Sister Girls 2

Book 2: Sister Girls

by Angel M. Hunter

Genres: African American Urban

Synopsis

Sister Girls 2 will catch you up with some old characters and introduce you to the new. Feeling unfulfilled professionally and looking for a higher purpose, Elsie has decided to leave her law firm and start a non-profit organization. Even while faithfully attending church, she struggles between the desires of the flesh and her spirituality. She also reconnects with an old friend who may change the course of her life forever. Faith, the newly hired therapist of the organization, is married to Jared, a self-made millionaire who controls Faith by reminding her that “without me, you would be nothing.” Grateful for the lifestyle he provides and the support he offered during her addiction, Faith puts up with more than the average wife would. She will need to learn what’s more important, her dignity or stability. Harmony, a young mother with three baby daddies, attends workshops at the organization.  She’s tired of living in the hood and barely surviving. She’s ready to let go of her promiscuous past, make changes in her life, and better herself.  Her first step is finding out who is the father of her first child. Will her journey strengthen or destroy her current relationship? And rounding out the cast of characters is Pastor Bella Gold. While guiding others, she tries to come to terms with her past and her secret shame. Will she succeed, or resign from the pulpit? Whether forced to make changes in their lives by circumstance or choice, the women in this story discover their true selves and learn about their own power.

Release date: December 29, 2015

Publisher: Urban Renaissance

Print pages: 336

Sample

Bella got into prostitution because she thought no one wanted her and that she wasn’t anyone special. Sex made her feel extraordinary. She had something men would pay for and yes, she admitted sometimes—even women.

This is why she did not preach on such topics as homosexuality because she had been there and done that—it was her belief that what mattered most is what’s in a person’s heart. She just wished others believed this as well because the world would then be a much better place.

The word had also gotten around how liberal her church was. You can come dressed up. You can come dressed down. You can come looking any way you like as long as you did not come naked and that was enough to pack a full house every Sunday. She was proud of this. Her ability to keep up made her uncertain.

Bella questioned whether she deserved the life she was living; based on her past, she felt she did not. She knew God forgave all sins, and if you let her tell it, her sins were of a magnitude that required constant prayer even years later. It was a good thing God was her savior because she didn’t think anyone else would know how to handle her.

Bella sat up in the bed. There was no way she was going back to sleep so she might as well do something productive, like clean the house before she went to the opening of the Essence of Self Center.

Insomnia is a bitch, Bella thought to herself, but not without adding, Lord, forgive me. Every now and then an occasional swear word came out, usually when she was alone. Once again, she asked for forgiveness. Sometimes Bella had to laugh to herself because it seemed like she was always asking for forgiveness. She wondered what her congregation would think of that.

Bella did the same thing in the same order every morning. She got on her knees and prayed for about thirty minutes, not that she timed her prayers. It just always worked out that way. It was like clockwork or maybe it was the inner workings of the Lord. Then she would pull out her Bible, read, take notes and work on her sermons.

Afterwards she would make herself a light breakfast and a cup of tea. She’d relax for a little while and then get up to do charity work or go on various appointments.

Bella couldn’t believe this was her life. She couldn’t believe that she wasn’t running from anyone, that she wasn’t hiding out, and that she wasn’t selling her body. All those things were in her past.

A miracle, that’s what she considered herself and her life.

Bella never had a childhood. If she did, she didn’t remember it. She actually didn’t remember anything prior to the third grade.

Where she lived, who she lived with, it was all a mystery to her. Who her parents were and what they looked like were also unknown.

Bella was all alone in the world. She never really had a place to call home. She’d never really had a family to call her own. She never had much of anything. She grew up feeling like it was her against the world. Now she felt like it was her and God trying to conquer the world.

What she did remember is going from home to home as a foster child, being either abused, mistreated, or made to feel as though she were a maid.

One family she stayed with made it no secret that they were just in it for a check. They never took her anywhere, bought her the basics of the basics, the necessities, and that was that. She yearned for love. She yearned for someone to tell her she was worthwhile and that she meant the world to them. This never happened. There were many nights when she lay in bed crying and wondering why she was even born.

When Bella turned fourteen, she decided enough was enough. She was fed up with being an afterthought. She decided to make a plan and run away. I can take care of myself. Bella figured that what her foster parents did for her she could do for herself. She looked older than her age, so finding a job shouldn’t be that difficult. She could go to school during the daytime and work at night.

