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

by Amy K McClung

  "A Coke would be nice, thanks Gracie." Their house is always spotless and used to be filled with paintings of scenery that Ashton had drawn. Now it was filled with pictures of their wedding and their life in general. The only painting still on the wall consisted of one Ashton did of their wedding photo. The rest of his paintings went into the man cave; his basement rec room.

  "Here you are," Gracie said, handing me the canned drink. "How've you been?" She asked, meaning she wants to know how I'm coping with losing Mary Jane. My sister-in-law is easy to read even when she's trying to be subtle.

  "Good. How's Mary Jane?" It feel silly asking since I talk to MJ every day, but if we're going to keep this relationship a secret then I have to be careful not to cause suspicion. Truthfully, I wanted to confess everything to Gracie at this moment. The only thing keeping me from doing that is that it could get back to Katelyn and I need to protect my daughter in case things don't go the way I want them to.

  She grinned, "Was it that obvious of a question? Sorry. She's good too, I think. She and Angel seem to like their new place. Cameron's on his way down today to spend some time with them. I wanted to go but school gets in the way. I'm going to make a trip before I get too far along to fly though." She rubs her non-existent belly as she talks about the baby on the way.

  "Katelyn's going to so excited to have a cousin." Adjusting the subject away from Mary Jane seems the best idea to keep me from saying the wrong thing. Ashton returns to the room fully dressed. "Glad you could join us in clothes this time."

  Ashton leaned down and kissed Gracie's head, "Hello my beautiful wife," and then leaned over to kiss her stomach, "and my beautiful baby."

  Gracie giggled at his greeting, giving him a soft kiss once his face came back up to hers again. "I'll leave you two to talk. I'll be back in a bit." Ashton and I stood with her, as good gentlemen do. Gracie gave me a hug and whispered, "Call Mary Jane. I know she'd love to hear from you. I'm still rooting for you guys."

  After she left, I told Ashton, "That girl there is awesome."

  "You don’t have to tell me that, why do you think I married her?" Ashton led the way down to his man cave so we could talk. "So what's the idea you wanted to run by me?"

  "Remember when we were younger and talked about running our own club one day?" Ashton nodded so I continued, "What's wrong with doing that now? Cameron is graduating with his interior design degree, Gavin negotiates commercial real estate, you have the contacts for entertainment, and I have the security contacts. We have the perfect arrangement. The four of us can run it together, as a family."

  With his thumb and index finger, Ashton rubbed at his beard, his eyes squinted in thought. I could see the wheels turning as he ran over all the details in his mind. When a smile formed on his face, he said, "I love it. Let's do this."

  We worked for hours mapping out details of what we wanted to do with this nightclub. By the end of the day, we had chosen a general locale to look for a building, the first entertainment we'd want for the opening week, and the type of menu that would be popular, other than alcohol drinks of course.

  It really felt like we were getting things on track and I felt like I had something to lose myself in instead of moping about missing MJ.

  My phone had gone off several times while we were meeting. Each time, I checked it to be sure it wasn’t Katelyn. Three of the missed texts were from Mary Jane. The first one read I love my locket, it’s the best gift I've received since the mug you gave me the day I moved. You're amazing. The second read My friend Tristan and I are taking Cameron out tonight. It may be late when we get home but I'd love to talk if you feel up to it. I miss you. The third read Forgot to say, text me when you go to bed if you haven't heard from me. That way I know it's too late to talk.

  Even if I didn’t get a wink of sleep tonight, I wasn’t going to tell MJ it would be too late for her to call me. I wanted, no needed, to hear that voice tonight. I needed to tell her the news about the nightclub. I texted her back Definitely text me tonight. I want to talk to you. I miss your voice and it helps me sleep to hear it.

  Chapter Six

  **Mary Jane**

  "Where is this hot studly friend you told me about MJ?" Cameron asks the moment we arrived at my apartment.

  "He's got to perform tonight and then we're all going out afterwards."

  "Perform? Is that a nice way of saying he's getting freaky?" Cameron wiggled his eyebrows.

