The Price of Sin

by Samuel L. Hair

Genres: Contemporary Fantasy; Urban Fantasy

Synopsis

Eureen, Tracey, Deja, and Jasmine are all looking for relationships that are based on strong moral values—despite their own less than moral lifestyles. 
Faithfully married but severely sexually frustrated, Eureen would do anything to catch her husband's eye again and reignite bedroom flames. She can't remember the last time they had sex, but when her husband suddenly passes away, she quickly finds a way to make up for lost time. 
A teasingly tight skirt and an extra wiggle is all Deja needs to stop Garnell's eyes from roaming to various single women in her church and focus his attention on her. In her mind, his skill level between the sheets far outweighs his criminal past.
Corporate executive Jasmine is determined to turn her unemployed mama's boy of a husband into a real man, if her mother-in-law Cyreese doesn't destroy their marriage first.
Tracey vows that nobody will enjoy the pleasures of her body again until she says "I do." Well, at least nobody will know about it.
On their quest for love, these women will find out that sin comes with a price. Is it one they can afford?

Release date: April 24, 2012

Publisher: Urban Books

Print pages: 336

Sample

It wasn’t that the pastor’s sermon didn’t interest Deja—she just found it difficult to focus on his words with fine-ass Garnell Sutton sitting right across the aisle from her. Although she nodded her head a few times, she barely heard a word that Pastor Gardner said, but instead caught herself cutting her eyes to the left more times than she was willing to acknowledge.

The first glance had sincerely been out of just being aware of her surroundings, which was when she happened to notice him. The second had been to size him up, including the third finger of his left hand, which bore no band. On her third glance, they caught eyes; and from there, Deja’s thoughts switched from halfway spiritual to purely sexual. “Mmph, mmph, mmph,” she moaned almost inaudibly as she crossed one leg over the other. She flexed the muscles of her hot spot, thinking about the “blessing” she thought she might receive in getting to know him better.

“Lord, forgive me,” she barely whispered, feeling guilty for the sexual feelings that arose within her as she sat in the sanctuary. Deja believed that her natural affection for a man and desire for sex was indeed God-given, but too many times Pastor Gardner had chastised his congregation over the pulpit for operating in the “spirit of lust,” as he put it.

But why did you put all this heat in me if you weren’t going to give me a husband to go with it? She cut her eyes to Garnell again and bit down on her bottom lip. “Lawd, ha’ mercy! Help me to stay focused,” she mumbled in prayer. “But I wouldn’t mind, Lord, if you hooked a sister up with someone who loved you and who I could love,” she ended. She never thought to ask God for someone who would love her back.

Across the aisle, Garnell felt his manhood throb as his eyes traveled from Deja’s stiletto-dressed feet, to her ankles, to the hem of her above-the-knee skirt, and then visualized the rest. Without even realizing it, he licked his lips seductively; imagining himself suckling on her rounded size D’s, but then jumped a bit when he noticed that she’d been looking dead at him. Initially he felt a wave of embarrassment, but it dissolved almost as quickly as it came, when he noted the unmistakable lust in Deja’s eyes. It was the ever-so-slight lift of her brow that gave it away. Inwardly he chuckled to himself while he turned his head back toward the pulpit and nodded, but not because he agreed with what the preacher spoke.

Yeah, she diggin’ me, he told himself, hiding his grin. During the sermon, he shot his eyes back over at Deja a few more times, dreaming of foreplay, until Pastor Gardner reached a high point in his sermon and bellowed with such authority that it demanded both their attention—at least for the moment.

“Beware of wolves in sheep clothing!” Pastor Gardner yelled, having noticed the nonverbal flirting that was taking place right in the sanctuary. Having founded, twelve years prior, Abundant Grace Fellowship, a former grocery store building transformed into a place of worship, David Gardner was a watchful shepherd over his flock. With a congregation of less than a hundred faithful members, not much slid by him on a Sunday morning. His fixated stare convicted Deja, since she’d been a long-term member. She cleared her throat and dipped her head, pretending to be intrigued by a Bible verse. “They look good to you and possess pretty eyes, athletic bodies, good hair, straight white teeth, and they’ll say all the right things at the right time. They’ll give you deceptive winks and smiles, but watch out; you’re bein’ set up for devastation and destruction!”

