Several other reporters nodded in agreement. “So, what do you say, Kenya. Care to tell us the real story?”
A reporter jabbed his microphone at Kenya, but Eli blocked his path. “Thank you, everyone, but this conference is concluded. Have a great day.”
There was lots of mumbling from the press as the bodyguards escorted Chynna offstage, but it was Eli who grabbed Kenya’s arm and pulled her off the stage. “Let’s go,” he hissed.
“Don’t manhandle me, Eli,” Kenya whispered and snatched her arm away as she followed the path Chynna and her bodyguards were walking. “I don’t work for you.”
Once they were out of earshot and view of the press on the pebbled path back to the mansion, Eli grabbed Kenya again by the arm and spun her around. “You think you’re pretty smart, don’t you?”
“Excuse me?”
“You convince Chynna to trade places with you to revive your failing career and who benefits from her scandal? You. The press,” he said, pointing to the gates, “want to know about you! And worse? You steal her movie role. You’re a real piece of work, Kenya James.”
“If you touch me one more time,” Kenya said, her voice as cold as ice when she spoke, “you’re going to lose that hand. And furthermore, I never asked for any of this. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself, Eli, because Chynna was trying to escape you.”
“You think you’re so smart, huh?” Eli asked. “Well you’re not, because you may have won yourself a new career at Chynna’s benefit, but you’ve lost Lucas.”
Color drained from Kenya’s fair skin at Eli’s comment, because he was right. She doubted Lucas would ever forgive her betrayal. The devastation on his face last night had been evident.
Eli must have suspected he’d hit a nerve because he turned the knife deeper. He stepped closer to Kenya, but not too close for fear she’d cause him bodily harm. “Lucas is all about loyalty and trust and you singlehandedly killed any feeling Lucas might have for you. So perhaps you should look in the mirror to find the person to blame for that.”
Eli turned on his heel and stormed back toward the mansion, leaving Kenya outside reeling from his words.
Chapter 11
“I have a bone to pick with you, Chynna James,” a female voice said from the other end of Chynna’s cell phone the next day. Chynna had just awoken to hear the phone ringing after she’d stayed up with Kenya the night before, talking about a strategy for her sister’s burgeoning career. Kenya was about to turn Hollywood on its ear and she had to strike now. Chynna reached for her phone without looking at the caller ID.
Chynna was shocked to hear the hostility coming from Rylee Hart’s voice. They’d always been friends, so why would she treat her so coldly now? “Rylee, what’s wrong? Have I done something to offend you?”
“You mean kicking my brother to the curb after he’d overcome his grief to be with you? You mean that?” Rylee asked. She’d been livid when Noah had confided in her after much coaxing that he’d taken her advice and called Chynna, only to be given the brush-off by her record label owner. Noah had indicated he didn’t know what was going on and intended to go to Los Angeles to find out why, but Rylee couldn’t resist calling Chynna herself.
“Kick Noah to the curb?” Chynna asked, sitting upright n her bed. “What are you talking about?”
“Noah called you a couple of days ago,” Rylee said, “and a man answered your phone. He told him you were done with him, wanted nothing to do with him, that it was fun while it lasted. He’s been heartbroken ever since. I’ve never seen him so upset, since, well, since Maya died. Do you have a new man? You sure didn’t waste any time tossing my brother aside.”
Chynna tried to absorb everything Rylee was throwing at her, but it was too much. Noah called? Someone had brushed him off? He was as upset as he’d been when he’d lost Maya? Could Noah really have the same feelings for me that I have for him?
The last two days without Noah had been torture. Just a few nights ago, they’d lain in each other’s arms after they’d made mad, passionate love, and now forty-eight hours later, their whole world had been turned topsy-turvy.
“Rylee, listen,” Chynna began, “I had no idea that Noah called me.”
“You didn’t? Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. I would never kick Noah to the curb. I love him,” Chynna blurted out.
“Did you just say you love my brother?” Rylee asked.
