Behind The Mask

Chapter 42

"It's been a week now. Someone should have heard from Cameron by now. Brody? You are sure you haven't had any contact with him?" Will asks. The way he is speaking and handling himself in the living room of the old house makes him look and sound a lot like his father.

I shake my head, noting that I haven't heard anything. Not for a lack of trying off course. I have phoned multiple times, over and over again. I have sent messages, tried to reach him through Instagram, but all that got me was Cameron blocking me so that I cannot reach him at all.

"I've told you guys a thousand times. He's probably gone back to his hometown," E.J. suggests. "We should be on our way to Texas right about now."

"And what do you suggest we do with that bit of information? Walk around Texas. Knocking on doors and asking if they have seen Cameron? It's not exactly a small town you know," Will hits back, taking the wind out of E.J's sails, making me want to hug him against me.

The last few days have been hectic, and we have all tried our best to help. I have tried every single day to talk to E.J. about what happened, but he always makes up an excuse when I get to the subject, and then he disappears.

"Well, it's better than any idea you've come up with so far," E.J. hits back, standing up from his chair. "I mean, what did you try to do to find Cameron? Spamming him with phonecalls that never gets answered?"

"Don't you dare," Will says, his face turning red as he also stands up from his seat. "I love Cameron."

"Nobody said you didn't love him," E.J. replies. "But have you ever thought about taking some actual action? And I'm not talking about throwing around daddy's money on a private detective, which by the way hasn't come up with anything either yet."

"What else do you want me to fucking do?" Will spits. "Cameron is not an idiot. If he doesn't want to be found, he won't."

"Okay sugars, cool it down," Grace says as she walks into the room. "I may have found Cameron."

Both Will and E.J. sit down at the sound of Cameron's voice coming from Grace. Will seems to be in shock, whereas E.J. just looks tired at this point.

"Where?" Will asks.

"I was worn slap out this mornin' after tendin' to William. He had a difficult night. The thin' with Jessica-Lynne and Stuart is a bitter pill to swallow," Grace starts, pouring a bit of whiskey from a decanter into a glass and taking a seat next to Will. "So there I was, just dandy, scrollin' through my phone, and then I thought by myself, we should not be lookin' for Cameron at all."

"I'm sorry?" Will asks with the confusion I am sure is showing on my face as well.

"Why sugar... Did you forget that Cameron goes under another name? I was madder than a wet hen when I realized that if I looked in the right place we might have found him days ago," Grace says, pulling out her phone and turning it so that we all can see.

"Lady Lalaland presents Runaway Bride," Chris reads the print on the poster which is too far away from me to see.

"You mean he's doing shows?" I ask, getting out of my chair and walking over to take the phone from Grace. "And he's nowhere near his hometown. It says Calafornia."

"Now if I wasn't already three sheets to the wind, I would have said we better get into a car right now and drive there, but we have got some time sugars. I think we should fly out tomorrow afternoon to be there in time for the show," Grace says. I look toward Will, hoping for a explanation about Grace's sayings, which I have strangely mostly picked up in the time I've been here, but this is a new one.

Will looks to me, but he doesn't answer.

"Maybe you should fly there tomorrow, but I think we should drive through tonight still," Will says. "It might be better to get to see him before the show starts. Maybe I can get him to change the title from Runaway Bride to My coming Southern wedding."