┏━━━━✶ ࣪˖࿐ *━━━━┓

UTTER DISBELIEF

"JAMAL... ARE YOU TRYING TO TELL ME THAT YOU FOUND THE ROLLERWORLD MONEY RIGHT NOW?"

From his place in the middle of her bedroom, he threw his hands up in exasperation as he paced. "That's the part you're stuck on? Not the whole Cuchillos is hunting us down and we gotta find Lil Ricky part?"

She spun to grab a pillow from her bed, throwing it at him and hitting him square in the stomach. "Of course I'm stuck on that part!" she shouted. "Cuchillos would've never been after your stupid ass if you didn't find the money in the first place!"

Ella had managed to catch Jamal sneaking back into the house early that next morning. She'd wordlessly thrown him into her room and demanded that he tell her the truth, starting with the question of the hour: were they kidnapped because of Oscar?

The way his eyes widened, his face flushing as he tried to literally swallow the secret down, was something she'd seen all too often before he eventually coughed it all up. He was never all that good at keeping secrets, and the only reason he'd held onto this one is because he hadn't seen her enough to have the opportunities to do so.

He told her everything. From Oscar returning from prison and initiating his brother into the gang to finding the Rollerworld money beneath the damn football field. Eventually, that led him to the takedown of the Prophet$ that they helped Oscar orchestrate, and then their capture off the streets by the leader of the Santos herself.

Ella's head fell into her hands when Jamal kept rambling on. "I wouldn't say the blame should be all on me. I can gladly share that responsibility with Cesar, and Oscar, and Ruby for that one time he rallied the Santos' to call off the truce with the P—"

"Okay, Jamal, I get it," she interjected with a sigh. She gestured her head to the space next to her, and he scurried over to sit on the bed. "How serious is this?"

Jamal blinked. "Considering she called Ruby to threaten us, I'd say it's pretty serious," he answered, spine straight.

Ella was pretty sure the vein in her forehead made an appearance, her pulse rising with another spurt of stress. "Shit, Jamal," she breathed out, shaking her head. "This is not good, like, at all."

If you knew a Santo in any way, shape, or form, you knew who Cuchillos was. She'd been running the Santos gang for what seemed like an eternity, and given her high status and terrifying influence in Freeridge, it wasn't wise to keep her waiting.

"You think I don't know that?!" he shrieked, bouncing up from the bed to resume his pacing. "We have no idea where Lil Ricky is, and— and Chivo's spit is not doing us any favours!"

Her face twisted up at that last unhygienic bit. She rose, grabbing her brother by the shoulders. "Relax, J," she tried. "Tell me what I can do to help."

Jamal immediately made a sound of denial. "Nuh-uh, no way," he rejected, swatting the girl's hands away. "If anyone knows that you know, we're screwed."

Ella's jaw flexed, taking a breath. "I'm not asking to assemble a damn meeting with the woman," she grumbled. "I'm saying I can do some recon on the side."

Jamal stopped for a beat, nodding as he mulled it over. "Some behind the scenes work could be useful," he mumbled, more so to himself than to his sister. He turned to her, sticking his hand out. "You've got yourself a deal, Ella."

Ella shook his hand, and only when she dropped it did she use it to smack him upside the head. "Dumbass," she murmured, a subtle dose of affection as he yelped at the motion.

"A dumbass who found the Rollerworld money," he bragged under his breath, before he was escorting himself out of the room. Though, his head appeared in the doorway. "Hey, uh, are you going anywhere today?"

Her head tilted. "Why?"

"No reason," he rushed out. His head disappeared, and she waited all of five seconds before it reappeared. "I'm having a lady friend over, so, you'll need to make yourself scarce."

Ella's mouth dropped, because shit, hadn't that morning just been full of surprises.

"A who?"

✶ ࣪˖*

"What do you know about Lil Ricky?"

Thankfully they'd been stopped at a red light, because the Gonzalez girl behind the wheel snapped her head in her direction. "What do you know about him?" she asked.

Pia Gonzalez was not born into the same life that the Diaz boys had been, but her step father had once been a Santo. Judging from her reaction, the name must've come up in at least one conversation over the years.

"Cuchillos is after him," Ella couldn't help but whisper, despite the fact that they were alone in the Gonzalez girl's car.

Pia blanched. "Dios mio," she exhaled, and practically flinched in her seat when the car behind them honked, the light flickering to green. "My mom used to trick me into eating my vegetables by saying she'd come get me at night."

Ella shivered, because even she knew that the stories surrounding the woman were less than good. "She thinks my brother and his friends can find him," she added as they continued to drive toward the coffee place they liked to go to. She carefully omitted the Rollerworld part, but nonetheless sighed. "I'm trying to help him, but..."

"But no one knows anything about Lil Ricky," Pia supplied, "or where he's been, for that matter."

That was a severe understatement. Jamal had said that they'd excised every possibility in the book to find the infamous Lil Ricky and still came up empty. Shit, everyone was coming up empty in their own searches, as evident from Cuchillos demanding a bunch of teenagers to do it for her.

Ella groaned. "Between this and Spooky being a shitdisturber, I just—"

"Wait— Spooky?" Pia interjected, shock filling her tone. "Is this about the pool?"

She shook her head. "I ran into Ronny at the fair, and then—"

"Ronny Moore? As in the Ronny you would've killed and died for in high school?" Ella flushed and gave a noncommittal noise. Pia's arm reached over and smacked her. "Ella! Why wouldn't you tell me that!"

"I'm trying to," she emphasized, and her friend promptly made the motion of zipping her lips. "We got to talking, and then because my luck is ass, Spooky was there. I went with him to drive Jamal's friends home, and then cussed him out at his place."

There was a smirk on Pia's face. "And I bet Spooky was totally cool about you and Ronny hanging out?"

"About as cool as a damn drill sergeant could be," she responded with a flat look. "And here I was, thinking I could have a peaceful summer."

Pia pulled into a parking space just in front of the Starbucks that took them entirely too long to get to. "Hey, you still can," she encouraged with a small smile. "Ricky stuff and Spooky stuff aside, you've got me... and I think someone else who'd gladly take up some of your free time."

Ella saw the way her eyebrows wiggled. "What, you mean Ronny?" Pia nodded excitedly, but the Turner girl waved her off. "I don't think so, P."

Despite her words, Pia Gonzalez had a little bit of mischief swirling in her eyes as she shrugged.

"What's a peaceful summer without a little summer romance?"

✶ ࣪˖࿐ *

[ wyn's note ]

bit of a filler but it's because there's a pinch of angst next chap (but perhaps some common ground between our two faves?)

all my love! x