Intimate Conversation with author Nikkea Smithers

Nikkea Smithers is a spoken word artists and Essence Magazine Best Selling Author She has performed on stages in front of thousands. Her literary work often speaks to issues in the community that are often under-discussed. Her readers have fallen in love with her ‘tell it like it is’ approach to writing making her readers lifelong fans.

Intimate Conversation with Ella Curry, CEO of EDC Creations


Ella: Hello Nikkea! Introduce us to your book, On The Flip Side.
Nikkea: On The Flip Side deals with a situation that many men face but little light is shed on. We often hear the story about the single mother doing it for her kids on a daily basis. While I would never want to take anything away from them, what we don't often hear about is the single father who is standing up to his responsibilities and being burdened with social issues beyond his realm of control. What if the mother is not the one holding it down? What if the father has the kids but the mother has the greed? On The Flip Side deals with a different kind of baby momma drama and show that real men are fathers and not just baby daddies.



Ella: Tell us a little about your main characters. Who was your favorite?
Nikkea: Tavares was on the path to be a very successful young man. A one night stand turns his life up side down and he finds himself in a position where he has to be accountable. As he struggles to be a respectable father the mother of his children does everything in her power to break him down. The twist to this tale is he just isn't just a single father, he is also paying child support as if his kids don't live with him and in two different states.

Danica is a very interesting woman with a serious God complex. She truly believes that she is better than everyone around her. Not only does her complex cause her to throw stereotypes around like they are going out of style but it causes her to play the role of karma. The problem with playing karma is that it's bound to come back on you if you aren't living right.

My favorite is Tavares because he is the epitome of real man. He immediately steps up to the plate and makes things happen. As you read the book you genuinely feel for him. His kids come first, plain and simple. Who doesn't love a man like that?



Ella: Are your characters from the portrayal of real people? What inspired you to write this story?
Nikkea: The characters aren't based on real people but are influenced by conversations. I love talking to people and my husband and I often throw these parties where there are debates on different topics. Of course one of the most popular topics of debate is child support. The men thought they paid too much. The women thought it wasn't enough. One man talked about how he was paying support in both NY and VA. He talked about how neither state would take into consideration the order in the other state. This blew my mind!

My mother was even present and shared her views on the subject which opened my eyes even more. I see story lines in the strangest of things so I thought, what if was the other way around? What if the man had his kids and was still paying child support? So I wrote the poem On The Flip Side and was surprised at the response it got from men that were going through this very thing. Then a friend of mine and I were talking after she saw me perform the poem and was telling me about a friend of hers going through this only his child's mother left the kids at the hospital after birth! I immediately thought oh this needs to be a book! I then took the poem and turned it into this book.

Ella: What issues in society have you addressed in the book?
Nikkea: Child support is the obvious issue addressed in the book but there are several subliminal messages. I love dealing with subliminal messages and try my best to place a few in every novel I write. One issue is accountability. Society is really hard on women in regards to promiscuity but men don't always get the same scrutiny. I want to show young men that they have to be responsible for their actions as well. That one night of passion could mean kids with a woman you don't know or worse, a death sentance of H.I.V. Another issue that is addressed is karma. We really need to understand that what we throw out into the universe will come back to us pressed down, shaken together and running over.

Ella: What was your primary quest in publishing this book?
Nikkea: I love to break down barriers and talk about things that no one is talking about. At least not in this sense. I wanted the roles to be reversed and stretch my imagination. Especially with Danica's character, I had to dig deep for her because she is so far from me and what I would naturally do. I wanted this book to be true to the characters and show them for who they are regardless of the outcome. I love being able to uplift my brothers and say kudos to those doing the right things. Through Tavares I get to connect with readers and share with them the story of a good man.

Ella: Thousands of books are published each year. What sets your book apart from other books in your genre?
Nikkea: It's all about the message. My work is educational but entertaining. I want to enlighten people. I want them to finish one of my books thinking about the subject matter and want to take action. How can we change things if we don't start by talking about them? I actively strive to write away from whats popular and get to the bottom of social issues that need to be addressed.