He cut his eyes over to Garnell, who he knew had a wife, regardless of the fact that he wore no ring. “You see, it doesn’t bother some folks in here to fool around with someone else’s husband or wife! You don’t know and probably couldn’t care less if that individual is married, a nonbeliever, a whoremonger, a fool, unemployed, a deadbeat dad, or a recoverin’ crackhead, ’cause you’re too interested in the physical.

“Let me tell you something, physical characteristics and materialistic possessions do not define a person’s character. There are dedicated members in here this very moment lustin’ right from the pews. Women checkin’ out men, and men mesmerized by women in tight, inappropriate attire, looking like they dressed for the club instead of God’s house! You see, these days, folks done made church a place to hook up and find a flavor of the week.” Pastor Gardner gave Garnell a second lengthy stare. “Men comin’ up in here seekin’ a vulnerable Christian woman for a one-night, fornicatin’ stand, and it’s sad to say that more than likely he’ll find it. Can I get an amen!”

It was the elderly mothers of the church who waved wrinkled hands in the air and shouted “Amen, Pastor!”

“It’s tight, but it’s right!” another said from behind Deja.

“Some women come to church to seek a spiritually filled Mr. Right, but I’m here to tell you that everything that glitters ain’t gold, and most of the time it ain’t even glitter! Be careful what you pray for, because you just might get it! And what looks good to you may not be good for you! And the grass ain’t always greener on the other side, you know. We’ve gotta be inwardly strong and outwardly focused. People come to church these days for all the wrong reasons! When some folks leave church, they’re cursin’ and lyin’, and drinkin’ liquor, and hookin’ up with people of the world, and lookin’ for some type of sin to indulge in! Church just ain’t what it used to be!”

Just a few rows away from the pulpit, Garnell shot to his feet and clapped his hands, feigning his support and agreement with the path Pastor Gardner was on, in an attempt to throw him off. “That’s right,” he yelled from his seat, causing Pastor Gardner to turn his scowled face directly toward Garnell.

Garnell had learned church behavior well and could hang with any Bible-toting, fancy-footwork-dancing, suit-wearing brother there. “You tellin’ the truth, Pastor,” he added for effect, but different thoughts circled his mind. Who the hell does he think he is? He ain’t got a heaven or hell to put nobody in. Practice what you preach, Mr. Preacher man, because I know damn well you’re doin’ somethin’ you ain’t s’pose to be doin’. Just like the rest of those devilish preachers, you’re in it for the damn money. Yeah, why don’t you preach about church bein’ a get-rich business?

Both you and I know that all you gotta do these days is know how to talk good, be able to recite a few scriptures, and rent a raggedy-ass building to preach from and in a coupla years you’ll be buyin’ up universities and shit, sellin’ front-row seats, and watchin’ through hidden cameras to see how much money people be puttin’ in. But you wanna judge me for gettin’ what these hoes givin’ for free? I don’t think so. Even King David dipped up in some pussy that was out on display. Ain’t nothin’ wrong with that shit.”

When Pastor Gardner swiped a wave of sweat from his brow, Garnell shifted his eyes to Deja for a split second. Just as he’d hoped, she was watching. He knew churchwomen loved fresh meat in their hopes to catch a ‘saved and sanctified’ man. He learned that from watching his own mother’s futile search for love in the rows of church pews. Anytime a new man crossed the threshold of his childhood church, he watched her immediately going into her act of not-so-innocent flirt, more than typical meal preparations (inviting him over), and late-night tiptoeing while sneaking him into her bedroom when she thought Garnell was asleep. Because of what he’d seen, and learned, Garnell never had to go too long without a piece of pussy. He knew all he had to do was show up on a Sunday morning, at any given church, and pussy would be thrown his way no sooner than the service started. And he didn’t mind giving the ladies the blessing they desired. Naive ass, he thought. I’ma wear that pussy out.

“Folks in here texting, and cell phones ringin’... .” Pastor Gardner’s voice trailed away. “Church just ain’t what it used to be! It’s filled with front-row professed Christians and back-row sinners! You’d better check yourself, people, before you wreck yourself! The devil is present and busy as I speak, seeking out the weak ones!”

