The Devil You Know

By Sexcee Jackson

Love, Honor, & Protection!
It all begins with Tranerious McClintock, a major league baseball player who is very wealthy and his fiancé Angie, a recent USC Law graduate booking the church for their wedding. When they’re done, Angie hastily leaves to go obtain her original birth certificate, only to be told that the abstract she has is fraudulent. When she decides to call her foster mother for answers, she finds out that she has died, sending her spiraling into muddled and a depressed state of shock. She drives around dazed and confused and ends up in the parking lot of her therapist, where she is found with both arms cut from a razor and crying hysterically in the back seat of her car.

The heart of the book begins with Angie’s therapy sessions in which she begins to reveal what life was like growing up in an abusive Compton foster home. It becomes rapidly clear that Angie has several issues that she has yet to deal with including who she is, where she comes from, and who her real parents were. As she begins opening up to the therapist, she continues to plan her wedding which brings along its own set of twist and turns. An unforgettable tale of Angie's quest for self-discovery, hope for unconditional love, and friendships formed and broken, “The Devil You Know” is a drama filled story that unfolds all while a celebrity wedding is being planned and promises to keep you glued to the walk down the aisle and beyond.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sexcee Jackson
• Release date: Nov 22, 2012
• ISBN: 9781480101081

Sexcee Jackson

Shaena “Sexcee” Jackson is an author and single mother of 2 boys who has a passion for writing and helping people from her community. Born and raised in Compton California, she was faced with many struggles in her childhood but she never allowed her problems at home to get in the way of her academics. School was always there when neither of her parents were and she fell in love with the idea that she could escape her reality by reading books. She graduated as Valedictorian of her class at Davis Middle School, with honors at Dominguez High School, and on the Dean’s List at Cal State University Dominguez Hills.Although always on top of her academics and studies, she always had a hidden self-esteem issue that no one knew about except her. She struggled with everything about her physical appearance from her big round eyes, thin sandy brown hair, and especially the color of her dark skin.Today, she embraces all of her issues and has become a catalyst for encouraging young women everywhere to value their own self-worth with the use of activities that promote positive self-esteem and a healthy attitude towards life.

Book preview

The Devil You Know

By: Sexcee Jackson

SMASHWORDS EDITION

*****

PUBLISHED BY:

Shaena Sexcee Jackson on Smashwords

The Devil You Know

Copyright © 2012 by SexceeMynd Books

Thank you for downloading this eBook. This book may not be reproduced, copied and distributed for commercial or non-commercial purposes, without expressed written permission from its author with the exception of quotes used in reviews. This book was written as a literary work of fiction and the characters and stories were created in the author’s imagination for entertainment purposes only. Any similarities in occurrence of events or between all persons, including famous persons living, deceased, or fictional is purely coincidental.

Your support and respect for the property of this author is appreciated.

Adult Reading Material

*****

Dedication

For my sons, EJ and Kobe…

Without you, life is nonexistent

&

My GannyMother, Vergie Lee White, Rest in Peace

I know you’re my Angel in Heaven that God has watching over me!

Acknowledgements & Shout Outs

To God be the glory!! I would first like to give honor and praises to Him cause he has truly shown me, that I am NOT in control and everything happens on HIS time and not mine! To my mother, Joann White, whom I love dearly and who always support me and give me words of wisdom and encouragement. Even though we may not always agree about everything, please know that it doesn't mean I love you any less! Thanks for always being there when I need you most!

To my babies, EJ & Kobe...Mommy loves you guys the last number times the last number times the last number & we goin to the moon to float like balloons!! Hahahahaha!!

To my Rock, Phillip Thomas, the only one who understands our relationship better than us is God! LOL! We've been through so much together and though we've had our disagreements, battles, and struggles, no one has been there for me like you have...and I will always love and appreciate you for your continued support.

To my brother Quincy for always taking my advice knowing I would never steer you wrong!! Dream Big Lil Bro!!

To my cousin DeQuana, God didn't bless me with a little sister, so he gave me yo crazy ass instead! I will never forget your love and generosity. Kiss my Quan babies please and I hope to see you guys soon!!

To my other cousins, Lakeyia, Messiah, Squeak, Jamal, Lani, Christina, Larry, Dem Twin Babies, Chaz & Cherri, and Marcus Purple...I love all you guys and appreciate your support always!!

