He decided that he needed to cut Lauryn off at the pass, and he didn’t need to hide it from Kenya, either. But going to Kenya right now, when everything was going so well between them, just didn’t seem like a good idea. He knew she still had doubts, and he didn’t want to add to them. However, giving in to Lauryn was not an option.
Sitting down and stretching his legs across the coffee table, Maurice thought, Lauryn isn’t crazy, and this is going to blow over, and I hope it’s sooner rather than later.
The phone rang again, and Maurice ignored it at first, figuring it was Lauryn. But he answered it when the ringing became annoying. “Yeah?”
“Mo, check out the E! channel,” James said. “Lauryn is on there.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. She just called me, trying to extort money. I guess this was part of her plan,” he said as he flipped on the television.
“The ex-fiancée of Super Bowl MVP Maurice Goings said she’s going to write a book about her experiences with the superstar and disclose the real reason why they didn’t make it to the altar,” said E! News host Ryan Seacrest. The camera cut to Lauryn, sitting in a studio. A female interviewer was sitting with her. “We’re here with Lauryn Michaels, who has inked a six-figure deal with a New York publisher to write her tell-all memoirs about her life as an almost NFL wife and why she walked away.”
“Hi,” Lauryn said, then smiled as she looked into the camera. Maurice felt as if her eyes were boring into his soul. Silently, he prayed that Kenya was nowhere near a television.
“A few months ago you were living a dream, with fancy clothes, trips, and money. Not to mention you were engaged to one of the hottest football players out there,” said the interviewer. “You gave it all up. Why did you do it?”
“Well, not every pretty picture is what it seems,” Lauryn said. “My relationship with Maurice Goings was just that, a one-dimensional picture.”
The interviewer leaned in. “How so?”
Lauryn crossed her long legs, exposing a sliver of her thigh. “Maurice may be the man on the field, but he certainly isn’t off it. I’m not saying that he’s gay, because he’s never come out to me. But he didn’t have a problem with my relationship with another woman. Mo would drive me to her house and finance our weekends away. And while I was gone, he was always surrounded by other men.”
“You mean his teammates?” asked the interviewer.
Lauryn shook her head and looked into the camera. “Nope. That I could understand, but he spent a lot of time at a local gay and lesbian club, and I never understood why a straight man would hang around so many gay people.”
“Are you gay?” the interviewer asked.
Lauryn shook her head and laughed. “No, I’m not. I was confused and experimenting. I love men,” she said.
“That lying . . .” Maurice shut the television off. “Do you believe her?”
“You should sue her,” James said. Maurice could still hear the interview in the background.
Maurice’s phone gave a call-waiting beep. “Hold on,” he said. “Hello.”
“Maurice,” Kenya said. “What the hell is Lauryn talking about? What can we do to stop her?”
“She called me and asked for money. Then James called to inform me about her interview.”
“You know what? We’re going to have to put a stop to this,” Kenya said, her voice filled with fire and rage. “I’m not going to have her sullying your reputation or casting her dark cloud over our wedding. Talisha, close the door, and I need you to bring me all that you have on slander and libel.”
“Baby, calm down,” Maurice said.
“Did she think that she could just go on television and spread these lies and not deal with any repercussions? Did she even think about what this could do to your career?” Maurice heard a loud thud in the background, and he assumed that it was a law book landing in the middle of Kenya’s desk. “And I’m going after that publisher if they publish that trash. She’s a lying little—”
“You know what?” Maurice said, smiling despite himself. “You haven’t asked me once if what she said was true.”
“I don’t need to ask you if it’s true or not. I trust you, and I don’t believe a word coming out of that lying tramp’s mouth.” He could hear the flames in Kenya’s voice, and that frightened him. She was more than angry; she was furious. “I’m sick of Lauryn and her mess, and I’m not going to take it anymore. I have to go.”
After she slammed the phone down in his ear, Maurice grabbed his jacket and headed for Kenya’s office. He had a bad feeling about what was going to happen next.
