My Woman His Wife Saga (Urban Books)

by Anna J.

  Tanya broke down and Monica fled the scene, promising Tanya that she would get her the best lawyer money could buy. Before Monica could act, Tanya was appointed to the extremely sexy Jasmine Cinque. When Monica saw her it was love at first sight. She went through the motions of finding out who Jasmine was and if she was married. Getting info from her favorite judge down at the courthouse, she found out about James, later seducing him and talking him into the threesome with Jasmine. Now it was only a matter of time before she got Jazz, and hopefully without having to get rid of James permanently. Tanya quickly became a distant memory as Monica left her rotting in jail for a crime she didn’t commit and made Jasmine her replacement.

  Monica snapped out of her memories when she heard Sheila gasp. Sheila stared at the television with her mouth wide open in shock at the things the tape revealed. First, she saw James, Jasmine, and Monica at the hotel. Then there was Monica and James, including the two exchanging money. Then, there was Monica and Jasmine with the ice sculptures.

  Sheila almost fell off the bed when she saw Officer Hill on the tape in front of the fireplace. Monica didn’t know Officer Hill was married to Sheila’s oldest sister because their last names didn’t match.

  Sheila was feeling sick to her stomach as she watched Monica have her way with the obese mayor of Philadelphia. She almost lost her lunch when shortly thereafter a threesome, including the mayor’s wife, Monica, and the mayor’s daughter flashed across the screen.

  Just as the tears began to form in her eyes, Monica came over and clicked the stop button on the DVD player. Sheila didn’t know what to do as a steady stream of salty tears stained her cheeks and the front of her blouse. Monica seemed to be oblivious to Shelia, as she was dealing with her own pain and memories of Tanya. Breaking the monotony, she turned Sheila’s face around so she could look into her eyes as she talked. She wanted Sheila to understand the significance of the situation before they moved any farther.

  “Now, Sheila, I know that may have been a bit much to view at one time, but I need you to understand the caliber of what’s happening here. I’m in love with Jasmine and I need your help. I don’t want to blackmail James, but that may be the only way to get him out. Either that or kill him, and who wants to deal with that again?”

  “What do you want me to do?” Sheila said through her tears. Monica had her on tape, and she was sure she had more than one copy.

  “Not right now, but I’ll need your help down the line. I just need to know that you got me on this.”

  “I can’t do that to Jasmine. She helped me out in more ways than you can imagine. She’s been good to me.”

  “I can get you a job better than that. I know people in high places. You can start tomorrow,” Monica stated like that issue had no importance. She could just call one of the many judges she was sleeping with around Philly and have Sheila in a higher paying position the very next day.

  “Monica, please, just give me some time.”

  “I don’t have time!” Monica snapped, losing her cool for a second. She was not in the mood to negotiate with Sheila; she wasn’t asking her for help, she was telling her what she was going to do. “You will do it or else.”

  “Or else what?” Sheila asked, not really wanting to know the answer. Monica calmed down a little before answering because now was not the time to lose control of the situation.

  “Fuck with me and find out,” and with that said, she put the DVD back in its case and put it in the safe that she had built into the wall behind a painting of herself in a two-piece sheer thong set.

  Sheila didn’t know what to do about Monica or her pounding headache, so instead of arguing, she moved farther up on the bed so that she could rest her head on the pillow. She didn’t know what to do with the information she had just received, but she knew she had to do something. Before drifting off to sleep, she took one last look at Monica standing by the window. Monica seemed to be struggling with her own thoughts, and for the first time she looked vulnerable. Sheila could understand her pain, although she couldn’t understand why she had to drag so many lives into it.

  For a second she saw Monica as a child, which she thought was comical because she didn’t know her then. She saw Monica looking out the window dressed in a pink and white baby doll dress with her long, thick hair pulled up into two pigtails held together with pink and white flower-shaped barrettes. Holding a bunny rabbit tightly in her little arms, she seemed to be at a happier time in her life then. Sheila wondered if that was when her obsession with the color pink began.

  As she stared at her, Sheila saw the teenaged Monica, braces and all. Acne covered her face and this Monica looked sad like she had no friends to speak of and was teased because of her absence of curves like the rest of the girls her age had. This Monica looked like the last thing she wanted to be was alive, and her face was etched with pain and worry for reasons unknown to anyone but her.

  Then she turned into the evil, conniving adult Monica, and Sheila could have sworn she saw devil horns sticking up through Monica’s wrap hairstyle. Chalking it up as fatigue setting in, she closed her eyes in an effort to stop the little man from dancing on her temple. She hoped by morning she would figure out some way to stop this madness for good.

  “When did you and Monica start hanging out?” James asked curiously, trying to get the heat off him. He didn’t want Jasmine to even begin to think he was involved with Monica in any way, shape, or form. He was still scraping up the money from the last James and Monica private party to put back into their joint savings account they had for their twins. Keeping her quiet was expensive, and he often wondered why he kept going back.

  “We hang every once in a while,” Jasmine responded, choosing her words carefully.

