Dating Games: A Novel - Softcover

Johnson, RM

Softcover

ISBN 10: 074346480X ISBN 13: 9780743464802

Verlag: Simon & Schuster, 2004

Inhaltsangabe

Though both gorgeous, the two Rodgers sisters couldn't be more different. Hennesey, a brilliant straight-A student, is soon off to college on a full scholarship. She's in a strong relationship with Rafe, a recently released convict who's trying to turn his life around after being unjustly jailed. He took a drug rap for his old friend Smoke, who has since become the most ruthless drug dealer in Chicago. Rafe wants nothing more to do with his old friends -- especially when he falls for Hennesey.
On the other hand, Alizé is perfectly comfortable relying on her undeniable sex appeal to get what she wants. When Livvy, the girls' mother, announces that they have to move out of her apartment because she is getting a smaller place to save up money and go back to school, Alizé panics as she is in desperate need of some money of her own. She and her girlfriends come up with an outrageous plan to score some fast cash -- persuading the men with fat pockets they meet at clubs to take the girls to a hotel and then drugging them and making off with their wallets and jewelry. Unfortunately for Alizé, one of their first victims is none other than Smoke, Rafe's old buddy. Once robbed, he's bent on revenge -- and the violent chain of events that follow will change the Rodgers family forever.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

R.M. Johnson is the author of ten books, including bestsellers The Harris Family, The Harris Men, and The Million Dollar Divorce. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Chicago State University. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

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Dating Games

By R. M. Johnson

Simon & Schuster

Copyright © 2004 R. M. Johnson
All right reserved.
ISBN: 9780743464802

Excerpt

Chapter One

Lying on her back, still feeling the sensation of her boyfriend between her legs even after he had risen from her, Livvy knew she would become pregnant. She felt the warm fluid swim through her, making her certain of this. Her mother would kill her for wanting to have this child at sixteen years old. She'd do it anyway, that also she was sure of.

She waited four months to tell her boyfriend, Avery, for fear that he would run away. But the wait didn't matter, because he had disappeared only days after the news was given to him.

She finally called his house, then went over there, camping in front of his doorstep, wearing her big T-shirt, her belly big and round in front of her. His mother gave her no information, acting as if she had never met, or given birth, for that matter, to her son, Avery.

"Don't know where he is, and don't know when he's coming back," she said, slamming the door in Livvy's face.

Livvy walked home slowly, her head hung low, only to get harassed by her mother the moment she walked through the door of their apartment.

Livvy remembered their last argument in the kitchen. The place was a mess, as it had always been, and her mother had just walked in from her second job. Exhausted, she fell into one of the kitchen chairs, her hair wild about her head, her cheap clothes smelling like smoke from the lounge she worked at in the evenings. She had the strength to toe off only one of her high-heeled shoes, leaving the other one on. She blew out an exasperated sigh.

Livvy had walked out of her bedroom in a T-shirt and panties. She had not heard her mother come in, and when she caught sight of her, Livvy quickly turned around, hoping to disappear back into her room.

"Hold it."

Livvy froze.

"Why ain't this kitchen clean?"

"I was sick, Mama."

"What's wrong with you?"

"My stomach," Livvy said, a sour look on her face. She placed a hand on top of the curve of her belly.

"Livvy - "

"Mama, I ain't getting rid of it." Livvy knew what her mother was going to say, because she said it every night.

"Child, you see this place?"

Livvy looked at her uncertainly, not knowing where the question came from and what kind of answer was expected of her.

"You hear me?"

"Yes."

"It's a dump. Everything is falling apart. Ain't got living room furniture. Got to sit on folding chairs, because we can't afford nothin' else. Don't matter how many times we call the exterminator, don't matter how many bottles of Raid we spray, the roaches don't go away, and the damn rats think they got as much right to this place as we do." She paused, a look of disgust on her face, and glanced over the room.

"You like living like this, Livvy?"

Livvy tried holding her mother's stare but had to look away.

"Mama, I'm used to it."

"That's not what I asked you, child."

"It's our home, Mama." Livvy looked up at her mother, wanting to cry, feeling sorry and embarrassed for her.