All she had to do was come up with some money that would tie her over until she got settled. She needed money now, she needed money yesterday. Babysitting was one way. She couldn’t really think of another, unless it involved stealing.

Bella thought about the girls she went to school with. The girls everyone wanted to be around, who always had on the fly gear. These girls boosted for a living. They would find out what people wanted from the mall, take orders, go steal it and charge them half of what they would normally pay. From what she heard in the hallways, they were making a large profit.

Bella wondered if that was something she could do and get away with. Would they say yes to her if she went up to them and asked if she could be down? Would they laugh or would they kick her ass?

She didn’t know but she was willing to find out. Her life, her very existence depended on it.

Before approaching them and asking if she could be a part of their posse, Bella decided she would try her hand at stealing, to see if it was even something she could do on her own.

She chose a Saturday to attempt it. She was home alone the majority of the day. All she had to do was sneak out, catch the bus to the mall, and proceed from there.

That whole week, she’d been collecting change from around the house and taking a dollar here, five dollars there out of her foster mom’s purse and as luck would have it, one of the neighbors came by Friday in need of an emergency babysitter.

“Please, can I do it?” Bella begged. She was certain her foster parents would say no; after all, they didn’t let her do much of anything.

To her surprise, they said yes. When she thought about it later, she shouldn’t have been surprised, because she knew to them it meant more time for her to be out of their way.

That evening she watched the clock. Every time she looked up only fifteen minutes had passed. So to make the time go by quicker, Bella went to her room and tried to lay down for a nap.

As she was dozing off, her foster mom walked in her room. She never knocked; after all this was her house, she was fond of saying over and over.

“Aren’t you supposed to be babysitting?”

Bella looked at the clock, it was time for her to leave.

As she walked to the neighbor’s house, Bella tried to think of things she was going to do with their two kids, who were six and four. She hoped they knew how to entertain themselves.

When she arrived next door, Mr. Lee let her in. “Hi Bella, we’re glad you could do this.”

“I’m glad I could too,” she told him. “I really need the money.”

“You’re saving up for something?” Mr. Lee asked.

Bella wanted to say, “Yeah, I’m saving up to move the fuck out,” but being the respectful fourteen-year-old that she was trying to be, she just told him, “yes.”

Mr. Lee followed Bella into the house.

Bella could practically feel him on the heels of her sandals, he was walking that close to her. If she stopped, he might have run into the back of her.

“So, how long has it been since you’ve been with the Reeds?”

“Almost two years.”

“Are they treating you good?”

“As well as can be expected.” Why was he asking her all these questions ?

By this time they were in the living room, Bella looked around. “Where’s the kids?

“My wife is bathing them, we’re leaving right afterward.”

“What time will you be back?” Bella found herself crossing her arms because if she wasn’t mistaken, Mr. Lee was staring at her breasts.

“Probably around midnight, you might want to see if you could spend the night.”

On that note he walked off.

About ten to fifteen minutes later, Mr. Lee, his wife, and the kids appeared.

“Here’s the number you can reach us at in case of an emergency. Remember we’ll be late returning, so see if you can stay over.”

“I will, and don’t worry, I’ll take good care of your babies,” Bella assured them.

When they walked out the door, Bella turned toward the kids. “So, what would y’all like to do first?”

As it turned out, it went smoother than Bella expected. All the kids really wanted to do was play games and watch television.

Around 10:30 P.M., the Lees called and told her they’d be back around one in the morning, so she got permission to stay the night.

When the Lees returned home, the kids were in bed and Bella was asleep on the couch. Mrs. Lee covered her with a blanket and went into their bedroom, so Bella thought.

Sometime in the middle of night, Bella felt someone staring at her. When she opened her eyes, she saw that it was Mr. Lee.

“Yes?” she asked in a low tone and feeling uncomfortable.

Mr. Lee whispered, “You’re a beautiful girl, Bella, do you have a boyfriend?”

Bella sat up. She wondered why he was asking her this question in the middle of the night.

“Thank you and no.” What else was there to say? She could tell he was up to something, but she felt paralyzed, as though she couldn’t move.

Mr. Lee sat on the edge of the couch and touched her leg. “Do you want to make some extra money?”

