Material Girl Read Online Free Page A

was in the home, not in the streets.
    Of course, Candy felt differently. Since childhood, she’d dreamed of being a star just like her mother, and she wasn’t going to let her pregnancy or her husband’s disapproval stop her. Candy prayed that Bill would eventually come around to seeing things her way, but by the time Dylan was five, the once unsinkable love they shared had become non-existent. Candy’s career hadn’t taken off as she’d planned, and Bill had found comfort in someone younger and new.
    Candy pretended like she didn’t see it coming, but deep down inside, she had already felt him slipping away. Plenty of nights had gone by where she left him at home alone. Time and time again, she let him down. She didn’t care that she was causing him so much misery and pain. And yes, when he left she was filled with regret, but Candy couldn’t concern herself with that.
    At the ripe age of twenty-five, she found herself divorced with a five-year-old daughter who looked too much like the man who had betrayed her heart. Determined not to let her unfortunate circumstances take over her life, Candy got even. She knew that Bill loved Dylan more than life itself, so out of spite, she filed for full custody and won. Candy knew it would hurt, but she felt it prudent for him to experience a woman’s scorn.
    And no, she didn’t have any job skills, but she did have a steady alimony and child support check coming in monthly. Five years and two divorces later, Candy and Dylan had moved more than twelve times.
    Dylan yearned for her father. It wasn’t fair that she only got to see him twice a year, so like most little girls her age, when alone, she shut out the real world and created her own. Dylan was the only little girl she knew who laid out Barbie’s clothes for the week.
    Furthermore, she didn’t want to deal with the fact that she had more uncles and step-dads than she could possibly name. Some were nice, some were funny, and some were ugly. But the one that stood out the most was the one who was a little too touchy.
    His name was Chauncey. He was her mother’s boyfriend after her third divorce. One night while Dylan was asleep, he came into her room and placed his hand underneath her covers.
    Dylan could feel his cold, clammy hands ease up her thigh, but pretended to be asleep, praying he would go away. Each second that went by felt like an eternity as his fingers neared closer to her panties. Before Dylan could come to grips with what was happening, Chauncey began to massage her vagina. Frightened beyond belief, Dylan opened her mouth to scream. She heard the sound of a loud thud echoing throughout the room, and someone fell to the hard wooden floor. Opening her eyes, she found her mother standing over Chauncey’s limp body with a metal shovel.
    After the police were called, Candy held a shaken Dylan in her arms and promised that from then on, things would be different. But three weeks later, they were on to another city and Candy was under a new man.
    For years, Dylan continued to be subjected to her mother’s lifestyle; that was, until she turned eighteen and moved in with her father permanently. Having missed his daughter terribly, Bill spoiled her rotten. The family-owned brewery was now his. Dylan didn’t have to want for a thing.
    Sadly, she and her father only spent a couple of years together before he died of a heart attack. Dylan now lived off of her trust fund.
    What the hell could she possibly want? She wondered as she sat on a bar stool. It better not be money. Hell her ass still owes me five grand from the last time we spoke.
    Already aggravated, Dylan picked up the phone and dialed her mother’s number. Three rings later, her mother answered.
    “Holla-holla!” Candy said instead of hello.
    “Hi, Ma,” Dylan responded dryly.
    “What’s going on wit’ you, chunky? I ain’t heard from you in a while.”
    “That’s because you haven’t called.” Dylan’s mouth tightened at the mention of