Trey honestly didn’t know what to believe. He had overreacted in pointing the finger at Ivana and regretted it. She and Clyde had actually gotten along well lately, and he saw no reason to believe Ivana had anything to do with his brother’s abrupt departure. Trey blamed himself as much as anyone for Clyde deciding he wanted to get away from his world.
Maybe I put too much pressure on him too soon, and he couldn’t handle it.
“Anyway, it’s over and done with,” Trey said glumly.
“Clyde’s not dead, for heaven’s sake!” Ivana voiced evenly. “He’s entitled to make his own choices on where to live.”
“And I guess work.” Trey sighed. “Clyde also turned in his resignation from the dealership.”
Ivana sipped her drink coolly, but he could tell she was shocked. “Maybe he has something else lined up,” she tossed out.
“Yeah, right—like collecting unemployment.” Trey’s jaw jutted. “I really don’t know how the hell he’s going to survive since his stubborn pride won’t let me help him.”
“As I’ve understood it, Clyde survived whatever way he could for much of his adult life without your help.”
“And look where it got him.” Trey thought about Clyde’s prison stint. Might he be headed down that road again? And what, if anything, could Trey do about it at this point?
“Your brother served his time,” Ivana pointed out. “Don’t continue to use that against him. Maybe you should just leave Clyde alone for a while.”
“You’re right,” Trey said resignedly. “He wants his space, he’s got it.” I have to spend more time working on my own life instead of my brother’s. Starting with saving my marriage. “Maybe we can go out to dinner tonight, just the two of us. What do you think?”
He expected her to come up with any excuse as to why they couldn’t, bracing himself.
“I’d like that.” She looked up at him warmly.
“How does seven sound?” Trey asked.
“Seven works for me,” she said sweetly.
“Good.”
Feeling encouraged, he bent down and gave her a kiss on the lips and had it returned. Suddenly Trey began to view Clyde’s leaving as not necessarily a bad thing. Perhaps having the house all to themselves again was just what they needed to put things back on track. I’ll do what I have to in proving my love for her. I couldn’t stand the thought of losing Ivana to another man.
Trey didn’t delude himself into thinking for one moment that Ivana was not still a great catch for any man out there. Quite the contrary, she was the very best. Even if he sometimes took her for granted and had done something stupid, his heart was still in the right place.
He hoped the same could be said for Ivana’s at the end of the day.
Chapter Twenty-one
The motel was a far cry from the multimillion-dollar home Clyde had begun to get used to. He questioned the wisdom of his decision to move out two weeks ago. Maybe he should have simply tried to coexist in a house where he had to see Ivana every day, and wanted but didn’t dare have her. He certainly could have stayed on the job with the generous salary Trey was paying him.
But it all got to be too much. Trying to dance around Ivana every time she got near him without tipping their hand to Trey was something Clyde didn’t have the stomach for. His brother didn’t deserve that, regardless of Trey’s often overbearing style and penchant for always trying to lead rather than follow.
This was precisely why Clyde had turned his back on the job. He didn’t need to constantly be led by the hand of his big brother, knowing that Trey would forever be in the driver’s seat. Clyde would rather scrap for pennies than be at Trey’s beck and call.
Feeling hunger pains, Clyde grabbed his keys and headed out the door for a nearby McDonald’s. He hopped into his car, the one thing given to him by Trey that Clyde kept.
Getting rid of the wheels would’ve been crazy. I need transportation to find employment and eat—even if both figure to be a struggle for the time being.
Clyde drove off, fearing that his dream of being self-employed and successful suddenly seemed further away than ever.
Trey looked up at the One Stop Motel in a seedy part of town and cringed at the thought that Clyde had chosen such a place to stay over his comfortable house. Was it really pride that had driven him out? Or something else?
Trey had tracked his brother down, wanting to make one last-ditch effort to at least give him enough money for a decent place to live. If that doesn’t work, I won’t feel guilty for not trying to do right by him. He hated the thought of Clyde drifting back into a life of crime and waywardness. Not after all the progress he’d made in trying to get his life together since being released. I owe him this much, whether he chooses to accept or not.
Trey’s thoughts drifted to Ivana. Things had been better between them of late, if not still strained. It was as if Ivana was elsewhere, even when they were together. All he could think of was that she was still grappling with the miscarriage and wanting to blame it on his affair with Helene, even when they both knew that wasn’t the case.
I was a damned fool. Now I want to try and make it up to Ivana, if she’ll let me.
Trey felt that they seemed to be headed in the right direction. He didn’t press her to have sex, though he longed to be inside Ivana’s warm body with her wanting him there just as badly. Rushing her could jeopardize the gains they had made and put them back to square one.
I can wait as long as she needs me to. So long as she is still committed to the relationship and willing to meet me halfway.
Trey also wanted to be there for his brother, though something told him that Ivana would prefer he left well enough alone. In this case, he had to use his own judgment and deal with the potential fallout.
He knocked on the door. It was quiet inside, but Trey knew Clyde was there, spotting his car in the lot.
Another knock, then the door opened.
