Love, Roses, and Stick Ups Read online

  "What the fuck do you want?" Pepper spat, not giving a fuck about her tone. She hated Jose and he had some nerve showing his face after hitting her mother again.

  "Aye, lil bitch ain't nobody here for you!" Jose yelled. "Go get your, mama!"

  Pepper didn't move. She refused to back down from Jose. She didn't care about how powerful he was. She was growing more and more agitated about the situation.

  Jose stepped in Peppers face trying to intimidate her. "I said, where's your mom?"

  Before Pepper could react, Si-Si and Mo'esha came charging up the stairs. When they saw Jose up in Pepper's face they charged for him but In one swift he was out the way and flying down the stairs.

  "Yo, what the fuck was that about?" Mo'esha questioned, out of breath.

  "Yeah, what was that?"

  Pepper shook her head from side to side. She was fuming. She wanted so badly to spit in Jose's face for stepping in her face. It was in that moment that she knew she needed to start making a point to people, and that point was not to fuck with her.

  "He was looking for my Mom," Pepper told them, walking back into the apartment.

  "But why was he up in yo' face?" Mo'esha questioned, taking a seat on the ugly green couch.

  "Because when I opened the door I asked him what the fuck he wanted." Pepper walked into the kitchen to get herself something to drink.

  "Well, that nigga need his ass beat for being up in your face like that. I know you gonna ' tell your moms, right?” Si-Si asked.

  Pepper had no intentions on telling her mother because she knew her mother wouldn't do anything about it. But she told Si-Si "Yes" just to end the conversation.

  "Come on. Are y'all ready to go?" Pepper asked. "Bitch, why your bags packed? Where you going?" Mo'esha asked, walking out of Pepper's room.

  "I'll tell y'all when we get out of here."

  The girls walked the 5 blocks to the nearest McDonald's and ordered something to eat. Pepper really didn't want to tell them about her leaving the hood because she was certain that she wasn't going anywhere, but she knew her friends weren't going to let it go. As soon as their asses hit the booth Mo'esha was right on it.

  "So, why your bags packed?"

  Pepper sighed, than ate a fry. "My mom said we were moving to Mason later today."

  Both Mo'esha and Si-Si glared at each other in confusion.

  "Mason!" Si-Si yelled. "How the hell y'all moving to Mason with no money?"

  "My mom said we'll have the money today. Y'all know we ain't going nowhere! I just packed my bags because she told me to," Pepper said.

  The girls ate their food than decided to go over Nay-Nay's house than to China's. It was 9 o'clock pm and the girls had been watching cable for 6 hours straight. Since China was the only one of the five to have cable they all would gather at her house and watch videos. Once 10 o'clock rolled around, the girls decided to leave and go home. Pepper was anxious to get home to see if her and her mother really would be leaving. When she arrived home, Vanessa was sitting on the couch watching TV peeking out the window. "I knew it." Pepper thought to herself. She rushed back to her room and slammed the door. Although she knew they weren't leaving the hood, she was upset because a part of her wanted to believe her mother. Pepper quickly undressed and flopped down in her bed. Tears streamed down her face. She was upset with not only her mother but the life her mother provided for her. "Why would she have me if she knew our lives wouldn't be shit?!" Pepper yelled to herself. She cried herself to sleep.

  The loud blast made Pepper jump out of her sleep. At first, she didn't know what the noise was until it sunk in that it was a gunshot. Hearing gun fire was nothing new in the hood so Pepper thought nothing of it until she heard a loud banging at her door. Pepper jumped out of bed and ran into the living-room unlocking the door. She noticed that her mother wasn't home.

  "Pepper! Your mom’s been shot! I called the police!" their neighbor, Ms. Franchise yelled frantically. "Somebody shot her! She's laid out outside!"

  Fear sunk in Pepper as she darted out of the apartment barefoot to go see about her mother. When Pepper bust open the door to the outside she lost it. Her mother was laid out on the concrete bleeding from the skull. The sounds of police sirens and Ambulance filled the air. Pepper couldn't believe what she was seeing. So many tears built up inside of her eyes and everything became blurry. Pepper was on her knees crying when she heard China yell her name. Pepper weakly lifted her head and saw her crew running towards her.

  "Oh, my God! Pepper, what happened? "China asked, trying to console her friend.

  Pepper glanced over at her mother whom the ambulance people had covered with a white sheet. Pepper lost it because it was then that she knew her mother was dead.

