The following are excerpts from the book, "The Looks Of Love", written by yours truly:

Jack (Martin) was consciously trying to remain calm, not wanting to fall into another game with Tom (Bernie.) With blood pounding in his head, heart beating rapidly, he took a minute,
hoping his voice would come out quietly before he answered.

  
"Tom, you can take my car, the clothes, everything material I have, but
you won't destroy me. I am not the same person I was when we met. All I
want is for you to get out of my personal life and let's get on with
lives in a way that would be better for both of us."

   "Get the fuck out of your personal life?  You wouldn't have a life if  it wasn't for me! I took you out of the gutter when you didn't have shit and I'll put you back there."

Jack
lit a cigarette, took a deep breathe and leaned back on the couch. Tom
was waiting for a reaction from him but Jack wasn't going to play that
game with him.

   "Damn you! I'll tell
you right now that if you want me out of you personal life then you are
sure going to get out of my business life," Tom bellowed, storming out
of the house.

Jack reached for the phone and called Ted (John) to tell him to come pick him up and take him to the airport.

*****************************************************

By
May 1974 both Bernie and I had lawyers and missives were flying back
and forth. By then I had a lover which only added fuel to the fire. On
July 15th, as usual, I left on vacation. Johnny and I were driving up to
Chicago where I would catch a plane to Vancouver and he was going to
drive to Miami Beach where I would meet him in a couple of weeks.

In
the middle of the vacation I was called back by some of the women in
the office telling me that my lawyer called and I was expected in court
the following week.

Without going into detail I was faced with a choice of playing 'games' with Bernie for 3-4 years in the hope of getting the financial settlement I deserved or walking away now with nothing but keeping my sanity. Bernie was doing what he could to keep
us tied together in one way or another. Remember this was 1974 in
Memphis, Tennessee, and my lawyer--actually all lawyers--were afraid to
bring up the former, true relationship of our being more than just
business partners and the women who were leaving WW to help me open a
new business asked me not to bring that all up or, as much as they cared for me, they
would have to leave. It was a case as long as we didn't talk about my
being gay, Bernie and I having been lovers, Johnny and I being lovers
they didn't have to face the issue or take sides in an issue their
church wouldn't and/or couldn't  deal with.

On September 15, 1974,  after 5 years with WW of Greater Memphis, and a total of 7 years with WW, I left to open my own business called Our Weigh with 5 of the women I worked with at WW. Bernie would take us to court, or at least sue the women, to try and frighten them, by claiming they had a non-competitive contract with his company. He couldn't produce the contracts and the case was thrown out.

I would only see Bernie once in the 5 years before I left Memphis and that was a strange evening.