Pastor Gardner was on fire, pacing the length of the stage, speaking loudly and emotionally. The organist began to follow the pastor’s squalling with a series of chords, causing other parishioners to leap to their feet. “I guarantee you that a person who looks at an individual in a lustful manner, instead of seekin’ out the heart of that individual, is brewin’ up a recipe in his godless mind for disaster! The Bible tells us to be equally yoked in our relationships! A true, pure-hearted Christian and a worldly person is not a match the Lord condones! We should be wise enough to distinguish wolves in sheep’s clothin’! Keep in mind that Satan has more disguises than you can ever imagine, and he’s filled with charisma and charm. That’s part of his plot! He’ll laugh with you and agree with you! There’s no extreme Satan won’t exceed to captivate you, but the Good Lord has the ability to do incredible things for us imperfect people if we allow him to!”

The drummer took a seat behind his set, struck licks on the snare and cymbals, and maneuvered his foot against the bass drum pedal, which was all it took to send several of Pastor Gardner’s members into a running, jumping frenzy.

“Hallelujah!” Deja threw her head back and yelled, joining a few ladies in the aisleway. She leaped in the air a few times, her breasts bouncing beneath her blouse.

Damn! Garnell thought, catching a glimpse of her plump ass as Deja ran several times in a small circle like a dog chasing its tail. I bet that’s sweet right there! He didn’t want to, but he remembered where he was and forced himself to look away. He turned his head to the left away from a jiggling, gyrating Deja and right into the face of what had to be the homeliest woman he’d ever seen.

“He talkin’ ’bout you, you know,” Eureen Francis snapped. With the music blaring from the organ, drums, and various tambourines, Eureen didn’t worry about the volume of her voice.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me! You sitting right up in this church tryin’a find who you gonna attack next, but I see that devil in you!” she sneered.

Eureen’s hair was as tangled and stiff as steel wool, pushed back from her forehead with what looked like a sweat sock passed off as a headband. Her skin was pecan brown and terribly scarred, as if she’d lost a thirty-year battle with acne. Her eyebrows were thick and unruly; her lashes looked to be tied in knots; her chapped lips, smeared with a bright fuchsia lipstick that in no way complemented her skin tone, were tightened into the smallest O she could form. What made her even less attractive was her nasty, grouchy disposition, aggravated by hard times—although her husband made a substantial amount of money—hardheaded children, and the lack of a hard dick, Garnell reasoned to himself.

“Don’t make no sense how you sitting up in here looking at women like you in a strip club,” she continued to scold.

Garnell sighed, shook his head, and then picked his Bible up from the pew. He wove his way through several people who still filled the aisles, with their hands lifted, excited about the words they heard from the pulpit. A part of him did want to stay, to at least get Deja’s number, but he knew there’d be another time.

With a disapproving grimace on her face, Eureen let her eyes follow Garnell down the aisleway and out the sanctuary doors. She found herself distracted the entire service in watching Garnell watch Deja. Truth be told, although she was married, she was quite jealous that she never got male attention, not even from her husband. With a paper fan, she pushed air across her ample but sloppy bossom.

Since when did a big, soft pair of titties stop being enough to get a man’s attention? she wondered. If Garnell had looked her way, even a little bit, she would have kept her comments to herself, but since he had not ... Well, it just didn’t make no sense for him to be acting like that in the house of the Lord. She was going to have to talk to the pastor about this.

Shortly after Garnell had made his exit, the service ended. Pastor Gardner always took the time to greet his congregation afterward. He stood near the exit, shaking hands and politely greeting parishioners as they left.

Eureen made it her business to be one of the last to leave the sanctuary. She had an earful to give her pastor and didn’t want to be rushed along by anyone else wanting his attention.

“How are you today, Sister Francis, and where’s your husband?”

“I don’t know where he’s at, but he needs to be out tryin’ to find some damn Viagra!” Eureen shamelessly and candidly replied.

Pastor Gardner gave her a stern look. “You’ll need to respect the house of the Lord, Eureen.”

“Forgive me, Lord,” she mumbled, glancing up at the ceiling. “’Scuse me, Pastor, I’m sorry, I’m just so frustrated,” she uttered, linking arms with him and pulling him out the front door. “Come on out here so I can say what I need to say without the church being struck by lightning.”

David Gardner chuckled as he allowed himself to be led to the sidewalk just outside the doors of his church, but he freed himself from Eureen’s grasp no sooner than they got outside.

