When the elevator doors opened, he came face to face with Damon. A heated rage flowed through his veins. “You son of a . . . ,” Maurice yelled as he lunged at him, grabbing his collar and jacking him up. “You have some nerve showing your face around here.”
Damon pushed Maurice off him, knocking him into the wall. “Touch me again and I will sue you.”
“If I were you, I’d check out of this hotel and get off this island, because you’re not going to hurt Kenya or any other woman,” Maurice growled.
“The bitch wanted me and that—”
With lightning-fast reflexes, Maurice punched Damon in the face, knocking him unconscious. He pushed him out of the elevator and headed up to Kenya’s floor. As soon as he stepped off the elevator, two burly security officers were standing there, waiting for him.
“Sir,” the tallest officer said, “we need you to come with us.”
“Why?” asked Maurice.
“You just assaulted one of our guests, and we’re going to have to hold you until the authorities arrive,” the other officer said as he pulled out a pair of handcuffs.
Maurice held his hands up. “That guest of yours nearly raped a woman last night, and he’s lucky I didn’t kill him.”
“Are you the victim?” the taller officer asked. “Because if that’s the case, then we can—”
“Hell no, I’m not the victim. The man’s still breathing, isn’t he? This is some BS. He nearly rapes someone, and you want to arrest me?”
The officer with the handcuffs approached Maurice and attempted to put him in the cuffs. It took every ounce of self-control Maurice had not to push the man away. Instead, he allowed the officer to do his job.
“What’s going on?” Kenya asked as she opened the door to her suite. “Why are you arresting him?”
“Ma’am,” the taller officer said, “please step back into your room.”
“No! What are you doing to him?” Kenya demanded. Clad only in her bathrobe, she walked up to the officer. “Why is he in handcuffs?”
“This doesn’t have anything to do with you,” the officer holding Maurice said.
“Kenya, tell them about last night,” Maurice said. “Tell them why I punched that fool.”
“Maurice, what did you do?” Kenya asked as she ran her hand over her face.
“I saw Damon when I was coming down here,” he said. “Tell them what he did to you.”
“Please, let him go,” Kenya said. “That man tried to . . . Please, he didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Ma’am, this is the last time that I’m going to ask you to go in your room and let us handle this.”
“If he did anything, he did it for me. He’s not the one who should be in handcuffs. What about the man who tried to rape me? Where’s he?”
“Possibly on the way to the hospital,” replied the security officer holding Maurice as he pushed him toward the elevator.
“Kenya, go get James for me. I’m in room three-four-five,” Maurice said as the officers carted him away.
On the ride down to the security office, all Maurice could think about was the scandal that all of this was going to cause in the papers.
Damn, this is not how I want to end up on SportsCenter, he thought as the officers pushed him into a small room to wait for the police.
Chapter 10
Dressed in a terry-cloth skirt and a V-necked T-shirt Kenya dashed into her room. Then she ran down two flights of stairs. After she arrived at Maurice and James’s door, she banged on it like a maniac.
“What in the hell?” James snapped as he snatched the door open.
“Maurice has been arrested,” Kenya said in one breath. “We got to get to him.”
Pulling Kenya in the room, James asked her to slow down. “What do you mean, he’s been arrested?”
“Two security officers took him away because he was trying to defend me,” Kenya said, jumping up and down. “There’s no telling what’s going to happen with these foreign cops.”
James nodded and slipped on his sneakers. “Do you know where they took him?”
She shook her head furiously. “They’re going to have to let me see him because I’m a lawyer,” she said.
James raised an eyebrow. “You’re sure you want to do this? I thought—”
She cut him off by opening the door. “We can catch up later. Maurice needs us.”
Kenya and James dashed downstairs to the lobby, taking the stairs rather than waiting for the elevator. Once they made it to the front desk, Kenya banged on the desk with her fist. “Hello! Somebody!”
A flustered clerk rushed forward. “Yes, ma’am?”