  Nay-Nay, Mo'esha, Si-Si and China all gathered around Pepper telling her how sorry they all were for her lost. After they took her mother away in an ambulance and the police questioned her about what happened and she told them she knew nothing, the girls took Pepper back to China's place.

  "Damn, how the fuck did this happen, yo!" yelled Mo'esha. "Who the fuck would kill your mom’s like that? Shoot her in the head? Damn!"

  China shook her head with tears in her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Pepper. Damn, what the fuck are we going to do now? Pepper remained silent.

  All kinds of thoughts were going through her head. She had an idea of who might've killed her mother but she didn't know why this person would do it. She also knew that in a couple of days, if not the next day, people would be talking about it and word would get out soon.

  "So, where you gonna ' live now Pepper?" Nay-Nay asked.

  "She go live with all of us, Stupid bitch! Now ain't the time for your stupid ass questions and remarks!" Mo'esha roared.

  "Bitch what the fuck is you talking about? I was just asking!" Nay-Nay yelled back not backing down. Mo'esha flicked Nay-Nay off.

  Pepper couldn't find any words to speak. She was at lost for words. It pained her every-time she thought about her mother getting rocked to sleep. She wasn't the perfect mother but Pepper loved her to death and now she was gone and Pepper was completely on her own. She had no family in the states, they were all back in Puerto Rico and moving back there was definitely out the question. Pepper didn't know she had fallen asleep in China's arms until she woke up and saw all the girls laid out around her sleep except for Mo'esha. China's arms were still wrapped around her. She truly loved China more than the other girls but they were all her friends.

  Mo'esha burst thru the bedroom door, waking everyone up.

  "Aye, y'all get the fuck up! I got some info on what happened!" Mo'esha yelled.

  "What you hear?" Pepper asked, anxiously. She knew that whatever Mo'esha was about to tell them it was going to be something that she already suspected.

  "I just got word that Jose was the one who kill your moms, Pep. I heard that your mom tried to set Jose up and got a dope-fiend to kill him," Mo'esha paused to let the info sink in, then she continued." But Jose had caught the dope-fiend and made him tell him who sent him to do him in and the dope-head said your mother paid him $500 for the hit, Jose killed the dope -fiend too. The police just found his body over by Hooks N' Fish."

  All of the girls looked at Pepper who was staring at the floor. Nothing of what she heard was even close to what she assumed happened. All she could do was burst into tears. China hugged Pepper close and rocked her back and forth.

  “I'm so sorry, Pepper, honey, " China said. "We gotta do something about that Jose nigga, Pepper! He can't get away with this! " Mo'esha yelled, hyped. Pepper stopped crying and glared up at Mo'esha.

  "We gotta kill him," Pepper’s response stunned everyone.

  "We gotta do what?" Si-Si asked to make sure she heard right.

  "She said we gotta kill Jose and she's damn right we do," Mo'esha nodded her head.

  "Yo, y'all are talking crazy! How we gonna' do that? We ain't got a gun, and even if we did, what if we get caught!" The scary Nay-Nay pitched in.

  "I know wher
e the fuck we could get a gun!" Mo'esha yelled, annoyed.

  China looked at Pepper in her eyes. "Are you sure you wanna do this? I mean, you know I'm with you 100% but we gotta think this through."

  "Ain't nothing to think through! That nigga killed her mom! He can't get away with it!" Moesha was hyped. She was ready to go out and dead Jose more than Pepper did.

  Pepper never took her eyes off China. "I'm sure. Jose took my mom from me and you know the police ain't going to do shit about this. I gotta avenge my mom’s death! I can't walk around knowing that nigga still alive and my mom gonna' be rotten in the ground," Pepper shifted her eyes off China and rested them on her crew.

  "Y'all all I have now. I don't have anybody. I'm counting on y'all to help me with this. But rather y'all in or not, I’ma dead that nigga."

  All of the girls looked at each other and agreed they would all dead Jose, together.

  "Yo, if we gonna' be a crew and we go kill this nigga, we gotta have a hot ass name for ourselves because after this, mufuckas go know who we are." Mo'esha said.

  Pepper nodded her head.

  "Yeah, after this we definitely gonna get mad clout. Everybody gonna know not to fuck with us after this hit."

  The girls nodded their heads in agreement.

  "So, what you think we should be called then, Pepper?" Si-Si asked.

  Pepper thought for a moment then looked around at her crew and said, "The La'Bella Cartel."

  1

  THE CARTEL

  "Aye, let's make it! I got the loot! Dead that nigga and let's be out!” Pepper instructed.