"'It's our home' don't make it reason enough for us to have to live in this shit. This just how you gonna be living when you get my age. Is that what you want?"

Livvy didn't answer, knowing her mother's tactics for trying to get her to kill her unborn child.

"And you want your child living like this? You gonna have enough to worry about with diaper rash, and teething, and nonsense like that. You want to have to worry about looking down into your baby's crib and finding a rat sniffing around her? Constantly have to watch her while she's crawling on the floor, so she don't put lead paint chips or dead roaches in her mouth? Do you want that?"

"No," Livvy said, anger and frustration creeping into her voice.

"Then let me take you to the clinic. I'll be there with you, holding your hand all the way, baby. I'll be in the room with you."

Livvy let her mind wander down the street, into that room. She saw her legs hoisted up into those stirrups, heard the buzz of that blade, the suck of that vacuum, could almost feel her insides being yanked out of her.

"No!" she screamed, and turned, stumbling back on weary legs toward her room. But her mother was quickly up and out of that chair, had chased her down, one high-heeled shoe and all, and had spun Livvy around.

"Then what you gonna do, Livvy? You're sixteen years old, ain't finish high school. Ain't got no job, ain't got no skills to get a decent job, and you want to have a baby. How you gonna care for it?"

"We'll handle it."

"We? We!" Livvy's mother shouted. "Ain't nobody around here but you. Ain't nobody carrying that baby but you. Who the hell is we?"

"Me and Avery," Livvy whispered under her breath.

Livvy's mother sadly shook her head. "That boy is gone, and he ain't never coming back, child. You got to know that."

"He left, but once - "

" - once you have the baby, he gonna come back?" Livvy's mother finished for her. "No. He ain't. I thought the same thing when I had you, but don't no sixteen-year-old boy want to raise no child. He a child himself. But the difference between boys and you girls is that they smart enough to know they still children and got no business trying to raise one themself. Livvy..."

"I ain't killing my baby," Livvy protested, a tear slipping over the rim of her eyelid.

"Livvy, Baby - ,"

"I ain't killing my child!"

"You gonna regret this your whole life."

"Like you regret having me?"

"No, no, Livvy," her mother said, stepping near to her, placing her arms around her, consoling her daughter. "You the best thing that ever happened to me. But why you gotta go and do it just because I did?"

Livvy stared into her mother's eyes, took a moment, then spoke. "Because I want somebody who really loves me."

"Livvy, I love you. You know that." Her mother tightened her arms around her child, but Livvy squirmed out of the embrace.

"You never here. You always at work, leaving me here by myself."

"Because I gotta take care of you. Pay rent, put food on the table."

"And what about Daddy? He didn't even stay around to raise me. Don't nobody love me. But my baby will when I have it. Even if Avery don't realize what a beautiful baby we made together, it won't matter, because my baby'll still love me." Livvy kept her eyes on her mother for a moment longer, then turned, and started back to her room.

"Livvy..."

"I'm having it, Mama."

"Livvy!" her mother called again.

"Ain't nothing more you can say. I said, I'm having it."

"Then you ain't having it here." Her mother's voice was low, but Livvy heard the words. She stopped dead, but did not turn and look around.

"That's right," Livvy's mother said. She sounded unsure, as if she questioned each word she said, but had to stay strong because of what she believed best for her child. "You heard me. You think you grown enough to bring a life into this world, then you grown enough to care for it yourself. I did what I was supposed to do. I had you when I was sixteen and would've cared for you until you was old enough to do it for yourself, but obviously that time is now. I ain't spending no more of my life raising somebody else child, even if it is yours. So I guess you got one more decision to make."

Livvy waited for a moment, making sure her mother was done saying what she had to say, then took the last few steps into her bedroom and closed the door behind her. There was no decision to make, Livvy thought, because it was made the night she got pregnant. She was having her...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Simon & Schuster
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2004
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 074346480X
• ISBN 13: 9780743464802
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 320
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Simon and Schuster Netherlands BV; info@simonandschuster.nl; ; Herculesplein 96; Utrecht; 3584 AA; Niederlande