Beginning of an Eclipse (SIN CITY HEAT SERIES PREQUEL) (10 page)

Chapter 10

    
When Roni’s secretary, Mrs. Hayward, saw Darrell walk towards her desk, the smile that lit up her face instantly disappeared when she noticed his appearance. Usually, Darrell shamelessly flirted with the older woman and asked about her husband and grandchildren. Today, however, he didn’t even spare a glance her way as he reached Roni’s door.
    
“Darrell, she’s on a conference call. Darrell…!”
    
He opened the door with such force that it swung back and put an indention in the wall. Darrell's eyes searched the room until he spied Roni and Bryan sitting at a round table by the large picture windows in her office - the same table they’d had sex on the night before. Feeling his blood boil, he wondered if Nate had fucked her on it this morning.
    
Frowning at the crash of the door being thrown open, Roni stood up. “Darrell? What's wrong?”
    
“All I wanna know is if it’s true.” Darrell’s body was tense as he waited on her answer.
    
“Is
what
true?” With bewilderment evident on her face, Roni took a few hesitant steps his way, then turned back to put the intercom of the phone on mute.

    
Bryan walked towards Darrell. “What happened?” Bryan’s eyes took in the blood on his torn and disheveled clothes. “Are you hurt?”
    
“I need to talk to Roni.” His eyes never left hers.
    
“This isn’t a good time. We’re in the middle of-”
    
“Bryan….” Darrell pulled his eyes away from Roni and glared at his friend and mentor. “I don’t mean any disrespect, but I don’t give a fuck if you talkin' to the President of the United States himself. I need to talk to Roni. Now.”
    
“What is wrong with you?” Roni’s eyes were stretched wide. She’d seen Darrell angry before, but never like this and never towards her.
    
“How 'bout you tell me, Roni. Give it a try. Tell
me
what’s wrong…” Darrell’s voice was cold and abrupt. He took a step towards Roni, but Bryan moved in front of him. Darrell’s eyes were like chips of ice. “I’m only gonna tell you this once, Bryan. Move outta my way.”
    
“You need to calm down. You’re acting and looking like a mad man!”
    
Darrell’s next step put the two men toe to toe. “And I told you to get tha’ hell outta my way. This ain’t got nothin’ to do with you. It’s between me and Veronica.”
    
“You don’t honestly think I’m going to leave you alone with her like this, do you?”

    
Darrell angled his head to the side and squinted. “And what do you think I’m gonna do to her?”

    
“In the state you’re in who knows?” Bryan braced himself as he waited on Darrell to make a move.
    
“Bryan…” Darrell’s head was pounding, and Bryan was only making things worse. He didn’t want to have to kick Bryan’s ass the same as he’d done Nate’s, but if he didn’t get out of his way in two seconds…
    
“Stop it…!” Roni stepped between them. “That’s enough!” She looked at Darrell. “Are you
crazy?!
You come bursting into my office, making a scene for everyone to see…?!”
    
“Did you fuck him?”
    
“What?!”
    
“The new guy. Nate. Did you fuck him. Yes or no.”
    
“Darrell….”
    
“
Roni, it’s a simple question. Did. You.
Fuck
. Him. Yes? Or no?”
    
Roni’s eyes went to Bryan’s then back to Darrell’s as comprehension dawned on her face. “You think I slept with Nate?!”
    
“That’s what I’m asking you!” he yelled.
    
“You’re not
asking
me anything, you’re standing there
accusing
me!” Roni yelled back. “And I don’t appreciate it. Not one bit!”
    
“
You
don’t appreciate it?! How do you think I felt when I heard him bragging to every one about how he’d….” Darrell stopped and clenched his teeth. He couldn’t even verbalize the words.
    
“You’re joking, right?”
    
“Roni, you know me better than anyone. Do you think there’s anything even remotely funny about what I’m asking you? Do you think I’d joke about something like this?”
    
“I don’t know, because if anyone had asked me five minutes ago if you’d come storming into my office and accuse me of sleeping with someone else, I would’ve thought they were crazy.”
    
“You didn’t answer my question, Veronica.”
    
“That’s because I can’t believe you asked it!”
    
They both stood glaring at one another, neither giving an inch. Bryan let out a string of profanities then walked back to the table. He connected the conference call they’d been having, and after apologizing for the delay, made arrangements to call them back in five minutes.
    
After hanging up, he angrily strode back towards Darrell and Roni. “I don’t know what in the hell is going on….” He pointed at Darrell. “But
you
are out of line. This is a place of business, not some school yard playground.” He looked from one to the other. “You need to get your shit together and do it now! This is fucking ridiculous….” He walked out muttering to himself and slammed the door behind him.
  
    
Roni and Darrell barely noticed he was gone. Roni slowly shook her head at Darrell. “I cannot believe you accused me of such a horrible and cheap thing.”
    
“You didn’t hear what that mutha-”
    
“No! You said, or rather yelled, what you had to say! Now it’s my turn! Did Nate say my name specifically?”
   
 
“No, but….”
    
“Yes or no?”
    
Darrell bit back an expletive when she turned his words around and used them on him. “No,” he growled.
    
“So you just automatically assumed it was me he was talking about…”
    
“Who else could he have been-”
  
  
“Yes…or no!”
    
Darrell’s eyes narrowed. “Yes.”
    
Roni studied him closely, looking deep into his eyes to try to find a hint of indecision or uncertainty about what he was accusing her of. His flashing gray eyes were direct and demanded answers. Fine. She angrily walked over to her desk and pushed the intercom.
    
“Yes, Roni?” Mrs. Hayward sounded worried and anxious. When Bryan had passed her on the way out, the only thing he’d called over his shoulder to her was that everything was okay. She’d been sitting there wringing her hands, wondering if she should go in and check on Veronica.
    
