by Jo Tannah
“Oh no, I can’t even... ” Joshua said trying to catch his breath. “I mean, yeah sure, they’re getting married tomorrow and all... what other reason is there... no, no, I can’t think about this,” he choked out, wiping tears from his eyes.
“Know what?” Mark said with an evil glint in his eyes.
“What are you thinking?” Zach asked. Joshua looked at his younger brother gleefully rubbing his hands together.
“Let’s all three of us get them cheesecakes.”
An hour later, they reentered the lobby, marched to Margaret’s suite and pounded their fists on her door. A wide-eyed, shirtless and barefoot Giles stood muted at the sight of them. He took a step back in alarm as three sweet smelling boxes were shoved to his face. His caught-in-the-headlights look plus his state of undress were all it took to confirm what he and his bride-to-be had been doing. By the time Margaret came out of the bedroom a few minutes later, wearing nothing but a silky robe and sweetly calling out Giles name, all four men were sitting on the sofa having a cheesecake feast.
“What the hell, guys!” Margaret huffed out.
“Aw, baby. You look cute angry,” Zach said, risking getting kicked as he snorted through his nose, trying to bite back his laughter.
“What do you have there?” Margaret said, glaring at Giles when he started laughing with Zach.
Zach wordlessly handed her a plate of the cheesy sweet. Margaret snatched it from his hand, pulled out a chair, and sat down beside Giles without saying a word. She began eating the cake with gusto, and Giles smiled.
Joshua and Mark couldn’t help teasing the pair. Even when Margaret flipped a finger at them, they didn’t stop. Zach’s face began to ache from all their smiling and laughter. He’d missed this feeling of camaraderie with his friends and didn’t wish to lose it.
Thoughts of Tristan dealing with Amanda’s latest demands dampened his happiness, but he knew he couldn’t do anything about it except be supportive. Looking at his friends, he realized this might be the last time he’d be able to feel this carefree with them. He dreaded the day they would find out about his relationship with their father. Silently, he made a decision as he looked down at his rapidly emptying plate. Another slice of blueberry cheesecake ought to make everything right again.
Chapter Six
Tristan knocked on Amanda’s door, stepped to the side, leaned on the wall beside the door and waited. From experience, he knew she’d never answer immediately. She liked to make people wait. It was just one of the many reasons why their help never lasted long when they’d still been married. She also had a sharp tongue when sober. It got worse when she drank, and she drank daily on an hourly basis. Two minutes passed and still the door didn’t open, so he reached out a hand without moving from his post and knocked on the door once more. This time, he heard movement inside the room and stepped aside. He took in a lungful of air and prepared himself for what would most likely be an unpleasant encounter.
The door opened and a young, Hispanic man walked out buttoning up his shirt. He gave Tristan a cursory glance and without a word, turned to the left and walked away. Tristan shook his head, recognizing the boy from the lobby downstairs. Amanda hadn’t changed. Even bellboys were easy prey for her. He turned to the open doorway and walked in, closing the door behind him. He wrinkled his nose in disgust. The suite reeked of sex.
“Tristan, you called?” Amanda said, walking out of the bathroom naked. If she thought it would get a rise out of him, she was wrong. He pursed his lips and moved back toward the door.
“Obviously you’re not dressed to meet with me. If you want we’ll meet in the lobby downstairs once you’re ready?”
“Oh, come on now, Tristan. You’ve seen me naked before,” Amanda said, not bothering to make a move like putting on a robe. She walked to the closet where the hotel refrigeration unit was set up and took out one of the small whiskey bottles. She poured it neat into a whiskey glass and sat on the sofa crossing her one leg over the other “Now, tell me. What can I do for you?”
Tristan cocked his head and observed the woman who was the mother of his children. Gone was the attractive, independent woman he’d met in college. True, he’d loved her then, but he’d never been in love with her. He still felt guilty for marrying her, hiding from his own sexuality. When he’d confessed to her, five years after their marriage and Joshua already a toddler, she’d been supportive and understanding. To his surprise, she’d said then she’d known right from the start, saying it was his name, money and stability she’d craved and she would never give it up for anything.