“My client was taken into custody by one of your security officers. Where did they take him, and has the police been contacted?” Kenya demanded in her ultraprofessional tone. Her head was throbbing, but she ignored it.
“Ma’am, I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said the clerk. Then she turned her back to Kenya and James, attempting to ignore them.
Kenya stretched across the desk, snatched the woman’s shoulder, and whirled her around. “If you don’t find out where those officers took Maurice, there’s going to be a problem here.”
The woman’s face contorted with fear as she gingerly moved Kenya’s hand. “I’m going to have to get my manager.”
Stepping back, Kenya folded her arms across her chest. “You do that, now.”
James turned to Kenya, a smile tugging at his lips.
“Remind me not to get on your bad side. You’re tough. Maurice is lucky to have you in his corner.”
“I’m not in his corner, but what he did was for me, and I have an obligation to do the right thing for him,” Kenya snapped. She didn’t want James or anyone to think that things had changed. And she definitely didn’t want to believe that she and Maurice had a future.
James threw his hands up as if to say he didn’t want to get into a shouting match with her.
When the hotel manager arrived in the lobby, Kenya lit into her, demanding to know where the security officers had taken Maurice.
“Ma’am, you need to calm down,” the manager said, smoothing her navy blue skirt. “Mr. Goings and the security officers are with the police in the office. . . .”
“And as his lawyer, I have a right to be in there with them. Either take me in there, or you will be hit with a multimillion-dollar lawsuit, which you will never recover from,” Kenya shouted so forcefully that other guests began to look at them.
Quickly, the manager pulled Kenya and James to the side. “Follow me,” she said, attempting to stop a scene from developing.
As Kenya and James stepped on the elevator, behind the manager, Kenya watched the woman like a hawk. When she inserted her passkey into the console and pressed the B button, James cried foul.
“Where are we going? To the dungeon?” he remarked.
“The security office isn’t a dungeon, sir,” the manager spat.
“Where was your security when you had a guest attacking a woman on the beach?” Kenya snapped.
“We can’t control what happens outside of the hotel. However, if a guest would’ve reported that there was a problem, then we would have investigated it fully,” said the manager.
Kenya rolled her eyes. What in the hell was she doing? This wasn’t the way she’d intended to spend her vacation. She was supposed to be relaxing, unwinding, and getting ready for her move to Charlotte. Yet, here she was, being Maurice’s defender. It wasn’t as if she was a criminal attorney. Maybe she’d just be able to talk fast and loud to get him out of trouble. The elevator doors opened, and the manager led them to a room no larger than a closet. As soon as they opened the door, the sound of booming laughter met them. Kenya had expected to find Maurice shackled to a chair, with a blackened eye, a busted lip, and a broken nose. Instead, he, the security officers, and two police officers were laughing it up, drinking what looked to be the infamous rum punch, and taking pictures.
Snarling and curling her l
ip upward, Kenya said, “What in the hell is going on here? You’re having a damn party, and we’re—”
“Kenya,” Maurice said, jogging over to her and planting a wet kiss on her cheek. She wiped his saliva off and glared at him.
“I thought you’d been arrested,” Kenya snapped. “I’ve been running around this hotel, looking for you, threatening people, and you’re here, having a good time.”
“Baby doll, you were worried?” Maurice asked, his voice filled with concern. “I didn’t mean to worry you.”
Kenya slapped his hand forcefully. “Don’t you dare call me baby, and if you’re not going to jail, then I’m going back to my room.” She stormed out of the office, pushing the security officers and the manager out of her way.
Maurice was quick on her heels. “Kenya, look, I didn’t mean to worry you, but there aren’t any phones down there. When Damon came to, he decided not to press charges, packed his bags, and checked out. One of the officers recognized me from the Super Bowl, and we were just joking around.”
“Then don’t let me stop you. I’m going back to my room,” she said, pushing him in the chest. “Don’t bother me anymore.”
As Maurice watched her retreat down the hall, he called out, “What about dinner?”
