TOTAL ECLIPSE: The Evolution (Sin City Heat Series Book 7) (18 page)

Isaac stared at his sons who both watched him through guarded eyes as if leery of his intentions. They probably didn’t realize it, but even now the stance they each adopted, shoulders squared back, chins lifted proudly, standing side by side with eyes blazing like variations of dark grey thunderclouds before a storm, was one of a united front…against
him.
Their bond of brotherhood was tentative at best…but still a bond. Given the chance, over time it would grow, strengthen, and become unbreakable. And that’s what Isaac wanted.

Darrell felt Lorenzo staring at him. He already knew what he was getting ready to say and didn’t particularly want to hear it. “Renzo–”

“A couple of days won’t hurt. Plus, this’ll give us a chance to close rank and double up on Hurricane Johnson before you leave.” Lorenzo played his trump card. “You know, scare the crap out of ‘em, and put a bug in his ear about getting his ass stomped if he makes Gabby shed so much as a tear over his ass.”

Darrell’s mouth twitched reluctantly, earning him a quick scowl from Lorenzo.

“What?”

Darrell shook his head. “When I first mentioned him, your eyes lit up like it was Christmas. I thought you were gettin’ ready to start reciting his NFL stats or somethin’.”

“I was before I found out he was trying to hook up with our sister.” Lorenzo’s voice reflected his outrage. “As much as I want to see him lead my Wolverines to the Super Bowl and win a championship, make no mistake about it, I’ll help you break both his legs myself if he hurts Gabby.”

The corner of Darrell’s eyes crinkled in amusement, but he didn’t offer a comment.

“You two are so much alike it’s almost scary,” Isaac commented, mostly to himself. When they looked up, he shook his head. “In any case, Darrell, I give you my word that I won’t pressure you in any way. I assume you’ll be in the city with Lorenzo if you choose to stay a while. You won’t see me again unless you decide to reach out to arrange a meeting.”

Darrell’s reply was slow in coming, but he nodded grudgingly. “I guess I can stay one more day.”

“Good. I’m glad that’s settled.”

“But just so we’re clear,” Darrell continued, his gaze direct and probing. “Now that you know where Tina is, stay away from her. I’ll deal with her myself.”

The corner of Isaac’s mouth lifted at the corner. “Even after everything you’ve found out, you’re determined to protect her, aren’t you? Very well. As long as she stays out of my way, there won’t be a problem. Now if you both will excuse me, I have business to attend to that requires my immediate attention.”

Lorenzo’s eyes sharpened when he heard an odd tone in his father’s voice. “Something I should know about?”

Isaac hesitated then shook his head. “Nothing that can’t wait. We’ll need to talk about your trip when you get time, though. Things seem to be… escalating quicker than we anticipated.”

“What happened?”

Isaac shook his head and waved him off. “You two go on and do whatever it is young people do. It’ll keep for now.”

Darrell, alert to the fact that something was up, watched them in silence. Lorenzo made no move to leave until his father gestured them towards the door.

Before they stepped out of the room, Isaac’s voice stopped them. “Lorenzo, before you go call Dr. Moore and have him come over to look at Darrell’s hand, maybe give him something for the pain. Enjoy your stay, Darrell.”

With that being said, Isaac resumed his seat behind his desk. Picking up the phone to make a call was their indication that the conversation was over and they were dismissed.

Darrell stared at his father for a moment more, trying to decipher exactly what it was he felt for the man, but deciding it didn’t matter one way or the other, he followed Lorenzo from the room determined to put him out of his mind. 

CHAPTER 20

“What is he like? Your father, I mean?”

Darrell leaned back on the bed so that he rested on his elbow as he thought about Jerra’s question. It was early evening and he and Lorenzo had finally made it to Lorenzo’s three-story penthouse in Manhattan. Darrell was thoroughly impressed with it. The octagonal-shaped apartment was over 6,000 square feet and included five bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a formal dining room, as well as a media room. Darrell jokingly told Lorenzo that it looked like a bachelor pad on steroids.

After they left the Pattel estate, they’d gone to a few stores so that Darrell could pick up clothes and essentials to get him through the next couple of days. He was now in one of the guest bedrooms and had finally gotten a chance to call home. He’d been disappointed when Jerra told him D.J. was spending another night at his friend’s house. Darrell had been looking forward to his son putting a smile on his face after the day he’d experienced with the Pattels. Meeting Isaac had affected him more than he cared to admit. He’d suppressed his feelings about the man for so long, he honestly didn’t know how to deal with them.

Darrell tried to swallow past the lump in his throat.
He came from this man, had his DNA running through his veins.
Seeing him today had been…surreal. He favored his mother strongly, but Isaac was right, everything else he’d inherited from him. Darrell couldn’t deny that even if he wanted to.

“Darrell? Are you there?”