His need to never disappoint his family’s expectations had driven him to stay loyal to her and he’d been grateful at that time she’d not outed him to his family and friends. For the entirety of their marriage, not once had he taken on a lover, not even as a one-night stand. He’d naively thought she’d do the same thing. When he found out about her indiscretions, even before Joshua had been born, he’d been devastated, but he’d stayed on. He’d remained loyal. When Mark was conceived, he’d been the happiest and kept hoping. But Amanda continued to sink deeper into alcoholism, and walking in on her with another man in their bedroom one afternoon finally opened his eyes. His first thoughts were on the children and he kept quiet, not wanting to ruin their childhood, even if it ruined his happiness.
The years of hiding finally took their toll on him, and one day he’d confessed all to Jonathan, who’d raised an eyebrow and taken out a bottle they both finished that night. Jonathan had told Joanna, who also kept Tristan’s secret. When the divorce came though, he’d fallen into depression. Feeling out of control, he knew he’d have made the wrong decisions were it not for Jonathan’s solid support and firm guidance. Shaking away his morbid thoughts, he realized he’d been standing by the door over a minute staring at the nude Amanda.
“I heard from the planners,” he finally said, taking his eyes off of her.
“What about them? What did they want?”
“According to them, you went over their heads and called their suppliers behind their backs.”
Amanda sipped from her glass, her swinging foot betraying her agitated state. “So? I got the job done, didn’t I? When I first contacted them, they said it would be impossible to get the flowers Margaret originally wanted this time of the year. I simply proved to them their incompetence.”
“Yes, you did, but then you also potentially damaged their reputation. I talked to the suppliers and they said that when the flowers were first ordered two months ago, there was a lack of supply. Changing the orders last minute not only messed up their schedule, it also drove the prices up.”
“Look, Tristan. You may be gay, but you know nothing about decorating weddings. If those stupid women had done what I’d asked months ago, we wouldn’t be in this situation. They closed the doors on the flowers, made it look impossible. I merely proved to them they were wrong.”
“Again, yes, you did, but it also means they’re angry and embarrassed. They had to ask for more money to cover for the extra expenses. Also, it was not just the flowers, they said you changed other things as well.”
“Oh, fuck them,” Amanda said. She stood and walked back to the hotel supply of liquors and opened another bottle. “Just get out your check and shut up about it.”
Tristan’s temper flushed hot. He was a normally patient man, too patient, as Jonathan sometimes accused him of. It was a virtue he’d developed as a young man. This same patience was what made him one of the more dangerous lawyers because he could wait out the right moment to pounce when everyone else, including Jonathan, would have lost it. He was losing it now.
“How dare you,” he said, nose flaring. The barely concealed anger must have communicated itself to Amanda because she paused what she was doing and turned to face him. Her eyes widened when she saw Tristan’s face.
“I may be able to afford the extra expenses, but you have no right, absolutely no right, to tell me to shut up. I had to convin
ce the planners not to sue Margaret and Giles because of your impulsive actions. Don’t ever tell me to shut up when it comes to money and how to spend it. Don’t ever tell me to shut up when you were about to ruin Margaret’s wedding. Her life! Don’t tell me to shut up simply because I shut my mouth before.” By the time he’d finished, his voice had gotten loud.
“That’s not what I meant and you know it,” Amanda said. She walked back to the sofa, her stance stiff and belligerent. She sat down again, sloshing her drink over the sofa material in the process. “I merely meant we were going to have to pay for it anyway, so we may as well just pay for it.”
“Ha! We pay? Say what you mean, please.”
“Okay, you pay. There. Happy now?” Amanda’s voice went shrill.
Tristan knew if he stayed on much longer, they’d most likely have a full blown shouting match and the hotel management would get involved. He took a deep, calming breath to steady himself.
