Eli’s head turned slowly as the words Lee had spoken sunk into him. “Lee…”
“When you’re ready, come to my room. I’m not going to let you write a tell-all book about how I raped you.”
The rest of the ride was silent, but inside his mind, it was loud with the words and implications that were pounding around in there. Lee Madison was gay, and he wanted to fuck Eli.
Suddenly, the entire thing was clear to him. Once Lee saw him, knew of his predicament with the loans, he thought he had an easy mark. Someone to fuck behind the scenes while voting down all the bills that would give the LGBTQIA community equal footing.
“Senator…Lee, you’re…you’re gay?”
“No. Not at all. I simply like having my fun.”
When they arrived back at Lee’s home, they got out of the limo and Lee walked ahead, even as his bodyguards from the car behind them got out and surrounded him.
“Boys, boys, go get some rest. I’ll meet you back here in the morning.”
“Yes, sir,” they all said and got back into their car.
Lee stopped to wait for Eli as the door of the house was opening by Mars. “I’ll see you in the morning, I’m guessing, Eli.”
“Yes, sir. The morning.”
Lee laughed as he entered the house, slapping a hand on Mars’s shoulder. “Mars, dear friend, get a handle on this one or you’ll be hunting down someone else to be my assistant.”
“Yes, sir.”
Eli watched Lee climb the stairs and disappear at the end of the landing before he turned to Mars and gaped at him.
“Mr. Bloom…come with me to the kitchen for a cup of tea.”
He did, glad he was done with the scotch for the night. He sat at the table that overlooked a small piece of the huge yard, the statuary, and carefully manicured topiaries, eerie shadows in the dark.
As the tea was set in front of him, Mars croaked, “I was hoping he’d wait a few nights before doing this.”
“Doing what? Does he always have a…a booty call living in the house?”
“Oh, no. No, you’re a first.”
Mars sat across from him and from his robe, he produced something that it took a moment for Eli to recognize. When he did, the night came back to him, screaming back, and the black mascaraed mask mocked him, as if it were laughing.
“The club…the VIP section…”
“Yes, sir. I’m afraid Lee planned this out after seeing you there. He liked the look of you, and since it was a gay club, he assumed you were so.”
“Not hard to assume that, but why didn’t he just hit on me then? Why go to all this trouble?”
Mars sipped his tea, keeping Eli ready for the response, but not in a malicious way. Eli thought he had to think it out first. “He’s very lonely, Eli.”
That was the first time he’d called Eli by his first name. That alone make him want to hear Mars out to the end.
“He has always been, so he’s rented out friends before, and still does, apparently. The body guards? They were first. Of course, he doesn’t sleep with them or any of his other employees. Until now, he’s always done things to assure no one would find out about him. He wears masks in the clubs, has someone call ahead to open back doors for him, and then he usually takes the dancer or whomever into a backroom of some sort.
“It’s all very sordid, but he’s scared someone will know and tell everyone.”
“It’s 2022, Mars.”
“As you’ve recently seen, if you’ve paid any attention, the gay community is again a target. It’s somewhere to point their constituents so they’re not paying attention to other things. Through centuries, I’m afraid your people have been used that way.”
“That’s no kidding.”