Ella: What do you like to do when you're not writing?
Nikkea: When I'm not writing I love to read! I'm the biggest book worm. My husband and I joke that our house looks like the Library of Congress. I don't discriminate. I have poetry from Langston Hughes to Nikki Giovanni. I have nonfiction from George Jackson to Steve Harvey. I have fiction from John Gresham to E. Lynn Harris. With me being a self published author I am also a huge supporter of self published authors because I understand their grind. I also enjoy culture. I love museums, art viewings, jazz clubs, and poetry readings. I love the movies too!

Ella: What does your family think of your writing?
Nikkea: My family is very supportive. My husband has a prized collection of all of my books in his 'man room' that he shows off to all his friends. He gets the first copy in every edition of all of my works. When he sees something has discouraged me he tells me to shake it off and keep doing what I do. My mother buys my books in bulk like she doesn't know me! They are my two biggest supporters. I appreciate being surrounded by positivity and they keep me inspired to keep on writing.

Ella: What is the best piece of advice you would give to an aspiring author?
Nikkea: Do your research, stay positive and value the message over all else.

Ella: Share with us your latest news, awards or upcoming book releases. Nikkea: I was excited to find out that two of my books (Keith's Story and Attitudes of a Woman) were awarded with the Literary Hallmark & Legends Top Books 2009 award by Black Pearls Magazine. That honor was one of the highlights of my year!

Within the next year I have three more books that will be released. I also look forward to touring and performing. I want to dedicate my time in the new year connecting with my readers. Book clubs who select my book as their book of the month can reach out to me so that I can make plans to either be present or available for a teleconfrence.

Email: info@nikkeasmithers.com Website: http://www.nikkeasmithers.com/

Purchase the book at: Amazon Online

Purchase the book at: Barnes & Noble Online

Book Intro: A Woman Scorned by Ericka Williams

Meet our featured author Ericka Williams

Ericka Williams is a determined business woman and author. She never takes no for an answer. When she sets her mind on a goal, she doesn't stop until it is reached. She is a graduate of Teaneck High School, in Teaneck New Jersey. She attended Howard University and graduated from Rutgers University. She is currently a teacher. Ericka has always had a yearning for knowledge, expression, and creativity. She is the author of three books the Essence Magazine bestseller “All That Glitters”, and the sequel “Shining Star”, as well as the forthcoming release A Woman Scorned.

Ella: Ericka, introduce us to your book, A Woman Scorned.
Ericka: A Woman Scorned is about pain. It is about death. It is about love and revenge. When someone you love hurts you, your pain often times turns to anger and feelings of betrayal. That rage can turn into violence. Crimes of passion are real and have happened since the beginning of time. A Woman Scorned shows what happens when a woman's broken heart turns her into a predator. It makes her hate instead of love.

I feel most readers will relate to this book, A Woman Scorned, because it’s about redemption and consequences. It points out how we can not use excuses for our wrongdoings nor dodge retribution. We all have irrationally thoughts from time to time, but we can turn ourselves around. It brings attention to the fact that self-love is necessary and essential to our sanity. It also brings home the truth—you must pay for your actions one way or another. The primary thing I hope all readers will take away from reading A Woman Scorned is that loving YOU, even when no one else does, is crucial in living the best life.

Q: Tell us a little about your main characters. Who was your favorite? Why?
Ericka: Brielle was the main character. She was my favorite because she wanted to be a better person. She had aspirations for her life. She didn’t relish in being destructive the way her cousin Janay did.

Brielle had been molested, abused, and mistreated from a child. She yearns for the love she never felt from anyone. She never found love in the right places, until Dante rescued her and married her. She thought she was safe in his love, until two miscarriages and one affair too many, made her snap. The faith that she puts into her husband, is the very faith she should have found in herself. When he disappoints her, she wants nothing but to see him in pain.

Brielle not only exacts revenge on her husband for his grimy living, but she gets to “do it for the Ladies” as well, by making a few more men accountable for their actions. Until she meets Darren and Shawn; both men are falling for her. Brielle cannot see beyond her past to give them an honest chance at loving her sincerely. One prevails as the victor, while the other is another victim of A Woman Scorned.