Her answer was to stroll away without looking back.
James placed his arm around his brother’s shoulders. “Great job, genius. You might have the strength and the money in the family, but thank God I’ve got the brains and the good looks.” Pushing his brother to the side, James called out to Kenya. “Hey, Kenya, wait up.”
She turned around and smiled warmly at James. “Yes.”
James ran his hand across his face. “You know Maurice was just being Maurice. He didn’t know how worried you were about him. Don’t be so hard on him.”
Kenya shook her head. “I see nothing has changed with you two. You’re still cleaning up his messes.”
Shrugging his shoulders, James replied, “That’s what brothers do. We look out for each other. Had I been in Charlotte when he needed me, this might be your second honeymoon.”
“I don’t think so,” Kenya said as she jabbed at the elevator button. “There’s nothing between me and Maurice. That ship has sailed, sunk, and exploded. Nothing will ever change between us, and that’s fine with me.”
The elevator doors opened, and James stepped on with Kenya. “I don’t think that’s true, K. If you didn’t feel something for him, you certainly wouldn’t have been running around the hotel, looking for him. You don’t have to play hard with me. I know you.”
Kenya rolled her eyes at him, hating the fact that he was so right in his assessment of her feelings. She shrugged him off. “People change.”
“True, and Maurice has. He knows that he messed up with Lauryn. But—”
“I don’t want to hear that,” she snapped. “So, he and Lauryn broke up, and he thinks that he can go down memory lane with me like we’re on some cheesy soap opera? Whatever. Just keep your brother away from me so that I can enjoy the rest of my vacation.”
Maurice made his apologizes to his new friends, then took off in search of Kenya. By the time he reached the elevator, the doors had already closed. He decided to take the stairs. He ran up to the fifth floor, taking two steps at a time. Winded, sweaty, and shaking, he arrived at his destination at the same time Kenya stepped off the elevator.
“Kenya,” he called out breathlessly.
Kenya turned and looked at him, and a deep frown darkened her comely face. “What is it, Mo?” she asked.
“I’m sorry. The last thing I wanted was to make you worry. When those guys grabbed me, I thought things were going to get ugly.”
Kenya turned her back to him. “Whatever, Maurice. I’m going to try and salvage the rest of my vacation. Why don’t you just leave me the hell alone? You’ve already taken too much of my energy.”
He reached out and touched her shoulder, gently turning her around to face him. “I thought we were going to start over. Try to at least be friends.”
“Why? You’re still the same selfish bastard you were nine years ago, and I’m not going to get . . . Forget it, Maurice. Just leave me alone.”
“You still owe me dinner. And I’m going to hound you until we have dinner together.”
“No.”
He pouted like a child and tugged at her arm. “Come on. If I screw up at dinner or do anything to make you mad, then all bets are off, and I’ll leave you alone. Come on. I almost got arrested for you.”
“Your point?” she snapped. “If it means getting you off my back, then fine. I’ll go to dinner with you tonight. Seven and don’t be late.” Kenya stomped to her room and slammed the door.
Maurice knew he had to go all out to woo her. Rushing back to his room, he called the concierge to find out where he could get orchids and the best chocolates money could buy. Just as he was about to book a quiet table at a restaurant recommended by the hotel staff, James walked in and pressed the release button on the phone.
“What the hell are you doing?” Maurice demanded. “I was using the phone.”
“We need to talk about Kenya and what you’re doing,” James said.
Maurice picked up the phone and started dialing again. “What do you mean?”
James took the phone from his brother’s hand. “I mean, that woman still cares about you, and if this is some rebound, island fling, then you’re going to need to leave her alone.”
Glaring at his brother, Maurice reached for the phone, but James held it out of his reach. “So, you think you know how I feel? You can see into my mind and tell me what I feel for Kenya?”
“I can tell you this. You should’ve been with her all along, instead of with that thing you almost married, and I’m not going to sit around and watch you hurt her for a second time. So, what’s the deal, baby bro?”