  Without hesitation, China Put one hallow tip through the young thugs head and with that, The La'Bella Cartel exited the cold warehouse where they held the young thug for 2 days torturing and beating him by request. The La'Bella Cartel had been on a mission ever since deading the man who killed Pepper's Mother 7 years ago. The memories of that day were fresh on Peppers mind.

  ***

  After agreeing to dead Jose, the ladies set up a plan to take Jose off the face of the earth. First, they had to catch him slipping. Second, they had to get a gun, and third they couldn't fuck up because fucking up would cost them their lives. Once they found out Jose usually goes to play the lottery by himself late at night around 11pm they knew that would be their only chance to take him out. Mo'esha copped a gun from one of the many niggas she talked to.

  "You bitches ready?" Pepper Asked the Cartel right when they saw Jose exit the corner store.

  They all nodded their heads signifying that they were ready.

  As soon as Jose got to his car, the girls went in for the kill.

  "Put your hands up bitch ass nigga!" Mo'esha yelled, gripping the gun tightly.

  "What the fu—" Jose started to say before Pepper hit him in the face with the butt of her gun she had borrowed from her neighbor Ms. Franchise who too wanted to see Jose dead for what he did to Vanessa. Jose fell to the ground holding the right side of his face.

  "Get up you bitch ass nigga!" Pepper demanded. She was gripping the gun so tightly her hand started to bleed. She wanted to shoot Jose so bad to avenge her mother’s death. She missed her mom so much and it had only been 2 weeks since the shooting. Jose pulled himself off the ground still holding his face. He glared at the girls with death in his eyes. He became furious at the audacity they had for thinking they could step to him. He told himself if he made it out alive he would dead every single last one of them. He focused his attention on Pepper because she was the only one who looked familiar to him. Jose knew the exact reason she had come for him but he didn't think she had the balls to kill him.

  "You lil’ bitches must be out of y'all damn mind if y'all think y'all gonna ' get away with this," he barked, laughing. "Do y'all know who the fuck I am!" he yelled.

  Mo'esha aimed her gun at his head. "We don't give a fuck who you are, nigga! Because after tonight, you ain't go be shit!"

  Jose glared at Mo'esha then back at Pepper. "What's the matter? You gotta get another bitch to step to me? Last time I checked I killed your mother, not hers! So what you got to say to me?" Jose spat in a nasty tone.

  Before Pepper could let off around, Mo'esha fired two shots into his head. His body fell to the hard concrete below him. Pepper slanted her eyes at Mo'esha with her mouth wide open.

  "Let's go y'all!" China yelled, taking off running with Nay-Nay & Si-Si behind her.

  Neither Mo'esha nor Pepper moved. They were just standing there looking at each other. Pepper couldn't believe that Mo'esha had shot Jose and didn't let her do it, and Mo'esha was just surprised that she actually killed someone. After the girls got out of their Daze, Pepper noticed two big black duffle bags in the back of Jose's car.

  "Look," Pepper said to Mo'esha pointing at the bags. Mo'esha opened the door and unzipped one of the duffle bags. Their mouths fell open when they saw the bag was filled to the top with money.

  "Yo, let's get this shit and be out!" Mo'esha said. Pepper grabbed the other bag and both ladies ran from the scene.

  When they got to China's house, Nay-Nay, Si-Si & China were standing outside waiting for them in complete shock.

  "Why y'all standing outside? Come on we gotta get inside!" Pepper yelled, running up to the door. Once inside the apartment, the girls went into China's room and closed the door.

  "Yo, what the fuck?! I can't believe we killed him!" China yelled, frantically. "What if we get caught for this shit y'all? What we gonna do!" she screamed.

  "Bitch, shut the fuck up?!" Mo'esha yelled, frustrated. "We ain't go get caught! He a dope -boy, you know how many enemies that nigga got?"

  "Yo, shut the fuck up Mo'esha!" Pepper hollered. She jumped out of her seat and stormed over to Mo'esha.

  "Why the fuck didn't you let me take the shot! He killed my mother! I was supposed to do it! Not you!" Pepper screamed at the top of her lungs.

  She was fuming inside. She felt that the need to avenge her mother’s death was taken away from her and given to Mo'esha when she fired those fatal shots. Mo'esha didn't back down.

  "What the fuck you mean why I took the shot? Did you not hear what that nigga said to you? He needed to die, Pepper! And you were taking too long trying to have conversations with the nigga and shit!" Mo'esha was fuming as well. She couldn't believe Pepper was trying to step to her for killing the nigga that killed her mom. What type of shit is that?