While Brielle is unleashing her “fury” on men, there are two women, her cousin Janay, and her husband’s pregnant lover, who may be the ones to bring her down and stop her reign of terror on the opposite sex.
(ISBN-10: 1934230715 or ISBN-13:9781934239718)

Q: Are your characters from the portrayal of real people?
Ericka: Yes, real people who react to life’s drama in a negative way. We have all made bad choices in responding to wrongs we feel have been inflicted upon us. This book takes a poignant look at the repercussions of letting one’s rage get out of control.

Q: What issues in today's society have you addressed in the book?
Ericka: Infidelity, Domestic Violence, Molestation, Murder, and Revenge.

Q. What impact will this book have on the community?
Ericka: It deals with an emotion that many understand, revenge, giving the community a glimpse inside the mind and heart of a damaged individual; showing how revenge is not profitable.

I want people who read this book to accept that they are not a product of their circumstances and that anyone can change. Also, that your past does not have to dictate your future.

Q: What was the most powerful chapter or scene in the book for you?
Ericka: One powerful scene is a scene where Brielle meets with her father on his death bed after five years of no contact with him.

Q: Share with us your latest news, awards or upcoming book releases.
Ericka: My next book will be The Clique in 2010.

Q: Ericka, how many readers contact you online?
Ericka: At my email address: erickawilliamsinfo@yahoo.com  or by visiting my website at: http://www.erickaw.com/

A Woman Scorned by Ericka Williams
ISBN-10: 1934230715
Visit http://www.lifechangingbooks.net/  to pre-order today!

Pick up a copy at Amazon Online here.
http://www.amazon.com/Woman-Scorned-Ericka-Williams/dp/1934230715

Even Sinners Have Souls Too

Even Sinners Have Souls Too
Introduction by National Best selling author, K'Wan, with four stories by Darrell King and Essence Magazine bestselling authors, Michel Moore, Tysha and Victor L. Martin.





Meet author and editor E.N. Joy
E.N. Joy is the author of Me, Myself and Him, which was her debut work into the Christian Fiction genre. Formerly a secular author writing under the names Joylynn M. Jossel and JOY, this author has fully dedicated her writing to Christ. She is currently working on the “New Day Divas” series as well as completing the “Sinners Series” project.



Intimate Conversation with Ella Curry of EDC Creations


Ella: Introduce us to the book, Even Sinners Have Souls TOO.
E.N. Joy: Even Sinners Have Souls TOO is book two from the “Sinners Series”. As editor and publisher of this project, it was my goal to share with the reading audience well written and compelling stories by some of the industry’s most respected and authority authors in the Urban Lit genre.



Ella: Why was it important to produce this work today?
E.N. Joy: Books and authors of books that are categorized as urban, erotic, street, ghetto, gangster, Hip-Hop fiction, or whatever else they are being labeled, are taking hard hits in the industry, especially by these so-called “literary writers”. Why is it that whenever black people bring the life they live front and center and turn it into art, society goes crazy? Are we that afraid and offended of the ghetto and the projects to the point where we ridicule those who talk about it? Is growing up in the hood that taboo?

E.N. Joy: Despite popular belief, everything that comes from the ghetto isn’t all bad. There are some good products of the ghetto. It produces great individuals, some even authors. But because of the type of genre that these authors choose to pen, they are stigmatized and rumored unable to create literature without glorifying a trigger happy, drug dealing thug, or a burgundy micro braid wearing, gum poppin’, promiscuous gold digger, or a television stealing crack head (in addition to at least two curse words per paragraph).



Ella: Will this book change how Urban Lit is protrayed as a industry?
E.N. Joy: There is a huge misconception that authors who write Urban Lit, referred to as Street Lit by many, can’t pen a decent story that doesn’t include foul language and explicit sex scenes. These authors are even often accused of glorifying street life. The “Sinners Series” forces critics and skeptics alike to take a different stand when they read the storylines contained in the “Sinners Series.”




Ella: What are some unique aspects of the Sinners Series?
E.N. Joy: Even Sinners Have Souls Too offers more of Urban Lit's finest take a walk on the other side in book two, Even Sinners Have Souls Too, of the three book Sinners Series. Darrell King and Essence Best-Selling authors, Victor L. Martin, Tysha and Michel Moore bring you four smashing tales, but not before National Best-Selling author, K'Wan, hits you with the powerful introduction, "Oh Sinner Man."