Maurice rose to his feet and stood toe to toe with James and took the phone from his hand. “The only thing I’m trying to do is make Kenya fall in love with me again. That’s it.”
James leaned back against the wall and jammed his hands in his pockets. “So what happens when you get back to Charlotte and the rumors about your wedding start swirling again? How are you going to handle it? You going to go back into hermit mode and hide from everyone again, including Kenya? And how’s a relationship with you going to affect her? She’s going to immediately be fodder for the tabloids. Are you going to protect her from all of that?”
Maurice absentmindedly stroked his chin. “Yeah, I can protect her.”
James shook his head furiously, “Man, you could barely protect yourself when this all broke down. Do I need to remind you of the state you were in before we got here? Now I’m supposed to believe that you’re all healed and ready to move on. How long has it been? The only reason reporters haven’t been all up in your face is because no one knows where you are. When Damon goes to tell his story, which I’m sure the weasel will, what are you going to do?”
“Be a man and stand up to them. They’re just a bunch of pen pushers with no lives, anyway.”
“Uh-huh,” James said. “Just know that when you and Kenya leave paradise, there’s an ugly world out there, and I don’t think you’ve heard the last of Lauryn.”
Dialing the restaurant’s number, Maurice pondered what his brother had said. When would Lauryn reappear in his life? It doesn’t matter. I don’t want anything to do with her. She’s a liar and a cheater, the same thing I was when I was in college.
Later that evening, armed with a box of Godiva truffles and flowers, Maurice knocked on Kenya’s door. When she opened the door, the very sight of her dressed in a simple pair of denim shorts and a pink tank top took his breath away. Maurice had gone all out, putting on a stylish beige linen short set and brown sandals.
“Do I need to change?” Kenya asked as she eyed him. “I thought we were going to have a casual dinner. I had no idea that you were going to be so dressed up.”
“Don’t you dare c
hange. You look beautiful. I mean, you’ve always been beautiful. Your clothes don’t make you. You make them,” Maurice rambled.
Kenya rolled her eyes. “You can stop blowing smoke now.”
Maurice laughed and held the flowers and candy out to her. “It’s not blowing smoke when it’s the truth. Are orchids still your favorite?”
Kenya smiled as she gently ran her fingers across the flower petals. “I can’t believe you remembered that.”
Maurice fought the urge to say the clichéd line that she was unforgettable, since he’d already been accused of blowing smoke. Instead, he smiled and offered his elbow to her, as a gentleman should. Kenya ignored him, set the candy on the edge of the dresser, and then closed the door, keeping the orchids with her.
“These are some beautiful flowers,” she said. “Thank you.”
Maurice dropped his arm, thinking that winning Kenya over was going to be harder than he’d initially thought. Many women that he’d been with would lose their minds over Godiva chocolate and orchids. But those women were groupies, and he couldn’t compare those types of women to Kenya.
It wasn’t as if he could blame her for being apprehensive about him. He counted himself lucky to even be in her company, because he wouldn’t give Lauryn a second chance, no matter what she said or did. Already, Maurice knew he didn’t deserve Kenya, because the pain he felt losing someone to another woman had probably hit her tenfold. They say you never get over your first love, and he’d never really gotten over Kenya. He’d settled for sex and lust, the only things that he and Lauryn had really shared. Since he’d been so focused on his NFL career, Maurice had thought his hot relationship with Lauryn wouldn’t amount to anything. Then she’d convinced him that they should marry. Ignoring his family’s warnings and the bells going off in his head, Maurice had proposed long before the Super Bowl. Somewhere along the way, Lauryn had gotten the idea to turn their relationship into a media circus. It had only taken a night of the most passionate and freaky sex for Maurice to agree to a public proposal. Lauryn had said that it would prove to his family how much she meant to him. What a joke, he thought as he and Kenya waited for a taxi in front of the hotel.
Let's Get It On Page 9