No Greater Loyalty (30 page)

Jerra raised a brow and waited.

"
Club Fantasy, Club Ecstasy, and Club Bliss.
"

Jerra
’s lips parted in surprise. "They own all of them?"

"
All
of them. New York, Atlanta...and Vegas. Talk about a coincidence, right? So I called Bryan to find out what he knew. Seems when I sold him my share, he gave part ownership back to Roni, and I guess I can understand that. I mean, originally, these were her babies, her visions."

"You mean before she faked her death and let you think she was dead?"

Darrell stared at Jerra, the muscles in his square jaw jumping like crazy. "Yeah. Before that."

"I thought when Bryan sold his part in the clubs, he sold to foreign investors."

"He did. But Roni retained her shares. Eventually, I guess the Pattels purchased the clubs from those investors. Bryan said they wanted complete ownership, but initially Roni refused to sell. After a lot of back and forth negotiations, she eventually agreed. A week or so ago, Bryan says she ran into a member of the Pattel family."

Jerra's mind had put two and two together by this time. "And you're saying you called her to find out what she knew about the Pattels?"

"Yes."

Jerra's voice turned alarmingly calm. "Let me get this straight because God knows, I want to make sure I get all of the facts before I go off on your ass. You went to
her
for help, told her about this before you came to
me
?"

"It's not the way you're making it sound, Jerra."

"You keep saying that when in fact, it's
exactly
like that!"

Darrell's expression became perplexed as impatience seeped into his tone. "What could
you
have done, Jerra?" He cursed underneath his breath and briefly shut his eyes when he heard how that sounded. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that.”

Jerra took a step back as if he'd physically slapped her in the face. "Yes you did. Wow." Seconds later, a thought suddenly occurred to her. "You've actually forgotten who I was before I met you, haven't you? Forgotten that I worked for one of the best law firms in the country and was one of the youngest lawyers ever offered a partnership there. A partnership, I might add, that I turned down to marry you and move to Las Vegas. And now, because I've chosen to stay at home and raise our son instead of continuing with my career, you've made the mistake of thinking I
’m just your little ‘wifey’, and D.J.'s mom, and nothing else."

"What? That
’s not true."

But Jerra was convinced she'd gotten it right. "No, I think it is or else you wouldn't have insulted my intelligence the way you just did. I could've gotten you the information you needed with just a few phone calls, Darrell. I still have connections and stay in touch with lawyers from my old firm in Atlanta. But it didn't even occur to you to talk to me about it. Instead you chose to go to Roni."

Guilt caused him to go on the offense because she was absolutely correct. He struggled to keep his voice evenly toned. "Why are you making a bigger deal out of this than it is?"

Jerra stared at him incredulously, unable to believe he'd even said something so utterly...stupid! "Are you forgetting what we went through a couple of years ago because of what you did, leaving me to run to Roni's side for 'closure'. And now this."

"Jerra, come on!" Darrell scoffed. "This is
not
the same thing and you know it. See, I knew you'd react like this."

"So you hid it from me? Is that what you're saying?"

Darrell's chest heaved with the huge breath he took. "Look, let's just calm down and try to discuss this rationally."

"No, the time to discuss this was weeks ago before you lied to me."

"I didn't lie to you," Darrell pushed out through clenched teeth.

"You lied to me by omission and you know it. You knew you were wrong, you can't tell me that you didn't." Her voice lowered as she held his gaze. "You promised me Roni would never be an issue between us, but once again, she is. And what's so crazy is that as much as I want to, I can't blame her for this.
This is all your doing
. It's like you can't help yourself when it comes to her."

"This is not about me wanting to be with Roni. Jerra, as much as you might want me to, I can't just wave a magic wand and erase my past with her. Damn, you gonna have to get over this insecurity when it comes to her."

Jerra drew herself up straight and eyed him with icy cold directness. "You did not just say that. The issue isn't me being insecure. The problem is every time we seem to be in a good place, you reel her back into our lives and into our marriage."

"That's bullshit, Jerra, and you know it."

"No, what's bullshit is the fact that I trusted you, Darrell!
I trusted you!
" she screamed "After everything we went through, I made a choice to put it behind me because I thought you were as committed to making our marriage work as I was. And now you have the
audacity
to stand there and try to belittle my feelings and actually make me think I'm crazy for being upset?"

Darrell ran an agitated hand over his hair. This situation was quickly taking a downward tailspin, all because his inability to admit he'd made a mistake had caused him to handle things completely wrong.

"Can we just sit down and talk about this in a calm, rational manner? I'm sorry. You're right, I should've come to you first. I apologize."

Jerra pointed a finger at him. "You know what? Screw you and screw your apology. Feel free to take it with you when you leave. I want you out."

Darrell backed up a step, his eyes never straying from her face. "What do you mean, you 'want me out'?"

"Just that. I want you
out
. Out of this house. Gone."

Darrell's lips tightened. His gut reaction was to stay here and talk this out, but if she needed a few hours to calm down, then that
’s what he'd give her. "Alright. Fine. I'll go drive around for a while, maybe go into the office and try to get some work done, but-"

"You misunderstand me. I don't want you gone 'for a while'. I want you to move out."

Darrell frowned. Surely he hadn’t heard what he thought he’d heard. "What did you just say?"

"You heard me. You can come back and pack your things later when I'm not here, but right now, this instant? I want you to leave."

Darrell snorted out a laugh and shook his head. "Nah, that shit ain't happenin'. You want me to leave
my
house? Uh uh."