E.N. Joy: The authors bring to life the same raw and gritty characters found in some of their other works. There are the dope boys, the hood rats, the promiscuity, homosexuality, the gang bangers, abuse, drugs, alcohol, etc...; all the things that exist in real life on the streets. But what makes these tales so phenomenal and unique is that in the midst of it all, just like in real life on the streets, there is also, God, prayer, and sometimes a praying grandmother. What pleased me the most about each and every story is that they never, for one moment, lost their authenticity. The authors still walked away from this project with their street credit, so to speak.




Ella: What impact with the Sinners Series have on the community?
E.N. Joy: The “Sinners Series” is going to shatter the myth about urban and street literature and its authors once and for all. This project is not so that authors have to defend their work, or even compromise it.

The purpose is to show that they are multi-talented with a natural gift to pen what flows through their spirit and not just what’s selling, and at the same time to add a creative twist on their already original writing styles. In doing so, we pray that readers will be touched and moved by every single character; every single story…that they won’t be the same person as they were before reading these works.

Website: http://www.enjoywrites.com/

ISBN-10: 0970672659 | ISBN-13: 978-0970672650

Pick up a copy at Amazon




Please join in the discussion by leaving comments or congrats below.
Black Authors Culture Center-- Twitter with Ella

Color Me Jazzmyne by Marian L. Thomas

Author Interview: Color Me Jazzmyne by Marian L. Thomas

I would like to introduce you to a fantastic new book, Color Me Jazzmyne. Readers of Color Me Jazzmyne have been captivated by the depth of the emotional journey that the book takes them on. It digs deep into what it takes for women to embrace who they are no matter what size, color, educational background or social status. Sisters will learn to love themselves despite what society says or the voices that surround them!

Marian L. Thomas is native of Chicago but currently resides in Atlanta.She first awakened her desire to write while in her second year of high school. She majored in Journalism but received her Bachelor of Art degree in Business Communication, graduating Magna Cum Laude. 2009 the dream of becoming a published author was realized when she was able to debut her first title Color Me Jazzmyne. She is a wife and supporter of victims of abuse and was recently featured in the Atlanta Skirt! Magazine as one of Atlanta's 9to5 Women in the Media Industry.


Motivation Behind Color Me Jazzmyne
Color Me Jazzmyne addresses a major issue in our society today..."Rape is often the "hush" word in our lives. It's the thing that we prefer to put into the closet of other skeltons that we pray no one has the key to.

Child abuse often occurs at a young age and more than often it is done by someone that is very close---a family member or friend of the family. It's a difficult thing to get over, it's even more difficult to explain.

According to one statistic.... one out of every six women will be raped over their lifetime and 73% of all rape victims know their assailants. In fact, studies have shown that 60% of all sexual assaults are not reported. I hope that women who read this book and have gone through something similar will find the courage to reach out and talk to someone about it."


Color Me Jazzmyne Book Excerpt
Read Chapters 1-3 and give us your opinion.
http://www.freado.com/book/4169/Color-Me-Jazzmyne



Intimate Conversation with author Marian L. Thomas

What impact do you want your book, Color Me Jazzmyne, to make on readers?
Marian: "I hope that women who read this book and have lived the life of Naya Mona in some form or fashion will find the voice, strength and motivation to push past the pain and live."


Why do you write? Is is healing or to create awareness in our community?
Marian:  Both! For me, writing is more of a release from the reflection of the world around us. It is a way to express the obvious using tones that soothe,excite, uplift and allow the reader to step out of their comfort level. That is my goal when writing. That is what drives me to create characters such as Naya Mona.


Are your characters, in Color Me Jazzmyne, a portrayal of real people?
Marian: Reality is always a part of us and as such what we read must adhere to some form of it in order to make it so that one can relate to the story that is being told. Naya is clearly a reflection of the many women that I have met over the years and the struggles that they have gone through. I do not remove myself from that reflection. Misty represents all the so-called friends that revolve in and out of our lives and Chris is what I term the 'life-time' type of husband. He represents the compassion and love that we as women need, want and deserve.

