Another Hood Love (6 page)

Laela

I can’t stand a broke bitch that ain’t bout shit, I can’t stand a broke a nigga that ain’t got shit, I’m on a money making mission what you bout bitch, I’m on a money making mission what you bout bitch…

I pulled up to the nail shop slapping Young Ro “What You Bout” as I parallel-parked while trying to scan the block for Jaeda’s car. She was supposed to be meeting me at the shop. I was ten minutes late already, and it looked like she was late too. I sat in my car puffing on the last of a cookies blunt right as Jaeda parked on the opposite side of the street. I reached in my backseat to grab my flip-flops and got out of the car just as Jaeda had stepped on the sidewalk.

“Hi sister!” Jaeda damn near busted my eardrum as she leaned in to hug me. We had been so busy that we barely had time to just chill and have that quality sister time. I missed my baby sis’s company day in and day out, but we were on a moneymaking mission and sometimes we just had to sacrifice certain things to reach our ultimate goal. Today was sister day though – no Squad, no boys, and no school. The guys’ graduation was in a couple of days, so we decided to go get pampered and do a little shopping before we went to dinner and a movie.

“What’s good baby girl?” I greeted my sister.

We walked in and I scanned the shop just to see who was in there.

“I take you and sister over here,” my regular nail technician said as we walked in and took a seat in the spa chairs along the wall.

“So what did you get Jah for graduation?” Jaeda asked as she was rolling her pants legs up to put her feet in the water.

“Bruh I got him this clean ass 49ers coat the one that looks like the letterman jackets with the leather and wool, shit cost me like $700, but I got him a wett ass Burberry watch and Gucci Oud, and the Tom Ford Extreme cologne.” I said while shaking my head. “Shit, I had to buy him a Gucci carryon bag just to put the gifts in; what you get Tone ugly ass?” I laughed as I thought about how juiced Jah would be to see what I had gotten him.

“Girl don’t do my boo, but that’s hella funny because I got Tone ass the same damn colognes,” Jaeda chuckled. “I also had copped him some Mimosa python red bottom sneakers, and I bought him a few Nordstrom gift cards so he can go shop for himself – you know I hate being in them damn stores.”

We talked a little more as we were getting our pedicures about random things and what was going on in the streets.

“Those niggas from the Ville making shit hot. I wish they would take a seat, fucking with my damn money,” I said, getting heated just thinking about it. They had shot up one of our blocks just last week and hit an innocent bystander. Niggas was trying to fonk with us and didn’t even have any kind of aim or game plan shit. So Rico had a few of his little shooters ride through the block and light that shit up. We had taken down Mess’ right hand man G and a couple of their other workers, but I was ready to get at Mess my damn self. It wasn’t many of them, but I knew if we left Mess around then we wouldn’t get any kind of break; that nigga was a pain in my ass and I was tired of hurting shit. Oh well, soon this shit would be a distant memory and we could get back to moving mean.

As I was sitting at the table getting my nails filled, I noticed three girls walk in; they weren’t shit to look at though, your regular dusty ass group of broads that thought it was nothing to step out in public in leggings and headscarves.

“Ugh,” I said under my breath as one of the girls started staring in my direction a little longer than I appreciated. I mugged the bitch and turned back around to make sure Mai wasn’t fucking up my rhinestones; I didn’t have time to be foolish with these dust buckets. Jaeda had her back turned, so she couldn’t even see the group of girls. As my nails were drying, I kept catching the bitches steady looking in my direction. I sent Jaeda a text:

Me:
Peep these ugly bitches keep tryna mug n shyt

Jaeda:
Ugh! Who Alvin n the chipmunks rite here?

Me:
Ctfu gurl yes. Tuh!!

I laughed out loud as I looked back and saw the girls get up and leave without even getting their nails done. I reached in my bag to pay for me and Jaeda and headed out the door. As we stepped out the door, gunshots began to ring out and for a quick second, I froze until I realized they were aimed in our direction. I crouched behind a car as I pulled Jaeda down with me, and the both of us grabbed our matching pearl handle .40 cals out our bags and began to bust back at the niggas across the street as we ducked in between cars to get to my whip.

We were almost to my car when I noticed a black Lexus coupe pull up, and the guys hopped in; the staring ass bitch from the nail shop was driving. I was pissed the fuck off. I glimpsed at the license plate and repeated it a few times as we hopped in the car and burnt rubber to the hood. I typed the plate number into my memo pad and dialed Jah’s number; I was out of breath and mad as fuck as I waited for Jah to answer.

