Page 21 of The Rule of 3

When the Delibans arrived at the church that evening, they marched up to Eli and Mr. Deliban announced in a stage whisper, “We were robbed while we were out of the house, Junior! You wouldn’t happen to know anythin’ about that, now would ya?”

With a serene look, Eli assured him, “You were not robbed. Everything has been relocated to a safe place for you, and if you manage to not make a scene, as soon as you leave to go back to California, it will all be returned.”

“Humph. You had no right,” he grumbled.

“I wanted to make sure no one landedin jail. Now remember, act polite tonight and stay away from reporters or you won’t see the other five grandoryour stash,” Eli promised. “Now, Mr. Deliban, your daughter awaits you in the anteroom to the right of the main entrance. And, Mrs. Deliban, as soon as we hang up your coat, it would be my honor to escort you to your seat. You look lovely, I might add.”

Mr. Deliban grumbled and wandered away, and Mrs. Deliban simpered at him. When she returned to Eli’s side in the church’s vestibule, he noticed that she really did look pretty in her understated blue chiffon gown. She had Zoë’s lovely brown eyes, and as long as she didn’t say anything, he could appreciate her attractiveness. She ruined the whole thing however, when, as he offered her his arm, she reached around and pinched his butt, exclaiming, “Ooh! Nice and tight. You must work out a lot.”

Eli glared at her a second, then morphed his features back into polite nonchalance. He stuffed her hand into the crook of his arm and asked, “Shall we?” They made their way up the aisle at a sedate pace, and Eli sent up a silent prayer to the Jesus behind the altar that this crazy woman and her husband would behave themselves. She nodded and grinned and blew air kisses at people all the way through the church as though she were the proud hostess, even though she hadn’t done so much as lift a finger in preparation for this day. The Delibans were a couple of loose cannons. Eli thought this day could not be over soon enough.

Not too long after that, Eli and Tanner took their places up in front along with the other groomsmen—two old buddies of Tanner’s from way back, his brother-in-law Halden, and a guy from the town council. Eli eyed Tanner to see if he could detect any nerves or reservation, but all he saw was a man in love who was eager for the ceremony to be over.

The music changed. Zoë and her father approached the altar where Tanner and all of the attendants stood. Eli finally appreciated how transformed Mr. Deliban looked. His ratty beard was trimmed stylishly, and his crazy head of hair was considerably shorter and slicked back into a somewhat respectable ponytail at the nape of his neck.It’s the best I could have hoped for, I guess. Maybe people will just think the old guy looks artistic.

Then Eli looked at Zoë and wished he hadn’t. She was the most stunningly perfect woman he ever clapped eyes on and seemed to glow in her elegant gown and veil. Her eyes were glued to Tanner as she and her father made their way forward. Eli felt himself, much to his mortification, growing hard just looking at her. Thank God for my jacket.But then, it got worse. Zoë’s eyes flicked over to Eli for a moment, and he saw what looked like desire in them directed his way too.Oh shit! It was over in a flash, but he’d registered it. Zoë had looked at him with that same sense of recognition he’d seen in her before, and then after a split second of confusion, she dragged her eyes back to Tanner. Eli hoped to hell Tanner hadn’t noticed that look.

The ceremony was pure torture for Eli. He stood next to the man he loved and watched him pledge his life to the woman Eli lusted for and had no right to think of in such a way. He burned with jealousy for both of them. His hands shook when he handed Tanner the ring, and he tried to ignore the familiar feel of Tanner’s hand on his.

Somehow, he made it through the wedding and the reception and even managed a coherent speech about how proud he was of his best friend and how happy he was for the couple.Yeah, sure. Mostly his heart just bled a little each time the couple kissed each other.

Eli drank a lot of champagne, and then switched over to bourbon. He danced and tried to chat up people, reminding them all in subtle ways to get out and vote for Tanner in the June primaries. Finally, completely drained emotionally, he went to sit with his parents and his sister who’d flown in from New York for the wedding. After a while, his parents drifted off to socialize, leaving the siblings at the table. His sister Caro kept narrowing her eyes at Eli as if she wondered what was going on in his head.

“Eli,” she started gently, “would you like some more help with Tanner’s campaign?” He raised his head and looked at her quizzically. “I have some time for the next few months that I could take off and come back down here and lend you a hand. I’m sure you have things under control, but—many hands make light labor, or however the saying goes. I’m here to help, if you’d like.”

Eli considered her offer. Caro had matured into a level-headed young woman now that her rock ‘n’ roll days were behind her, and she was great with people. Smiling at her fondly, he answered, “Sure, Caro. Thank you. I’d love to have you here. I know Tanner would gladly have the extra support, and you’ll love getting to know Zoë.” He lowered his voice to a conspiratorial level, saying, “Once we get her nutty parents out of town, there will be room in the house for you to stay with me. Just let me know when you can be here. Hopefully they’ll be out of our hair soon.”

Caro looked perplexed. “Don’t they want to stay here in their own house?”