Contact Marian Online
Email: larrita@lbpublishingco.com
Website: http://www.marianlthomas.com/
Author's Blog: http://findingmycolorwithmlt.blogspot.com/

Pickup Your Copy Today!
ISBN-10: 0615270670; ISBN-13: 978-0615270678

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The Legend of Quito Road by Dwight Fryer

The Legend of Quito Road by Dwight Fryer

The Future seems to hold limited possibilities for Son Erby. The African-American child of a farm laborer in 1930’s Tennessee, his fate seems as certain as the sunset at day’s end. But when his father takes him to work at the Coleman farm and hands down the secret to making corn liquor, everything changes.

Moving from shadowed parlors of the wealthy Sawyer clan to the illegal activities in the woods along the Mississippi River, this perspective novel explores the roots of racism, and the dangerous power of secrets that will shatter every taboo in a sleepy town caught between the past and future. The Legend of Quito Road is a look at a bygone time, the sobering echoes of which can still be heard today.


Chapter 7—A SECRET SCIENCE

In the scene below from The Legend of Quito Road, Papa Gill Erby, a religious man, teaches his only boy how to make illegal whiskey and keep secrets. Are there really many spiritual or physical differences in making crack cocaine or crystal meth today and white lightning yesterday?


“Now, Son, this is serious business, awful serious for a boy. Remember when we talked about the Ghost of Quito Road yesterday?”

“Yessuh, he was a runaway slave.”

“Son, I said that and plenty folks ‘round here know it. But they don’t talk it in public. I waited five years after we married befo’ I spoke with Sarah on this. Now, I’m telling you that the Ghost wasn’t just any man. He was my daddy, Gillam Hale.”

“Gillam Hale…” The boy paused while he processed it. “Papa, why’s your daddy’s name different than ours?”

“Well, I’ll tell you that long story after we get things set up. But, for now, I need to get a few things straight. Understand?”

“Yessuh, I do.”

“Son, remember, you promised. You know Sarah gone ask, but don’t you tell yo’ momma one thing. You hear me?”

“Yessuh.”

“This week, we doing the same thing that made Gillam Hale a valuable slave to the white folks.” Papa Gill looked around as if someone else was there. One of the mules snorted. He whispered, “Me and you gone make whiskey this week on the Coleman place.”

“Whiskey?” the youth said, twisting his face.

“Yeah, that’s what we gonna do. We’ll fill every five-gallon jug in the back of this wagon with white-lightning whiskey.”

“Papa, we got twenty-five jugs! What’s Mr. Rafe and Mr. Conrad gone do with all that whiskey?”

“Sell it!” Papa Gill spat out. “They’ll probably get as much as six dollars a gallon off the whiskey we fixin’ to make.”

Papa Gill placed his left hand inside his overalls and a strained silence surrounded them from the naked roadside underbrush. Only the noises of the mule team’s hooves and the slicing sound from the steel-lined wagon wheels echoed along sandy Quito Road.

Son’s breath trails thickened in the winter air as he did the math in his head and pondered the economic possibilities.

On that farm, Mr. Conrad and Mr. Rafe Coleman raised cotton, sorghum and corn—corn so sweet that Son liked to eat it straight off the cob in the field during the summer months. You could use corn for feed or you could grind it into meal. But during this third week of December in 1932, thirteen-year-old Son Erby learned you could use corn for something else.

That week, Papa Gill taught his son to make white lightning like Gillam Hale had showed him. Making illegal corn liquor changed everything for that colored boy. Son was never the same. He learned a secret science and he learned it well.

Pick up a copy today at Amazon
ISBN-10: 1583147063 | ISBN-13: 978-1583147061
http://www.amazon.com/Legend-Quito-Road-Sepia/dp/1583147063


Meet author Dwight Fryer
Fryer shares from his twenty-five years of business experience in leadership, technology, finance, accounting, marketing and publishing. He has written two critically acclaimed novels. The Legend of Quito Road and The Knees of Gullah Island. Dwight speaks about life, healthcare, business, leadership, history, literature, community and storytelling. The University of Memphis teaches The Legend of Quito Road in its Masters of Fine Arts Program in the English Department.