“No. I’m not happy having to pay the extra amount, but I will for Margaret’s sake.” Tristan pulled on his cuffs and walked to the door. He couldn’t stand looking at Amanda and hide his distaste, couldn’t stand the smell of the room either. “I don’t want to hear any more changes have been made at the last minute. If you do, you pay for it.” He opened the door and closed it.
In the hallway, a hotel maid was pushing her oversized cart filled with room supplies. He gave her a nod in greeting but as he took a step toward the elevator bay a few meters away, he heard a muffled scream, a thud then a glass breaking coming from inside the room he’d just left. The maid’s eyes bulged out as she walked briskly toward Amanda’s room.
“Oh, miss?” Tristan said with a tight smile.
The maid turned, her hand pulling out a set of master keys that would open all the rooms on the floor. “Yes, sir?”
“Please tell the management to bill her directly.” He knew he was being spiteful, but he refused to pay for any hotel property Amanda knowingly broke. Let her pay for the breakage. See how much they cost.
The maid opened her mouth to speak when more sounds of breaking glass distracted her. “Don’t worry, Mr. Maxfield, I’ll advise the management on what’s happening.” With those words, she turned and began to knock frantically on the door. Tristan turned and left her to deal with his ex, absently thinking he liked the service here, especially when the staff knew their guests’ names.
* * * *
Tristan opened the door to his room, removed his jacket and tie, and threw them on a chair that stood against a wall. He walked over to his bed and flopped on it. Picking up the remote, he flipped through TV channels. Briefly, he wondered where Zach was, already missing him.
The show hosted by a young, gay chef who’d won a few choice awards in the course of his short career succeeded in taking his mind off his troubles. Lost in thought, Tristan didn’t see the adjoining door open until Zach came into view.
Looking up, he smiled and opened his arms in welcome. Zach came willingly and kneel-walked over the bed to cuddle up next to him. There they both lay—enjoying the feel of each other, their eyes focused on the complex plating the camera had closed in on. After a while, Zach shifted and looked up at Tristan.
“How did your talk go?”
Tristan’s mouth tightened and he rubbed his hand over Zach’s shoulder before heaving a sigh. “Not too good. In the end we were shouting at each other. However, I told her that, in no uncertain terms was I handing out any more money for last minute changes.”
“Okay, that’s good, isn’t it?”
A snort from Tristan had Zach rise on his elbow and look down at him. “What happened exactly? Other than the shouting, I mean.”
Tristan relayed what happened with Amanda to Zach, watching the myriad expressions on Zach’s face change from curiosity to disbelief and finally jealousy.
“Never mind,” he said, shifting himself so he could pull Zach closer to his side. “I’m just whining now, but long and short of it is, she now understands I’m not about to spend more money.”
Zach pursed his lips in disapproval. “She was naked during all that time?”
Tristan didn’t miss that Zach had focused on Amanda’s nakedness. Choosing to ignore it, he turned back to the show. “Yes. Not that it bothered me one bit, I’d seen it all before.”
“She was naked?”
Tristan turned to Zach and when he saw the simmering anger there, he bit on his lip then gave a wry smile. “Don’t worry, hon. Nothing about her attracts me in the least. Don’t think about it.” He tried to soothe the jealousy away by rubbing on Zach’s cheek.
Zach huffed in irritation before settling once more in Tristan’s arms. “Why’d she do that anyway? Running around naked.”
“I don’t know and I don’t care. In any case, she’s going to get billed by the management later. Also, she was sitting, she didn’t run around, thank God.”
Zach rose on his elbow again. “Billed? Okay, now I’m curious. Spill. What happened?”
“She had a tantrum when I left and broke a few things inside the room. The maid was there and I told her to send the bill to Amanda and the maid agreed. That’s Amanda’s and the management’s business now.”
“What if—”
“They won’t, and in any case, I’m not married to her anymore. She can pay her own way. Whatever.” Tristan picked up the remote, muted the television and changed the topic. “So, how did you distract the kids?”
