Also by Doug Dixon
THE JUMP OFF
Play the Game
Doug Dixon
KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.
http://www.kensingtonbooks.com
This book is dedicated to my loving parents, Fred and
Leola Dixon; my brother, Desmond Dixon; my sister,
Deirdri Brown; and to the late Mrs. Cora Anderson,
my spiritual adviser, who taught me how to walk in
the confidence of God in troubled times.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
First and foremost, thank you God for every blessing you have put in my life.
Special thanks to Selena James and Rakia Clark for driving this project.
Thank you fellas: Tracey Clarke, Dwayne Butler, Kenneth Allen, Darryl Portis, Cedric Perryman, Gerald Westry, and Damian Collins.
Thank you nupes: Archie Wesley, Hampton Simmons, and Terrance Marshall for continued encouragement.
To the other nupes: Kenneth Ried and Eric Go-shay.
Thanks to the fans who sent personal emails for The Jump Off.
Special dedication to the late Franck “Clyde” DuCloux (Rest In Peace).
Contents
PROLOGUE
CHAPTER 1: Mya
CHAPTER 2: Tangie
CHAPTER 3: Stephanie
CHAPTER 4: Mya
CHAPTER 5: Stephanie
CHAPTER 6: Mya
CHAPTER 7: Tangie
CHAPTER 8: Stephanie
CHAPTER 9: Mya
CHAPTER 10: Tangie
CHAPTER 11: Stephanie
CHAPTER 12: Mya
CHAPTER 13: Tangie
CHAPTER 14: Stephanie
CHAPTER 15: Mya
CHAPTER 16: Tangie
CHAPTER 17: Stephanie
CHAPTER 18: Mya
CHAPTER 19: Tangie
CHAPTER 20: Stephanie
CHAPTER 21: Mya
CHAPTER 22: Tangie
CHAPTER 23: Stephanie
CHAPTER 24: Mya
CHAPTER 25: Stephanie
CHAPTER 26: Tangie
CHAPTER 27: Mya
CHAPTER 28: Stephanie
CHAPTER 29: Tangie
CHAPTER 30: Mya
CHAPTER 31: Stephanie
CHAPTER 32: Tangie
CHAPTER 33: Mya
CHAPTER 34: Stephanie
CHAPTER 35: Mya
CHAPTER 36: Stephanie
CHAPTER 37: Tangie
CHAPTER 38: Mya
CHAPTER 39: Stephanie
CHAPTER 40: Tangie
CHAPTER 41: Mya
CHAPTER 42: Stephanie
CHAPTER 43: Mya
CHAPTER 44: Tangie
CHAPTER 45: Mya
CHAPTER 46: Curtis
CHAPTER 47: Stephanie
CHAPTER 48: Tangie
CHAPTER 49: Stephanie
CHAPTER 50: Mya
CHAPTER 51: Stephanie
CHAPTER 52: Curtis
CHAPTER 53: Stephanie
CHAPTER 54: Tangie
CHAPTER 55: Stephanie
CHAPTER 56: Mya
CHAPTER 57: Stephanie
CHAPTER 58: Epilogue
PROLOGUE
“Excuse me. Do you have these boots in a size six?” Mya asked the clerk at Nordstrom’s department store.
Mya LeVeaux was out doing her typical Saturday afternoon shopping to relieve stress. Lord knows that was what she needed right about now. Last night Mya had received word from her hometown of New Orleans that her ex-boyfriend, Marvin DuCloux, had just proposed marriage to a neurosurgeon, and asked Mya’s own father, Bishop Franklyn LeVeaux, to do the service. Bishop LeVeaux had graciously accepted the honor, as Marvin’s family had long been members at Greater Mount Olive Full Gospel Baptist Church.
Months earlier, Mya had left New Orleans after the annual church picnic. Marvin, her boyfriend of three years, had shown up two hours late but five minutes before Wendy Landreaux, the Church Hoe, arrived. Earlier that day, the church gossiper, Ms. Thibodaux, had left the two of them alone to finish loading refreshments into the church van for the picnic. No one had seen the two since then. When Wendy arrived she had what appeared to be semen scattered throughout the top of her hair and around her forehead.
“Let me check for you, ma’am,” the clerk replied before walking off toward the storage area. A couple of minutes later the salesclerk appeared, holding the same burgundy boot Mya had given her.
“Ma’am, the only size six we have left is being tried on by those women over there.” The salesclerk pointed out two strangers to Mya—they were sitting in the corner of the shoe department. Stephanie Hall, a high-yella sista with her hair pulled back into a ponytail, was trying to talk her friend Tangie Jackson, a sista with shoulder-length hair and a shiny peanut-butter-color complexion, out of buying the boots that were actually too small for her size-seven foot.
Stephanie and Tangie had grown up together since middle school and were on their weekly girls’ day out. For Stephanie it was a way for her just-out-of-jail boyfriend, Curtis Williams, to spend time with their two-year-old son, Brandon. But for Tangie it was a celebration, especially since her divorce from her second husband had just been finalized the day before. Tangie had very little patience when it came to what she considered a weak-ass man, and she was not afraid to express her opinion, whether it was about sex, the way he dressed, or if he was just getting on her nerves.
“We have a size five in stock. Would you like to try that one on?” the salesclerk asked Mya.
“Oh, no, that would be too small…Well, thanks, anyway,” Mya replied, disappointed. “I’ll just look around for something else,” she added as she walked off, looking at other displays in the department.
Mya picked up another shoe but they didn’t have that one in her size, either. She glanced back over at the two women who were still discussing the boots with their salesclerk. Curious as to what was being said, Mya walked toward them nonchalantly, pretending to browse other merchandise.
Tangie, still not convinced the boots were too small, opened the shoebox and pulled them out once again.
“Let me try them on one more time. They didn’t feel that bad on my feet,”