“You look like hell,” Trey said truthfully, noting he was unshaven while wearing wrinkled clothing. “And smell like it, too.”
“No kidding,” Clyde offered sarcastically. “Guess I’m used to that.”
“You don’t have to be.”
Clyde looked at him. “How’d you find me?”
“I have my ways.” Trey met his gaze. “Can I come in?”
“Do I have a choice?”
Trey felt there were always choices, but in this instance didn’t want to risk being turned away. “Not really,” he said.
Clyde turned around and went back inside, leaving the door open. Trey took that as his invitation to enter.
“Can I get you a beer?” Clyde asked. “It’s about all I’ve got to offer.”
Trey glanced around at the small, cramped room and saw the mini-refrigerator. “Yeah, give me a beer.”
Clyde got out two cans out and tossed one to Trey. “So what are you doing here? Or did you come to gawk at how the other half lives when not holing up in your grand palace?”
“You know that’s not true.”
Clyde shrugged. “If you say so.”
Trey drank the beer. “Always so distrusting of me, Clyde. What did I ever do to make you feel I think I’m better than you?”
“How about everything you’ve done your whole life,” Clyde answered coldly.
“Being successful isn’t a crime.” Trey regretted the insinuation right away.
“Yeah, guess that’s what separates us—you’re the good guy, I’m the bad.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to. I’ve known since we were kids that you were always going to walk the straight and narrow, while I was more likely to stray whenever the opportunity was there.”
Trey tasted the beer thoughtfully. He wanted to say it was all about right and wrong paths, but refrained from preaching what Clyde already knew. Or should have.
“I’m anything but perfect, Clyde. I’ve made my fair share of mistakes over the years, so I certainly can’t judge yo
u.”
Clyde gave him an uncomfortable look. “Are you ever going to tell me why you’re here? Or should I guess?”
“I wanted to check on you,” responded Trey. “Is that so wrong?”
Clyde softened his rigid face. “No. As you can see, I’m making due the best I can—which hasn’t been very good.”
“So I take it there have been no job prospects?”
“Nothing serious. Not many people are keen on hiring ex-cons with bad tempers.”
One person is. “Why don’t you come back to work for me?”
“I don’t need your pity,” Clyde said.
“I’m not here out of pity, Clyde. I’m here out of love. You’re my brother. There’s no need for you to live in squalor to prove a point.”
“What point?”
“That you don’t need anyone but yourself—certainly not me.”
Clyde took a swig of beer. “Guess I’ve always been bullheaded when it comes to that.”
“Mama certainly wouldn’t argue the point if she were still alive,” Trey said.
Clyde grinned. “Yeah, I guess not.”
“Why did you move out?” Trey gave him a straight look. “Was it something I did or said? Or didn’t I do enough to help you?”
“No. Wasn’t any of that.” Clyde turned away.
“Did Ivana say something to set you off? I know that you two haven’t always gotten along, and she can be very opinionated at times as part of her nature.”
“Ivana never said or did a thing,” Clyde insisted. “Like I told you, it was all about me just wanting to do my own thing—even if it got me nowhere. At least I’d know I wasn’t being propped up by my older brother.”
“You were never being propped up by me, Clyde,” Trey said. “You were earning your keep in more ways than one. You brought fun into our household again and fresh ideas at work. Come back to both.”
Trey hadn’t planned to make such an offer, certainly not without talking it over with Ivana at home and his team at work first, but it seemed like the right thing to do. He would deal with the consequences later.
Clyde stared at the offer. “I can’t,” he said after a moment or two. “I’m not going to intrude on your life again. I don’t belong there. It’s better this way for all of us.”
“Is this what you call better?” Trey took a sweeping glance and back.
“I call it my own thing,” Clyde said proudly.
Trey sucked in a deep breath. This obviously isn’t working. Maybe I need to try a different angle.
“Let’s talk about your ‘thing,’ Clyde. You’ve alluded to ideas about what you want to do with your life. So tell me what it is.”
Clyde sat down on an old sofa and drank more beer, caught in thought. “All right, there is something on my mind.”
“I’m listening.”
“I’d like to open up a jazz supper club,” Clyde admitted.
Trey cocked a brow. “You mean like the Violet Supper Club?”
“Yeah, only I’d replace the piano music with some real jazz—a singer.”
Trey was surprised. He tried to picture Clyde running a jazz club. Crazy as it seemed, he could actually imagine such. Obviously, Clyde felt he could do it. Maybe he was right if given half a chance.
“So why not go for it?”
Clyde chuckled. “Yeah, right. Look around you. Does it look like I can afford to buy a jazz club?”
Trey thought about his friend Blake planning to retire and closing his supper club. What if they took it off his hands?
“Why don’t we buy one together?”
“Together?” Clyde’s head snapped back.
“Yeah, why not?” Trey asked. “I’m always looking for a good investment. Also happen to know a club that’s about to shut down and its owner. I can buy half the club as a silent partner and lend you the money for the other half. It would be yours to run as you please. If you make it work, then the money should come in, and my investment would pay off nicely.”
“You would do that?”