Chynna was silent for several moments because she’d been just as surprised by her outburst. She hadn’t said the words aloud to anyone, even though she’d felt them and her eyes welled with tears. “I, I do,” she finally responded. “I love Noah. I think I have since I woke up and found him staring at me with those big brown eyes of his.”
Chynna heard Rylee’s audible sigh of relief. “Oh, thank God,” Rylee replied. “I was beginning to think I had misjudged you, and my gut instincts are usually dead-on. I just knew that you were as crazy about him as he is about you.”
“I am crazy about that stubborn brother of yours,” Chynna said, smiling through her haze of tears.
“I’m so glad to hear that,” Rylee said. She kept mum that Noah was on his way to her so that Chynna would be shocked by his arrival on her doorstep. “But that still begs the question as who would have told Noah that you wanted nothing to do with him and that you’d only been looking for a good time.”
“I don’t know, Rylee,” Chynna answered. “But you can rest assured that I will find out who tried to sabotage my relationship with Noah.”
“Good, you give ‘em hell,” Rylee said. “But you can never tell Noah that I called you. He’d be upset that I was interfering.”
“I will find the culprit,” Chynna said, “and I promise not to tell Noah.” She ended the call with her newfound friend and leaned back against the pillows on her bed. Who would have told Noah to take a hike? Deacon certainly knew how she felt about Noah, so it couldn’t be him. Who would benefit from her breaking up with Noah? Who would even have the guts? Eli.
Hadn’t Kenya warned her that she had an uneasy feeling about Eli since her arrival? Hadn’t Kenya indicated she suspected Eli could have ratted her out to the press? Could Kenya be right? Could Eli have orchestrated this entire disaster to get rid of Kenya and get Chynna back home and ‘in her place?’ Given Eli’s actions and words since she’d gotten back, Chynna was beginning to wonder if Kenya wasn’t onto something. Can Eli really be trusted?
Kenya nervously wrung her hands as she sat in the backseat of the limo in front of the Boys and Girls Club. Thanks to Chynna’s generosity and given her newfound fame, she now had a limo and bodyguards at her disposal every day. Eli may have thought he’d squashed the press’s interest in her, but he’d been wrong. Kenya’s agent had been besieged by requests from the television talk shows to have her on as a guest and from several reputable magazines for exclusive interviews on her portrayal of Chynna and her current popularity.
Kenya was as shocked as Eli that the press cared one iota about what she did, but care they did. Just this morning, several black SUVs had followed her to the filming of the movie. Kenya was going to sweep it all under the rug, but Fiona had cautioned her against it. Fiona couldn’t represent her due to conflicting interests with Chynna, but she had recommended another well-respected publicist for Kenya to work with.
“You have to capitalize on your fifteen minutes of fame,” Fiona had told her that morning.
And she was due to meet with the publicist the next day, but first she had to make amends. After Eli’s harsh words yesterday on how Lucas would never forgive her, Kenya had stared at the ceiling all night. She could still remember the hurt look in his eyes that evening in Chynna’s kitchen. Terrible regrets washed over her, and she had to try again to get through to Lucas, even if her attempts were futile and she was rebuffed.
After she’d left the Boys and Girls Club on
her first visit, she’d made a monetary donation out of her own bank account and had made plans with Althea to return when she was back in LA. Of course, Kenya hadn’t known how soon that would be. And although she was back to help, her motives weren’t altogether altruistic. Kenya knew the club would be neutral ground to see Lucas. He would never dream of causing a scene between them in front of the children. She’d called ahead and told Althea that she’d like to volunteer. Something good could come out of this mess.
Althea had been surprised by the gesture, but welcomed Kenya’s generosity even though she wasn’t really Chynna.
Kenya had a pit in her stomach that wouldn’t go away, but she had never been one to back away from a fight, and now would be no different. Mustering all of her gumption, Kenya exited the limo, and one of Chynna’s muscled bodyguards, Darryl, was right there beside her, ushering her inside as several paparazzi clicked pictures.
“Thank you, Darryl,” Kenya said, smiling at the three-hundred-pound former high school football star.
