Read Online Around the Way Girls 9 by Ms. Michel Moore - Free Book Online Page B

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    Dipping my hairbrush into the water, I brushed my hair until the waves bounced back fresh, then made sure my makeup was on point. The amount of liquor I was consuming was starting to take a toll on my beauty. A few months ago I only needed eye shadow and lip gloss to enhance my beauty. Now I needed foundation and concealer to hide where my skin had broken out. Thankfully tonight the dark circles that sometimes hung under my eyes were less than noticeable. I guessed I could thank Sally for finally giving me something I could use in my adulthood life besides resentment for being mixed. Sally used to say I had big raccoon eyes like my mother so she’d put cucumbers on them to make them less puffy. I followed suit a few days ago, seeing the combination of me smoking too much weed, drinking too much liquor, and not sleeping enough had my eyes touch my cheeks. It wasn’t a good look at all. Sliding on a pair of low-rise denim ripped jeans, a white cropped top, and the only red bottoms I owned, I could thank Shawntay for this dynamic body. I had curves for days! Once I was completely ready with my keys in hand about to walk out the door, I sent Jay a text to let him know I was only ten minutes away.
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    2003: Shawntay
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    â€œWake ya ass up, little girl.” I shook Shannon’s small fragile body. “Pull them pissy-ass panties back up so we can go!” Not the least bit concerned that the John Doe I tricked with last night also got off on little girls, I had no intentions of playing gentle with Shannon. She might’ve been my daughter but she wasn’t all my blood. Each day of her existence has been a harsh reminder of my hatred for her father. Shannon’s long, silky hair and high yellow complexion got her far too many compliments anyway. She might as well get used to niggas using her for her looks now, ’cause that’s all I’ve ever been worth.
    â€œHurry up, trick. I ain’t got all day for you and this whiny-ass brat.”
    â€œWe’re going, nigga, damn!” Snatching Shannon and the few Barbie dolls I let her bring so I could use them to demonstrate how ol’ boy would touch her private parts, I was booking out of the door so I could get to chasing my high. He’d given me a hundred for the fuck plus an extra bill to rub on Shannon’s baby twat. At first I called him a sick-minded fuck, cursing the day he was born, but after drinking a fifth of bumpy-face vodka, smoking a dime bag of loud Kush, and having him treat me to a line of coke, I might as well put his fingers into her panties myself.
    â€œMommy, he hurt me,” Shannon cried out as we ran out the door down the flight of stairs.
    â€œI know, just hush up. Plenty of men are gonna hurt you, girl. It’s all part of being a woman. You want to be like Mommy right?” Bending down in my too-small micro miniskirt, I tried bonding with my little one.
    â€œI guess. NaNa says you ain’t shit though.” Some might’ve assumed this was crazy but I let Shannon curse. It didn’t make no difference to me if she learned to speak the proper King’s English like her father’s side ’cause growing up with me, she was doomed from the start.
    â€œFuck your NaNa, Shannon. She don’t know nothing about me. Her ass is just a worker for the devil.” I grabbed her face, making sure every word I said was clearly understood. I’d hated Sally with every pulse in my body since seeing her limp into my hospital room. The eight-hour visitations Sally and James spent with Shannon were full of bashing sessions about me. “If you don’t remember nothing else in this cold world, Shannon, remember this: your value to a man don’t go further than it takes for him to nut. It might’ve seemed like a lifetime last night, baby girl, but trust me, it’ll get easier as you get older, trust me. Now keep up; Mommy’s got some stops to make!”
    Since I was