  “That's not the point, Mo'esha! The point is she was MY mother so you should have waited for me to do it! I needed to shoot him to avenge my mother’s death!" Pepper was so angry spit was flying out of her mouth. "I'm sorry, okay! Damn I was just trying to help! We didn't have all day to dead that nigga, Pepper. It needed to be quick! And either way, he's dead! So your mother’s death is avenged."

  Pepper was still furious, but she backed off and took her seat.

  "What's in those bags?" Si-Si asked.

  Both Pepper and Mo'esha had forgotten about the bags.

  Nay-Nay, Si-Si & China almost dropped dead when Pepper and Mo'esha showed them the bags full of money. They spent all night counting up the money which came up to a Million dollars. Neither of the girls even knew they could count to a million. They have never seen so much money before in their lives. The next day before they split the money, Mo'esha went out to see if anything had been said on the streets about who killed Jose. The rest of the girls stayed in the house and watched on the news as they announced Jose death.

  NEWS REPORTER:

  "Today, the body of a Notorious Drug Lord Jose Reyes was found earlier this morning outside of The Pony Keg corner store by his car. He was shot twice in the head. The police have no leads."

  The girls watched the news with their mouths hung open. Neither of them could believe that they had committed a murder, but strangely after they saw the money they would be getting none of them felt an ounce of remorse. Pepper turned off the TV and just then Mo'esha walked through the door.

  "What you hear?" Pepper asked, immediately.

  "I don't kn
ow if I'm just paranoid or what, but I felt mufuckas looking at me," Mo'esha told them.

  "Well, the number one rule is to never snitch so I don't think that's any of our worries. Plus, if people know we did it, they know why." China said, trying to convince the girls not to be worried.

  "We know nobody gonna snitch, but what about Jose boys finding out and coming after us?" Si-Si wanted to know.

  "Then they can get got too," Pepper simply said.

  "You damn right!" Mo'esha agreed.

  And with all this money we got, we could move out the hood! Wouldn't anyone know where we live." Mo'esha's mentioning of the money brought smiles to the girls faces.

  "How much we getting a piece?" Nay-Nay asked, thinking about all the clothes, shoes, and purses she could buy.

  "Well, based off what we counted last night, we'll all get two-hundred thousand dollars apiece.

  Nay-Nay's mouth fell open and so did China's and Si-Si's.

  "That's a lot of money!" China exclaimed. She was excited to finally have enough money to buy everything she ever wanted.

  "Yeah, so we need to come up with a plan. We need to move out the hood quick!" Pepper looked at Si-Si and Mo'esha. "Y'all two eighteen so y'all grown and can get the two apartments that we all can stay in. Where y'all wanna' move?" Pepper asked.

  "Somewhere nice, maybe Fairfield. It's far away from this madness." China suggested, growing more excited.

  "Y'all agree?" Pepper asked looking around at her crew. They all nodded their heads in agreement.

  "Good. Now, if anybody try to come after us we gotta' be on alert because no matter what, people are gonna find out we did it. Either they go show us respect for it, or become snitches. We'll know soon, I guess."

  That day the girls split their money and agreed to go apartment shopping the next day. Over the weeks, people around the hood seemed to notice the Cartel more. At school, the girls got noticed and treated well. Everybody wanted to be a part of their crew. The Ladies also built up a wardrobe for themselves. They were no longer semi-bummy girls. They were fly. Nobody dared to mess with them because word on the street was that they had dreaded Jose for killing Pepper's mother. No one tried to come for them and that surprised Pepper. The niggas on the blocks that worked for Jose actually showed mad respect when the Cartel rolled on the block. Their popularity grew larger and larger over a couple of years. Word on the street was that The La'Bella Cartel was a Hire for Kill squad. Pepper and the rest of the crew had no idea where that rumor started but they didn't mind. Niggas was hitting them up to dead niggas for them to not have any blood on their hands. If the price was right the girls dreaded them. After seeing all the money they were making, the girls decided they wanted to be in the Game murking niggas for pay. It all started with Jose. Within 7 years, the girls dreaded so many people and made so much money it was a part of their lives. People feared them and were afraid that maybe someone would put them on The La'Bella Cartel's hit list. Over the course of 7 years, the ladies grew up and out. They were no longer the Lame Girls anymore but they were the Dangerous Ruthless La'Bella Cartel.