“No problem, Miss Kenya,” Darryl said.
Althea was waiting for Kenya when she arrived and immediately put her to work in the four- to six-year-olds’ room, where she could read stories to them. Darryl and his counterpart stood outside the door as she sat down cross-legged on the classroom floor with the children.
The kids were so excited by her return. Some of them still thought she was Chynna, and she tried to explain to them that she was Chynna’s sister, but Kenya doubted they truly understood. She began reading them Dr. Seuss’s Green Eggs and Ham as they listened with rapt attention. Kenya tried to use different voices for each character and hand motions to engage her young audience. She was so caught up in bringing the characters to life that she didn’t see Lucas enter the room.
Lucas stood in the back of the classroom watching Kenya read to the children. He’d been heading back from the basketball courts to talk with the staff when he’d heard two young girls whispering that Chynna James’s sister, who’d imitated her for weeks, was back here in the club. Lucas had thought he was hearing things, but when he asked Althea, she confirmed Kenya had contacted her about how she could lend a hand.
“Was that before or after she’d been called out playing her sister?” he asked.
Althea stared back at him, surprised by his harsh tone. “Before.”
“Before?” He hadn’t expected that answer.
“Oh, yes, Ms. James made a monetary decision after her first visit and had set up another visit.”
Lucas’s mouth had formed an ‘O’. He’d been sure Kenya had come here to see him, but perhaps she was there because she knew the club needed more volunteers?
And so, he’d gone in search of the classroom where Althea said she was with the children. It hadn’t been easy getting in either. It had taken some negotiating to get through those muscle-bound bodyguards she had guarding the classroom door. They hadn’t believed him when he told them he was Lucas Kingston of R&K Records, but why should they?
He was dressed in jeans and a graphic T-shirt and not in his usual suit attire. Eventually, another club worker had passed by and told them he was in fact Mr. Kingston, and they’d finally allowed him entry.
Now he was standing in the back of the room in awe of Kenya and her acting ability. Even now, when she was just reading a children’s book, she had a way of pulling you in and making you believe every word she uttered. All of the children sat around her, eagerly anticipating each word that came out of her beautiful, sensuous mouth—a mouth he’d enjoyed kissing, teasing and nibbling on as they’d gone to new heights together. Kenya had drawn him in deeper and deeper each time he’d been with her, and now he was lost without her. He’d been useless at work the last couple of days, so he’d come here where he could make a difference and where he was still considered important and not a laughingstock.
The truth of the matter was he could get over being the butt of everyone’s jokes—he had a tough skin. What he couldn’t get over was the fact that she’d lied to his face repeatedly. He didn’t expect that she would have told him the truth initially, as they hadn’t known each other that well. But that night in Vegas when they’d made love again, he knew that they’d transcended just sex and that he was falling hard. Or at least he’d felt that way.
As if she sensed his tortured thoughts, Kenya looked up at that moment and stared right at him. Lucas’s heart turned over in his chest. He wanted to run over to her right now, pull her to her feet and wrap her in his arms and kiss her senseless. He wanted to lose himself in her and forget all the craziness and the lies that stood between them, but he didn’t do that. He just stared back at her with longing.
Kenya finished her story and talked with several of the children before eventually making her way over to him.
“Hello there,” she said, giving him a hesitant smile.
“Kenya.”
“I bet you’re surprised to see me,” she said with a nervous chuckle.
“I guess I should be,” Lucas responded. “Althea tells me you had plans to return since your last visit.”
Kenya nodded. “I saw all the great work they were doing here and wanted to give back.”
“I’m sure they appreciated your donation.”
“I didn’t do it to get your attention,” she replied.Lucas held his hands up in defense. “I didn’t think that. It was very generous of you. You know how much this place means to me and how it was a place of refuge for me to stay off the streets.”
“I do.” She looked at him cautiously, optimistically, and it killed Lucas that their relationship had come to this.
“Well, I have to get going,” Lucas said and turned to walk away. “I have to catch a flight to Houston for Chynna’s next concert and do some damage control.”