Bella wasn’t stupid, she knew what he was getting at, and she wondered what made him think he could ask her something like that?

“Why?” Even though she was only fourteen, Bella had a little experience not in traditional sex but in oral. One of the boys in school that she had a crush on asked her to suck his dick in the locker room and she did. She thought it would make him like her back, but it didn’t. At first she was devastated but then she was thankful because it was short of a miracle that he didn’t go around bragging.

“There’s something I would like for you to do,” Mr. Lee told her.

She really needed money so she could run away. Would whatever he asked of her be something he’d be willing to pay for?

Mr. Lee took her hand and placed it on his penis. He waited to see what she would do.

Bella looked toward the bedroom. “I’m not sleeping with you.”

“I’m not asking you to, I just want you to touch me and show me your stuff.”

Bella looked toward the bedroom again. She knew what “stuff” he was talking about.

“You don’t have to worry about my wife. She’s sound asleep,” Mr. Lee assured her.

Bella knew this was wrong, she knew she should get up and leave but she also knew he would be willing to give her some money, he’d said so himself. So she reached over and squeezed his penis through his pajama pants.

“Let me see your pussy,” he told her.

Bella closed her eyes, took her hand off his penis, and pulled her dress up. She moved her panties to the side.

She didn’t know how she was supposed to feel, a part of her wanted to cry but desperate times called for desperate measures.

That night, on top of her babysitting money, she received an extra fifty dollars, just for letting him masturbate while she rubbed on herself.

This soon became a routine of theirs. He often asked her to babysit or when his wife wasn’t home he said he needed someone to watch the kids while he worked around the house.

Between Mr. Lee wanting to see her again and her making money off of stolen clothes, she figured she just might be able to move in two months’ time, three at the most.

Bella knew she was wrong for what she was doing but all she was thinking about was survival, hers.

Stealing was easier than she thought, especially when the stores were busy. She discovered she didn’t have to be down with anyone, she could do this on her own.

Over the next couple of weeks Bella wore her new clothes to school. When someone complimented her on her gear, she let it slip what she was doing. She even cut her price under 50 percent to beat out the competition.

Bella tried to justify what she and Mr. Lee were doing by telling herself it wasn’t that bad because she wasn’t having sex with him, he just liked to see her naked and play with himself. If he tried to take it further, she was going to end it. Actually, it depended on how much he would offer her.

It didn’t take long for her to find out. After a month of seeing him about twice a week, he finally asked for sex. Scared because she was still physically a virgin, she told him no but when he told her to name her price, she decided to reconsider.

This just might be it, this just might be my opportunity to leave.

“One thousand dollars,” she told him while she thought there was absolutely no way he would agree to it.

To her surprise he did and they arranged for her to cut school so they would meet at a hotel.

This was not the way Bella thought she would lose her virginity but at least she was being paid for it.

She put it in her mind that she was going to have to lose it one day anyway and at least this way it was all under her control.

That day they met at the Holiday Inn, Bella was scared out of her mind. How bad was it going to hurt? How would it happen? She asked herself all these questions and more. Not that it mattered because her clothes were packed. After this was over, she would not be returning to the Reeds’ home.

Before anything happened, she asked him for the money. He handed it over. He also pulled out a little yellow pill.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“It’s something to ease your nerves.”

“I don’t do drugs.”

“It’s not really a drug.”

Bella gave him the I’m not stupid look.

He insisted that she take it. “It’ll take the edge off,” he told her. “You’ll be more relaxed.”

After taking the pill and having a couple of drinks, Bella lost her virginity, all for the sake of cash.

When they were done, Bella saw the blood on the sheets and told Mr. Lee that she was ready for him to leave, that she needed to be by herself.

Of course, he begged to see her again. She just looked at him. She knew she’d never be returning to this place or be in his presence anymore.

Bella didn’t remember a thing about the sex and that was a good thing, but when she saw the blood on the sheets she cried, stood up, took the sheets off the bed, and stuffed them in the garbage can. She then went into the bathroom to take a bath.

As she waited for the tub to fill with water, she thought to herself, I have over three thousand dollars in cash and the ability to steal, what more could a girl ask for?

That day was the beginning of a new life for Bella. It was the day she lost her virginity, the day she turned fifteen, and the day she left the Reeds.