Trey smiled. “Why not? If it’s something you think you’d be good at, I want to help you bring it to fruition.” If it bombed, he could use it as a tax write-off and maybe coax Clyde into coming back to work for him. “So what do you say?”
Clyde’s sipped more beer while chewing on the notion. “We would be partners, fifty-fifty?”
“Yes, you can even take fifty-one percent, if it makes you feel better,” Trey offered to sweeten the pot. “I just want us to do this as brothers.”
Clyde’s eyes connected with Trey’s. “Then I’m in.”
Trey grinned. “Great. I’ll have my lawyer draw up the papers, so we can keep it all nice and legal. I think this can work, Clyde, and in the process, we can keep a local landmark from going under.”
“I’ll drink to that.”
Trey raised his beer and drank some satisfyingly. Maybe there was hope yet for them being brothers again in all the ways that counted most.
Clyde heard Trey’s car drive away. He hadn’t known what to expect when his brother showed up at the door. His first instinct was to be suspicious and turn his back on what he saw as the high and mighty coming to rescue the down and out. A fleeting thought was that Ivana had told Trey about their one-night stand, and he had come there hell-bent on a confrontation, but then came the partnership offer. Though this caught him off guard, Clyde couldn’t help but be interested, all things considered. He had to swallow his pride and look beyond the fact that Trey would still be in the driver’s seat like before. Clyde thought of a promise made to Raymond to go into business together when he got out. This seemed to be a first step toward keeping that promise.
Clyde stepped outside for some fresh air, something he never got enough of after being denied it for years. He was still a tad leery about this new arrangement with Trey. After all, it meant Clyde would likely be seeing more of his brother than he cared to. This meant having more opportunities to run into Ivana. What if she tried to seduce him again? Or had it been the other way around? Did they really want to play with fire and end up getting badly burned, along with Trey?
Overall, Clyde believed it was worth the risk. This club could finally be his ticket to a good life on his own terms.
Maybe his luck was finally about to take a turn for the better. He’d learned, though, to never take anything—or anyone—for granted.
Chapter Twenty-two
“I can’t believe you’re giving your brother a supper club—just like that.” Ivana’s eyes locked on Trey across the dining room table.
“I’m not giving him a club,” he said defensively. “We’re going into business together. I’m loaning Clyde half the cost, and he’ll pay me back when the profits begin to come in.”
She peered at her husband with a healthy dose of skepticism. “What if there are no profits?”
“Are you kidding me?” Trey dabbed a napkin on his mouth. “People love jazz in this town. Turning Blake’s club into a jazz showcase is a brilliant idea. I only wish I’d thought of it myself.”
Ivana forked a piece of her fruit salad. She supposed that it could be a profitable venture at some point down the line. Not that they needed more money. She didn’t necessarily want to give it away either to someone who hadn’t truly earned it.
Am I jealous of Clyde? Or jealous that he’s developing a life without me being a direct part of it?
“I suppose you want him to move back into the house?” Ivana asked, wondering if that was a bad or good idea. The thought of being able to slip into Clyde’s bed again and make love caused a warm sensation between her legs, even if she wished that hadn’t been the case. Ivana managed to suppress this urge. She needed to steer as far away from him as possible and hope Trey never found out what they had done. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
Trey cut calmly into a roundhouse steak. “Actually, Clyde’s planning to get his own place.”
“Well, good for him,” she voiced. “I’m sure Cl
yde is grateful to have a rich brother to dig him out of any hole he crawls in.”
Trey frowned. “Why don’t you cut him some slack? He’s out of your hair, so what do you care if I help him to get and stay on his feet? After all, that was the grand plan when Clyde got out of prison, was it not?”
“It was your grand plan!” Ivana made clear. “I only went along with it to try and keep the peace. I’ve stated all along that your brother could be trouble waiting to happen.”
Trey gave her a look of suspicion. “Do you know something that I don’t?”
Me and my big mouth. I hate when he looks at me like he knows I’m hiding something.
She swallowed the guilt in her throat and prayed that he couldn’t read her mind “No,” she said convincingly. “I just want you to do a reality check. Clyde’s agenda is not necessarily the same as yours. Who knows what type of people he’ll invite or attract to the club? Are you sure you want to be a part of something that just might blow up in your face?”
“He’s my brother. Clyde deserves a shot at achieving something he can proud of—and me too, frankly.” Trey lifted his glass of water. “I could see it in Clyde’s eyes: he’s really latched onto an idea that I believe he’s totally committed to and has no desire to see fail.”
“If you say so.”
“Let’s not fight about this.”
Ivana recognized that she was coming across as a spoiled and unreasonable bitch. Obviously blood was thicker than water in this instance. It did her no good to try and get Trey to side with her against his brother. It was in her best interests to not make waves. Clyde was not her lover or husband. They both agreed it was best to end things where they ended.
I’m not in love with Clyde, not matter how great we were together in bed, Ivana thought. She loved Trey, realizing that now more than ever, even if taking a wrong turn with the worst possible person. Would that come back to haunt her?
“I hope you get the club, and it’s a big success,” Ivana said in an about-face
The Secrets of Paradise Bay Page 15
