In His Bed; the New Yorker Book 6 Read online

  IN HIS BED

  The New Yorker Book Six

  MO Kenyan

  Prologue

  Twenty years ago…

  “Dennis, you will do as you are told!”

  Dennis watched as his father curled his lips in disgust. Barking orders was his customary communication style. How he wished his mother had had the sense to birth this ogre another victim. But no, the man’s attentions and fascist demands were directed at only him. He hated being an only child.

  Dennis watched with disinterest as his father paced back and forth in his office, instructing him on the duties of a Kent man. Did he care? Not particularly. All he needed to know was that he had a steady flow of cash. He was going to need it for his trip to Hawaii that weekend.

  “You will take Issadora.”

  “What?” He should have been listening. “Sorry, Father, I didn’t get that last bit. What did you say?”

  “You will take Issadora on this little voyage with your college friends,” the stuffy man instructed. He should have been a professor, not a businessman.

  “I’m afraid that isn’t possible, Father.” He was going to Hawaii to immerse himself in the local culture, which included the women. The last thing he wanted was Issadora Fontanne following him around with that pitiful face. Sure, she was a beauty, but she had the personality of a wet blanket. She wouldn’t know fun if it slapped her in the face. “It’s a boys’ trip.”

  “Your friend Adrian is taking his fiancée, Talia.”

  “The difference, father, is that Adrian actually likes Talia. I can’t stand that Italian bore,” he scoffed.

  “Let me put it this way. Issadora comes with a limitless black card,” his father proposed. “Besides, that Italian fuddy-duddy will be your wife. We are new money, Dennis. To get respect we need the alliances the old money will bring. Issadora is pretty enough.”

  Dennis thought about rebelling. All he had known was money. His father often talked about how hard it was to struggle. Dennis had promised himself that he would never be in that position. He didn’t mind marrying his bank account. He would sleep with it, if he had to. “All right, Father.”

  ***

  “All right, Father.”

  Dennis cursed his words as he cuddled into Kono’s willing arms. He regretted them even more as he tasted the surrender in her lips, her legs locking at his back as he sank into her velvety flesh. How the hell was he going to leave her? Kono’s long tanned legs, her long, beautiful curly black hair, and how easily a smile claimed her lips had Dennis in a daze from the second he’d met her. Now they had a baby boy, their little Reno.

  He had put off his marriage to Issadora for as long as he could. His father thought he was in Brazil looking for business opportunities for the company. He was pressuring Dennis to propose to Issadora, but Dennis always gave him the same excuse—Issadora wasn’t ready. He had managed to convince Issadora to go back to school for her master’s, telling her that her education and skills would be vital for the growth of their empire. Issadora ate up his lies without questioning. It helped that he kept romancing her: sweet words today, flowers and candy tomorrow, and the day after, a kiss on the forehead. Anything to make the girl think she was cherished more than she actually was. There was the occasional roll in the hay to keep the girl feeling wanted. Just because he was unwilling didn’t mean he should deny himself what she had to offer.

  Dennis lay on his back, his fingers twirling Kono’s voluminous, silky locks between his fingers. He loved her, but he didn’t love her enough to give up his fortune. Maybe he could have both. Thousands of men had two families without the wives knowing about each other. That was what he was going to do. As long as he didn’t get caught, he had the chance to be happy.

  “I love you.” Kono’s thick, sleep-laden voice filled the hot air.

  “I love you, too.”

  “Reno is already two years old. We should get married and give him a proper home,” she said as she cupped his cheek.

  “We will soon.”

  “I’m pregnant, Dennis. We are having another baby.”

  Dennis sat up with a start. He felt as if he had been kicked in the gut. One illegitimate child was acceptable. A second one would be grounds for being disinherited. But even with that fear lurking in the back of his mind, he couldn’t help but feel happy about this new child with Kono. He was in love with her and the life they had created together. Still dazed, Dennis reached for his phone as it rang on the bedside table.

  “Dennis?” Issadora’s voice rang out.

  “Yes.” He smiled down at Kono and tried to look disinterested in his call.

  “Dennis, I’m pregnant. We are going to have a baby.”

