Red Light Wives. Mary Monroe

      KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.

       http://www.kensingtonbooks.com

      ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

      Thanks to David Akamine and Sheila Cunningham Sims for the emotional support. Thanks to Maria “Felice” Sanchez and Anita “Wuzzle” Sanchez for being my friends and for keeping me grounded.

      Ann Agnew, you still owe me lunch but I’ll mention you anyway.

      Thanks to my literary agent, Andrew Stuart (The Stuart Agency). I wouldn’t trade you for the world.

      When I prayed to land the best editor for me, God sent me Karen Thomas. Much love and respect to everyone at Kensington Books. I couldn’t have asked for a better publisher.

      Thanks to Black Expressions Book Club for featuring my novels as main selections. Thanks to the reading book clubs, bookstores, magazines, radio stations, newspapers and everyone else for supporting my work. Thanks to Peggy Hicks for organizing my book tours and to the many wonderful people I met as I dragged myself from one city to the next. A very special thank-you to the nice folks in Nashville who stuffed me with so much good food!

      Contents

      Chapter 1: Lula Hawkins

      Chapter 2: Rockelle Harper

      Chapter 3: Lula Hawkins

      Chapter 4: Rockelle Harper

      Chapter 5: Lula Hawkins

      Chapter 6: Ester Sanchez

      Chapter 7: Lula Hawkins

      Chapter 8: Rosalee Pittman

      Chapter 9: Lula Hawkins

      Chapter 10: Rosalee Pittman

      Chapter 11: Lula Hawkins

      Chapter 12: Rockelle Harper

      Chapter 13: Ester Sanchez

      Chapter 14: Lula Hawkins

      Chapter 15: Rockelle Harper

      Chapter 16: Helen Daniels

      Chapter 17: Rosalee Pittman

      Chapter 18: Rockelle Harper

      Chapter 19: Helen Daniels

      Chapter 20: Lula Hawkins

      Chapter 21: Megan O’Rourke

      Chapter 22: Ester Sanchez

      Chapter 23: Megan O’Rourke

      Chapter 24: Lula Hawkins

      Chapter 25: Megan O’Rourke

      Chapter 26: Rosalee Pittman

      Chapter 27: Helen Daniels

      Chapter 28: Megan O’Rourke

      Chapter 29: Ester Sanchez

      Chapter 30: Rockelle Harper

      Chapter 31: Rosalee Pittman

      Chapter 32: Rockelle Harper

      Chapter 33: Lula Hawkins

      Chapter 34: Ester Sanchez

      Chapter 35: Rockelle Harper

      Chapter 36: Megan O’Rourke

      Chapter 37: Lula Hawkins

      Chapter 38: Megan O’Rourke

      Chapter 39: Lula Hawkins

      Chapter 40: Megan O’Rourke

      Chapter 41: Rockelle Harper

      Chapter 42: Megan O’Rourke

      Chapter 43: Ester Sanchez

      Chapter 44: Rosalee Pittman

      Chapter 45: Lula Hawkins-Rice

      Chapter 1

      LULA HAWKINS

      Sex was one thing I could always count on to cause trouble in my life.

      The nightmare that led me from Barberton, Mississippi, to San Francisco began last April. In each city I had allowed the wrong man to control me with sex. I went from being a naive, lovesick country girl to a high-priced call girl.

      Larry Holmes must have gotten his wife and me pregnant the same night because nine months later, she and I ended up in the same hospital on the same day to give birth to his babies. But that wasn’t bad enough. I didn’t even know that the man I’d been sleeping with for more than a year had a wife, until she coldcocked me in the parking lot at Jupiter’s Discount Department Store one afternoon five days ago.

      Other than that vicious assault, there was nothing unusual about that day. It was a Friday, the chosen day of my workweek that I usually called in “sick,” so I could start my weekend early. I did this about every eight weeks. My high-maintenance relationship with Larry required a lot of my time. And even though I needed my mundane job at the Department of Motor Vehicles, I couldn’t let it interfere with my plans. It had taken me too long to find happiness and true love. Except for death, nothing was going to stand in my way. I was not just a woman in love; I was a fool in love.

      But at thirty-three and still single, you would have thought that I was blind, too. Because, so far, I had refused to acknowledge the red flags that Larry frequently waved in my face. Like him never taking me to his apartment or even letting me know where he lived. And, he would only allow me to call him at work or on his cell phone.

      Larry had me right where he wanted me: in the dark. I couldn’t see the light even though it was right in my face. It was a sad position to be in at my age. But like I said, I was a fool in love.

      One of the reasons for my condition was Larry made me feel special. He’d missed a day’s work without pay to paint my apartment, he worked on my car for free, and he often accompanied me to movies I knew he would hate.

      “Girl, we are the only Black folks sittin’ up in this theater,” he’d complained with a chuckle and a loud yawn, the night I dragged him to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

      “We can sneak into that race car movie next door,” I said, pouting.

      “Uh-uh, baby. This is the movie you wanted to see. All I care about is pleasin’ you. Just wake me up when it’s over.”

      That’s the kind of talk he used to keep me in my place. And it worked.

      It took a lot of energy to make a relationship work, and I was one hardworking woman. I figured that if I put a lot into it, I’d get a lot out of it. I didn’t even mind lending money to Larry because he always paid me back when he said he would. Even though he often borrowed the same amount of money the next day! I had girlfriends who did even more for their men, so I didn’t think that I was doing anything out of the ordinary.