Working Girls Read Online Free Page B

dope partners any mind.
    Halleigh nodded her head again, confirming that in fact she was Sharina’s daughter. A small glimmer of hope ran through her. Since he knew her mother, maybe he really wouldn’t hurt her. For the first time since Halleigh could remember, she had never been more glad to be her Sharina’s daughter. She knew it had to come in handy and do her some good at one point in her life, and what better time than now?
    â€œCan you let me go?” Halleigh asked Scratch, her back still pressed against the wall.
    Scratch looked down and forgot about the fake gun. “Oh yeah,” he said. He pulled the stick out from under his shirt and then threw it to the ground.
    â€œYou out here robbing people with sticks?” Halleigh asked, a sense of relief passing through her. She couldn’t help but chuckle, although what she really wanted to do was take that stick and crack him upside the head; not for trying to rob her with it, but just for the pure stupidity of him thinking he could rob anybody with it.
    â€œIt almost worked, didn’t it?” Scratched let out a slight chuckle himself. “What is a girl like you doing out here on these mean streets this time of night anyway?” Sudden concern now seemed to take over Scratch’s mind.
    The last thing Halleigh wanted to do was stand out there and have a conversation with a man who’d just tried to rob her. She wanted to leave the raggedy man in the alley, but she knew he had a jones. She could tell, because she’d seen the same look in her mother’s eyes many a night. And with that, thoughts of her mother and this man’s relationship piqued her curiosity.
    â€œI was just running to the store,” Halleigh told the man. “How do you know my mother?”
    â€œMe and Sharina used to get high together.” Scratch thought back to the days when he and Sharina used to do more than just get high together. Back before Scratch was so strung out, he and Sharina used to kick it. Back then, neither one of them were users. He remembered how Sharina used to look up to him for being such a major player in the game. But once she learned of his drug use, she looked at him the same way a sinner would look at her pastor who done fell from grace. She felt like, hell, if Scratch could do it, then why couldn’t she?
    Scratch tried to tell Sharina that the shit wasn’t for her; but who was he to tell her that when, by then, he had started using pretty heavy himself? Still looking up to him, Sharina wanted to be on that same high. And before they knew it, the two found themselves no longer hooking up to keep each other company, but hooking up to get high together.
    â€œHow’s Sharina doing these days?” Scratch asked, thinking about their pre-addict times together.
    â€œI don’t know. I don’t fuck with her like that no more.” Bitterness laced Halleigh’s tone. “Last time I saw her she was more worried about a fix than she was me.”
    Scratch could sense Halleigh’s feeling of disgust toward her mother and made an attempt to comfort her. “Aaah, that’s just Sharina. But you know what? High or not, she sure did love her some you.” Scratch smiled. “She loved her baby girl; talked about you all the time.” Scratch wasn’t exaggerating. Sharina did love her daughter with all of her heart, and she still did to this day. It’s just that her mind had power over her heart; and her mind needed the drug.
    â€œOh yeah,” Halleigh spat. “Well, actions speak louder than words.”
    â€œLook, you don’t understand, baby girl. That crack rock ain’t no joke. Scratch know that shit. It ain’t just no little monkey either. It’s more like a gorilla; like King Kong, you know. It overpowers everything. So don’t be too hard on your moms.”
    â€œTuh, that’s an understatement.” Halleigh begged to differ.
    Scratch could