“Calm down Laela, we good and we already know where that hit came from, that ain’t no random shit and I recognize one of the guys was that nigga Mikey that fuck with Mess,” Jaeda said while rolling a blunt. Her ass was always rolling up some weed; I was about to start calling her ass Smokey in a minute.

“What’s up Bae?” Jah said as he answered the phone.

“Man some niggas just bust at us while we were leaving the nail shop!” I yelled into the phone, “I’m pulling up in the hood right now, where you at? Never mind I see your whip.” I hung up the phone and laid my head against the headrest after I parked, and waited for Jaeda to spark the weed. I needed something to calm my damn nerves.

“Them hoe ass niggas made me chip the paint on my nails and lose a rhinestone, oh hell nah,” Jaeda complained with the silliest look on her face. I swear, her ass was always on playtime.

“Shit, I have to change, my ass got on all white with black ass knees from crawling on them dirty ass Oakland streets, ugh.” I brushed my pants off, “I was only cute for 2.5,” I said, shaking my head. I watched as Jah and Rico walked towards us, and Tone pulled up next to me. Tone hopped out looking like a madman as he snatched Jaeda’s door open and pulled her out the car.

“Damn nigga, we good!” I yelled out the window. I wasn’t scared, I was pissed that these niggas had tried me and my sister in broad fucking daylight, and for that I had something for them hoes and that hoe ass nigga Mess; fuck he thought he was doing.

“So run it down to me what all happened,” Jah said as I got out the car and we all walked into the apartment, where the rest of the Gas Squad was sitting and waiting for us to arrive. I ran it down to them from beginning to end, describing the girls and the car they were in. After sending one of the niggas on the block to go grab Jaeda’s whip, we sat around getting high and planning our get back; so much for a nice relaxing day with my sister.

Jah

Mikey had shot at my girl and I was livid. Yeah my girl was just as active in the streets as I was, so I knew niggas was going to try her just as they were going to try me, but damn. Niggas shot at my bitch in broad daylight. I was riding in my little mobby, which was a 1999 Honda Accord with dark tints, a little after midnight with my nigga Tone and B. I wasn’t trying to let this nigga Mess sleep another night, but that nigga had got in the wind after that hit earlier but I had something for him. While we were in one car, Rico and Greg were in another car sitting in front of one of Mess’ baby mama’s house and Lexis and Sage were in front of his daddy house ready for me to give the word. If this nigga didn’t want to come out, we were going to bring him out.

We stopped the mobby at the end of his girlfriend’s block as I sent a text to both Rico and Sage giving them the go ahead. I planned on shooting up the houses of everybody close to this pussy ass nigga at the same damn time. I was tired of playing with this mark, and he was going to see that Gas Squad really wasn’t shit to play with. I’m sure he would get all the news back to back, and he would without a doubt know we sent the shots; he could either come back busting or come trying to make a truce – either way, I was about to play dirty with the nigga. Either way he wanted to play it, we were going to air his ass out; niggas weren’t going to be taking shots at my girl and still be able to walk these streets for too long. We had already caught the nigga Mikey slipping; that nigga got aired out on the freeway two nights ago by my little shooters. The nigga Mess had an expiration date and he didn’t even know how close he was to it.

As I sent the text, B cut the headlights off on the mobby and crept up the block of Mess’ girlfriend Bria’s house, which was the same bitch that made the call to him from the nail shop and drove them away from the scene. The bitch wanted to fuck with the big dogs; she was going to be ducking with them same dogs. I pulled my AR-15 with the 30 round magazine, or the 30 dick as we called it, and rolled down my window as Tone rolled his down as well; simultaneously, we began busting shots at the house to the right of us, I let the whole clip unload and then we hightailed it off the block. We drove a couple blocks away to a dark block, where we had one of the young niggas from the squad bust the street lights out earlier. Once B parked the car, I grabbed the gasoline out the trunk of the car and began dousing the car with it before striking a match and setting the car on fire. Once the flames set in, we ran up the block to where Tone had parked his Porsche truck, and we hopped in and pulled away from the block. We hit the corner before turning on the headlights.