  His heart jumped into his throat. “Great!”

  ***

  “You need to understand my love,” Dennis coaxed.

  “Understand what?” Kono was getting hysterical. Her long curly tresses stuck to the sweat on her face. Her eyes were wild, her screams of protest hysterical. “This is your family, Dennis. Reno is your first born, Rhyne your second. They are your heirs. How could you want to create another family when we are here?”

  “I have a son,” Dennis whispered. “His name is Dennis Junior. He is my heir. That is how my father has said it would be.”

  “Coward!” Kono flung herself on the sofa and Dennis sat next to her. “You are married, aren’t you?”

  “Yes,” was the feeble response. “I have been married for almost three years. DJ is the same age as Rhyne.”

  Kono spun around, the look of the devil in her eyes. Slowly she began to understand what he was saying. At lightning speed, she leaped off the couch and grabbed for the vase. She launched it at Dennis, but he ducked it with expert precision. “This whole time, you have been lying to us.”

  “I love you, Kono.”

  “No, you don’t!” She launched another vase in his direction, and this caught him squarely on his face. Blood rolled down the cut on his forehead, but Kono did not rush to help him.

  Reno appeared from his hiding spot and took a defensive position in front of his father. He was trying to protect Dennis. His innocence couldn’t let him comprehend the situation unfolding before him. All he knew was that something was terribly wrong. Kono reached for him, and he ducked. She tried again and this time she grabbed his arm.

  “Your father is leaving us. He doesn’t love us anymore.” Kono got down on her knees and spun Reno to face her. “Do you hear me bubba? Your father doesn’t love you—”

  “Stop lying, Kono,” Dennis shouted over her desperate attempt to turn his son against him.

  “—and he doesn’t love Rhyne,” she went on.

  That settled in Reno’s mind. Like a poisonous infection it festered in Reno’s mind and heart. His father didn’t love his little sister. He turned to face Dennis, contempt marring his boyish features. “You don’t love little Rhyne?”

  “It’s not that.” Dennis got to his knees and hugged Reno, “I love all of you, but I have to leave. I can’t be here anymore.”

  Reno pulled out of Dennis’s embrace. He pushed as hard as he could and Dennis fell back, “You are leaving. That means you don’t want to be with us, you don’t love us. If you don’t love us, then we don’t love you either.”

  “Kono, please.” Dennis begged, “My father would take away the money. What would we live on?”

  “We could survive without his money. We could both find jobs. We could survive, live here on the island.”

  “How long would that last?” Dennis got to his feet and paced around the room. “I have a Ferrari, a Porsche and a G5—you want me to give that up? I have a lifestyle that I can’t give up.”

  “Not even
for me, the woman you claim to love. Not even for your children?”

  Rhyne toddled into the room. Drool dripped out of her mouth as her pudgy hands clapped and her chubby legs stomped on the floor. She was the picture of beauty. Dennis reached for her before anyone could get in his way. He picked her up and kissed her, his little darling.

  “Dada! Dada!” Rhyne didn’t know, but she had rewarded the man who was about to abandon her with the most precious gift of all.

  “Dada loves you.” He turned to Reno, tears blurring his eyes, “I love you too. Don’t ever forget that no matter what anyone tells you. I’ll take care of both of you. You will never want for anything.”

  ***

  “Reno!”

  Reno ran out of the kitchen and into the bedroom he shared with his two-year-old sister. He didn’t think, he just reacted. Kono’s latest boyfriend was trying to drag Rhyne onto the bed. Reno leapt onto the man’s back, the sweaty, smelly body making him recoil. As much as he hated the smell of him, he hated the sight of him. Kono had turned the tiny house into a whore house, a parade of men entering and leaving once their month was up.

  I hate you; he swore in his heart. He would never forgive the man he called father for abandoning them.

  Reno heard the front door open, and he took a deep breath. With everything he had inside him, he let out a shrilling yell. The sound of hurried footsteps approaching them was a comfort. Reno did not let the hold he had around the man’s neck ease. His tiny hands locked at the elbows as he pulled as hard as his little body would let him. Eventually the man fell back, and their next-door neighbour ran into the room.