To my cousin DaDa, girl the industry is dying for a female rapper like you to take over!! I see you shining girl!!

To my Auntie Team...Aunt Althea, Aunt Marilyn, Aunt Deidra, & Aunt Sug...I love each and every one of you and appreciate the wisdom bestowed on me by your love, advice, and encouragement!! #TeamAuntie ;-)

To my Uncle Erry who always have my back and help me whenever I need it. Your kind gestures will never be forgotten.

To my Den Mates...I love all yall Heathens...IN REAL LIFE!

To my FaceBook fam…not the nosy people who never comment but those of you who I interact with all the time, I really respect the fact that your opinions, comments, pictures, and laughter keep me GROUNDED in reality!

To Farroll MVP Sims, Lashawn Shani Dunn, Taneesha Neesh Hardamon, & my girl Champagne Top Shelf Brown!! OMG!! Where would I be in LIFE without my TRUES?? Oscar Wilde said it best when he said, Even though we've changed and we're all finding our own place in the world, we all know that when the tears fall or the smile spreads across our face, we'll come to each other because no matter where this crazy world takes us, nothing will ever change so much to the point where we're not all still friends. I love you chicas !!

Special shout out to Picky Nikkie Valdez for editing & Coquist Cokez Porter for the cover!! Thanks to you both for understanding my vision!!

To all my fellow scribblers, authors, and writers, from the Compton, Watts, Long Beach, and Los Angeles area, thanks for keeping me on my game by inspiring me with your creativity.

And…let’s see…anybody else…naw this shit is getting too long and taking up too much space!! That’s it!! Deuces ;-)

Peace & Blessings yall!!

Wedding Plans

Chapter 1 Planning the Ceremony Location

Chapter 2 Booking the Reception Site

Chapter 3 Hiring a Wedding Planner

Chapter 4 Announcing the Engagement

Chapter 5 Send the Invitations

Chapter 6 Booking the Florist

Chapter 7 Booking the Florist…AGAIN

Chapter 8 Booking the DJ

Chapter 9 Ordering the Cake

Chapter 10 Ordering the Stationary

Chapter 11 Picking the Dress

Chapter 12 Booking the Entertainment

Chapter 13 Purchase the Rings

Chapter 14 Bridal Fashion Photo Shoot

Chapter 15 Plan& Book the Honeymoon

Chapter 16 Ordering the Tuxedos

Chapter 17 Booking the Photographer

Chapter 18 Gifts for the Wedding Party

Chapter 19 Setting up the Gift Registry

Chapter 20 Counsel with Pastor

Chapter 21 Get the Marriage Certificates

Chapter 22 Bride’s Maids Final Dress Fitting

Chapter 23 Final Dress Fitting

Chapter 24 Bride’s Maids Spa Day

Chapter 25 Writing the Vows

Chapter 26 The Bachelor Party

Chapter 27 Finalize the Seating Chart

Chapter 28 The Rehearsal Dinner

Chapter 29 Hair & Nails

Chapter 30 Wedding Day

20 Minutes before the Wedding

As she shoved him up against the church bathroom, he could feel the sweat dripping down the back of his neck landing softly on the nape of his crisp and freshly starched Kenneth Cole Tuxedo shirt. She looked at him with those seductive green eyes that she knew made his dick do jumping jacks and smiled with a more than obvious smirk.

A few words between them and in that instant, almost like something right off the Animal Planet, they locked tongues, kissing passionately as if it would be the last time they would ever be able to taste each other. He could feel her breast press up against him, smashing the glitter adorned Bird of Paradise flower on the silk panel of his tuxedo’s lapel. When he couldn’t take it no more, he held her breast and devoured them. She then dropped to her knees in her white dress and unzipped his pants, giving him a blowjob of SUPER HEAD proportions.

In that moment, with her lips and tongue doing things to his manhood that he only imagined in his fondest wet dreams, he felt an overwhelming ecstatic high like he never had before.

He then pulled her up, as she hiked up her white dress and turned her around so he could mount her ass because doggy was his favorite position. He wanted to beat that pussy like a hungry, ass, lion devouring and pouncing on a pack of baby zebras. But he didn’t. When he told her to stop, she looked up at him with baffled eyes and said, Humph, bet you never imagined you’d be fuckin this pussy in the church bathroom the day of your wedding, huh? all while rolling her eyes at him so hard he could actually feel the sting.

