Love, Roses, and Stick Ups Read online

  LOVE, ROSES, AND

  STICK UPS

  A NOVEL BY

  NEE NEE VERMONDEZ

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  This novel is a work of fiction. Any reference to real people, events, establishments, or locales is intended only to give the fiction a sense of reality and authenticity. Other names, characters, and incidents occurring in the work are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, as are those fictionalized events and events that involve real persons. Any character that happens to share the name of a person who is any acquaintance of the author, past or present, is purely coincidental and is in no way intended to be an actual account involving that person.

  Copyright © 2014

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portion thereof in any form whatsoever.

  1

  PROLOGUE

  7 years earlier.....

  Pepper watched as her battered mother Vanessa lowered her bruised body into the tub. She had been beaten once again by her boyfriend Jose for failing to pay him the money she'd made selling her body on the streets to care for her and her teen daughter. Pepper was furious because it was nothing she could do about it. Jose was too powerful to touch and she was just a youngster. She wanted so desperately for her mother to let Jose be and get a job or live off the government like everyone else in their neighborhood. It was better than getting beat every other day and having different men run up in your pussy possibly exposing you to all kinds of diseases.

  Pepper had a disgusted look on her face, but it wasn't towards her mother. She was disgusted with everything about their lives. They lived in a run-down apartment with pissy hallways and dope-fiends. Pepper dreamt of the day a miracle would happen and God would take them away from the disgusting place they were forced to live in. It was only wishful thinking though. Her mother didn't have any money and neither had any family in the states.

  "I'm gonna get that nigga. Watch. I'm tired of him beating me like this!" Vanessa spat.

  She truly was growing tired of the beatings and she had a plan to take out Jose but she wasn't going to share that with her teen Daughter. Pepper huffed in frustration because she had heard the same song a million times. Her mother had been saying she would leave Jose for 3 years and she still hadn't done it. Pepper sometimes couldn't understand how her mother could be so stupid and stay with a man who beat her senseless. Pepper had made a mental note long ago that she would never put up with a man hitting her, Ever. And if he did, that would be the last time he ever laid hands on anyone.

  "Ma, you've been saying that for the longest now. I'm tired of hearing it! Stop saying you'll do it and just Do it!" a frustrated Pepper yelled.

  Under normal circumstances she knew better than to yell at her mother, but she grew tired of Vanessa acting like a stupid teenage girl. Pepper felt she was smarter than her mother and that was a shame.

  "Who the fuck you yelling at?! I'm your mother you better watch your fucking tone!" Vanessa shouted, staring a hole through her daughter.

  She wanted to reach up and smack Pepper for disrespecting her but her body was too weak. Pepper didn't say another word. She washed her mother’s body and helped her out of the tub. Once Vanessa was dressed and in bed, Pepper took her shower and prepared for bed as well.

  ****

  When Pepper woke up in the morning, she got dressed for school and waited for her best friend China to come by so they could go to school together. Pepper met China about 2 years ago when China was about to get jumped by some low-down dirty hood-rat hoes who were jealous of her because she was so pretty and smart. Pepper still remembered the scared frantic look on China's face. She knew she couldn't just walk away and let the hood-rats jump an innocent girl. Pepper jumped in and stopped everything. Ever since then the two ladies had been inseparable.

  Waiting for China, Pepper walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. She was starving and hadn't eaten anything in 2 days. She didn't understand how her mother could spend the little money she earned from tricking on clothes and shoes and other bullshit for herself and not go grocery shopping. Pepper grabbed her growling stomach and marched back to her mother’s bedroom.

  "Mom, I'm hungry. I need some money," Pepper whined. Vanessa sleepily opened her eyes and glared at her daughter.

  "Girl, I don't have any money," Vanessa told her, switching positions in bed.

