No Perfect Affair:
Renaissance Collection
Charmaine Galloway
www.urbanbooks.net
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Also by Charmaine Galloway
Acknowledgments
1 - Sasha
2 - Melody
3 - Asia
4 - Melody
5 - Sasha
6 - Asia
7 - Sasha
8 - Melody
9 - Asia
10 - Sasha
11 - Melody
12 - Sasha
13 - Asia
14 - Melody
15 - Sasha
16 - Asia
17 - Melody
18 - Sasha
19 - Melody
20 - Sasha
21 - Melody
22 - Asia
23 - Melody
24 - Sasha
25 - Melody
26 - Sasha
Part 2
27 - Asia
28 - Sasha
29 - Melody
30 - Asia
31 - Sasha
32 - Melody
33 - Asia
34 - Sasha
35 - Melody
36 - Asia
37 - Sasha
38 - Melody
39 - Asia
40 - Sasha
41 - Melody
42 - Asia
43 - Sasha
44 - Melody
45 - Asia
46 - Melody
47 - Sasha
48 - Asia
49 - Melody
About the Author
Urban Books, LLC
300 Farmingdale Road, NY-Route 109
Farmingdale, NY 11735
No Perfect Affair: Renaissance Collection
Copyright © 2017 Charmaine Galloway
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior consent of the Publisher, except brief quotes used in reviews.
ISBN-13: 978-1-6228-6612-0
ISBN-10: 1-62286-612-6
eISBN-13: 978-1-6228-6613-7
eISBN-10: 1-62286-613-4
This is a work of fiction. Any references or similarities to actual events, real people, living or dead, or to real locales are intended to give the novel a sense of reality. Any similarity in other names, characters, places, and incidents is entirely coincidental.
Distributed by Kensington Publishing Corp.
Submit orders to:
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Also by Charmaine Galloway
Girlfriends Secrets
The Secrets They Kept
Tyree’s Love Triangle
Golden
Heaven’s Cry
(short story)
Jordan’s Confessions
(short story)
My World, Through My Eyes
(poetry)
And Check Out Charmaine’s Young Adult and Children’s Books
Girl Talk
Finding The Princess Within
I Love Myself As I Am
Mommy’s Little Superhero
Acknowledgments
First and foremost, all praises go to God. Through you, I’m blessed, I have peace, and I’m whole. Your love, grace, and mercy have kept me. I would’ve lost my mind a long time ago if I didn’t believe in your Word. Thank you for blessing me with a talent to write stories that will, hopefully, inspire and entertain others. Lord, you are my everything.
I would like to thank my children, Shayla and Shayne, for adding so much joy and fulfillment to my life. They are the reason I follow my goals, goals I’ve set because I want them to know that it’s okay to reach for the stars and to accomplish whatever their heart desires.
I would like to thank Racquel Williams, my publisher, for allowing me to be on her team and for believing in me and the work that I put out. We have been friends since the beginning of our writing careers, and I’m so proud to be on her team. Shout out to all of my sistas and brothas on my team; we are family, and we rock together. Let’s get it!
I would like to thank all the family and friends that have supported me on my journey toward accomplishing my goals. I love you all.
I would like to thank my editor, Milan, who has been here from day one. I am blessed to have her in my corner, giving me her honest criticism. I know whatever you tell me is only to make me a stronger writer. I would also like to thank, Lisa Muhammad, for her assistance with her honest criticism and proofreading my work.
Thanks to all the authors and to all the people that have supported me on social media by sharing my post and listening to my blog talk radio interviews. Thanks to the newspaper editors, online magazines, online blogs, blog talk radio, and online Web sites that interviewed me and promoted my work. Thanks to the book clubs that have chosen my work for their reading selection.
I would like to thank all of the amazing readers for giving my books a chance. I appreciate you all from the bottom of my heart. I love hearing your thoughts after you have read my books. I greatly appreciate the feedback. When I read my reviews, I am so glad that you enjoy the stories that I pen. You all inspire me to keep writing.
Many blessings,
Charmaine Galloway
1
Sasha
I love my husband, but he was driving me straight to the crazy house. All he wanted was to get me pregnant. But I didn’t want no kids, and if he found out that I was on birth control, he probably would have killed me.
I could smell bacon frying and knew my husband was trying to pamper me by cooking me breakfast, but I wasn’t feelin’ it. I was lying comfortably on my black silk sheets, not wanting to get up because my head was throbbing from the Cîroc I drank the night before. I knew I shouldn’t have gone out with Melody and Asia. Every time I went out with them, I always drank too much and paid for it the morning after. But this time, as soon as I got home last night, my husband and I got into it.
“Babe, what I tell you about coming home drunk? We trying to have a baby. You need to let loose on the alcohol. If you can’t handle your liquor, then I’m not going to allow you to go out with yo’ irresponsible cousins,” he snapped at me as if I were his teenage daughter.