“He just ain’t the man he used to be. Ain’t no spark about him no more. Bad thing about it is that he act like it don’t bother him! Now I don’t mean to tell you my personal business, but I’m sick and tired of Monroe not being able to get a hard-on! I need you to talk to him, Pastor.”

“Sister, you should have enough womanly power to work that out yourself. I don’t meddle in people’s bedrooms,” David commented.

“Well, I need some help! Sister Franklin told me that Brother Franklin took one of those Viagra pills and said he kept a hard-on for three straight days! That’s what I’m talkin’ ’bout, Pastor! Thrill me—you know what I mean? Hell, I want it so good that it’ll make me jump up and grab the chandelier! I wanna be hit doggie style, froggie style, from the side; I want him to ride the hell out of it! You know what I mean?”

“Eureen, I want you to—”

Eureen didn’t allow him to finish his sentence. “I know church ain’t the place to be talkin’ ’bout nothin’ like this, but I’m fed up and some serious changes need to be made quick! When I told Monroe to go find some of that Viagra, and I’ll buy him a year’s supply of it, he talkin’ ’bout he can’t take it because of the blood pressure pills and the other medication he’s takin’! I don’t need no damn excuses, Pastor. I need resolutions! He say’s the Viagra may cause internal complications or a stroke, but what about my needs? I ain’t but thirty-six years old, and the fire is still burnin’ down below! I need somebody to put it out, Pastor. That’s what I really need! I been tryin’ to hold on and remain faithful, but this mess is gettin’ old.”

“Sorry to hear that, Sister Francis. I can see this situation is stressful and irritating to you, but there are other ways of producing pleasure for your partner, and vice versa, without using dangerous drugs.”

“I’m tryin’ not to sin,” Eureen tagged on. “Now if I wasn’t saved and tryin’a honor my marriage vows, that fine brother who was sittin’ beside me today woulda had hisself an eyeful. ’Cause I know howta hike my skirt up too, and do the huckabuck.”

David couldn’t help but laugh as he watched Eureen “cut a step,” adding extra movement to her hips.

“He sho was filling his eyes up with every other nasty-cracked hoochie in there, shakin’ her titties all in his face!”

“Sister, Sister, Sister,” David called, having heard enough. “You just need to go home and have some honest conversations with your husband. I’m sure you two can work through this. In the meantime, put on the whole armor of God, stay strong, and quit allowin’ the devil to have so much influence over your mind. Keep on praying, Sister; it’ll work out.” He chuckled. “Something remarkable and pleasurable is destined to happen.”

Eureen frowned. “I been prayin’ ’bout this for months and ain’t a damn thing happened yet! And if something don’t happen quick, I’ma be filing for a divorce. I’m gonna find me a young man who can put that thang on me all day and night long! Rock my boat every which way, and then put me into a sweet, long sleep. I think they call it ‘thug passion.’ He ain’t gotta work; he ain’t gotta bring nuttin’ to the table. All I want him to do is to do me. I want him to lay pipe all night, and I mean all night,” she babbled, envisioning Garnell manipulating his manhood inside her walls. “Hell, I might even buy him a Cadillac and a hip-hop wardrobe if he hit it right, and I ain’t lyin’ either, Pastor. That’s jus’ how bad I need it!”

“I’m sure you do, Sister Francis, but as I said, lose those devilish thoughts and try to work things out with your husband.”

Eureen rolled her eyes; then she was silent for a few seconds as she began to fantasize about having sex with her pastor.

“Pastor, I bet you ain’t got no problem pleasin’ Sista Gardner, do you?”

“The first lady and I keep our private life private. You should do the same. Now if you’ll excuse me.”

Felicia Gardner walked up to her husband and took his arm.

“I was just coming to look for you,” David said as Felicia latched on to his arm. He pecked his wife’s lips and winked. “Sister Francis, we’ll see you Wednesday night.”

“All right, now,” Eureen responded before turning to go to her car. She took note of Deja and two other young ladies chatting in the parking lot. “Tight-skirt-wearing heifers,” she mumbled. She strained to hear a bit of their conversation as she walked by.

“Did you see how he was all into the message?” Jasmine commented. “That’s what you want right there, a man who’s rooted in the Word.”

“Girl, he was staring your big ol’ Beyoncé booty down,” Tracey added.

“Good! That’s why I wore it, to get some attention,” Deja said with a giggle. “I’m glad it worked.”

