Bad Girls [Rio]

Mo Money

"Yo, this backsplash is dope." The stranger said, pointing at Beth's marble counter tops. I kept my head up, being the only out of the four of us who didn't look at him with fearful eyes. "What's it made out of, marble?" He asked. "Yo, you get any problems with staining back here? Like if you're cooking a big pot of spaghetti sauce or something like that?" He looked directly at Beth, but she seemed to be in shock, despite Annie's attempts at knocking her out of it by nudging her. "What about fire? Is it fire-resistant?" His eyes moved towards me, expecting a response.

"It's not considered combustible, so yeah. It is." I answered shorty after, his questions beginning to make me feel very nervous, my voice however, sounded surprisingly calm.

"We didn't know you owned the store." Ruby bursted out, locking eyes with the leader of the other two who remained silent.

"You don't look like no grocery store manager to me." My mouth. My fucking mouth. I closed my eyes, instantly regretting not keeping my big mouth shut.

"That's cause I'm not, sweetheart." He remarked, glaring at me as a chuckle escaped his lips. This light mood, however, didn't last very long, when the guy with the hawk tattooed on his neck became serious. "Nah, let's just say that we got certain arrangements with some local businesses. I mean, we help each other out and whatnot, you know?" He proceeded to explain.

"Like, money laundering for drugs?" Annie asked.

"Shut up, Annie, the less we know the better." I shushed her.

"Told you it was shady." Ruby hissed, her irises now hiding behind a wall of tears that clouded her sight.
As much as I wanted to intervene and ask my sisters what was all of that about, I knew better than to interrupt that man with brown hair, dark eyes and a high and tight haircut. Bobby always said to keep quiet and remain calm in uncertain situations, the wrong word spoken by the wrong person could make a bad situation worse. Passive and submissive was always the way to go in circumstances like this.

"Like your girl over there said, it's none of your concern. So stop worrying about my business dealings and start figuring out how you gonna pay me my money back." That statement left me speechless. What was he talking about? Did they borrow money from him? Why? I knew they were struggling, specially Beth, but this guy was probably the least person they would have opted for. Judging only by the looks, he was the very definition of bad news.

"We can get it back." Beth said, a determinated tone in her voice that convinced me for a moment, before Annie spoke.

"That'd be great." He said.

"Most of it." Annie corrected, causing all of us to look at her in confusion. I should have seen it coming, if anyone was to do something ridiculously stupid, that'd be Annie.

"Sorry, what?" The man glared at my sister, his eyes penetrating through the small woman so hard, I'd probably break down under that pressure if I was in her position.

"Some of it for sure." Annie stuttered. I fixed my eyes on her, knowing very well, whatever they had gotten themselves into, was not about to go down too well if this man didn't get what he wanted. "Oh, what, like you guys didn't spend a dime?" She deflected on Beth and Ruby.

"How much, Annie?" Beth asked cautiously.

"I don't know." She said. "I don't know, I probably spent like a 100." She muttered, as Beth and Ruby let out a sigh of relief. "Grand."

"What?" Ruby hissed, getting aggravated rather quickly. "I'm gonna shoot you myself."

"Nobody's shooting anyone." I exclaimed, catching their attention, before it was shifted over to mister bad guy.