A couple minutes later, we were pulling up to a bando where this little broad I used to fuck with named Ericka was waiting for us. Once we got to her, we removed our clothing and changed into regular clothes, then threw them into a duffle bag where she would dispose of them. After we hopped back in the car I saw Rico and Greg, and then the girls pull up as well; we all had the same plan and then we would meet up at our under spot that was out the way. Ericka’s parents owned a funeral home and she was going to toss the duffle bags in the incinerator so that there wouldn’t be any evidence left. We were playing it safe – no room for slip ups. As we were headed to the under spot, I sent a text to my cousin Shalaya:

Me:
Hey did u make dinner?

Shalaya:
Yea about 2 hours ago, I got u…

Me:
Good lookin

I was speaking in code as I text her; the mobby was registered in her name and I had instructed her to call and report the car stolen. I had her go to the grocery store two cities outside of Oakland and report that when she came out the grocery store, her car was missing. They would be on the lookout for the car in that city first before they did in Oakland, which gave us time to do what we needed to do without having to worry about the police being too hot on our trail.

Once we got to our under spot and once everybody made it there, I finally let out a deep breath. The only ones missing were Jaeda and Laela. I had made them stay at home tonight; they had already done enough and I just wanted to keep them safe for the time being. Plus, we had work that needed to be prepared to hit the block, so they were making sure that was taken care of. Me and Tone’s graduation was the next day, so in the morning we would all head back to the town to prepare for the big day. I really wish I could just hold my bitch tonight, but I know that would have to wait.

As I lay on the bed in one of the rooms, I laid on my back in the pitch-black room as I stared up at the ceiling, thinking about the past and how far I had come, I was going to be a high school graduate in less than 12 hours. I had come so far and I know it didn’t end here. I had so much to be thankful for in my life, because I went through so much when I was younger that some days I just wanted to die; it wasn’t until my parents were killed that I finally got peace in my life.

When I was about 7 years old, my parents had gotten addicted to dope real bad and they were the type that would do anything for that next hit, the type that would sell their soul and anybody around them just to get high. At the time, Gio was 12 and had started hanging out in the streets more. He couldn’t stand to be at home with our parents; he hated them and never let a day go by that he didn’t let them know it. Me on the other hand, I was too young to be anywhere but up under them.

One day my mom had come home and she was on one; she kept saying how she needed a hit real bad and was ready to do anything to get high. I sat in the bathtub playing with my legos with the door closed and locked. As I heard my mother shuffling back and forth like she was losing her mind, my father and his friends were sitting at the kitchen table gambling. Whenever my father had company, I would come lock myself in the bathroom; his card games always ended in some kind of altercation, so I felt like it was the safest place for me. This particular day, I was playing with my toys as I tried to drown out the sound of my mother tweaking, and my father and his rambunctious group of friends.

BAM! BAM! BAM!

“Peanut bring yo ass out that damn bathroom!” my mother yelled from the other side of the door. I remained quiet as I shook my head no, as if she could see me.

“PEANUT! Open this fucking door, I need you,” my mother pleaded with me as tears began to roll down my cheeks. Every time my mother said she needed me, I found myself in situations that made me sick to my stomach. After a minute, the knocking stopped and I heard my mother walk off. Relieved, I went back to playing with my toys but after a couple of minutes, the door had popped open and my mother came and snatched me out the tub in one swift motion.

“Didn’t I say I needed you Jahlil Mekhi fucking Jones!” she yelled in my face. I nodded my head yes as tears formed in my young eyes. My mother dragged me out of our apartment as we headed up the stairs, and I already knew we were headed up to my Aunt Brenda’s apartment. Whenever we would go up there it would be at least two other women up there, and they would take me into the room and make me perform oral sex on them, and they would touch on me until mama came in and told them that was enough. Afterwards, mama would always take me out for ice cream or to the store and explain to me that if I didn’t help her out like that then she would die. I remember one day after one of her episodes, as we were on our way to the corner store for some juice and candy, I asked her why did I have to do things with the other women if she was the one that would die without my help, and why she couldn’t just go to the doctor like everybody else does when they are sick. That day my mother was stumped; by then I was going on 9 years old, and I wasn’t as naïve to certain things as I once had been. Mama never had answered my question; she just rushed me into the store and told me to grab whatever I wanted.

The day my parents died was still a little fuzzy to me; sometimes I sit and think about it and in my heart, I know that it was no accident but in order for me to move past it all, I just keep it in the back of my mind and try my best to not think of it. After the day that I had asked my mother that question, her episodes came few and far in between; she really only made me go upstairs with her if she was really fiending for a hit and she had no other way of copping any dope.