Zach pulled his shirt off his waistband and whipped off his belt from its loops. He threw it to the floor at the foot of the bed before snuggling in close to Tristan. Reaching across Tristan’s body for the remote, he put up the volume. “We bought cheesecake.”
“Uh huh, that should do it.”
They continued to watch the program until Tristan felt sleepy and closed his eyes. Drifting off to sleep, he heard Zach mutter quietly under his breath.
“Is that beets? Yuck.”
* * * *
Thankfully, the rehearsal went on without a hitch. Margaret remained oblivious the flowers she’d originally requested had been changed from white calla lilies to Picasso ones mixed in with white roses. When she’d learned from the planners that her four-tiered cake had been upgraded to six, she clapped her hands in delight and kissed Tristan her thanks. The planners proceeded to tell her about the other changes, but stopped when Tristan turned to glare at them. Amanda flushed red and no one was the wiser she’d been crying. Sadly, everyone concluded she was drunk as usual.
After the rehearsal, Margaret declared she wanted pizza, despite Amanda’s protestations that rehearsal dinners had to be held in more formal surroundings and not a pizza parlor. Tristan took one look of his daughter’s disgruntled face and gave his nod of consent, much to the delight of Mark who whooped at the thought of pizza. He turned his back on Amanda when she’d begun to protest.
Their party of twenty sat around a long table in the middle of a downtown pizza place. Everyone laughed, ate their fill of the pies, and drank from oversized mugs of ice cold draft beer. Other diners openly stared at them and at their formal wear while some took out their phones and began snapping pictures and videos of their party.
Tristan sat beside Jonathan and Joanna to one side, while Amanda sat at the head of the table on the far side, among her relatives. Zach found himself sitting opposite Tristan and his parents between Joshua and Giles, whose best man Jeff sat beside them. Zach didn’t know Jeff all that well, only that he was Giles’ cousin. The mood was rowdy, and not even Amanda’s sour expression throughout the night dampened their spirits. By ten o’clock, Tristan suggested they all take their leave and get to their beds in light of the wedding scheduled for ten in the morning the next day.
Full and still grinning from their celebration, Zach finally found himself alone with Tristan in the elevator on their way up to their floor. Joanna and Jon had stepped off three floors down with Margaret, leaving Joshua and Mark with them until they, t
oo, stepped out a floor down. Alone at last, Zach didn’t move from his position leaning against the far wall. He watched Tristan’s bowed head leaning against the opposite wall.
“You feeling okay?” Zach said when he saw Tristan rubbing the area above his stomach.
“Yeah, just heartburn. I haven’t had pizza in a long time.”
Zach dipped his head in understanding, although he continued to observe Tristan for further stress. He straightened when the elevator pinged and the doors slid open. They both got off without saying a word to each other and walked the length of the corridor shoulder to shoulder. He’d taken out his key card to open his door and was just about to step through it when he felt Tristan’s hot breath against his neck.
“You tempt me,” Tristan said, whispering in his ear. His words made Zach shiver in need, the hot breath tickling his senses, and he leaned his forehead against the door jamb. He relished the hard body pressed against his and arched his ass up against Tristan, whose hand drifted down to his front. A gentle rub from Tristan had Zach’s cock rising in response.
“You’re horny,” Zach said with a smile. He looked to his left then to his right, checking to see if there were people about. Seeing there were none, he turned into Tristan’s arms and pulled him into his room.
When the door closed behind Tristan, Zach pressed him into the hard surface and kissed him hard on the mouth. He could taste the pizza and beer and groaned deep in his throat. He would never get enough of this man.
They stripped off their clothes in silence, gazes locked and holding on to each other. When they were both naked, Zach covered Tristan’s mouth, lips moving slowly. “I need you,” Tristan said.
Zach didn’t answer. Instead, he trapped Tristan’s hips between his hands and pushed him down and backward on the bed. When Tristan lay sprawled, Zach lifted his leg and settled over Tristan’s hips. He ran his fingers through the chest hairs, feeling their softness. Tristan was not a small man, and for his age, he was pure muscle.