“Talisha, stay here, and keep looking up libel and slander law. I have to take care of something,” Kenya said as she printed Lauryn’s address from the Internet. She didn’t care how long she was going to have to wait for Lauryn; this was ending today. Kenya blew out of the office and headed down to the parking lot. She wasn’t surprised that Lauryn had been living in a poorer part of Charlotte since the breakup with Maurice. Kenya knew that this was about money and revenge. If Lauryn thought that she was going to lord it over them and pop up with lies and trouble anytime she felt like it, she had another thing coming.
Kenya pulled up to the Royal Orleans apartment complex and waited. She didn’t know if Lauryn’s interview had been pretaped or if it was live. All she knew was it didn’t matter how long she had to wait to see that evil witch; she was going to sit right there. Her cell phone rang, and she saw that it was Maurice. Kenya decided not to answer it, because she didn’t need to hear the voice of reason. This thing between her and Lauryn wasn’t just about him: it was about Kenya facing the demon that had plagued her for nearly a decade.
The phone continued to ring. Just as Kenya reached for it, she saw Lauryn exiting a cab. “Sorry, Mo, but you’re going to have to wait.” Kenya pulled her jacket off and hopped out of the car. “Lauryn!”
Lauryn turned around and glared at Kenya. “What the hell do you want?”
Quickly, Kenya closed the space between them, standing toe to toe with her nemesis. Looking at Lauryn, Kenya could easily admit that she was a beautiful woman, but she had no soul, no substance, and that was why things hadn’t worked between her and Maurice. He might have fallen for her face and her body when they were in college, but Kenya knew that Maurice wanted more than that, and that was why they’d found their way back to each other.
“You need to stop this little vendetta of yours, because Maurice and I are going to be together. Learn to live with it,” Kenya snarled.
Lauryn laughed and pointed her finger in Kenya’s face. “You think this is about you? I don’t give a damn about you. Never have. You were the one who let me inside your head. You let me run you out of town. This has always been about Maurice, and he had a chance to squash all of this. I could’ve called E! News and had them kill the story if he had just given me what I asked for. He brought this on himself. You’re nothing but the one thing that he knew he could fall back on. If you want to call it love, then go ahead, but you were a contingency plan and nothing more. So what if you two fucked in high school. The moment I smiled at him and flashed him a little skin, you were an afterthought.”
Propelled by nine years of aggression, anger, and frustration, Kenya slapped Lauryn and pushed her down to the ground. “I’m sick of you,” she hissed as she stood over Lauryn, who was holding her cheek. “You think Maurice is a prize that can be won and lost. But he’s a man with a heart and a soul, things you don’t have.”
Lauryn rose to her feet and pushed Kenya, causing her to stumble backward. She didn’t lose her footing, though, and grabbed Lauryn’s collar. “You’re the one who thinks that she’s won something. So what if he’s in your life again,” Lauryn said. “How long do you think this is going to last? When he goes on the road and sees all of those other women, do you think he’s going to care about how much you two love each other?”
“Maurice is different now, but you wouldn’t know that, because you’re still the same gold
-digging tramp that you were in college.” Kenya released Lauryn’s shirt and gave her a little shove. “If you publish this book or spread any more lies about Maurice or anything else, you’re going to be slapped with a lawsuit. Consider this your first and final warning.”
“Am I supposed to be afraid of you?” Lauryn snapped. “I’m not. You and Maurice can kiss my ass.”
Kenya wanted to pummel her but decided that she wasn’t worth it. “Fine, Lauryn. If you want to find yourself in court for the next few years, then keep spreading your lies about Maurice. But you and I both know that the only person who’s confused about their sexuality is you.”
“You’d like to believe that, but you don’t know for sure, do you?” Lauryn smiled sardonically. “The next time he leaves you, it might just be for a man.”
Kenya shook her head and started for her car. “Go to hell, Lauryn.”