Jerra bristled. "This might be
our
house, but it's no longer
your
home. Not anymore."

"Alright, look. You have a right to be upset. Go on and throw that phone you've had in a death grip since I walked in, if it'll make you feel better. Curse me out if you want to, but me leavin?" He shook his head again and repeated his previous answer. "That ain't happenin'."

"You…
arrogant
son of a bitch." Jerra was struggling to hold it together, but she was fast losing her composure. "Get... out...now!"

When he pursed his lips and shook his head, Jerra saw red. She wasn
’t one prone to violence, but before she could even think about it, she did exactly what he taunted her to do. The phone went flying out of her hand towards his head
.
Her aim was unerringly accurate, and the only thing that saved Darrell from being hit square in the face was his lightning quick reflexes. 

"Hey!" His brows came together in a fierce frown.

"Get out! I want you out, Darrell!"

"I told you I
’m not leaving. As soon as you calm down, we can talk about this."

Outraged that he was attempting to pacify her on top of everything else was the last straw. Screaming, she flew towards him, slapping and kicking wherever she could land a blow.

"Dammit, Jerra!" Darrell tried to grab her hands, but that made her even angrier. Scared she was going to hurt herself, he turned her around and pulled her back against his chest.

Darrell had to raise his voice in order to be heard over her screaming. "Jerra, damn, calm down!"

"Get out, get out, get out!"
Jerra shrieked with tears streaming down her face.

His face tense and full of regret, Darrell closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the back of her head. "Baby, please don
’t," he whispered. "Please, please don’t."

"You promised me, Darrell. You p-promised me." The hurt she felt was like a physical pain. "I hate you! Do you hear me?"

"Jerra..."

"Leave my Mommy alone, Daddy!"

A small, frightened voice stopped them cold. They both watched in horror as their son raced towards them and started hitting Darrell with his small, clenched fists. Tina came running in after him, out of breath.

"Leave Mommy
alone
!" D.J. screamed again.

Darrell immediately released Jerra and knelt down to try and hug D.J. "No, no, baby. Daddy's not hurting Mommy. She's okay."

But D.J. wasn't hearing it. Crying, he pushed against Darrell until Darrell let him go. Once he was free, he turned and threw himself into his mother's arms.

Jerra
’s eyes met Darrell’s as she tried to soothe their son. "Daddy's right, D.J., Mommy's fine. Shhh, it’s okay, baby."

Jerra sniffed and did her best to wipe her own tears so that she wouldn't frighten her son any more than he already was. Her arms tightened around him when he buried his face in her neck.

"Daddy would never hurt Mommy, sweetie," she said rubbing his back.

At least not physically
, she silently.

Tina cautiously stepped forward, dividing her gaze between Darrell and Jerra. "I'm sorry, I tried to catch him, but when he heard the yelling, he took off before I could get to him."

Jerra took the napkin that Tina offered her and wiped her eyes before gently pulling D.J. back. She offered him as brave a smile as she could muster. "I'm sorry we scared you, sweetheart, but see? Mommy's fine."

"But why were you crying?" D.J. looked at his father who was kneeling beside them. The little boy's eyes were full of mistrust and confusion. "Daddy was hurting you."

Darrell swallowed painfully. "I wasn't hurting her, baby. I promise. You know Daddy always tells you the truth, right?"

D.J. hesitated before nodding. His gray eyes were as dark and turbulent with emotion as his father's.

"I love you and Mommy very much. I'm always going to protect you. I'd never, ever do anything to harm either of you. Okay?"

D.J. nodded again, and this time when Darrell pulled him in his arms, he went willingly and laid his head on Darrell's shoulder. Darrell and Jerra's eyes met over their son, both shaken at what he'd witnessed.

Tina bent down eye level to look at D.J. "Why don't you come with me while Mommy and Daddy finish talking in their
quiet
voices." Tina didn't look at either of them, but they got her meaning. "You can show Grandma how to play that game you and Daddy were just playing."

D.J. was reluctant until Jerra hugged him and gave him a big kiss. "Go on, sweetie. Mommy will be right there."

D.J. looked at Darrell. "You too, Daddy?"

Darrell swallowed again and looked at Jerra, his eyes pleading with her to change her mind. She averted her head so that she wouldn't have to meet his gaze. Darrell cleared his throat to enable himself to talk past the lump of emotion that seemed to be resting on his vocal chords, but it didn
’t help. The only thing he could manage to do was nod, but apparently that was good enough for D.J.

Somewhat mollified, the little boy took his grandmother's hand and followed her out the kitchen. Darrell slowly stood. He brought his arms up and folded them over his head as he walked a few paces away.

"This shit cannot be happening," he whispered to himself.

"I think it's best if we don't drag this out. It's already going to be hard enough without us doing that, so..."

Darrell swung around and stared at her. "Jerra, come on. Don't ask me to leave my son. To leave you." He blinked rapidly. Glancing away, he took a huge breath before looking at her again. "Don't ask me to walk away from my family."

"It's too late," she whispered, truly as devastated as he was.

Growing up in a household where she'd been neglected by her mother and later abused and sexually assaulted by her stepfather, Jerra had learned how to erect an armor of protection around her that was as impenetrable as a brick wall. That same barrier shielded her. She would deal with the pain and heartache later, but right now, she needed every bit of strength she possessed to get through the next few minutes without breaking down.

"If you want to take a few things with you now, that's fine, but to be honest, I'd rather we make arrangements for you to come back and get the rest when I'm not here. I don't think D.J. should be either. He doesn't need to see that. He's going to be hurt enough."