Ethic 5 Quotes

“This is Nyair, our pastor, and a friend,” Alani introduced. “You’re a pastor? Like a pastor, pastor?” Aria asked, lifting eyes of surprise. “Like, bless the food, take my tithes, preach a Word, type of pastor?” Nyair gave a half smirk and a nod of confirmation. “I do all of the above,” he said. “Where the fuck they make you at?” Aria asked. “Nigga, I’ll lay all this on your altar.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“Morgan just has to be the center of attention or she isn’t happy,” Bella whispered. Everyone turned to her, in stun. She sat, thumbing through her iPhone and slouching against the couch cushions. “Bella…” Alani whispered. “No, I want to hear this,” Morgan said, voice trembling. “Is that what you think, B?” “You’ve always been that way,” Bella said. “If Daddy wasn’t always paying attention to you, you’d have a fit. So, he took some of mine and gave it to you. He took some of Eazy’s and gave it to you. He loved us half the time, so he could extra love you. Now, he loves Alani, and you want to take what he’s giving her too. You’re selfish with him, Mo, but he isn’t just yours. He’s all of ours! The whole family needs him, not just you.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“Messiah thought back, his mind floating back in time to the day he’d taken Mo to Stepping Stone Falls to let her high come down. That morning. He’d found out that morning. He had been diagnosed with cancer. It was the biggest reason he had warned Morgan that he would never be able to stay. That he would hurt her. That they would never be. There was no future with him. No wedding. No growing old together. He knew that it would hurt her to only have him for a little while, but that small moment of time that they had carved out was the best days of his life. Those days outweighed every ounce of pain he had ever felt. He looked at his illness as a blessing, because he would have never crossed the line with Morgan if he hadn’t been diagnosed that day. Hearing that he was sick made him want to risk what little time he had left on her. Messiah couldn’t allow himself to die without indulging in an angel. Morgan had been his biggest blessing and he had been her biggest curse. She would never know how sorry he was. He would never be able to tell her. “It’s been awhile. About a year or so,” he said. “You’re 180 pounds. According to your records from your doctors in Michigan, you were 225 at your last visit. You know what that means, right? They should have told you what to look for. The signs. You should have…” “I know,” he said. “I was busy living. I didn’t want to take the time out to die. I found a girl to love me for a little while. It was worth it.” Messiah stepped down and the woman looked at him in stun.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“We don’t always get the explanations or apologies we deserve. People don’t always love you right. The only thing you can control is how you love yourself.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“You never let another person value you more than you value yourself. People come into our lives and we’re lucky to have them while they choose to stay. We enjoy the time they’re here, but when they leave, they leave, and you must be okay with it being just you again because nothing’s promised.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“The dream where he was standing alone with a gun to his head, finger to the trigger. “God, please no,” she whispered. It took her some time to steady her breathing. The panic that locked up her chest was hard to shake. “It was just a dream. That’s it.” She told herself; but damn if it didn’t feel like so much more. Morgan and Messiah had created a bond that transcended space. She had no idea just how real her dreams were, but as she pulled the cover up over her shoulder, she took a deep breath and whispered, “Bring yo’ ass home…” “I can’t, shorty.” Morgan flipped the covers off her, suddenly, because she heard that shit. She felt it, and suddenly, everything he had ever told her played back in her head. “Something’s wrong…” she whispered, as tears came to her eyes. “Oh my god, Messiah. Where are you?” To be continued…”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“You can’t leave your pieces all over the floor, Mo. You pick your shit up. You put your shit back together and you live to love another day. We don’t always get the explanations or apologies we deserve. People don’t always love you right. The only thing you can control is how you love yourself. Love you, Morgan. Love yourself hard. Over-love you and don’t apologize for it.  That way, when someone is under-loving you, when they’re not serving you, when they’re not giving you the same amount of love you give yourself, you’ll recognize it and stop accepting less than what you’re worth. Cuz you’re worth a lot.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“You never let another person value you more than you value yourself. People come into our lives and we’re lucky to have them while they choose to stay. We enjoy the time they’re here, but when they leave, they leave, and you must be okay with it being just you again because nothing’s promised. No moment, besides the present, is guaranteed.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“You leave this house and I’m lighting up your whole block. There are plenty rooms in this house. Choose one, and go be mad in there,” he said.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“Say you sorry,” he whispered in her ear, as he stroked forward. Alani gritted her teeth. “Nigga, fuck you. I’m not saying shit.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“Bring that ass back. Talk tall, walk tall, baby. Damn, take that shit,” Ethic groaned. “I’ma hit this pussy just as hard as your crazy-ass hit me. Knock your little-ass right out.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“Men had cheated before, but that disloyalty cut differently when you didn’t see it coming. It burned more when you put a man on a pedestal and he hopped off that bitch with disregard.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“The point is... Family has the power to destroy family. Families go to war with each other, and that’s what this is…a battle between members of this family, but I’ll bet if somebody walked in here and tried to hurt any one of you on this couch, there would be a problem.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“You only mourn the loss of a good man. Losing a nigga that ain’t shit is a win.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“The way he manipulated her clit made Alani go crazy. She came hard, gripping his head, as he sucked her soul from her body.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“You can, Mo. If that’s what you want. You’re not obligated to make any decision on anyone else’s behalf but your own. Not Messiah’s, not mine, not Raven’s. This is your body. If you decide to keep this baby, I’ll be here for you through every single hard day. I’ll come to every appointment, spoil you through every pain, because you’re my daughter and I love you. I’ma hold you down even when a knucklehead-ass boy breaks your heart. You’re not alone.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“She can’t go by herself. Mo won’t make it. You say there’s a God, she won’t make it to Him, without someone to lead her there. If she doesn’t open her eyes, I’ve got to close mine. I’ve got to make sure she gets to God.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“Aria couldn’t help but chuckle. “Sorry, Pastor. I’m just saying. I’m a sinner. I’m in need of prayer. Closed door confession, sir.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“Where the fuck they make you at?” Aria asked. “Nigga, I’ll lay all this on your altar.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“God is in the miracle-granting business,” Nannie said.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“God sits a person down sometimes when they need to rest. When you’re doing too much…God will come and take your legs right from under you and give you a little nap.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“It’s a coma, idiot,” Bella snapped.   “Don’t talk to your brother like that,” Nannie said. “Ever,” she reinforced. “You speak out of love, or not at all, when you’re talking to family.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“Something as simple as sex between a man and woman was not so simple between Ethic and Alani. His need to be inside her, to bathe in her water, was a spiritual cleansing. She purified his dark soul. She was his soul mate.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“She would rather love him with all the heartache that came along with it, than be carefree with someone else.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5

“Men had a way of disgracing a woman, of marking up the walls of her heart, destroying it and then expecting them to function afterward.”
― Ashley Antoinette, Ethic 5