Lauryn flipped Kenya off as she drove away, and Kenya fumed inwardly. She wanted Lauryn to disappear, not only from her life, but from the earth. Coming here was a mistake. All I did was make myself even angrier, Kenya thought as she sped down Beatties Ford Road, praying that she didn’t get stopped by a police officer. As she reached a stoplight, her cell phone rang again. Knowing it was Maurice, she decided to answer this time.
“Hello,” she said.
“I’m at your off ice. Where are you?” Maurice asked, his voice peppered with concern.
“I’ll be there in a little bit.”
“Kenya, you didn’t do anything crazy, did you?”
“If you’re asking if I talked to Lauryn, the answer is yes.”
“What happened?”
Kenya snorted. “A little pushing and shoving, that’s all. I told her that if she writes this book, she’ll be tied up in legal red tape for years.”
“Baby, I can’t have you fighting my battles.”
“This is our battle. What she says and does affects you, but it affects me, too, and I don’t like living on standby wondering what that crazy heifer is going to do next. We’re not in college anymore, and she put your life in danger.”
“I know, but I don’t need you going after her,” he said. “There’s no telling what Lauryn might do if she thinks that she’s cornered.”
“What did you ever see in her?” Kenya asked as she slowed her car down. “Has she ever been stable?”
“I was young, and I didn’t know that things were going to turn out this way. I always thought that I’d get married once and that you’d be underneath the veil.”
“Don’t try to be slick with me right now. Was it just the sex? You can’t honestly tell me that you loved her in any way, shape, or form.”
“Do we have to do this? Kenya, Lauryn isn’t going to be a threat to us unless you let her be. The guys in the locker room know me and what kind of guy I am. The media is going to run with this story for five seconds and then move on to Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt.”
“So are you saying we should ignore this?”
“No, I’m saying you need to get to your office so we can concentrate on us and nothing else.”
It’s not that simple, Kenya thought as she snapped her phone shut.
Chapter 29
Maurice paced back and forth in Kenya’s office as he waited for her to arrive. Something about their phone conversation didn’t set well with him. Her voice didn’t sound right, and he was worried that she would do something crazy. She’d gone after Lauryn once. What if she did it again?
He stuck his head out the door and looked at Talisha. “Has Miss Taylor called?”
“No, sir,” Talisha replied exasperatedly.
“I’m sorry,” he said, realizing that he’d been asking her the same question every five minutes since he’d hung up with Kenya twenty minutes ago.
Seconds after he walked back into Kenya’s office and sat down, Kenya walked through the door. Maurice stood and drew her into his arms. “I was worried about you,” he said.
She pushed out of his embrace. “I was serious about what I asked you on the phone. What did you ever see in Lauryn, and what does that say about the kind of man that you are?”
“You’re kidding, right?” Maurice asked, flabbergasted that she was turning a nonissue into an argument.
Kenya threw her jacket across the room and glared at him. “I’m serious.” She dropped her head in her hands. “I’m sorry. It’s just that this situation with Lauryn isn’t going to go away, and I’m already sick of it.”
“What do you want me to do? I can’t just pay her off, and you can’t go out and beat the hell out of her.”
“I know, but if this book becomes a reality, then you’re going to be answering a lot of questions that . . .”
“Maybe we need to fight fire with fire. I called a reporter friend of mine from the Charlotte Observer, and he’s coming over so that we can talk about Lauryn’s book and our wedding.”
“You think that’s a good idea?” she asked. “I thought we were keeping the media out of our relationship.”
“I’m not going to hide from Lauryn’s lies, and I’m not going to let her sully my reputation.”
“Having dueling stories in the media isn’t going to help. Let’s just sue her,” Kenya said as she walked over to her desk. “I printed this stuff after I saw her on TV and talked to you.” She handed Maurice a folder filled with information.
“It would cost more to sue her than to feed a story to a friend.”
“Are you forgetting that I’m an attorney? I could represent you, and Lauryn needs to pay for what she’s trying to do.”