  "Is everything about sex with you? Never mind, stupid question. He's filling in one of the dance numbers for a co-worker."

  He claps his hands excitedly, "Let's go watch! I love dance numbers!"

  "Really? OK, let me change and grab my badge to get us in for free." I slipped on some comfy jeans, a blank tank top with sparkles and slipped on my cowboy boots from back home.

  Cameron whistled when I walked out of the bedroom. "Baby girl, you look amazing. Love sure does look good on you."

  "Love? No, Tristan and I are simply good friends."

  "Not Tristan. I know about you and Derrick. In fact, he asked me to give you this," he says as he reached into his pocket and pulls out a small jewelry box. Inside was a beautiful silver locket. As I opened it to see the pictures inside I became teary. "Aww, baby girl, you do love him don’t you?"

  All I could do was nod, though Cameron was elated by that response. He began jumping up and down clapping. "This is so awesome! We're all really going to be family soon. Since Gavin is his adopted brother, technically you, Gracie, and I will have landed a set of brothers! Now they need to scrounge up one more for Angel and life would be perfect."

  "Don’t get ahead of yourself Cameron. This is still new for us and there is a lot to work through. We do live hundreds of miles away from each other and the successfulness of long distance relationships is not high."

  "Don't think so negatively, sweets," Cameron said disappointed in my pessimism.

  "I'm not being negative; I'm being realistic is all. So far things are amazing so I'm hopeful. I have to keep my head above water though, so to speak. If I get to deep in to thinking of the future, I could get hurt a lot worse if it doesn't go how I hope."

  He dropped the subject for now. We went to see Tristan perform and both thought the show was pretty fantastic. It's the first time I'd seen Tristan dance. He had a lot of rhythm and a pretty great singing voice too. Afterwards I sent Tristan a text to meet at my apartment before we go out.

  We'd been home for a few minutes where there was a knock on the door. "I'll get it!" Cameron yelled out, rushing to the door. "Hot damn! Hello, you must be Tristud."

  Tristan laughed and held his hand out, "It's Tristan."

  "Nope I had it right the first time," Cameron said flirting.

  "You have to be Cameron. You're exactly as MJ described you," Tristan walked into the room while Cameron shut the door behind him.

  "Sexy, funny, perfect in every way, a package of awesome…that's her description right? It's all true, I won't deny it."

  "I see you've met Cameron and his ego," I said walking in to greet Tristan.

  Tristan lifted me up in a bear hug. "He's great; I could totally hang with this guy." He glanced around the room, "Where's Angel tonight?"

  Cameron gasped, "Shut up. You're smitten with mi amiga Angel aren't you?"

  "What? No!" Tristan attempted to deny it. It was something I hadn't noticed until now. He blushed as Angel's name was mentioned. We had hung out with Angel a few times since Tristan and I became friends. Angel's naturally a flirt so I'd seen her tease him though I'd never noticed if he was interested in her flirting. Now that Cameron pointed it out, it made sense. Tristan would be great for Angel; the problem is that she is not one to settle down. Angel likes to flirt, loves to date, and enjoys sex of course, but relationships have never been her forte.

  "You're totally smitten, it's written all over your face. I think you two would be adorable." Cameron started, and then noticed the look on my face. "Oh, I'm an asshole. She's on a date, isn’t she?" />
  Nodding slightly I noticed the disappointment on Tristan's face at hearing the news. "Sorry Tristan, I didn’t know you liked her."

  He shrugs it off as no big deal. "What did you guys think of the show tonight?"

  “Well, you’re no Johnny Castle,” Cam said.

  “Who is Johnny Castle?” Tristan asked.

  “Dirty Dancing? Patrick Swayze? Ring a bell now?” Cam asked.

  Tristan replied, “Nope, never seen the movie.”

  Cam’s mouth dropped open in shock, “Get out.”

  Tristan chuckled, “I’m serious, I’ve never seen it.”