“Huh? Yeah, yeah, I’m here.” He paused, not even knowing where to begin to answer Jerra’s question, explain his feelings. “In a way, he’s exactly how Tina described him, ruthless, arrogant, powerful. I didn’t spend a lot of time talkin’ to him. Met my uncle and my cousins. Found out a lot of shit. Tina…” Darrell still had a bitter taste left in his mouth from everything he’d learned.

“What did you find out?” Jerra asked the question cautiously. “Was Isaac telling the truth about there being more to the past than what she told you, because Darrell, she…she’s packing her bags to leave.”

Darrell sat up slowly and frowned into the phone. “What do you mean, leave?”

“She was very cryptic, said she’s going back home because after you come back from seeing Isaac, you won’t want her here.”

Darrell closed his eyes and shook his head. Just like Tina to run. Any remaining doubt he had about her innocence faded away. When he’d asked her point blank if there was anything she wanted to clarify to him, he’d seen the way her face flooded with guilt.

“She’s right,” he finally answered. “I don’t want her there around you and D.J.”

“So it’s true? She lied to you about what happened?”

“She lied to me then sat right there and did it all over again with Lorenzo.”

“Why would she do that? Why not just tell the truth?”

“Who knows? This is Tina we’re talkin’ about. I should’ve known she was incapable of telling the truth. I mean, I brought the woman into my home, for God’s sake. You’d think the least she could do is finally be straight with me. Apparently she’s been putting on an act this entire time, playing on my sympathy.” Darrell took a deep breath. This conversation wasn’t doing anything but adding fuel to his anger. “She’s still the coward she always was. Let her do what she does best: leave.”

“D.J. is going to be devastated. Darrell, maybe you should–”

“Should what, talk to her?” he snapped. “I’ve done that, Jerra. Hell, she initiated the conversation about my father. And for what? If she was just gonna lie about what happened, why even bring it up? This is exactly why I didn’t want her around my son. I knew she’d end up hurting him the same way she…”

Darrell stood abruptly, trying not to get started on a rant because if he did he doubted if he would stop anytime soon. “Anyway, is everything okay at home?”

“Well, I have a bit of news myself.”

Darrell frowned, not sure if he liked the sound of that. “Okay,” he said slowly.

“I spoke with Justin Sullivan, of Sullivan, Baker & Lewis.”

Jerra referenced one of the named partners of the same prestigious law firm Lorenzo had mentioned yesterday. As Jerra had said, they’d pursued her vigorously when she first moved to Las Vegas. After she continued to consistently turn the offers down, she still heard from them, but the calls had trickled down to two or three times a year.

“They called again, huh?”

“Actually, I called them.”

Darrell’s face reflected his surprise. “Oh?”

“I asked Justin if the offer they’ve had on the table all this time was still good. And…it is. In fact, they sweetened it quite a bit. I think they wanted to make sure they reeled me in since they had me on the hook. I’ll come in as a senior partner, but I’m guaranteed to make name partner after my first year. That clause will be included in my contract.”

Beyond proud, Darrell blew out a low whistle and grinned. “Damn. So it’ll be Sullivan, Baker, Lewis & St. James-Monroe. Congratulations.”

“Thank you.” Jerra’s tone was quiet but Darrell detected the undertones of excitement in her voice.

“What brought this on after all these years?”

“It really wasn’t one particular thing. I’ve been debating it for a while.”

“Really. You never said anything.”

“That’s because it never seemed to be the right time. There were always issues for us to deal with, first Aleesha and Marcus and that whole Bethany/Paula debacle, then Tina’s health situation, and before we could catch our breaths after all that–”

“Dominick’s kidnapping,” Darrell finished the sentence for her. “You’re right. Always seems to be somethin’.”

“Yes. I finally realized there would never be a good time to get back into law if I just sat around waiting for the perfect opportunity. D.J.’s getting older and I need to start thinking about doing things that fulfill me and make me happy.”

Darrell froze. “You tryin’ to say you haven’t been happy?”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying. I just need…something more. That’s all.”

He started to pursue the subject then thought better of it. “When do you start?”

“That’s the thing, they want me to start next week?”

“Next week? As in ‘five days from now’ next week?”

“Yes.”

“Damn. That’s a lil’ quick. I know how important this is, but do you think you could push it back a couple of weeks. It’s a lot going on, what with Tina and all.”

“As I said, if I keep waiting, it’ll never be the right time. After Tina, it would be something else. I can almost guarantee that.”

Darrell remained silent because she was right. There always seemed to be another shoe waiting to drop in the background.

“When you get back, we’re going to have to sit down and talk about some type of schedule for D.J. At least school is out for the summer so that’ll make things a little easier for now. I’ll be able to drop him off at camp before I go to the office, but if you could pick him up on days I might have to work late, I would appreciate it. I know you’re pretty flexible with your hours, so hopefully that won’t pose a problem.”

