Chapter Three

         HE WATCHED HER WITH A HINT OF AMUSEMENT AS SHE CALLED HER FRIENDS. Lucy made it quick but the urgency in her voice did not go unnoticed by them. The brunette sat on one of the bar stools at the kitchen island as the two other men went through drawers in mock interest. Her eyes wandered to the gun not too far from where she sat and when he leaned forward, she averted her gaze back to her hands.

He sat beside her on the stool, leaning lazily against the counter with one hand against his mouth.

"I didn't spend your money." said Lucy, moving her head in his direction but not looking at him directly. "I can give it back to you."

"That's good." he cocked his head to the side with a nod as he dragged his fingers over his stubble.

"I don't have it here." she added. "I can go get it."

"Nah," he chuckled, shaking his head as he rested his head in the palm of his hand. Lucy felt his eyes burn into the side of her face and she clenched her jaw, trying to calm her nerves. "you're not going anywhere. Relax, sweetheart. I ain't gonna hurt you."

Lucy noticed his hand moving towards his gun and she bit the inside of her cheek harshly, drawing blood, he only pushed it a bit further onto the table and away from her reach.

"We didn't know it was that much money." she admitted, and her eyes finally met his dark ones. "We only wanted something to get by, we never meant to take that much."

"S'all good." he nodded as he shared a glance with one of the other men. "I just need it back. Quick too."

"You will."

It didn't take much longer for the other three woman to arrive and the three of them huddled together on the kitchen bench. Lucy was too scared to move from her spot if she was honest and stayed right where she was. Annie was stuck to her sister and Ruby was breathing loudly at the sight before her.

Beth glanced at Lucy and furrowed her brows in a silent question if she was alright, to which the brunette gave a small nod.

"Yo, this backsplash is dope." he said as he inspected the kitchen. "Hey, what's it made out of? Marble?" They didn't answer him. "Yo, you ever get any problems with staining back here? Like, if you're cooking a big spot of spaghetti sauce or somethin' like that?"

"No, I don't think so." replied Beth calmly.

"No?" he wondered, turning his body in their direction.

"We didn't know you owned the store." Ruby said, sharing a quick look in Lucy's direction as she turned towards the tattooed man.

He let out another chuckle as he peered at one of his men, raising a brow. He moved away from the kitchen and passed Lucy closely, stopping in front of the three woman with his hands stuffed into his pockets. "I look like some kind of grocery store manager to you? Or, like Rotary club or somethin'? No, let's just say that we got certain arrangements with some local businesses. We help each other out and whatnot. You know?"

"Like ... money laundering for drugs?" Ruby tried as she looked at the man before them. Annie looked at her in disbelief. "I told you it was shady."

"Why don't you stop worrying about my business dealings and start figuring how you're gonna pay me my money back." he gritted out, clasping his hands in front of himself.

"We can get it back." Lucy managed to spit out and he turned his head towards her. "You can have all of it today."

"Oh, that would be great."

"Most of it." Annie muttered, fumbling with the sleeve of her sweater.

The man clenched his jaw. The hint of amusement that was in his eyes had disappeared. "Sorry, what?"

"Some of it, for sure." Annie stammered as the three women glared at her. "Oh, what, like you guys didn't spend a dime?"

"I didn't." Lucy accused, brows furrowed. "How much, Annie?"

"I don't know." she cried, throwing her hands up as she chewed her bottom lip. "I probably spent, like, a hundred ... grand."

"What?" Beth demanded, eyes wide.

"I'm gonna shoot you myself." Ruby added.

"Nah, you're just gonna pay me back is all." He stopped beside Lucy and took the gun from the counter, making sure to touch her arm with the barrel of it as he leaned back to his full height. "I mean, right quick, too. With interest. So, we'll see you real soon, yeah?" His eyes moved down her face and back up before leaving her at the counter and stopping in front of the other three woman. "You know. You've really got to be careful, ladies. I mean, with citrus on marble, like lemon and whatnot. That stuff will erode like crazy."

✧✧✧✧✧

LUCY HAD RUSHED TO HER APARTMENT THE MOMENT THEY HAD LEFT TO GET THE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FIVE GRAND FROM HER HIDING SPOT. The brunette fell to her knees, scraping them on her hardwood floor as she rummaged through the shoe boxes at the bottom of her closet. She knocked over a vase with her foot as she reached down in the hole in her wall, pulling the duffle bag out of it and storing the shoe boxes on top of each other.

Glass broke beneath her shoes as she got back up and she cursed underneath her breath. Lucy left her apartment again in a hurry, not bothering to clean anything up. Beth was dropping her kids off and Dean at the motel and Ruby was going to grab the cash from her house before they would meet back at Annie's.

Annie had sold the porsche she had stupidly bought back to the dealership, and they were hoping they had most of what she had spend back. This was even worse than getting caught by the police and ending up in prison.

"Where are we at?" Beth asked as she downed her glass of whiskey.

"Short," replied Ruby, having counted the money.

"By how much?" asked Lucy, watching her friend type away at the calculator at the kitchen table.

"Over sixty grand." Ruby frowned as she looked at the numbers. How on earth were they going to get sixty grand and interest. None of them had access to that kind of money.

"What about the car?" Beth turned to her sister somewhat annoyed.

"I took it back." Annie defended herself. "Lost over half it's value. B-T-dubs."

"Well, maybe you shouldn't have bought it in the first place." Lucy scoffed, jaw clenched as she looked at the youngest. "We were supposed to sit on it, remember? You promised not to spend anything."

"My, what a helpful contribution. Let me just grab my time machine." Annie argued, shaking her head as she got up from the bar stool in her kitchen.

"Oh, my god." sighed Ruby, shaking her head as she rubbed at her eyes. "We should just go to the police."

Yeah, right.

Lucy rolled her eyes and shook her head in annoyance. That was definitely going to solve the problem of a gang on their backs. It would only make things worse for them. They'd definitely be killed if they went to the police.

"Wait. What?"

"We haven't done anything that bad yet. We don't have records." Ruby explained with a shrug.

"Uh, yes. Now we do." Lucy said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"If we just explain to them that –" began Ruby.

"Explain what, that we meant well?" Annie exclaimed. " 'Gee, Officer, we're sorry. We didn't mean to piss off the gang. We just wanted to rob the grocery store.'"

"Okay, I'm just trying not to die, okay? If you have a better plan, by all means, tell us." Ruby retorted.

"Actually, yes, I do. We should take it from somewhere else. We'll just steal it and then we'll pay them back. And then we'll just put the whole thing to bed." Annie mused, raising her brows. "Easy. We did it before."

"Bitch, are you out of your mind?" Ruby seethed.

"Enough!" Beth cried, turning towards her friends. "Enough. We're gonna get that money. We're gonna figure it out. Because we are strong and resourceful. And we've accomplished way harder than this. I once made three hundred cupcakes in one night and they were both nut and gluten-free."

"The kid still had an allergy attack." Annie muttered, scratching the back of her head.

"And you don't always have to fact-check me, okay?" Beth sighed, wiping the hair from her face. "I am going to take a shower. I smell like booze and crime."

The strawberry blonde left the room with her bag, the bathroom door slamming shut behind her. Lucy sighed and put her glass in the sink and gathered her things along with the money she had taken from her home.

"What do you think you're doing?" accused Ruby.

"I'm going home." she said, putting the stacks of cash back into her bag. Lucy was being unreasonable, she was aware. But she was scared, like the rest of them. "and I don't trust Annie not to spend it. Get us into more trouble."

"Excuse me?" Annie gaped.

"Call you tomorrow."

another chapter for you and ahhhh i love rio so much!

Hope you like it <3