Dwight Fryer has inspired audiences at universities, corporations, schools, faith communities and nonprofit organizations. His passion is to help people do all they can to succeed and use his experiences to inspire others.

Fryer was diagnosed with cancer two days after a 1998 layoff. In 2001, the disease meningococcal meningitis took his youngest daughter’s life. He works as an advocate for immunization against bacterial meningitis with the National Meningitis Association. He survived a wreck caused by a driver under the influence. Contact him today for details on how he can share at your next event via email at author@dwightfryer.com

Buying Time by Pamela Samuels Young

Buying Time by Pamela Samuels Young
Genre: Legal Thriller; Mystery; Suspense

Angela Evans should be on top of the world. She’s a smart, attractive prosecutor who’s about to marry a successful judge. But the closer Angela gets to saying “I do,” the more she wants out. Then she meets Dre, a street-smart brother who’s nothing like her stuffy fiancé Cornell. Angela eventually calls off the wedding, but Cornell can’t accept the rejection. He turns violent in a way Angela never could have imagined. Dre comes to her rescue, but Angela soon learns that he’s hiding a shady past, and her world falls apart all over again.

Below is an excerpt from Chapter 48. Read the excerpt and leave your comments below, along with a valid email address. A random drawing will be held on November 27, 2009. Five people will win signed copies of Buying Time. The winners will be announced at the Black Pearls Magazine Blog: http://edcmagazine.blogspot.com/

Chapter 48

Angela eyed the clock on the dashboard of her Saab. She was meeting Dre for drinks at The Dynasty Restaurant & Lounge in Inglewood and she was fifteen minutes late. She had to circle the block three times before finally spotting an open parking meter around the corner on Hillcrest.

When she stepped inside the club, she spotted Dre sitting at a table overlooking a small dance floor. He leaned over the railing and waved.
“You lookin’ mighty fly,” Dre said, checking out her legs when she reached his table.
“Sorry, I’m late,” Angela apologized.
“Calm down, baby. You ain’t late. Why you stressin’?” He stood up, kissed her on the lips, then pulled out the chair next to him.

Angela immediately relaxed. Cornell would’ve been lecturing her about the importance of time management by now. Dre just seemed happy to see her.
“What do you want to drink?” he asked.
“Apple martini.”
“They make a bomb caramel apple martini here. Wanna try it?”
“Sure.” Angela gazed around the club. “This is where you hang out, huh?”
“Yep. The music is slammin’ and the fried chicken is better than my Mama’s. But don’t tell her.”

Angela laughed and took the paper napkin underneath Dre’s wineglass to wipe the lipstick mark she had left on his lips. A worried expression suddenly distorted Dre’s face.
“Shit!” he said under his breath.
Angela looked over her shoulder in the direction of Dre’s gaze, but couldn’t see what or who he was staring at. “What’s the matter?”
“Nothin’. Just somebody I really don’t wanna see.”

She could feel Dre’s body grow taut and wondered what was going on. Before she could ask again, Angela saw what had attracted his attention. A shapely, dark-skinned woman of medium height was prancing toward their table. The look on Dre’s face had now changed from frustration to embarrassment.

The woman boldly pulled out a chair and took a seat across from them. “Hey, Dre, how you doin’?”
“Nobody invited you to sit down,” Dre said.
“Don’t worry,” the woman said, “I ain’t stayin’. I just came over to say hello.”

She had a long, reddish-brown weave streaked with blonde. Her bangs were angled across her face, shielding her left eye. The woman’s hoop earrings were the size of lunch meat and her sheer lace top left nothing to the imagination. A red, spandex skirt barely covered her gargantuan ass.

“Aren’t you going to introduce me?” The woman looked Angela up and down.

Dre pursed his lips. “It’s a weeknight. Why aren’t you home with Little Dre?”
The woman put a hand on her hip and tossed a handful of her fake hair over her shoulder. “Oh, so you can hang out during the week, but I can’t?”
“I asked you who’s takin’ care of my son?” Dre demanded.
“He’s at my sister’s, okay?” She gave Angela another appraising look. “Stop being rude and introduce me to your little friend.”
“Angela, this is Shawntay. My son’s mother. Good-bye, Shawntay.”
“If I hadn’t seen y’all lockin’ lips a second ago, I woulda thought you were his lawyer or something. Is that how y’all hooked up?”