“Oh my Lawd, there goes that ugly-ass troll, Eureen. What kind of momma names their child ‘Eureen’? That’s too close to urine, and her face be looking like she smell piss all the time!” Jasmine cracked, causing laughter to erupt from her two friends.

Eureen looked over at the women without stopping her movement, although she heard their words and cackling.

“And why don’t she do something with those Herman Munster eyebrows?” Deja asked. “She look like she got two big, fat caterpillars sitting on her forehead.”

“I’ma pray for y’all two.” Tracey giggled, unlocking her car doors. “We ain’t been out of church a good five minutes and y’all talking about your sister like that. Come on, because they stop serving brunch at two o’clock.”

The three ladies got into Tracey’s Camry and wheeled past Eureen as she seated herself behind the wheel of a Kia Sorento, which always had to be prompted at least three times before it would actually start. Not feeling like experiencing the embarrassment that day, she sat for a few minutes, pretending to search through her purse for her keys, or acting as if she were talking on her cell phone, whenever someone walked by, until she was practically in the parking lot alone. Before she started the vehicle, she sighed, thinking about the comments her so-called sisters had made. She pulled down the mirror on her visor and assessed her face. She licked, then smoothed a finger over her brows, silently admitting that they did need a bit of grooming. Just that little bit seemed to help. For a moment, she wished she were as pretty as the trio that had just left. All three of them had beautiful, healthy hair, in varied lengths, flawless skin, and figures like video vixens. Eureen looked down at her rounded belly, which sat on her lap, covered by a flowered smock of a dress. Stacked on her stomach were two out-of-shape titties, which really needed the support of a good bra, at the very least. Then she remembered that none of those women had as many children as she did. Jasmine, the only mother in the group, did have two girls, but Eureen had twice as many, so she had a perfectly good reason why her body was now misshapen.

“At least I got a husband,” she mumbled, pushing the mirror back up. “So forget them bitches. ’Scuse me, Lord.” She paused for a few seconds. “Next time that man come strolling through here ... he gonna be looking at me!” she vowed.

“So what’s the deal with Shamar? You still raising a boy along with your two girls?” Tracey asked before forking a mouthful of lasagna between her lips.

“Why do you have to say it like that?” Jasmine rolled her eyes and sighed as she sipped from her wineglass. “Slide over,” she huffed. She and Tracey were seated in Deja’s living room for their weekly girlfriend pow-wow.

“I’m just asking.” Tracey shrugged and covered her mouth with a napkin as she spoke. She balanced her plate on her lap as she slid to her left to make room for her friend on a chocolate-colored sectional accented with turquoise pillows. “There is such a thing as miracles, right?”

“Girl, you know if something had changed with that situation, I’d make sure it was on the five o’clock news.”

“I just can’t believe you keep taking care of a grown-ass man like that,” Deja quipped. “I’d rather stay single than have to carry around a two-hundred-fifteen-pound baby.”

“Yeah, but you also gotta settle for a vibrator for a boyfriend,” Jasmine shot back. “Either that or keep repenting every Sunday while you pray for a man.”

“Having no man is better than a sorry man—any day of the week,” Tracey teased. “I don’t mind stocking up on batteries. That’s a lot cheaper than paying someone’s way through life.”

“Shut up! For the Love of Ray Jay is on.” Jasmine pressed the volume button on the television remote, effectively switching the focus off her marriage, although the thoughts lingered in her mind privately, well after she’d left her friends for the evening.

Shamar and Jasmine Murphy had been a couple since sixth grade and were now in their early thirties, with ten years of marriage under their belts. They had six- and seven-year-old girls to complete their family unit. Jasmine’s income afforded them the privilege of living in the middle-class bracket, and they resided in a recently built two-story, five-bedroom, four-bath home in Sunnymead Ranch, California. They rented because Shamar’s credit was so bad that they weren’t able to buy. She drove a late-model Navigator, and Shamar sported a pre-owned but meticulously maintained Jaguar. He kept both vehicles clean enough for any dealership showroom floor.

Judged by the photo of the four of them encased in an acrylic frame dangling from her keys, they looked like a model family, and Jasmine worked hard to maintain that perception. Only Deja and Tracey knew the real deal. Jasmine prided herself on her education, eighty-grand-a-year salary and A1 perfect c. . .