  She was lying. She still had the $500 she made last night and refused to give to Jose. Truthfully, Vanessa wanted the $ 500 to order a hit on Jose. She knew with a real hit-man it would cost her more than that, so she hired a Dope-fiend that said he would do it for the $500. Vanessa wanted to dead Jose for not only beating her ass, but to take his money so she and her daughter could move and start living well. He still hung around the blocks and posted on the streets like he wasn't the man and as if no one would run up on him. No one actually tried to do him in but that was about to change.

  Pepper sucked her teeth because she knew her mother was lying. Pepper wasn't stupid. She knew she still had the money from tricking last night.

  "So you're just gonna' let me leave the house starving?"

  "You're 15 years old, Pepper. Feed yourself! Be independent like I was at your age. If I was hungry, I didn't wait for my mom and dad to feed me, I went out and fed myself," Vanessa bragged. "And what good are those lil friends of yours if they can't even provide you with a hot meal? Maybe you need new friends!" Vanessa said.

  "Or a new mother," Pepper said to herself as she turned around to leave. She was frustrated with her mother. Pepper walked out of the apartment and as she was making her exit she bumped into China.

  "Dang, girl. Why you rushing out the apartment like that? " A curious China wanted to know.

  "I'm just sick of my Mom that's all. There's no food in the house and I'm starving! She talking about feed yourself. How I’ma do that with no money, job, a hustle, or anything?!"

  China looked at her friend. "Girl, why you ain't tell none of us you were up in here starving? One of us would've brought you something!"

  "You know I don't like asking people for shit," Pepper told her.

  China waved her off.

  "Girl, cut the bull. If you're hungry you need to speak up. Before school we'll stop at McDonald's, ok?" Pepper nodded her head.

  She was thankful to have someone that cared about her because obviously her own mother didn't care enough. The two ladies exited the building and started walking towards the bus stop. When they got there, they spotted their other friends Nay-Nay, Mo'esha & Si-Si.

  "Look at these bitches," Mo'esha playfully said when she saw Pepper and China approaching.

  Si-Si and Nay-Nay followed Mo'esha's glare and spotted Pepper and China walking across the street towards them.

  "Hey, y'all!" Nay-Nay waved.

  Ten minutes later the girls jumped on the bus and headed to school.

  ***

  Pepper walked through the door of the apartment her and her mother shared together after a long day at school. When she entered the place, she could hear talking in her mother’s bedroom. Pepper only could hope it wasn't Jose and that her mother once again forgave him. Pepper threw her book-bag on the worn out green sofa in the living-room and walked into the kitchen to once again look in the refrigerator to see if her mother had gotten anything. Although China had bought her a burger before school and she had lunch in school she was still hungry.r />
  To Peppers surprise, there was a little food. She saw lunch meat, Pepper jack cheese and a loaf of bread. Pepper quickly grabbed the turkey lunch meat and cheese from the fridge and prepared herself a sandwich. When she was done making her sandwich she heard her mother’s door open and out walked one of the crack head’s she'd seen around the neighborhood. Pepper frowned in confusion. What was a dope-fiend doing in their apartment with her mother? The dope-head walked out of the apartment without acknowledging Pepper, which was fine with her. Right behind the crack head was Vanessa. She looked at her daughter and could read the confused expression on her face.

  "Don't be looking at me like that, Pepper. Mind your business little girl." Vanessa pointed a finger at her. Pepper just rolled her eyes.

  Yes, she wanted to question her mother but she knew better. She finished her sandwich and walked into her bedroom to call her crew.

  "What y'all bitches doing tonight?" Pepper asked all of them.

  Mo'esha was the first to speak. "Shid, nothing. You know I don't have any money."

  Pepper waited for the others to speak. "We're not doing anything either," Si-Si spoke for the rest of the crew.

  "Y'all wanna come over and chill on the stoop?" Pepper didn't want to sit inside the apartment on a Friday night but she also didn't want to go outside alone.

  All ladies agreed to come over. Vanessa was gone and had been gone all day. Pepper figured her mother was out being up to no good like always. It was nothing new to her when the girls arrived, they brought snacks and pop.