  Cam pointed at the door, “No, seriously, Get out! No one is allowed in my presence if they haven’t seen Dirty Dancing! Nobody puts baby in a corner either!” Tristan laughed and stood there for a moment watching as Cam crossed his arms and tapped his foot. He gestured dramatically again toward the door. Cameron lifts his hands dramatically into the air, "I can't be in his presence." He storms off to my bedroom and slams the door behind him.

  “Is he serious?” he asked me.

  Eyes wide, eyebrows raised, I reply, “Deadly. You can come over tomorrow and we'll watch it.”

  Tristan turned to me, “I can’t believe that just happened. Who takes movies so seriously that they base their friends on whether they've seen them or not?”

  “That’s Cameron; he’s serious about his movies. He’s one of the most awesome friends anyone could ask for though, which is how he gets away with that stuff. You’ve seen The Breakfast Club though, right?”

  Tristan shook his head and said, “I know they reference it in Pitch Perfect though. Does that at least win me some points?”

  I wrapped my arm through his and sighed, “Sheesh, man. We’re having a movie night tonight. If he finds out you don’t know who John Bender is, you’ll never be accepted into the group.”

  Tristan looked pensive, “I know Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall and Emilio Estevez are in it, I don’t remember anyone named John Bender though. Is he still acting?”

  I rolled my eyes and pressed my hand over his mouth. “Stop talking Tristan, you’re digging yourself a deeper grave here. John Bender is played by Judd Nelson and he is the all time crush of Cameron's. Any other work of his can go unnoticed, but when people don't know John Bender, Cameron disowns them.” There's a reason we call Cameron a drama queen. He says he's a drama princess because his mother is still alive though. It is a bit shocking at first to see how he responds to things such as someone not seeing a movie, but at least he's passionate about something. Well, okay, Cameron's passionate about a lot of things.

  When Cameron heard the music starting for Dirty Dancing, he ran into the room and plopped onto the couch between us. He turned to Tristan and said, "You're about to have the time of your life." Tristan, of course, didn't understand the reference to the song made popular by this movie. Every scene where they were dancing, Cameron got up to mimic the moves and tried desperately to get one of us to dance with him. I finally agreed to do a little of the end number with him, minus the lift. As crazy as Cam can be he is still one of the best people to hang out with if you're in the mood to laugh.

  We put The Breakfast Club in and settled down for a more relaxed movie. The three of us snuggled in with a bowl of popcorn and a bag of red licorice candy that we passed back and forth until we'd finished an entire bag. After a night of catching Tristan up on the movies he missed, he decided to crash on the couch instead of driving home. Cameron was still wide awake and happy. "What do you want to do now?" The man could run for three days straight with no rest and still be perky.

  Glancing at my watch, it was well after midnight in Nashville. I checked my phone and there were no texts from Derrick about him going to sleep. "Can we call it a night? I want to call Derrick before I go to bed."

  Cameron stood up, grabbed a beer from the fridge and waved to me, "I'm crashing in Angel's room. I know that girl; she's on a date which means she ain't using that bed tonight. I'm going to call my man too. Tomorrow, you and me babe, right?"

  "Absolutely. We're spending the entire day together tomorrow. We'll do anything you want to do," I said. Cameron winked at me then went into Angel's room and shut the door. I covered Tristan with a blanket before retreating to my room. I sent a quick text to Derrick and asked, Skype or Phone? He texted back immediately with Skype, I need to see that beautiful face.

  Excitedly I logged on to my laptop. The cursor spun for what seemed like forever before the connection completed. His handsome face was there on the screen for me when I opened it. I gulped, "You're not wearing a shirt." All I wanted to do is run my fingers across his sculpted chest right now.

  He glanced down, "If it makes you self conscious, I can put one on or you can take yours off too." He winked at me. I couldn’t answer because I was still mesmerized by his muscular form. A smirk came across his face, "Sweetheart, I miss you so much."

  "Me too," I finally managed to say. I fingered the necklace he gave me. "I love this, by the way."

  "I'm glad." He didn’t say anything else for a moment. "I want to see you. I'm going to figure out a way and soon."