“Mrs. Hayward, find Linda and tell her to come to my office. Now.”
    
Roni released the intercom button, knowing she’d have to apologize to Mrs. Hayward later. She never used that tone with her, but she was so mad she was trembling. She kept her back to Darrell, afraid that if she looked at him, she’d follow through on the temptation to slap the ever loving hell out of him.
    
Darrell scowled and walked up behind her. “What are you doing? Why did you call Linda?! Roni, I want some answers and I want them now.”
    
He closed his fingers over her arm with the intention of turning her to face him, but Roni jerked away as if he had touched her with a branding iron. The look she threw over her shoulder caused his lips to tighten but it was enough to make him remove his hand.
    
“I’m warning you. Do
not
touch me.” Her voice was quiet but her eyes told him she was hanging on by a thin thread. They glared at each other until there was a soft knock on the door a few moments later.
    
“Come in!” Roni snapped.
    
The door slowly opened. Linda stuck her head in before coming inside. Darrell spared a quick glance in her direction, absently noting she’d had her hair down when she brought Nate down and introduced him. Now she had it twisted to the back and pinned up.
    
“Roni?” Her voice was soft and tentative. “Mrs. Hayward said you wanted to see me?"
    
“Come in and close the door.”
    
Linda did as Roni ordered, silently waiting to find out what this was all about. Her eyes nervously went from Darrell to Roni. Finally, Roni tore her eyes away from Darrell and zeroed in on Linda and got straight to the point.
    
“Did something happen between you and Nate earlier today?” Her voice was crisp and razor sharp.
    
Linda’s eyes widened. Her mouth opened and closed several times. She started to pretend as if she didn’t know what Roni was talking about, but the look in Roni’s eyes told her she'd been found out.
    
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
 
Roni had a strict policy about becoming involved with the dancers. Linda’s eyes went to Darrell. She really didn’t think it would matter so much now that Roni was sleeping with Darrell, but apparently it did. She’d never seen her employer so livid.
 

    
Roni had hired Linda three years ago after her husband left her for a younger woman. When Linda met Nate earlier today, she hadn’t seen the harm in having a little fun. He was so young and sexy. She’d told him that the encounter would have to stay between the two of them - she should’ve known better.
    
“What happened?”

    
Linda cringed at the freezing tone of Roni’s voice. She looked at Darrel who was intently watching and waiting for an explanation. “Can I talk to you in private?”
    
“No! You can’t! And if you want there to be any chance of keeping your job, you’ll answer my question now.”
    
Eyes welling up with tears, Linda told them how the decision had already been made to hire Nate, but after the other women left, she told him to wait. And that’s when she’d let him….do things to her.
    
Darrell watched her for a long minute and noticed how embarrassed and upset she seemed. “Are you saying
you
slept with Nate? Not Roni?”
   
Linda looked at him in shock. “Roni? Oh my God,
no!
Is…is that what this is about? You thought Roni slept with Nate??” She looked at him in much the same manner Roni had when he’d burst through the door accusing her of just that.
Got dammit!
    
Sighing, Darrell turned his attention back to Roni’s unyielding face. “Baby…”
    
Rolling her eyes, she directed a stern glare towards Linda. “That’ll be all for now. I won’t fire you -
this
time. We’ll discuss it later.”
    
Linda bobbed her head up and down then eagerly dashed out the office, her relief evident. Once she was gone, it was so quiet in the office they could've heard a mouse piss on a ball of cotton.
    
“Roni….” Darrell took a step towards her, but she held out a hand to ward him off.
    
“Don’t. I think you should go.”
    
“Baby, I’m sorry, it’s just that-”
    
“Do you really think so little of me that you would believe I slept with someone else when I…when we….” She was so angry and hurt she couldn’t even think straight.
    
“Roni…”
    
“For your information, I decided to delegate some of my responsibilities, and hiring dancers was one of the jobs I assigned to Linda. I didn’t feel right auditioning dancers knowing that you and I were serious about one another - or at least I thought we were.”
    
Darrell inhaled in relief and exhaled with a softly spoken
'
aw shit!'
He felt about ten inches high. Going back over what Nate had said, Roni was right. Nate never mentioned a name. They all just assumed…
    
“Roni, I’m sorry.”
    
“You’re
sorry?!
Darrell, how could you even
think
that?”
    
“I just…I just lost it. You told me you were interviewing, and then when he came in there and started mouthing off about what happened after the interview and….”

    
Darrell’s voice trailed off as Roni stared at him with reproving eyes.

    
“I told you. What happened between us at your audition has never,
ever
happened before. I’ve never done anything even remotely close to what I let you do. Apparently, you don’t believe me. I guess you think I give a test drive to every potential dancer that comes through the door.”
    
“I know you don't, Roni.” Darrell slipped his arms around her waist, ignoring how she tried to push him away. “Baby, please forgive me. The thought of someone else putting their hands on you, kissing you….touching you...” Darrell briefly closed his eyes. “It just makes me crazy.”
    
“Welcome to my reality.” When Darrell looked at her in confusion, Roni explained. “I have to live with women groping you almost every day. I know it’s part of your job, but I don’t like it. I hate it.” There. She’d said it.
    
“Baby, you know I love you. I don’t want nobody else.”
    
“And the same goes for me.”
    
Darrell’s jaw tightened, not believing he'd been so out of control. “I’m a very possessive man, Roni. I will half kill a muthafucka who even
thinks
about getting out of line with you." When Roni stubbornly kept her head averted, Darrell put a gentle finger under her chin and lifted her face to look up at him. "I should’ve trusted you.”