Dre shot up. “I need to talk to you outside.”
Shawntay ignored him and directed the conversation to Angela.
“If y’all gon’ be an item, you’ll probably be hangin’ out with my son. So we need to get to know each other.”
“Oh, hell naw.” Dre gripped Shawntay’s upper arm. “C’mon. We need to step outside and talk.”
“Why we can’t talk in front of your little friend?”
“Don’t make me cause a scene up in here,” Dre threatened.
With Dre’s help, Shawntay grudgingly rose from the chair.

“Do Ms. Prim and Proper know what you do?” Shawntay asked, as Dre dragged her away.

Angela watched them weave their way through the packed club and out of the door. She pretended not to notice the curious gazes from other people in the club who had watched Dre leave with Shawntay. It was another ten minutes before they returned and headed in opposite directions.

“Sorry about that,” Dre said, sitting down again. His face still had a stern expression. “Now where were we?” He tried to take Angela’s hand, but she locked her arms across her chest.
“What was that all about?” she asked.
“Nothin’. Absolutely nothin’.”
“Excuse me? I think you owe me more of an explanation than that.”

Dre exhaled. “Hey, I’m sorry. I just got a little baby mama drama going on.” He leaned over and kissed her, but Angela did not reciprocate. “She’s just tryin’ to cause me problems, which she’s pretty damn good at. I swear she’s psycho.”

“She’s the mother of your son. She must not be too psycho.”
“Shawntay was never my woman, okay? You have nothin' to be jealous about.”
“Who said I was jealous? I’m not even sure I can compete. I see you like your women a little rough around the edges.”

Dre appeared genuinely embarrassed. “Let’s just call it a lapse in judgment on my part. She was just something to do.”
“What did you do? Take her outside and scold her?”
“Basically. I kick her down with way more child support than she needs to take care of my son and I’ve also agreed to pay her rent until Dre either graduates from high school or comes to live with me. She knows I ain’t about to stand for no ghetto girl crap.”

A pout remained etched into Angela’s face.
“C’mon, babe, forget about her.” He kissed her on the neck.
Angela still wasn’t satisfied. “What did she mean when she asked if I know what you do?” Angela mimicked Shawntay’s voice.
Dre stiffened. “Uh, let’s just say I wasn’t always the goody two-shoes that I am today.”

“Oh, so you used to be a bad boy?” she asked, finally in a playful mood again.
“You might say that.” He kissed her again and this time, she kissed him back.

Just when Angela was beginning to relax, she followed Dre’s gaze across the room. Shawntay was sitting at the bar shooting him a nasty look.

“Shawntay doesn’t look too happy. Are you sure you two are really done?” “Hell yeah. Ignore her ass. She’s crazy.” “That’s fine,” Angela said, turning back to him. “As long as she doesn’t get crazy with me.”

###

Check out Buying Time by Pamela Samuels Young Today!
ISBN-10: 098156271X | ISBN-13: 978-0981562711

Pick up a Copy Today at Amazon
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Pamela Samuels Young is the Essence bestselling author of Murder on the Down Low, In Firm Pursuit, Every Reasonable Doubt and the newly released Buying Time. The former journalist and Compton native is the fiction writing expert for BizyMoms.com and is on the Board of Directors of the Southern California Chapter of Mystery Writers of America.Pamela served as legal consultant to the Showtime television series Soul Food. She is a frequent speaker on the topics of writing and self-empowerment. View her books here: http://www.pamelasamuels-young.com/

Bookclubs, select one of Pamela’s novels for your book club meeting and she will join you in person, via webcam or via speaker phone. Read more book excerpts here: http://www.pamelasamuels-young.com/books/index.html
To schedule a visit with Pamela, email her at author@pamelasamuelsyoung.com

Author Website: http://www.pamelasamuels-young.com/
Author Email address: author@pamelasamuelsyoung.com

Genre: Legal Thriller; Mystery; Suspense