“Because of me.”
“Because of both of you,” Lucas answered. He’d had some time to think and knew that he couldn’t blame this entire fiasco on Kenya. He suspected that she’d jumped in to help Chynna, and also to see what it would be like to be Chynna.
“May I walk you out?” she asked.
“Sure.” He opened the classroom door and allowed Kenya to precede him. Her bodyguards fell a few steps behind them as they walked down the hall.
“I know this might be asking a lot, given everything that’s happened between us, but I was hoping with time that you and I ... and I could perhaps st-start over,” Kenya said as she walked beside Lucas. “I-I’m really not a bad person, Lucas, once you get to know the real me, you know, without all of Chynna’s baggage.”
Lucas stopped midstride and turned to look at Kenya. She was biting her lip, and he could see tears on her trembling lower eyelids. She tore her gaze from him and looked down at the floor.
He knew how hard it must have been for her to come to him and ask for a second chance “You’re nothing like Chynna. I know that, Kenya.”
“Wh-wh-why,” she said, her voice breaking in misery, “do I hear a ‘but’ in there?”
His face was bleak with sorrow when he said, “Because I don’t think we can go back, Kenya.”
“How can you say that?” She reached out to touch his cheek. She stood so close to him that Lucas could smell the sweetness of her perfume. She smelled both floral and fruity, like roses and pears.
“Don’t do this, Kenya ...” He stepped backward. Having her so near him was making him weak with need. It was like his body remembered her.
“I can, because we could have something good. I know we can make this work if you’re just willing to give us a second chance.”
Slowly and heartbreakingingly, he said what she didn’t want to hear. “I can’t trust you, and for me, trust is everything.”
Kenya was silent and defeated.
“I’m sorry, Kenya. I wish things could be different.”
“I understand,” she said, speaking calmly with no li
ght in her eyes. Gone were the smiles and tenderness he’d seen earlier with the children. In its place was sadness as she said, “But I think you’re making a mistake, Lucas. We’d just begun to find out what was between us, and I think you’re throwing it all away because you were hurt. And I’m sorry I was the cause of that, but I will accept your decision and not bo-bother you again. Da-Darryl,” she said, turning backward to her bodyguards, who stood only a few feet away from them to give them privacy, “ca-can you help me to the car?”
“Absolutely, Miss Kenya.” Darryl gave Lucas such a look of disdain as he walked past him that Lucas thought Darryl was going to punch him, but Darryl merely grasped Kenya’s arm and led her down the hall, and to Lucas’s chagrin, out of his life.
Lucas slumped down against the wall and fell to the floor, clutching his head in his hands.
“So are you ready to resume your tour?” Deacon asked Chynna that night as he watched Megan pack several suitcases for Chynna’s next tour stop in Houston.
Chynna shrugged. “I guess.”
“Don’t sound so excited,” Deacon said. “You know your fans are going to be expecting the show of a lifetime because they have you back.”
“You make it sound like Kenya was a poor substitute,” Chynna said. “That’s not what I heard. I saw all the reviews on the two shows she gave. They said the shows were phenomenal.”
“I know that,” Deacon said, pointing to himself. “And you know that,” he said, pointing at her. “But you know the press has to blow this out of proportion to make this,” he said, using his fingers to make air quotation marks, “‘The Return of Chynna James.’”
Chynna laughed. “I guess whatever works and sells tickets.” She glanced in Megan’s direction as the young woman pulled out several sexy couture dresses from the rack, each more revealing than the last. “Megan, I’m trying to tone down the sexy thing and go for a mature look. Can you find something less revealing dresses?” She could only imagine what Noah would think of her if he caught sight of her in photos wearing that getup. She hadn’t yet heard from him directly, but after her conversation with Rylee, she had hope for the future. But it was hard. She desperately wanted to pick up the phone and hear the husky sound of Noah’s voice on the other end. But she also wanted to allow him the time he needed to come to her.
Harts of Arizona Series Page 30