  “Run, Rhyne! Run!”

  He saw her frightened little face. Obviously, she didn’t want to leave him behind. He could see the stormy debate through her eyes, but Reno wasn’t going to let her get hurt. Sure, help had arrived, but he needed to make sure Rhyne was as far away from this man as possible.

  “Run!”

  Rhyne took off, her tiny feet carrying her away from the danger. Reno growled when he felt his arms being pulled away. The attacker was limp, he wasn’t moving. Their neighbour was trying to get Reno to release his hold.

  “It’s all right now, son. Let go or else you are going to kill him.”

  “Let me kill him.” Six years old and Reno had enough anger inside him to take another man’s life. “He was trying to hurt little Rhyne.”

  “I know that the police are coming. Let him go and go find your sister.”

  Reno let go of his hold. He tried to move but his leg was trapped beneath the man’s weight. Kicking with abandon, he didn’t stop until the man was off him. Even then he added a few extra kicks for good measure. Reno ran out of the room and bumped into Kono, he gave her an ice-chilling stare and spat at her feet. “I hate you!”

  That night the police were called. Reno and Rhyne were both asked to account their sides of their stories. He had been sure that he had done his best and that Kono’s boyfriend would be far away from his sister.

  That night he lay his head on his pillow feeling safe for the first time that night. He had read Rhyne a couple of stories to get her to sleep. It was the wee hours of the morning when she finally got to sleep. Reno was so tired. His tiny body weary, his mind drained. He slept knowing that all would be all right, not knowing that all hell would break loose.

  “Reno!”

  Reno was startled awake by the sound of his terrified sister. He looked over to her bed and she wasn’t there. He tried the door, but it was locked. With everything he had he kicked it, pushed it as hard as he could, but it wouldn’t budge. He heard the lock turning and behind the door Kono appeared.

  “It’s for the best.” That was all she said.

  Reno pushed past her and searched the house, no sign of Rhyne.

  “Reno!”

  His head snapped in the direction the scream was coming from. He ran, pushing past his mother, not caring she had landed on the ground. Reno burst outside and all he saw was darkness. Kono’s boyfriend laughed at him, his leering smile claiming triumph.

  “Rhyne!” he desperately yelled.

  “Reno!”

  He turned toward the sound of tires screeching away. Rhyne’s hands were waving out the window. Her head appeared and she screamed for him once more. His bare feet pounded the gravel as he chased the red taillights. He ran as fast as he could, as hard as he could and yet it was not enough. Reno wouldn’t let himself get tired; he wouldn’t let the painful sores on his feet stop him. He didn’t know how far he ran, but the red taillights kept fading…

  ***

  Twenty years later…

  Rhyne knew this street was familiar. She stopped for a second and looked around.

  In an instant, her mind was assailed by memories from the past. She could see him running after the car. Back then, she could tell he was running as hard as he could. After a while, Rhyne had wished he would just stop. It was obvious he was getting tired, that his feet hurt, but Reno wouldn’t stop. A while longer that day, and she’d stopped looking. She’d sat perfectly still in the back seat, hopeless, tears streaming down her face, her hands folded on her lap.

  The next second she wasn’t in the car—she was standing at a front door, her fist lifted as if she was about to knock. She heard shuffling from the other side of the door. Slowly, carefully she pushed the door open. Rhyne walked in and it was as if nothing had changed through the years. The couch was still in the same place; the television was as dusty as it used to be. The potent odours of booze and cigarettes filled the air.

  The terrified sound of a little girl crying pulled her toward the back rooms of the tiny apartment. Rhyne almost ran into her mother. She was just as she remembered, dishevelled and barely sober. Kono didn’t seem to notice her. Another cry pulled Rhyne’s attention from her statuesque mother. She remembered where the hall led to, hers and Reno’s room. She walked down the dirty hallway, kicking bottles out of her way, and walking around the syringes. No doubt Kono and her boyfriend were having a party.