Nope! he said, as he politely walked away from her to wash his dick in the sink. He pulled up his underwear and pants, looked at himself in the mirror for any signs of guilt, and unlocked the door staring at his watch. Bitch I’m still marrying Angie! Thanks for the head tramp! Hahaha! Deuces!

As he walked out of the bathroom, the entire church building shook and there were a fury of several small explosions. Tran ran to the sanctuary to see his wedding guest scrambling and running for safety. FIRE! FIRE! THE ALTAR IS ON FIRE! SOMEONE CALL 911! he heard while standing stoically watching the chaos around him. The altar of the church was indeed blazing and every man, woman, and child in sight were running for their lives as the blaze grew bigger and bigger.

Tran finally snapped back to reality, ran out of the sanctuary, and began searching for his fiancé. He had begun to panic furiously when he thought to check upstairs in the pastor’s office where she was supposed to be getting dressed. He scurried up the stairs and when he burst through the doors screaming Angelica’s name, he was met with a barrel of a gun.

With one single shot, Tran fell to the floor on the expensive plush carpet and he felt his body go limp. As he could now hear the wedding guest just outside the church window calling his name, he couldn’t do anything but lay still in a puddle of his own blood with his mind swirling for answers even though the only question in his head at the moment was, What the fuck?

-1-

Planning the Ceremony

This bitch breath stank! she thought to herself as the lady went on and on trying hard to get a fat commission, as if she didn't know who the couple were. Tran sat there, trying hard to pay attention when he noticed that his fiancée, Angie began doodling. She tapped him lightly on the hand and pointed to her neon pink Post-It Note. When he looked down, he saw Just write the damn check! Her breath smells like ASS & MILDEW!

As Tran began to laugh uncontrollably, Angie scratched out her scathing insult, while snickering but nodding along in agreement as the lady continued to speak. Is there something wrong Mr. McClintock? the lady stopped to ask. At this point, Tran began laughing so hard it had become infectious and the three of them shared a hardy laugh, which immediately caused Angie to deem this lady as full of shit and phony because she was only laughing to ensure a new Birkin bag not knowing the joke was definitely on her.

Finally Tran pulls out his checkbook and asks, Who should I make this out to?

Light of the World Ministries the lady said profoundly.

Tran proceeded to write the check as the lady simply cannot contain her enjoyment of booking the wedding of Mr. Major League Baseball himself, A.K.A. MAC – C, A.K.A. Tranerious McClintock.

As the couple, still giggling, walked out of the office, Angie hugged Tran tightly. As much as she loved this man, the doubt that has plagued her since the first night he kissed her was still there. She didn’t know what love was or how to love, let alone if he truly loved her as he said he did. She was hoping marriage would settle those doubts, but she knew better; but then again, what could she do? She thought she loved him and that was good enough for her.

He was everything she said she never wanted, 6 foot 3 inches, 220 pounds, dark skinned, full of muscles, and FINE AS HELL with his Haitian ass. He wore his hair in small twist locks that he never let grow too long. Angie hated dread locks but she thought Tran’s twisted hair made him sexy. He was an athlete with an ego the size of Jupiter, but had a soft spot that was made out of rainbows and unicorn fur and for every reason that she hated him, with all his flashiness, those ultra, perfect teeth, and his outrageous personality, there was a soft spot to counter, even if he didn’t always show that side to his adoring fans. She kissed him on the cheek saying, Sorry babe. I can’t stay and meet with Pastor Burrell. If we’re going to honeymoon in St. Tropez, I have to get a passport, which means I need my original birth certificate.

Which means you gotta go down to the hall of records, Tran completed.

And you already know the line gon’ be from Compton Boulevard to Magic Mountain Parkway.

They said their goodbyes and Angie hurried out of the church hoping that she did not run into Pastor Burrell, who was not one of her favorite persons for various reasons that she did not care to discuss with Tran. When Tran insisted that they be married in Pastor Burrell’s million dollar renovated church, Angie had to squeeze tight to keep from shitting on herself, but she figured it was only one day, so she gave in.

Angie left the church hastily and when she finally arrived at the Los Angeles County Courthouse on La Cienega Boulevard, she instantly blurted out a series of WTF's in response to the lack of parking. After driving around for almost 35 minutes, she just hollered out, You know what? FUCK IT! and pulled her indigo blue BMW 750 into a handicapped parking stall. She knew that the Top Flight security guard who roamed the parking lot would give her a ticket, but shit, she just didn't give a damn. Ain't nobody gon’ park there no way, she said trying to convince herself that it was ok.