  "Yo, I wish we had money like everybody else to go out and do something other than sitting on the stoop all the time being lame," China spoke up, shaking her head.

  "Yeah, me too! This shit getting boring! We need to come up some way," Mo'esha, the craziest one out the crew said.

  Pepper just sat thinking. She had been thinking about how to get some money for a long time now. She was tired of being broke and semi-bummy—although she had clothes and shoes but none of which were name brand.

  "Come up? How we gon’ do that?" Si-Si asked, looking at Mo'esha. Mo'esha puffed on her Black-N-Mild before she answered.

  "Hell, I don't know! Somehow! The neighborhoods we live in mufukas only come up two ways, boosting or Slanging Drugs hugging the block."

  Nay-Nay let out a slight chuckle.

  "Girl, we bitches. I don't see no females hugging the block! Where we gonna' get the work? Y'all sound crazy," Nay-Nay was the pretty sassy type that only cared really about being pretty and getting boys. To be so prissy, her gear wasn't up to par.

  "Shid, we could get the work from Jose! Ain't that yo mom’s man, Pepper?" Mo'esha asked, focusing her attention on Pepper.

  Pepper instantly became upset. "Hell nah, that's not my mom man!"

  "She's fucking with him though! Everybody knows that," Mo'esha reminded.

  Before Pepper could respond, Jose's White Lincoln pulled up roughly to the curb. Before the car could even come to a stop, Vanessa jumped out of the car and ran into the apartment. Pepper knew something was wrong. She hopped up quickly and followed her mother inside. Once inside the apartment, she could hear her mother yelling in Spanish. She was saying how she was going to kill Jose. Pepper made her way back to her mother’s room where her mother was pacing back and forth. She had huge dark sun glasses on her face and Pepper could see a dark purple bruise under Vanessa's right eye.

  "Mom, did he hit you again?" Pepper asked through clenched teeth. She was fuming. She felt she couldn't take it anymore. She was ready to explode.

  "Get out of my room, Pepper!" Vanessa yelled. "Don't worry about me! I’ma handle everything now go to bed!"

  Pepper couldn't understand why her mother seemed so angry at her. She was truly growing tired of the entire situation. She wanted to dead Jose for keep putting his hands on her mother but she knew she didn't have the tools to do it. Pepper exited the apartment and went back outside where the crew was still waiting.

  "Ya mom’s ok?" asked a concerned China.

  "Yeah, she cool. That punk bitch Jose hit her again," Pepper told them.

  "What?!" Mo'esha yelled. "He be hitting your mom’s? How the fuck you put up with that? If it were me I'd dead that nigga, straight up! "Mo'esha mouthed. The crew knew she was dead serious. Mo'esha was the crazy type that's why Pepper liked her. She reminded Pepper a lot of herself. No one knew Pepper really had a dark-side but China. She witnessed it on the day they had met while scrapping with those hood-rats. Had everyone not told Pepper to stop, she would've beaten the girl to death.

  "Damn, that's messed up." Si-Si voiced.

  The girls chilled on the stoop for another 15 minutes before Pepper grew tired and wanted to go in the house to sleep. When she got inside, her mother was talking on the phone with someone. Pepper was too tired to even try to figure out who it was. She was exhausted from the day and just wanted to shower and get in bed. All that was on her mind was Jose and how much she disliked him. She vowed to herself that if he hit her mother again, she'll dead him some way, somehow. Little did she know, that time was going to come soon.

  ****

  Pepper woke up the next day and was out the house bright and early. She wanted to avoid her mother because she was still upset with her. Pepper walked a half block to China's house. It was 11am so she figured China would be up and dressed by now. When she arrived, she lightly tapped on the door and it immediately swung open. China looked like she was on her way out somewhere.

  "Where were you going?" Pepper asked.

  "I was on my way to your house. I got a couple dollars and I wanted to see if you wanted to get ice cream." Pepper got excited and told her she would like that a lot.