  She pushed the bedroom door open. The cries filled the room and froze her blood. The first thing she saw was Reno’s tiny body as he grappled with the man. She knew who was under that man: it was her. To her, Kono’s boyfriend had always looked like a giant. Even now, as a grown woman, she felt he was the biggest man she had ever seen. She heard a noise behind her and there was Kono. Kono watched as Reno fought to get the man off her but didn’t move to help. She was unable—unwilling. Her face was expressionless, her eyes bloodshot red. She was high. Rhyne had learned how to recognize the symptoms at an early age. But something she didn’t understand was why Kono wouldn’t help them. She was their mother.

  “Mom! Help me!” Rhyne looked back and forth between her mother and the scuffle. It didn’t seem real. In fact, it wasn’t real. Rhyne looked up at the dusty ceiling, seeing the cobwebs at each corner. She had to wake up.

  “Wake up!”

  PART ONE

  Chapter One

  Rhyne stood outside the hotel suite, nerves trembling but her body stiff in fear. Her cousin had asked her for a favour. Nola was the only family Rhyne had left. She remembered her brother, vaguely. Rhyne had been just a toddler when she’d left home. She couldn’t picture his face clearly. She also didn’t know why she’d left home in the first place. For the longest time, the only person she could call family was Nola. Her own parents were dead and the place she had called home for more than twenty years was an orphanage that had already been torn down.

  It was Nola who had found Rhyne in the hotel they’d worked at a while back. Ever since, Rhyne had followed Nola wherever she went, from the Hawaiian Islands to New York to Los Angeles and now Vegas. They were searching for Rhyne’s brother, and Nola was the only one who knew what he looked like.

  She dug her nails into her palms as she mastered the courage to knock. It was her conscience that held her back. It wasn’t that she was about to do something illegal. Nola had promised her it wasn’t. It was more of a right-or
-wrong issue. Or maybe it was just the fear of not knowing what exactly would happen once she walked into the hotel room. Nola claimed it was an easy job: walk in, have a chat, go to dinner, basically a rent-a-girlfriend kind of job. Yet there was something telling Rhyne she shouldn’t dare step foot in that room.

  Rhyne didn’t want to disappoint Nola or cost her a pay check. Rhyne’s waitressing job didn’t pay as much as Nola’s girlfriend gigs. It was Nola who bore the weight of most of the bills, and Rhyne felt bad about it. It was guilt that made Rhyne raise her fist to the door and knock. Once.

  Nothing.

  Rhyne told herself that she would only knock once more, count to ten, then take off like the devil was on her heels. She would have fulfilled her end of the deal, sort of. So, she did. She knocked and counted to fifteen. At sixteen, she shrugged her shoulders and tried to hide her relieved smile from Nola, who wasn’t even there to witness it.

  She turned to walk away, satisfied she had done all she could. The man wasn’t there, a situation completely out of her control, and she could do nothing about it. There was a skip in her step as her nerves calmed down and her body thawed out. For a second, that was. A man, seemingly drunk, leaned against the wall. The bow tie that made his black tuxedo complete lay on his collarbone, undone.

  Startled, Rhyne jumped back, a squeal leaving her lips. He was looking at her, watching her, really. Rhyne’s couldn’t call it a grin or a smile, but the ends of his lips curled to the right. With a slitted gaze, he gave her a head-to-toe perusal. He pushed off the wall and stumbled into Rhyne. She pushed him and just as he was about to fall, she caught him, barely. He was drunk, properly sloshed. He managed to find his feet beneath him and stood steady. It was then that Rhyne appreciated the full length of him. He was like a tower that never seemed to cease. She leaned back just so she could see his face. Ten seconds later, the strained pain in her neck forced her to take a step away.

  Beautiful.

  He was, though hazy from the effects of alcohol. His brown eyes, soft and somehow endearing, balanced out the sharp, bold edges of his jaw, nose, and lips. Beautiful, she sighed once more. She had never seen a man like him, or rather, felt one. Her right hand gently lay on the left side of his chest. Rhyne took deep breaths as her thunderous heart threatened to beat its way up her throat and out of her mouth. Would he like it if I gave my heart to him, once I spat it out? What the hell? Rhyne shook her head, trying her best to clear the fuzz that had already taken over her brain.