Elsie found herself thinking about babies constantly. She was ready to be a mother, a birth mother, not an adoptive mom, not a foster mom, and not a godmother. She wanted her very own child and she wanted a baby to come out of her womb. The question remained, how it would get there, because she wasn’t up to fucking a man, that wasn’t going to happen.

Elsie was seriously considering getting a sperm donor. Once she got the Essence of Self Center up and running, she was going to start researching the process.

Every morning when she woke up, her mind was on motherhood. Perhaps it was because she often dreamed of her ex-girlfriend, Summer, and her daughter, Winter. If she had not been such an asshole and they would have stayed together, they would be a family. She would be a mother by extension and then maybe, just maybe, she wouldn’t be so pressed to have a child.

It was five in the morning when Elsie glanced at her clock. She hadn’t even set her alarm; it was like her body knew she was on a mission that morning. Elsie stretched across the bed and let out a big yawn.

“God, I thank you for another day,” Elsie said out loud just before she climbed out of the bed. She walked into her bathroom, flicked on the light, opened the doors to her shower, and turned the water on. She had quite a morning planned and there was nothing like a cool shower to wake her body up.

She took off the only thing she wore to bed, her panties, climbed in the shower, stood under the water, and let the coolness hit her body.

She threw her head back, allowing the water to hit her face and run down to her throat, while she psyched herself up for the hour and a half that lay ahead. She was meeting with Angel, her personal trainer, at the park.

Elsie reached on top of the door for her rag, grabbed her peppermint body gel, and wiped her body down while inhaling the scent, invigorating her mind.

Ten minutes later she dried off and threw on some deodorant, sweatpants, a sports bra, and a T-shirt.

Why she let Angel talk her into doing a boot camp workout, was beyond her. She was comfortable sticking with the treadmill and free weights; too bad it wasn’t enough. She wasn’t seeing the changes in her body she wanted to see.

When she told Angel, “I work out almost five days a week. I’ve improved my eating habits but I’m not getting the results I want,” Angel told her, “you should never get too comfortable with your workout because once you do your body gets comfortable, and that’s when you’ll stop seeing changes. What good is it to do all this work if your body stays the same?”

Elsie had to admit, Angel was on point with that one because whenever she looked in the mirror, she saw a lot of changes she wanted to make. Okay, maybe not a lot but a few like the age-old slimmer thighs, flatter belly and tighter ass, every female’s wish list.

When Elsie pulled up to the park, she noticed that Angel was already there and had the audacity to be stretching out.

“What the hell?” Elise asked, as she approached her. “Did you sleep here?”

Angel laughed. “I figured I’d get here first and get a little run in, plus when I show up before my clients, it looks good.”

Elsie chose Angel as a trainer because at the gym, she always seemed personable with the people she was working with. They also seemed to be having a good time. If someone could make working out seem like fun, then that’s who she wanted to train her.

“All right, are you ready to burn fat, build muscle, and sweat for the next hour and fifteen minutes?” Angel asked, as she jumped up and down and warmed up her body.

“I’m always ready,” Elsie lied.

“That’s what I like to hear.”

Elsie looked at Angel and just like she did at every session wished Angel was gay, but she learned a while ago that wasn’t the case.

“I’m strictly, dickly,” was Angel’s response, when Elsie asked her if she’d ever been with a woman.

For the next hour and fifteen minutes, Elsie ran, jumped up steps, squatted, lunged, and did so many push-ups that she had convinced herself she’d lost an inch from that workout alone.

After they walked around the track one final time for a cooldown, Angel hugged Elsie. “Congratulations, girl, today’s your big day, you’re getting ready to change lives with your organization.”

Elsie liked the sound of that. “Yep, I am.”

After they said their good-byes, Elsie went home to get started with the rest of her day. Exhausted and hungry from the workout, she threw some frozen fruit and protein powder in the blender and took another shower.

While in the shower, Elsie placed her hands on her stomach. She was doing all this work to have flat abs and a toned body just to lose the results by eventually having a baby. What was the point, she wondered; it didn’t make any sense, but then again it did, because when she finally got pregnant she wanted to be in the best shape possible.

After her breakup with Summer, Elsie didn’t know what she was going to do relationship-wise. She knew she needed to. . .