One day I was at home watching TV on the couch when my father came into the house and began to beat mama, because he needed a hit and she hadn’t copped anything for them. Mama told him that she didn’t want to take me with her to cop and my daddy wasn’t trying to take no for an answer. After about thirty minutes of them arguing and him bouncing her head off every wall in our small apartment, he left out in a rage. A little while later, my father came back in the house with an older man that I had seen outside on the block that they called Remo. I continued to watch TV as Remo approached me and began to stroke his chin, staring at me while seated next to me on the couch. I began to feel uncomfortable as the older man stared at me, so I shifted a little and moved closer to the opposite end of the couch.

My parents had retired to their bedroom as soon as my father and Remo entered the apartment. A few seconds later, Remo grabbed me by the back of my neck with one hand, and at the same time he unzipped his pants with the other hand. I began to scream, hit, and kick to get away from him, but I was too small in his massive hands to escape. I called for my mama and daddy, but neither came and I began to sob as this man that I saw everyday outside in my neighborhood attempted to have his way with me. Just when I felt like I couldn’t fight any longer, Gio walked in the house and as soon as he saw what was taking place, Gio pulled me away from Remo and pushed me toward the front door.

“Go stand outside and don’t move until I get there!” Gio told me. I ran outside scared out my mind, because I didn’t want Remo to hurt my brother.

After about 5 minutes, Gio came running outside and grabbed my hand, pulling me down the street. Once we were a couple of blocks over from our house, Gio slowed down and bent down; looking into my eyes, my fourteen-year-old brother promised me that from that day forward he would always be there to take care of me, and I didn’t have a thing to worry about. That night we didn’t go home; instead, we took the bus to our Aunt Trina’s home. She was my father’s eldest sister, and one of the only family members that we actually saw regularly.

The next morning, we awoke to the sounds of my Aunt Trina’s cries; when we entered the kitchen where she was sitting at the kitchen table crying, she explained that our parents had been killed in a house fire. Apparently, the stove had been left on for a couple of hours and the kitchen had caught on fire, but my parents as well as Remo were too high to wake up before the apartment was engulfed in flames. All three of them had died before help could arrive. That was the day that Gio and I moved in with my Aunt; that only lasted for about a year though because as soon as Aunt Trina started dating this thug ass nigga named Terrance, who was fresh home from a 5-year bid in the penitentiary, she no longer had room for us in her home. Gio and I were on our own, but he was coming up in the streets and after a couple of weeks of us bouncing all around the city sleeping here and there, he was able to get us an apartment of our own in this older female’s name that he was messing with. From that day on, it was only Gio and I and I loved and respected my older brother, because he rescued me in more ways than one.

Those days were long gone, but I always thought on the past and how much I could have went through had Gio not come in that day when Remo tried to molest me. I had a lot of trust issues due to the fact that my parents, the ones who were supposed to love and protect me, were the ones who hurt me and took advantage of my innocence for their own self-gain. Sometimes I had my dark days, and it was hard for me to even want to be around others; I would lash out on anybody and everybody, but I just had to get over it on my own. Oral sex was something that I had never performed on a female until Laela. I had never given any of the other girls that I had dated or fucked before head because of my prior experiences as a child, but with Laela I didn’t even think about it. I was so in love with her that I wanted to know what every part of her felt and tasted like.

I wasn’t positive if Gio actually had a hand in the deaths of our parents or if it was just pure coincidence, but I never even wanted to know the truth. I had done great without them in my life; my brother had raised me to be a man and although I had my faults, I still was doing better than a lot of niggas my age. A lot of them didn’t make it to their high school graduation, and for that I was forever grateful for Gio. I could never fault him even if he was the cause of my parent’s death, because I know that he did what he had to do for us and it was okay. I used to wonder if Gio hated my parents because he had gone through the same things that I was subjected to at a young age, but the subject of our parents was touchy for the both of us, so I never got the courage to even ask him. I decided I should just be grateful for getting away and move on with life.

The day of graduation, I was a big ball of nerves but I wasn’t sure why; this was a big step in my life and I was glad that I had finally made it. I had many days being out in them streets where the money was good, and I knew if I dedicated more time there would definitely be more money. Those were days where I would skip school or just altogether feel like fuck school, but I had to remind myself daily that at the end of the day, the streets didn’t love you and I didn’t want to become another statistic. Too many of my friends had fallen victim to the streets at a young age. Out here, we heard story after story of young men and women that were shot and killed out here, and too many niggas I knew were sitting down serving football numbers for the things that they did out here, living life like there wasn’t any repercussions for wrongdoing.