and the expressions on her face showed that she was getting tired of waiting on Mister Right. She was willing to do what must be done to stay prepared for him when he arrived. She did not k
now just how soon her Prince would show up, but she wanted him to arrive sooner than later.

  “What do you have planned for the rest of the day, Shaine?”

  “Not much, I might go shopping they are having a sale at Macy’s over at Twelve Oaks Mall, and I need some new boots. You know how I love shoes. What about you?”

  “I am just going to go home and chill. I am off till Thursday so I am going to take it easy.”

  “Alright, honey bunny, I am going to head out and we will meet at our normal spot for Sunday dinner tomorrow right?

  “You know it.”

  “Drive safely.” Cameron said.

  “You too.”

  “Bye.”

  Cameron and Shaine always ate at this great restaurant called J. Alexander. It is a decently priced restaurant that has the best salads and their croissants are drizzled with a glaze that is out of this world. It is interesting to see how crisp their server’s uniforms are because rumor has it that they have a shift meeting and the manager looks at the shirts and if there are any bubbles in the stitching they get sent home. What a stressful job but they enjoyed the service. The company that cleaned the restaurants did an outstanding job. There was no dust or dirt anywhere. The company’s name was something like Marshall and Daughters. Cameron wanted to have them come through his place weekly to keep it spotless.

  Chapter Ten

  Acts of Betrayal

  “Hey Monti. How are you?”

  “I’m doing good man. How are you?”

  “I’m sitting here chillin seeing what’s going on. You had a long day? How was rehearsal?”

  “Oh man, it was long I had to get the team prepared for Sunday’s service.”