Maurice shook his head. “I don’t want to take this to court.”
“Is there something you’re afraid I’m going to find out?”
“Do you really think Lauryn is going to get on the stand and tell the truth? There would be more outlandish lies, and I don’t want to put you through that. Look how crazy it’s already making you. We should be talking about wedding plans. We have your mother on our side and everything. I’m tired of fighting.”
“Then maybe we shouldn’t even get married. This is too much work.”
“You mean that?”
She turned her back to him. “Yes.”
He quickly closed the space between them and grabbed her shoulder, forcing her to face him. “We haven’t gone through all of this to let Lauryn come between us again.”
“She’s always been between us.”
“It doesn’t have to be that way.”
Kenya shook her head; her eyes filled with tears. “But it is that way. It’s been that way since you chose her all of those years ago. This is too much and . . .”
“Miss Taylor, there’s a reporter from the Observer here for you and Mr. Goings,” Talisha said over the intercom.
“Give me a minute,” Kenya said.
“Do you want to do this, or do I send him away?” Maurice asked.
“Fine. Send him in,” Kenya said to him and Talisha.
A lanky journalist, dressed in wrinkled tan slacks and a collarless shirt, walked in the office. “Mo, what’s up?” he said.
“My man Ross,” Maurice said as he and the reporter shook hands. “What’s up?”
“You tell me. Swanky place. Is this your attorney?” Ross asked, nodding toward Kenya.
Maurice smiled. “No, this is the love of my life. Kenya Taylor, this is Ross Mackins, one of the few reporters that can be trusted in this town.”
Kenya extended her hand and gave Ross a weak handshake. “I’m here just to observe,” she said.
“That’s cool with me,” Ross said, then turned to Maurice. “So, what’s the deal with your former financée?”
“She’s trying to extort money from me,” said Maurice. “I think she’s crazy. I’m not gay, and I’ve never felt that I was gay. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t have anything against gay people, but . . .”
“What he’s trying to say is Lauryn is crazy, and she knows that in the testosterone-driven NFL, the best way to discredit a m
an is to call his sexuality into question,” Kenya said, leaning over Maurice. “Make sure you write that Lauryn is crazy.”
Ross and Maurice laughed until tears streamed down their faces. “And that’s why I love her,” Maurice said through the laughter. “Seriously, Lauryn’s the only one who has a question about her sexuality, being that she left me at the altar for her best friend, who’s a woman.”
“So is that why you were missing in action all spring?” Ross asked.
Although he was talking to Ross, Maurice looked at Kenya. “That, and I had to convince the one I let get away to come back.” He went into the story about how he had seen Kenya on vacation and she’d wanted nothing to do with him.
“You can’t blame me,” Kenya said. “Your so-called wedding was all over TV, even on ESPN.”
“You must not watch Leno or Letterman,” Maurice said. “I was the butt of jokes for weeks, and as I sat uptown, living with pizza boxes and on the verge of breeding roaches, I realized that I made a mistake nine years ago, when I let this woman walk out of my life.”
Kenya smiled despite herself and listened as Maurice talked about getting over his relationship with Lauryn and the surprise of finding Kenya again.
“Getting to the meat of the matter, the readers and possibly your teammates are going to want to know how you didn’t know that your woman was sleeping with another woman,” Ross said.
“I really didn’t care. I figured she was cheating, because Lauryn was the stereotypical NFL girlfriend. Very flirty. Always in the club. By the time that we were about to get married, I just wanted to get through the wedding. I had an ironclad prenup, and I wasn’t worried. Then the wedding didn’t happen, and I was looking like a fool. I tried to ignore it, but it hasn’t gone away.”
“So, Kenya,” Ross said, “how are you dealing with suddenly having your relationship in the spotlight?”
“I’m not,” Kenya said as she rose to her feet. “I don’t understand why people want to know what goes on in his life off the field. It’s not terribly exciting.”
“Ouch,” Ross said as he scribbled on his notepad.
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