Wrong Acquaintance: A Novel

In Cleveland, Texas, the family of Billy Joe Jackson anxiously awaits the news of the National Football League draft. This Christian family is pleased to hear that Billy Joe, a quarterback from Texas A&M, has been drafted by the Nashville, Tennessee, Sphinx. And in Chicago, Andre Patterson, a wide receiver for the University of Illinois, celebrates when he hears that he, too, has been drafted by the Sphinx.

The two young men, adjusting to the new and demanding world of NFL football, become roommates. But the interest they share in football on the field is drastically different from their lives off the field. Billy Joe prides himself on being a soft-spoken man who thanks the Lord for his blessings and tries to be a role model for his family and others. Andre, however, loves the fast life of partying and women.

The situation becomes tangled when Andre tries to rekindle his relationship with his childhood friend, Arteah McMorris, a schoolteacher in Chicago. A caring and thoughtful woman, Arteah questions the sanity of Andre's lifestyle. But when temptation strikes and Arteah meets another man, she cannot predict the outcome.

T.C. Beatty is a Midwestern native from Illinois who currently resides in Texas.