Angie walked across the parking lot and into the glass building knowing that the Magic Mountain line was waiting for her on the 6th Floor. When the elevator doors opened, she was shocked that there was no line in the corridor at all and for a minute, she thought she got off on the wrong floor. As she walked the long hallway slowly, she spotted a huge sign on a glass door that read Los Angeles County Registrar / Recorder’s County Clerk Office and when she pulled the door open, the line to the Colossus Rollercoaster had so many turns and curves, she swore she tasted a little bit of puke in the back of her mouth as she grabbed an application and begin filling it out while standing in line.

Even though the line was super long, there were 12 windows open and the line was actually moving at a rather steady pace. She thought that she might actually be able to sneak in a pedicure and maybe even an impromptu trip to the Getty Museum as fast as the line was moving.

Window 11, the prompter chimed and blinked. She walked up to Window 11 smiling as she handed the clerk her application and reached in her purse to grab her Gucci credit card wallet. The clerk monotonously began typing in the information from Angie’s application and then arched her eyebrows and asked, You were born in LA County right? Angie begun frowning and said, Of course I was, is there a problem?

The clerk kept pecking away on her keyboard and staring intently at the monitor. She looked up at her puzzled customer saying, I'm sorry sweetie but you're not in the system. Angie scrunched her face up in confusion, not fully comprehending what the clerk just said. Then she looked in her purse and pulled out the birth certificate abstract that has followed her from foster home to foster home her whole life. But here's my abstract, she said to the clerk. Maybe this will help you find me in the system. The clerk smiled and responded, Oh yes! All I have to do is look up the serial number and all your info should pop right up.

This brought an air of calmness over Angie as the clerk began plucking on her keyboard, but a sort of queasiness dropped and planted at the pit of Angie’s stomach when the clerk grimaced and looked over her shoulder searching frantically and calling for a supervisor. A tall, lanky, white man waked over to the clerk and they discussed the abstract that Angie had given them.

Then the man said, I'm sorry mam but this abstract does not match any information in our system. It appears to be a forgery. Where did you get this from?

My foster mother.

Then I would suggest you contact her or the hospital you were born at or even LA County Children's Services division to see if they can locate more information from your court case or foster records.

Angelica stood there staring blankly at the man frozen with fear. You could see her mind working overtime as the reality of what he was saying began to set in her mind. The clerk who originally helped her, still in astonishment, didn't want to be rude but the Six Flags line wasn't getting any shorter so she handed her the abstract and her business card through the slot in the window and said, Sweetheart, if you find out any other information, call me. I'll do whatever I can to help you honey, OK? Angie nodded, picked up the abstract, the card, and left.

Once in the car, her brain worked overtime with thoughts. If her birth certificate was indeed a fake that meant that possibly, her whole fucking life she had been lied to. So did her parents really die in a car accident? Are they really her parents? Is her name really Angelica? Damn! she thought after realizing that that horrid bitch of a foster mom Mother Consuelo was the only one she knew with real answers. She started up her car with every intention of going over Mother Consuelo’s to get answers from the mean old cow, but the ticket on her windshield kept her from pulling off. She opened the door, got out, grabbed the ticket from the windshield wiper and she could hear her phone ringing. It was Tran.

Babe! You not gonna believe what just happened, she started as she answered Tran’s call. They just told me my birth certificate is fake. I’m on my way to Mother Consuelo’s now. That bitch owes me some answers!

Ang, Pastor Burrell cancelled on me because they found Mother Consuelo dead this morning and they don’t have a clue how she died. Tran divulged not really considering the kind of ramifications that it would have on Angie. The silence on the other end of the phone smacked him in the face with regret of not being more sensitive and choosing his words better. Hello? Ang? Angie? Angelica?

Angie was numb. Who knew that getting an original copy of her birth certificate, just so she can get a passport to vacation in St. Tropez for what was supposed to be the happiest day in her life, would turn into the worst day of her life in less than 20 minutes?

She drove around for two hours, crying, blasting Lauryn Hill's, Unplugged CD until she found herself in the parking lot of Dr. Colbert's office, her Sort-of-Therapist who she had not talked to in damn near seven years. She didn't even know why she was there. She hadn't had a session with Dr. Colbert since she was 18,