  “Since when? You acted like you didn’t know who she was when we saw her at the courthouse that day.” James tried to turn his guilt into anger, not realizing that he was making a done situation worse for himself.

  “I didn’t recognize her then,” Jasmine replied with the beginnings of an attitude. “I ran into her again after that and we exchanged numbers. We only had lunch a couple of times and she picked me up from here twice. Is that a problem?”

  “Are you sure all you had was lunch?” James asked Jasmine with a straight face. If he could get Jasmine to say she slept with Monica again, it would lift some of the guilt off his shoulders.

  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean? Are you implying that there should be something else?” Jasmine came back almost at the boiling point. She wanted to continue what they started before Monica came, but James was messing it up with his accusations.

  “No, I’m just saying that Monica can be very persuasive. You act like you don’t know she has the hots for you.”

  “How would you know, James? We only shared one night. How many times were you with her since then?” Jasmine shouted, cleverly tossing the ball back into his court.

  James automatically saw that he put his foot in his mouth. His reverse psychology didn’t work, and he should have just let it go. He had been trying to stay away from Monica, but since day one he was drawn to her like a magnet. Deciding to bow out of the situation, he tried to come up with a lie to cover his ass before his cover was completely blown.

  “I only see Monica in passing. A young lady that she’s dealing with works near the station, and I see her sometimes when I’m on lunch break. She asks about you all the time, and once asked if you were interested in getting together for another threesome.”

  “And what did you tell her?” Jasmine asked with her arms folded tightly across her chest. James’s story didn’t add up only because she had been with Monica on more than one occasion, and the possibility of a threesome was never brought up.

  “I told her that I didn’t think you would do it because that’s not your style. You only did it that one time because I asked you to.”

  “And she was okay with that?” Jasmine didn’t sound convinced. If she knew anything about Monica, she knew that she didn�
��t bend easily, and once she set her mind on something, that was it. She also wondered if James ever went back for more, because that story he told her about how they met just didn’t add up.

  “She didn’t say anything otherwise, and it’s been a while since I’ve seen her.”

  “How long has it been exactly?” Jasmine asked to see if he would lie about it. The night they got into the argument he came home without his boxers, and the only person she knows that keeps your underclothes after you’ve slept with them is Monica.

  “A couple of weeks . . . She hasn’t been coming that way for lunch lately, I guess.”

  “She told me you went there the night we got into the argument,” Jasmine said, testing his credibility. She and Monica never discussed that night to that extent, but James didn’t know they even talked like that.

  “That’s bullshit. I don’t even know where she lives exactly besides the information she gave me to put the packet together for our threesome. I haven’t looked at that since then, and that was so long ago.”

  “James, this conversation is over for now,” Jasmine said while retreating up the stairs.

  “But what happened with us making love on the couch?” James asked as his erection began to appear through his boxer shorts.

  “You fucked that up when you decided to play detective.”

  “But . . .”

  James couldn’t get another word in as Jasmine disappeared up the steps and into the bathroom. He heard the shower running and thought about joining her. Deciding against it, he knew he had to figure out a way to leave the house so that he could go talk to Monica. He didn’t know if Monica really told Jasmine he was over there or if Jazz was just calling his bluff, but he was getting to the bottom of this once and for all.

  Racing up the stairs to grab his keys off the dresser, he walked in on Jasmine applying lotion to her skin. Trying not to stare at the beads of water still on her freshly showered skin, he slipped into his boots and searched his jacket pocket for his cell phone. Jasmine took note of all of this as she continued with her task. She was not in the mood to argue with James, but she did want to get some before she went to sleep. It wasn’t often that the house was child-free.

  “I’ll be right back,” James said without even a glance in Jasmine’s direction. He was going to confront Monica before his marriage was destroyed.

  “Where are you going and why are you leaving now?” Jasmine was a little disappointed. She was going to make it up to James by putting it on him, but he was leaving the house.

  “I have some business to take care of.”

  “On a Saturday afternoon? What kind of business?”

  “Business . . . I’ll be back.”

  “Sure you will. Tell Monica I said hello.”

  Without bothering to respond, he walked out of the house and jumped in Jasmine’s Blazer, hoping to throw Monica off a little because she wouldn’t be expecting him in his wife’s car. He had to set things straight if things were going to work out between the three of them, and he had to do it today.

  Jasmine watched from the window as James pulled off in her Blazer, wondering why he didn’t take his car. She didn’t really think James was fooling around with Monica, but felt guilty as hell because she was. Changing the sheets and taking clothes out of the hamper, Jasmine found the pair of panties that she threw in there a few weeks ago. She took them out holding them to her nose, still smelling the faint scent of Monica’s chocolate body butter.

  Deciding to toss them in the trash so James wouldn’t suspect her of foul play, she cut them up into little pieces and made sure they were at the bottom of the trashcan. Taking the rest of the stuff to the laundry room, she busied herself with washing clothes as she tried to think of a way to let Monica go without ruffling her feathers.