  "Hey, what happened last night after we left? Jose didn't come back did he? China wanted to know. "Nah, he ain't come back. And nothing happened. I tried to find out what really happened but you know how my mom is. Told me to go to bed and not worry about it," Pepper shook her head in disgust.

  "What she mean, don't worry? You're her daughter! You're supposed to worry!"

  "Yeah, tell that to her."

  Pepper really wasn't in the mood for the conversation and was glad when they reached the ice cream shop. The girls arrived at UDF and got their ice cream.

  After, they hooked up with the other girls and hung out the rest of the day. When Pepper arrived back home it was 30 minutes pass 10 o'clock. Pepper actually felt better after spending the entire day with her crew. She refused to let anything upset her once she got home. When she walked through the door her mother was in the kitchen, cooking. Since Pepper had already eaten a pizza with the girls she wasn't hungry so she made her way back to her room and undressed. Her mother didn't even once turn around to acknowledge her but Pepper figured she was just too wrapped up in her conversation on the phone. After a long hot shower, Pepper crawled in bed and just stared at the ceiling. She was tired of living like this. She had been thinking for months on how she and her crew could stop being Lame Semi-Bummy girls and come up not only with Money, but to start getting noticed on the streets by Boys and Girls. Pepper didn't know how or when she was going to propose the Idea to her crew, but she knew Without a Doubt Mo'esha, Si-Si & China would be down. The only one who may object is Nay-Nay. Pepper Also thought about having a name for their crew once they agreed on how they were Going to go about their mission. Every great crew had a Catchy name.

  Pepper was drifting off to sleep when her mother walked into her room without knocking. "Pepper, get up. I wanna talk to you," Vanessa said, sitting on the edge of Pepper's bed.

  Pepper sat up and made herself comfortable. She didn't know what the conversation was going to be about this time. Whenever her mother came to talk to her it was always about bad news.

  "What's up, Ma?"

  Vanessa took a puff out of the joint she was smoking and exhaled the smoke before she spoke.

  "Listen, I know I haven't been the easiest to deal with throughout the years. I know I haven't been the mother you've always wa
nted me to be, but I promise you tomorrow, everything will be better. We're going to move out of this apartment up to Mason, Ohio or somewhere; and we're going to buy a car and be happy together," Vanessa paused and looked at her daughter who was staring at her with a confused expression.

  "Pepper, you hear me?" Vanessa asked.

  "What are you talking about? How are we going to move with no money, ma?” Pepper was confused.

  "We gonna' have some money tomorrow, Pepper!" Vanessa yelled, growing slightly irritated at Peppers questioning. "Just trust me. So start packing your bags."

  And with that Vanessa rose up off the bed and walked out of the room leaving Pepper sitting there, confused.

  Pepper sat stoned-faced. How were they going to get enough money to move to Mason? People with jobs and a lot of money usually lived there, not poor people like her and her mother. Pepper knew better than to question her mother any further. Pepper wasn't stupid though. She kind of had an idea of where the money would be coming from, but she decided not to entertain the thought and to just go back to sleep.

  The next morning Pepper was up bright and early packing her bags like her mother had told her to do last night. She didn't pack up everything because part of her knew they weren't going anywhere. Once majority of her things were packed in black garbage bags, Pepper's cell phone sounded off. She picked up her cell phone and saw Si-Si's name pop up on the screen. Pepper pressed the Answer button.

  "What's up?" Pepper spoke into the phone.

  "Hey, what you doing? You wanna go get something to eat?" Si-Si asked.

  "Yeah, sure. But can you come to my house? I'm not even dressed yet."

  After Si-Si agreed to come over first, Pepper quickly jumped into the shower. When she got out she dressed in a simple pair of blue jeans and white shirt with white thong sandals. She put her hair in a high messy ponytail. Once she was dressed, she heard a knock at the door. She assumed it was Si-Si. Pepper Flung open the door and to her surprise it wasn't Si-Si, but it was Jose. Pepper felt her temper quickly rise but she kept her cool.