  "I'd love it. Just let me know when. I won't have more than a day or two off for a while or I'd come there to you." My door creaked open, Cameron peaked inside. "Hold on Derrick. Cameron, are you ok?" He shook his head and I turned back to Derrick. "Can we talk tomorrow? Cameron needs to talk."

  "Absolutely." He yells out, "Thanks Cameron for delivering my package man."

  "No problem." Cameron didn’t even comment on the word package or make any crude jokes which told me something is very wrong with him right now.

  The call ended, I closed my laptop and lifted my comforter from the empty side of the bed. "Come snuggle, Cam." Cameron moped over to the vacant side of the bed, slid in and curled up against me with his head against my chest. "What's wrong sweetie?"

  "Everything."

  "Did you have a fight with Gavin?" That was the first thought I had since he was supposed to be on the phone with him at this moment.

  "No, my husband is as fabulous as ever. It seems nothing fazes him, which is great because he keeps me grounded." Cameron scooted in closer to me as I began to scratch his back.

  "So then why the sad face?" There was nothing sadder than a distraught Cameron. He's always been our comic relief.

  Cameron sits up, fidgeting with the comforter as he collects his thoughts. "I'm tired of having to defend who I am. It's exhausting and it's unfair."

  "What do you mean?" I ask, taking one of his hands in mine.

  "I'm gay, Mary Jane."

  In an attempt to make him laugh I gasp dramatically, "What! NO! It can't be true!" His lips turn up slightly, but it wasn’t the response I wanted. "I'm sorry; I was trying to make you laugh."

  "I love you for it sweetie. What I mean is I'm tired of my whole life being condensed to the fact that I'm gay. You and Derrick could go get married right now and no one would give you any grief on it. You could kiss in the middle of a park filled with people and they would think it was sweet and romantic. I hold Gavin's hand and get looks of disgust from people I've never spoken to." Cameron takes a deep breath to hold back the tears that I can tell are about to fall. "My marriage isn't even recognized in the state I live in. Do you know how that hurts? I'm no different than anyone else. I want my happily ever after with prince charming, is that too much to ask?"

  "Of course not. I can't begin to understand why people are so scared of someone based on who they choose to spend their life with. You and Gavin are one of the most loving couples I've ever witnessed together. You're perfect for each other and while I know it doesn't make it easier you have to forget what those few people think."

  "It's more than a few, MJ. This is something we haven't told anyone, not even Gracie. We've been looking into adoption." The fact that he hadn't told Gracie was shocking to me. Cameron and Gracie have been best friends since they were five. If Cameron wasn't gay, I have no doubt they'd be m
arried now. They tell each other everything.

  "What? That's awesome! You and Gavin will make fabulous parents," I exclaim, truly ecstatic. If anyone is good with kids it was Cameron, he's like a big kid himself.

  "You'd think so. We've made appointments and each time we show up they become surprised that I'm a male named Cameron. The rest of the time it's an awkward conversation about the difficulty of adopting these days because there is so much demand. In truth, it's difficult because we're two men. Some of them actually came right out and said that to us, which was better than the run around. One said that only married couples can adopt, the requirement is to be married three years. We said we're married and she told us that it isn't recognized therefore it isn't valid and that if it became valid we'd have to wait three years from that date. You have no idea how bad it feels to hear your marriage is a sham to most people."

  It's true, I couldn't relate. It didn't mean that my heart isn't breaking for him though. If Derrick proposed to me, no one would say a negative word about it. We'd have no problems getting a marriage license, we'd be ideal adoptive parents, and we'd never have to fight for the state to admit our marriage was real. Cameron would never have that luxury. Even if marriages are legalized in Tennessee, it wouldn't be without a fight or protests. Cameron and Gavin will never be able to forget about the hate that has surrounded their love. The only thing we can do is surround them with as much love as possible to try and outdo the hate.

  Words escaped me. What could I as a straight woman offer as solace to this friend of mine? I couldn't understand his pain, but I wanted to do anything I could to ease it. "Cameron, I love you." It's all I could say before the tears fell. He understood the deeper meaning and wrapped his arms around me as he sobbed against my neck. We sat like that for a few minutes, both crying.