  Trouble With a Capital ‘T’

  When James first met Monica, he was in complete awe of how sexy she was. Standing outside of The Grill, a fast food restaurant that serves 90 percent of the businessmen and women in Central Philadelphia, he spotted Monica at one of the tables outside eating alone. After placing his order, he contemplated going outside to talk to the pretty-in-pink vixen dining alone. He and Jasmine were going through it at home, and even though he never really entertained the idea of stepping out of his marriage, if he did, Monica would be perfect.

  Hesitant at first, he stood to the side while his food was being prepared, just watching her eat. She took petite bites of her grilled chicken salad as she simultaneously sipped homemade lemonade and flipped through her copy of Complex magazine. She had the cutest heart-shaped lips, the bottom slightly fuller than the top.

  Watching her movements, James thought she made eating almost look sensual even when she looked up a couple of times, catching him glancing her way. Her facial expression didn’t change as she looked back down at her magazine and continued to enjoy her meal. James noticed that her salad was almost gone, and he wished the cooks would hurry up so he would have a reason to go over to her. As if reading his thoughts, his number was called and he made his way through the crowded restaurant and outside just as Monica was preparing herself to leave.

  “Is this seat taken?” James asked, flashing his most charming smile. His smile was what attracted Jasmine to him.

  “No, and actually I was just leaving,” Monica said as she pushed the remainder of her salad to the side and searched her pocketbook for her car keys.

  “You can’t leave . . . I mean, please stay. Your company is appreciated.”

  Monica looked at James—his physique, his jet-black wavy hair and goatee connected perfectly on his smooth face, his eyes that looked like pools of warm caramel that made you just want to strip down to nothing and dive into them. The handsome man intrigued Monica.

  “No thank you, maybe next time,” Monica replied as she dropped a twenty on the table and walked away.

  James was speechless as he watched her in silence, her sway hypnotic. James almost ran after her, but knew if he did it would just scare her off.

  The following day Monica was seated in the same spot. This time James had already ordered, and instead of asking her permission, once his food was done he went and sat down at the table with her. Monica looked up from her magazine, no indication of a smile present. James began cutting his grilled chicken into bite-sized pieces, totally ignoring the look of disdain on her face.

  “I don’t remember offering you a seat,” Monica began, clearly annoyed. Although the man in front of her intrigued her, she didn’t like the fact that he took the initiative. To her that showed signs of being pushy and inconsiderate, and she didn’t tolerate that.

  “Oh, I do apologize. It’s just that all of the other tables are taken, and I figured sitting next to someone as beautiful as you would make all of the other men here jealous,” James responded with a lazy smile. He could have easily occupied one of the tables where other men were having lunch alone, but he wasn’t trying to get with them.

  Monica already knew who James was from her little investigation the day before. After taking the liberty of doing a background check on Tanya’s sexy lawyer, she was surprised to find out the handsome man at lunch yesterday belonged to her, and devised a plan to get next to her through him. She had to make him think she wanted him badly if she had any chance of meeting Jasmine outside of the courtroom. James was sexy, but Jasmine was a dime. Monica knew if she got the chance she would turn Jasmine out in more ways than she could handle.

  “Flattery will get you everywhere,” Monica flirted back openly. “What’s your name?”

  “James . . . James Cinque, and you are?”

  “Monica.”

  “Monica what? I gave you both names, so now it’s your turn.”

  “Monica will do for now,” she replied with a slight smirk, satisfied that this was the correct James Cinque from T.U.N.N. The last name was not common, so she knew it had to be him.

  “Okay Miss ‘Monica will do for now’,” James joked, “What inspires you? What do you d
o for entertainment?”

  “A little of this, a little of that,” Monica responded flirtatiously. She thought James’s gullible ass was going to be easy as she picked at her salad.

  “Cute . . . real cute. Well, what do you do for a living? Or does the answer remain the same?” Instead of responding, Monica placed a business card on the table. James picked it up, taking in the fancy script and pleasant smell like the cards were sprayed lightly with Breathless by Victoria.

  “Specializing in You. Are you independently contracted or what? What exactly do you do?” James asked as he stared at the black card complete with a long stem pink rose and lettering of the same color. The card looked very chic but classy, just like Monica and completely unlike his wife’s boring business cards that the firm supplied her with.

  “I’m a photographer,” Monica offered without further explanation.

  “Family portraits, children, pets,” James inquired getting a sexy laugh from Monica. “Please, elaborate for me.”

  “I photograph stars for several different magazines. Essence, Complex, Sister 2 Sister, Ebony, Vibe, things like that. I also paint and sell my work for high dollars.”

  “Wow,” James said taken aback by Monica’s forwardness. “So how do I go about getting a private session?”

  “A private session, huh? Is that a wedding band I see on your finger?” Monica asked, already knowing it was.

  “One has nothing to do with the other,” James replied, trying to avoid the question. “How can a nice brother like myself take a sexy woman like you out to dinner?”

  “Sorry,” Monica replied. “I don’t frolic with the talent. Have a good day, Mr. Cinque.”