TAINTED RELATIONS

by Raquel Y. Eldridge

 

 

                  

 

       

 

BOOK JACKET SYNOPSIS

 

 

       In this long anticipated sequel to Mixed Emotions, Victoria Lyndon takes a leap of faith and uproots

       all that's left of her life in California and moves to Houston, Texas to head the Southeast division of

       Trilogy Music.  Quickly, finding her niche in the music industry, she catapults herself into the

       stratosphere as one of the most sought after agents in the business.  Chance leads her to Anthony,

       a man who could very well be "The One," but is there time in her life, and room in her heart, to love

       him and his twin daughters, Chloe and Chelsea.  And will their relationship be able to take off once

       you factor in Kitanna, his argumentative and unbalanced baby mama?

 

       Myeisha Jordan and DeAndre' Charles want each other in the worse way, but neither of them want

       to be the first to admit it.  When Myeisha unexpectedly finds herself attracted to a new guy on the

       scene, she begins to question her feelings for DeAndre'.  Who will Myeisha ultimately choose: the

       man she has to keep her walls up for or the man with whom she can be herself?  Will DeAndre'

       win the heart of the one woman who has ever truly made him want to be in love?  Burning

       her love candle on both ends seems like an easy task until an unanticipated emergency puts every-

       thing in the balance.

 

       Tamyra Arceneaux continues in her attempt to keep buried the demons she's been running from

       for over twenty years.  Jaded by a past filled with betrayal and victimization at the hands of people

       who were supposed to love and protect her, she is finding it hard to give herself fully to the one

       man willing to weather the storm with her.  Will her issues prove too much for her Prince Charming

       to overcome?

 

       Revisit old friends and meet a few new ones as you involve yourself in the glamorous and

       tumultuous lives of these characters as they attempt to see their way clearly through...Tainted

       Relations.

 

 

FREE PREVIEW

 (from Chapter One)

 

 

VICTORIA

 

“Excuse me…I need to have all of y’all’s attention!  I have a big announcement to make!”

Everyone quieted and looked at me expectantly.  As I scanned each face, I felt like I was on fire with the love that had grown in my heart for each and every woman sitting before me.  I thought of each of them as my sisters and while this was a great move for me personally, I didn’t know what I would do without the constant contact and availability of the phenomenal women in my inner-circle of best friends. 

I took a sip of my drink to moisten my throat then began to speak.

“Once upon a time, a wise woman told me to try to find my calling.  She said I should find something I loved to do and then find a way to make a living doing it.  Well, at Emily’s suggestion, I did…and as you all know, I have been making great strides in my career with Trilogy Music.  So much so, I’ve been presented with a fabulous opportunity and I just wanted to tell you all about it.”

“Well, get with it, then,” Myeisha said, always the most impatient member of our posse.

“Marcus has promoted me to Division Director!”  I only told the bare minimum so as to ease all the ramifications of such a lofty promotion on them slowly.

“Well, that’s great, Victoria!  So, you’ll be running all of California?”  Ginseng said in between smacks on her celery stick.  She was seriously going to town on the vegetable tray.

“No, I’ll be running the southern region.  I’ll be moving to the base office in Texas.”

“You’ve got to be shitting me??  How long were you going to keep this information to yourself?  You had to have known before now,” Emily said sitting straight upright as if I’d jolted her with a stun gun.

“Yes, I knew about the position, but I have been really praying about it and weighing my options and trying to make sure I make the right decision.”

“The right decision is the one that will make you happy with your purpose in life.  If that means you have to move to Texas, then, go for it,” Meagan said.  She drained her glass of Chardonnay and refilled it.  “That just means we will all rack up a lot more frequent flyer miles.”

Her bright and positive disposition was calming.  They each were so supportive, but eventually, the first tear fell from my eye signaling my fine-tuned attempt at not crying was weakening.  That started us all up because we knew my leaving was the first time any of us had parted our six part connection ever since we’d met as a group over six years ago. 

The ties binding us together were strong, so I was confident our friendship could prosper even if I was thousands of miles away.  Besides, my new job afforded me a lot of time to travel and I planned to take plenty advantage of that perk.

 

After the tears had been shed and the laughter had begun again, the girls started planning my going away party.  I felt abundantly blessed to have so many friends who cared so much about me and wanted to send me off with such a big bash.  They’d planned to invite half of Los Angeles and all of our Hollywood friends and associates.  This was sure to be the party of the year…and I couldn’t wait for it, or my new start in Houston, to begin.

 

♦♦♦♦♦

 

Two weeks later, after accepting Marcus’ job offer, the party was held in a very posh ballroom in the city’s hottest hotel in the middle of downtown Los Angeles.  And true to their word, everyone who was anyone was there and there was no detail left unattended.

They’d sent out formal invitations and hired a band that played a fabulous, eclectic variety of party music, most of which consisted of Trilogy artists.  The food was scrumptious and was catered by an award-winning chef who wasn’t even employed at the hotel.  He was flown in from Brazil to prepare my favorite Spanish dishes and there was a full wait-staff, an open bar, and to top it all off, they’d gotten Emily and Skylar’s parents to attend.  They were my stand-in mother and father and I knew through their prayers, my parents were aware of the accomplishments I was making.

Myeisha brought DeAndre’, whom we’d started to call her “man”.  Of course, she rejected that title for him from the start, but I could tell by the slightly imperceptible grin on her face when we did call him her man, she was indeed falling for DeAndre’ and it would be interesting to see where that whole thing went in time.

Even Marcus flew in from an acquisition meeting he had in Europe, where he was signing a new English trio to the label, to join in on the celebration.

I couldn’t have asked for a more exciting party or a better bunch of girlfriends with whom to share it with.

This was the biggest step I’d taken in my entire adult life and I hoped I wouldn’t mess up or do anything that would make my parents or sister ashamed or disappointed in me.  It was amazing how I still gauged my life on how I felt my family would react if they had still been alive.

 

At a little after three thirty in the morning, we all went our separate ways as I headed home to rest before packing the last of my bags and boxes for the move I’d be making on the following Saturday.

I had butterflies, but I was going to push ahead with the wind of my family and friends beneath my wings just as I had been doing since what seemed like the beginning of time.  I would not fail.  Of this, I was sure.

 

   

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

      

 RAQUEL ELDRIDGE

 

        Raquel lives in Houston, Texas where she is the owner/CEO of Prose Pros Publishing Company

        under which she’s released all six novels.

  

        She’s been interviewed individually and as part of the writing team that includes the co-author

        of the Where Friendship Lies series, Shawnte’ Henderson.  Most are intrigued by the unique nature

        of their business and personal relationship as collaborators who, to this day, have never physically

        met.

 

        A member of many organizations including the NAACP YAC, NAWW, PWNH, and HELP Sister

        Connect (www.helpsister.com), she’s an active community member who partners with initiatives

        that enforce women’s empowerment and is passionate about mentoring young women and girls.

        Her literary affiliations have included Gospel Xpress Magazine, UrbanThang.com, The

        ReMain Company, U B Trippin’, and Comedy Salad.

 

        She’s currently busy completing her future solo release, Animal Magnetism and beginning

        a new collaborative project with author, Sha Lognion, (Made Me What I Am) and reprise her colla-

        borative relationship with Shawnte' Henderson-Foster by beginning to work on their new trilogy

        series at the end of 2010.

 

 

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