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found his twin waiting
for him with a bottle of tequila. Raif shrugged. "I thought you
might need something a little stronger than water after meeting
with the piranhas." Producing two shot glasses, lemon slices,
and a salt shaker, he poured two shots.
    Ray laughed as he sank into his chair across from Raif and
remembered taking a shot the first time he had ever seen his
brother face to face, but without the salt and lemon. He picked
up the salt, sprinkled his thumb, licked the salt, tossed the shot
back, and sucked a lemon slice. His mirror image followed
suit. After the second shot, Raif said, "Need a sympathetic
ear?"
    "I never thought I would feel this awful over Robert
LaFontaine." Ray leaned back. "After all the garbage with him,
why do I give a damn?"
    "Because you once loved him like a brother. Have you ever
considered the possibility that Robert came after what you had
because he was jealous of you?"
    "For God's sake, why? Why would he be jealous of me?"
"Maybe because you actually have the capacity to truly
love. In order to shield himself from feeling real love, even for
a brother, he had to drive you away."
"Are you changing professions, big brother?"
"No. Robert wasn't hard to read." Raif shook his head. "If
he never got too close, then he couldn't get hurt, probably
because he had been really hurt. I'm surprised he ever actually
got married. Of course, that was a political move. There has
only been one bachelor in the White House, and I don't think
he was a philanderer. No, America likes a family man, even in
these modern times. Still, I don't think he ever loved anyone,
least of all, himself. Honestly, Ray, I think his relationship with
you was the closest he ever came to love of any kind."
Was Robert gay? Ray looked at his brother with a very
strange expression on his face, brows furrowed and nose
wrinkled.
Raif waved his hand. "Don't even go there. I've never
thought you were gay, Ray. However, Robert might've been,
and to keep from admitting it even to himself, he had to have
all the women he could get, especially those that belonged to
the one person he might've had any real feelings for. So long as
you were unattached, you were his in his mind."
Ray's mouth dropped open. "Jesus Christ, Raif! If I had
ever considered those thoughts were in his head, I would've
killed him."
"I know. When you married Larkin, he realized he had to
go forward and create the illusion of being the kind of man
America would vote for. And, you know, he probably would've
made it to the White House if he had been himself—not that I
would've voted for him. But he was a politician. He knew how
to manipulate people."
"The more you talk, the more I see exactly what you're
saying. Was I just totally blind all these years?"
"Yes, because you could never have accepted these truths if
he were alive. Now, would you like to talk about the Robert
LaFontaine that you knew and loved like a brother?"
"Not until I've had another shot to help me deal with
everything you've said."
Raif poured two more shots, and after Ray killed his, he
said, "Where would you like me to start?"
"At the beginning. We've talked over a lot of things in the
last fourteen years, but you have said as little as possible about
Robert."
With a shrug, Ray grunted. "You know how Mia turned to
him after I got shot. And then Larkin." He sighed. "She was the
most captivating captive who captured my heart from the getgo."
"We're not discussing your wife, although Robert wanted
her as a trophy, someone he thought could win him the White
House."
"Well, in my opinion, Deanna is pretty much a prize as
well. I'll never forget the way he just showed up at my door
with a wedding invitation in his hand and Deanna standing
beside him. 'I'm not mailing this one,' he said. He grinned and
handed it to me. I know I gaped at him. Larkin elbowed me in
the ribs and invited them in.
"As I read the invitation, Rob said, 'Ray, I know we can
never be as close as we once were, but