“Wait a damn minute! What do you mean you not going to allow me to go out? You need to dismiss yo’ self with that bull. I may have had a few drinks, but I ain’t drunk. You are not my daddy, and you are not going to sit there and tell me where I can and can’t go,” I spat as I took off my heels. I could feel the heat coming through my pores.
“Babe, I didn’t mean it like that. I just want to make sure you stay healthy, you know . . . so we can have a baby,” he said with compassion.
“You need to stop stressing me out. I’m not able to have any more kids!” I shouted as I walked away from him.
I had tried to convince him that after my miscarriage, my body wasn’t strong enough to produce another baby. I really wanted to tell him that there would be no baby. But it didn’t matter how many times or the different ways I told him; he wouldn’t listen to me.
“Sasha, don’t say that. I can feel it. We have been trying hard, and I know you will be pregnant pretty soon. And I can’t wait to be a father.” He grinned and took me in his arms. Then he continued, “Let’s make love right now.”
As horny as I was, I didn’t want to make love to my husband. He turned me off because he concentrated so hard on making a baby that he didn’t pay enough attention to me. He didn’t make me
feel that passion that I needed to feel while making love to him. There was no connection or affection. All he did was gently slide his shaft inside of me because he thought I would break, pump a few times, explode in me, smile, and then roll over and pray that when we woke up I would be pregnant. He had a stash of pregnancy tests in the nightstand, and he would beg me to pee on the stick the day after he had his five minutes of fame.
* * *
It was not always like that. We had been married for two years, and I used to make passionate love to my husband. He definitely knew how to work my middle, and he knew how to keep my juices flowing. But after I had that miscarriage last year, he was devastated, and he hadn’t been the same since.
The only thing on his mind was having a baby and making sure that I kept my body healthy so I could get pregnant and carry the baby full term. I took the miscarriage as a sign that maybe it just wasn’t time for me to have a baby. If left up to me, we didn’t need any. We had enough running around my family. If I wanted to goo-goo and gaa-gaa with a baby, I could pick up one of Asia’s kids. And the best thing about that was that I could drop their behinds right back to their mammie.
Asia was my cousin, and the girl had more kids than I could remember. She had three, or maybe she had four. Hell, I don’t remember; I lost count. And they all looked different. They were all different races and had different daddies. That girl should’ve been ashamed of herself. And she treated her kids so wrong.
She did take good care of them. She gave them what they needed to survive, but she was so mean to them. She would call them out of their names and holler at them all day. Well, she was nice to her daughter, Angel, because she was her favorite, and she let everyone know that.
Asia, at times, couldn’t stand me. I didn’t know why because I ain’t never done nothing to her. I think she’s jealous because I had a husband, and I didn’t have any kids to stress me out. And she had a bunch of kids and couldn’t pull a good man, let alone a husband, if her life depended on it.
My other cousin, Melody, all I could do was shake my head when it came to her. She was driving herself crazy because she was in love with a man that apparently didn’t love her. She was in such denial of being his side chick. Yes, I hooked her up with Rodney a few years back. I thought they could have fun together, but she done went and fell in love with him.
I told her many times not to get all up in her feelings with every man she met, but, naw, she had to get all emotional and attached to the “D” that she didn’t know what to do with herself. But I rooted for them. I hoped Rodney would get his stuff together.
“Bebe, your breakfast is served,” my husband, Jonathan, said, pulling me from my thoughts. He walked into our spacious bedroom with one of my good bath towels wrapped around his waist and a tray with pancakes, eggs, bacon, and a red rose on it.
Oh, Lawd! He was trying to be romantic so he could pump his wannabe-baby-making-sperm in me after he fed me breakfast. “Thanks, Jay.” I plastered on a smile.
“Anything for you, beautiful.” He smiled and kissed me on my cheek. “Did you get a chance to take the test this morning? Last night was great. I think I might have hit a home run,” he said, rubbing his hands together.
Sometimes my husband could be so corny, and I wanted to slap him upside his head when he said the dumbest things. “Yes, I did. It was negative,” I lied about taking the test. I knew it was going to be negative.
“Well, soon as you are done eating, we can try again.” He stood and let his towel drop to the floor. Then he put his hands on his hips like he was Spider-Man or Superman—one of those damn superheroes, and said, “Daddy is ready.”
Well, I’m not.
I almost choked on my food as I glared at his limp penis. He just didn’t know, but there wouldn’t be no damn baby coming out of me. And I was tired of his boring sex.
2
Melody
“Mel, I love spending time with you, but I look at you as only a friend and not as my woman.”
“What! What are you trying to tell me?” I stammered over my words as I swallowed the dry lump in my throat.
“Babe, I really enjoy spending time with you, but I want to make sure we are on the same page.” Rodney had a serious expression on his face as he looked into my eyes. We were seated at my glass kitchen table. He had just finished cooking us breakfast after a long night of passionate lovemaking.