Eli chuckled, “It’s actually debatable apparently whether it’s theirs. They abandoned it to Zoë years ago so she’d be pretty much forced to continue paying the taxes on it as well as the mortgage they’d taken out on it. They said verbally that it was hers, but I guess no one ever bothered to get that in writing. In any case, I think I can persuade them to head back to California to continue their ‘careers’ there.” Caro looked questioningly at him, but he shook his head. “A topic for a private conversation another day.”

At that point, their parents returned to the table. They’d been chatting like old friends with Tanner’s parents. Eli’s dad announced, “Son, we had a great time tonight and it’s good to see you. I hope you can get our boy into the governor’s mansion without a hitch. It goes without saying, let me know if I can do anything at all to help. Now, Caro, we need to head back. Let’s get going, shall we?”

This left Eli alone with his wretched thoughts. He wished he could say he’d had a wonderful time tonight. Scanning the crowd for someone to talk to, he gave up and nursed another glass of bourbon—in a complete shit mood. He knew in his heart that the ceremony was moving and the reception was wonderful in a small-town kind of way that ought to have warmed his heart, but his heart was too broken to feel any of it.

They took separate limos back to Tanner’s house—now Tanner and Zoë’s, he corrected himself. Eli tried to give them as much privacy as possible, so he waited another miserable half an hour before taking off. He desperately wanted to go to sleep and forget this thoroughly exhausting episode.

Eli had lied to Tanner for the past several years. He’d made it sound as if he’d been out on dates quite often and was looking for a suitable wife and just hadn’t found her yet. But the truth was, he’d only been on a few dates that were basically forced on him by his parents. He lived for the fishing trips he and Tanner took every couple of months. After telling Tanner over and over to marry Zoë, he tried to make himself believe that was the best thing for Tanner and his political goals, but it was killing him inside. And now, it was done. Eli had no idea how to handle this new reality.

The house was dark when he returned, so he made his way quietly to his bedroom. He yanked off his tux and pulled on his flannel pajama pants. After brushing the taste of wedding cake and bourbon out of his mouth, he flopped onto his bed. And then the worst happened. The sounds of lovemaking from down the hall penetrated his consciousness. He knew those sounds all too well. He’d evoked them from Tanner himself for years. This time, however, Tanner’s moans and words of endearment were accompanied by the sweetest sounds from Zoë. The noises grew louder and louder, and Eli tried to put a pillow over his ears to drown them out. His imagination filled in what he couldn’t quite hear, however, torturing him even further. When the noises stopped, he thought maybe he could sleep, but that didn’t happen. So, Eli thought maybe he needed one more drink. He crept out of his room and down the dark hall to figure out where Tanner kept his liquor. Unfortunately, he wasn’t all that familiar with the layout of the house quite yet and crashed his bare foot into the leg of a table.

“Ow! Fuck!” he yelped and then tried to make himself shut up. He flopped down onto the couch with pain shooting through his foot and slumped his head down into his hands. It was then the tears started. He’d kept it together for as long as possible, but the dam broke finally. He sobbed quietly into his hands for a moment and then jumped when he felt someone sit down on the couch next to him. He didn’t even have to look up to realize it was Tanner’s strong, warm arms that wrapped around him and pulled him to his bare chest. He felt Tanner kiss the top of his head.

“I’m sorry, Eli. I’m so wrapped up in myself, I forgot how hard this has to be for you.” Tanner stroked Eli’s bare back and leaned his head over the top of Eli’s. They sat there for a long time like that, skin to skin, stroking and holding each other. Neither of them heard the footsteps that approached, stopped for a while, and then retreated.

Chapter 21

When Zoë woke up after her latest and greatest orgasm of the night had exhausted her, she realized she’d heard an odd noise. Tanner wasn’t in bed with her, and that confused her. Then she became curious when she realized she could hear Tanner’s voice coming from the living room. Straining her ears, she couldn’t hear what he was saying, but the tone was evident—soft and crooning, the way he sometimes sounded when they made love.What on earth?

Grabbing her robe, she tossed it on and made her way toward the front of the house.

The sight that greeted her in the moonlight peeking around the edges of the drapes on the front window took her breath away. Her new, beloved husband was embracing and stroking the back of his best man and campaign manager. They were both half-naked, and Eli seemed to be hiccupping in the aftermath of a good cry. She wondered what bothered Eli so terribly, but that thought was banished when she watched Tanner kiss the top of Eli’s head and lean into him so that they were pressed together. This was clearly not a bro hug moment. Zoë didn’t need any more confirmation than that.

Silently, she spun away and returned to bed.

But she couldn’t force herself to get back into the bed she and Tanner had just messed up so deliciously with their lovemaking. Zoë paced and paced around the room, trying to make sense of what she’d seen and her reaction to it. Her head was a jumble.

At least twenty minutes crawled by, and Zoë was getting pissed off. How dare Tanner leave their bed on their wedding night to… do what? Snuggle up to Eli for a while? Burning with a temper by now, she stomped back down the hall and found the two men sound asleep. Tanner was lying on the couch with Eli draped over him, and they were still holding each other tightly.

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