The thought of how very real their situation was left a bitter taste in Darrell’s mouth. “So nothing’s changed. You still want to separate. Is this what it’s come to, Jerra? Me having visitation with our son, keeping him with me part of the time, and you having him the rest of the time?”

Jerra swallowed around tears that sounded stuck in her throat. “I guess so. For now. Other people make it work.”

“We’re not other people, dammit!”

“Darrell, please.”

“Whatever happened to us putting our son’s needs before anything else, including our own?”

Jerra’s outrage was swift. “Wait a minute, are you saying I’m not doing that? I gave up my career so that I could spend these first years with him. I’ve been a good mom and a good wife, so don’t try to make me feel guilty about the decision I made.”

“Of course you’re a good mother and wife. You’re an
excellent
mother and wife. Don’t put words in my mouth. You know I’m for whatever makes you happy. I’m just sayin’, out of all the times to go back to work, maybe this isn’t the
best
time. You yourself said that D.J.’s going to be upset about Tina. He’s gonna need you, Jerra.”

“And I’m going to be there for him.”

“How? He’s out of school for the summer. You’ll be gone eight, ten hours a day.”

“That’s not fair, Darrell. You act like I’m abandoning him. He goes to summer camp every day. Hell, he pitched a fit the one day he couldn’t go because he enjoys the activities and seeing his friends. It’s not as if this will cause a huge disruption for him day to day.”

“Jerra, let’s not kid ourselves here. You know as well as I do how much time you’ll have to devote to your job, especially at first. It’s going to demand a lot of your attention. If you’re insisting on goin’ through with this separation, maybe we need to think about D.J. being primarily with me until things even out.”

The silence fell heavy and thick between them.

“Are you threatening to take him away from me?” she whispered in disbelief.

“Of course not.”

“Then what do you call what you just said!”

“I call it disrupting D.J.’s life as little as possible. As you said, my schedule is flexible. He’ll have more stability.”

“I give him stability!”

“Jerra–”

“You’re not taking my son. End of discussion.”

Darrell’s voice grew chilly. “
Our
son. And why shouldn’t he be with me? If you take a minute to think about it, you’ll see it makes sense.”

“No!”

“This is crazy. Can’t you see that? You kick me out of the house over something that you
know
is some bullshit, decide to resume your law career without even discussing it with me–”

“Ha!” Jerra broke in. “I know you don’t want to talk about not discussing things and holding information back!”

Darrell continued speaking without addressing her accusatory statement. “And then you expect me to be some glorified babysitter to our son?” He shook his head. “Baby, that ain’t happenin’. Either I remain at home while we work this thang out between us or he comes with me. Either situation will give him the stability I want him to have.”

“You self-serving son of a bitch. You’re using him!”

“What? That’s bull and you know it.”

“No, that’s exactly what you’re doing. You’re using D.J. as a bargaining chip to worm your way back into the house. But baby,
that’s
what ain’t happenin’,” she snapped, mimicking his tone.

Darrell’s entire body grew hot with anger. “I’m gonna pretend you didn’t say that.”

“Why, I’m right, aren’t I?”

“I wouldn’t do that to him or to you, but if that’s what you think about me after all these years, maybe you’re right about this separation. As far as you and I are concerned, we should let things stand.” Darrell struggled to keep an even tone. “But as for my son? When I get back, yeah, we’ll sit down and get a schedule together as you suggested. But it’ll be to determine when
you
should come and pick him up from
my
place. D.J. will reside primarily with me.”

“No, he will not!”

“I don’t want to fight about this with you, Jerra.”

“You don’t want to…” Jerra took a deep, steadying breath and waited until she felt she could talk without yelling. “I think we need to end this conversation now, but before we do, let me say this: If you pursue this idiotic idea of yours there most definitely
will
be a fight. You do
not
want this to escalate because I promise you you’ll lose. You’re trying to back me into a corner and I won’t let you do that. I will fight like nothing you’ve ever seen when it comes to my son.”

“And you think I’ll do any less?” Darrell growled ferociously.

Jerra let out a pitying laugh. “Just when I thought you couldn’t do more harm to our marriage, you surprise me and top your last fuck up with this. You’ve drawn blood this time. I hope you’re happy.”

Darrell swallowed hard. Despite her cynical tone, he knew he’d hurt her deeply; that hadn’t been his intention. “Jerra–”

“Just so you know, I won’t be the only one bleeding by the time we’re finished. When all is said and done, remember, you started this. Goodbye, Darrell.”

The next moment she was gone, but not before he heard a catch in her voice that touched him to the very depths of his soul.

Darrell lowered his phone. Chest heaving forcibly, it was hard for him to catch his breath. A million thoughts flashed through his mind all at once, but the most prevalent one he kept coming back to was:
What the fuck just happened?