“What’s up, baby?” I put a piece of turkey bacon in my month. I was curious about what he was going to tell me.
“You my boo,” he said, not really answering my questions.
“I know I’m your boo; we’ve been together for two years,” I reminded him.
“We have been friends for two years, not together” he replied, looking down at his plate. He knew he was wrong; he couldn’t even look me in my eyes.
I gave him a scorching look. “You have to be kidding me. All the time we’ve shared together, and all the sex we done had, and now you telling me that I was nothing but your sex partner?” My words were sharp.
“I enjoyed the time we spent together, but I’m not ready to be the man you need. Give me some time so I can work on myself. You deserve the best,” he placed his hand on top of mine.
I snatched my hand away because I didn’t want him to dare touch me. “You should have told me that before we had sex. You should have told me that before I introduced you to my family. I brought you around my daughter like we were a happy family.” It felt as if I was going to pass out. I stopped to catch my breath and then continued. “And all this time I meant nothing to you. I didn’t mean enough to you to be your woman,” I spat. My heart hammered in my chest. I wanted to get up and wrap my two hands around his neck and strangle him to death.
“Mel, I love you,” he pleaded.
A single tear fell from my eye. “Dismiss yourself with that bull!” I shot daggers at him. “How could you hurt me like this? Wait a minute, is there someone else? Is that why you’re saying this now? You want to see someone else?” Sweat trickled down my face, I was heated with anger. “No, don’t answer that ’cause most of the time that’s what it means when a man comes out and says we are ‘just friends.’” My vein throbbed at my temple. I stood up from of my chair and got right in his face. “Get out of my house before I do something I regret!”
* * *
That was two years ago, and there wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t think of Rodney. He hurt me deep down in my soul. I wondered why he didn’t want me to carry the title of being his woman. He was the man I wanted to marry. I wasn’t going to be his side chick. But he had never told me there was another chick. Maybe he did just want to get himself together to be the man I needed. But to me, he was perfect the way he was.
“Melody,” Sasha yelled my name from across the club, snapping me from my thoughts.
“Hey, boo,” I sang to her when she walked over to me. I was sipping on a strawberry margarita on the rocks and, honey, I was feeling myself. I knew I was looking cute wearing a black, form-fitting dress that hugged all of my curves just right. I showed just enough cleavage to keep it sexy and classy. I didn’t waste my money on all those high-priced designer clothes. I got my dress from Dots, my favorite place to shop for women’s accessories, clothing, and shoes. I knew I was looking hot.
“Hey, Mel, you lookin’ cute. I know who you must be looking for wearing that dress. That’s right, girl, do yo’ thang. ’Cause when he sees you, he’s gonna want to tap that tonight. You haven’t been out in a while, and this is the way you’re supposed to look when you make a comeback.” Sasha smiled, and then put her hand up to give me a high five. She continued, “I’m surprised he ain’t all up in yo’ grill right now.” She turned her head and looked around to see if she could see Rodney.
“Who y’all looking for?” Asia asked when she walked in the club and gave me a one-armed hug.
“Girl, nobody important. What’s up?” I tried to change the subject from Rodney because when his name was spoken, m
y insides started to tingle. I took another sip from my straw as I eyed Asia down. She was wearing a tight, low cut, black shirt that showed all her belly rolls and some dark jeans with a pair of red, open toe stilettoes.
“What’s up is you need to get that bartender’s attention so I can order a drink,” Asia demanded. I got Asia’s Grey Goose with cranberry, and she sat in the middle of Sasha and me. We sipped on our drinks and bobbed our heads to the music that thumped loudly through the speakers. We all flirted with the fellas and allowed them to buy us more drinks, even Sasha with her married behind.
Asia, Sasha, and I were cousins, and we had been inseparable ever since our childhood years. We were around the same age, and we got along great. Don’t get me wrong, we got into it sometimes, and we didn’t agree on hardly anything, but we were family, and that’s what made our bond strong.
Asia was our cousin through marriage. My uncle Charles married Asia’s mom Rosa when we were kids. Asia’s mom would spoil Asia and my uncle when we were young. Whatever they wanted, Aunt Rosa would bend over backward for them. My uncle kept a job, but Aunt Rosa would still take care of him by giving him all the money that she earned. I think that rubbed off on Asia because when we became adults, she began to have issues with allowing men to use her for her money. She had developed low self-esteem dealing with the men in her life, so much so that she had three children, and they all had different daddies.
Sasha was my mother’s sister’s daughter. Like Asia, Sasha had her issues too. First of all, Sasha and Asia were always getting into it, and I had no clue why. Sasha was in a miserable marriage, and she wouldn’t tell her husband, Jonathan, that she had been unhappy ever since her miscarriage. Her husband wanted to have children, but she didn’t. I guess Asia’s three demon seeds scared her straight. Those were my li’l cousins, but those heathens were off the chain. It seemed as if Asia was a gremlin; every time she got close to water, she popped out another baby.
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