Chapter Eighteen

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She's a little sass and a lot of badass

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She's a little sass
and a lot of badass

"We shouldn't do it." Beth said seriously. Ruby, Annie and Beth turned to look at the strawberry blonde as the four sat around Ruby's kitchen counter. "What do you mean we shouldn't do it?" Annie asked, her thick blonde hair fanning around her face as she whipped her head around to look at her sister. Beth sent her a look. "I mean we shouldn't clean a bunch of counterfeit money when the FBI is on our trail." She hissed.
"It was your idea!" Annie exclaimed.
Cassandra took a sip of her tea as Ruby shushed the two siblings. "Can you all keep it down please?" She hissed, looking towards her closed bedroom door; where Stan was currently sleeping. "Look, they're not 'on our trail', okay?" Annie said using air quotes as she looked at her sister. Beth glared, obviously shaken up by what happened. "He was in my kitchen!" She hissed.
"Stan is in my bedroom." Ruby hissed, reminding the two to keep their voices down. Cass set her cup down on the counter top, looking between the two silently. "If the guy knew anything, he would have just said it." Annie claimed.
"He gave his card to me, and not to Dean." Beth explained.
"Well, maybe he didn't know if Dean could read." Cass joked trying to lighten the mood.
"Look, I got fancy lawyer bills coming out the wazoo, dawg!" Annie said. "I talked to her for 15 minutes, it cost me 800 dollars!"
"You know how much a criminal lawyer costs?" Beth sneered.
" I need this payday; we didn't get the last one." Annie continued.
"We all need it, but let's not be stupid about it." Ruby said calmly.
"What's stupid is if we screw this up." Annie said. "Because Gang Friend is not going to give us another shot." She explained.
"Gang friend?" Cassandra repeated.
"Probably some teenagers, like, stole an Xbox or something." Annie said. "I promise you, it was nothing."
"It wasn't nothing! It was the FBI." Beth hissed.
"Okay, so it was two Xboxes." Annie defended.
"Freeze, ladies." All four woman gasp as they turned around. Stan Hill stood in the tiny kitchen wearing a police officer uniform. "Whoa, hey. Look at you." Annie smiled after they had all recovered from their mini panic attacks.
"What's up, y'all." He greeted, moving over to hug his wife.
"First day as an officer-in-training." Ruby said.
"Mm-hmm." Stan smiled. "Now tell me, would you pull over if you saw all this coming at you in the rearview?" He asked.
"Oh, I'd pay the ticket on the spot." Beth said, the tension in the room lifting.
"I mean, I'd run, but you'd catch me in five seconds." Annie laughed.
"Hear that? Getting real now, huh?" He said kissing Ruby's check, before moving to make himself a cup of coffee.
"Oh yeah, realer by the minute." Ruby muttered when he was out of earshot, looking intensely at the three women in her kitchen.

"All right, what if I just take your night shift or something?" Rosie, a lanky 18 year old with bright red dyed hair and and eyebrow piercing, leaned over Cassandra's rusting car as the 27 chucked her uniform hat and polo shirt into the boot of her car. "I'd really love to..." She said sarcastically, pulling a graphic-T over her tank top as the cold nipped at her shoulders. "I just don't have any time right now." She explained, pulling her hoodie on. She froze when a guy covered from head to toe in tattoos appeared on the other side of the car. Rosie looked up, jumping at the sight of the man as she backed away from the car. "Anyway, think about it, Cass." She said, looking from her to the tattoo guy, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. Cass groaned, pushing her away. "I'll call you." The redhead laughed, walking away. Cassandra turned to the guy, who stood silently next to her. "Okay. What do you want?" She hissed. The man moved towards her car boot, dumping a black bag on top of her uniform before walking away. Cass rushed to open it, her breath hitching when her eyes land in the stacks of money. Quickly zipping the bag back up, she hopped in her car, driving back to Beth's just as Ruby drove into the driveway. All four women dumb their bags of money onto Beth's dining table. The ginger housewife muttered about getting rid off it, as Annie complained.

"Yeah, I'm not sure I see the problem." Rio said, looking at the cash on the table before staring at Beth. "You and me both." Cassandra muttered more to herself then out loud.
"Cass!" Beth hissed.
Annie scoffed. "I just would like to take this moment to personally thank you for this opportunity." She said. "I promise you, we're going to iron this out.  We're going to make you proud." She added.
"Okay, hold up, Annie." Ruby muttered.
"Y'all asked for a piece of this." Rio said, Cass could see the gears turning in his head as he tried to figure out what had upset the suburban housewife this time. "Yes, we did. That's true." Annie said looking pointedly at her sister.
"That was before the FBI dropped by." Beth stated, shooting her sister a look.
"Okay, let's just calm down, sorry." Annie apologised to the violent gang members. "She just kind of does this, it's all part of the process." She explained.
"What is that supposed to mean?" Beth asked. Cassandra groaned, sharing a look with Ruby.
"Hmm, I don't know, you begged our parents for a piano, and they dropped three grand on a baby upright." Annie said. "And guess who decides she'd rather play violin?" She asked rhetorically, looking at Rio and japing a thumb at her sister.
"I'm staying out of it." Ruby muttered.
"It sounds like y'all got a lot to work out. So—" Rio was about to leave when Beth stopped him.
"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait a second, don't you want to take your product?" She said, pushing the stacks of money forwards. "This ain't the Girl Scouts." Rio said his eyebrow twitching in annoyance. "You can't give the cookies back."
"Aren't you worried about the FBI?" Cass asked staring into his brown eyes.
"Nah."Rio shook his head, looking her straight in the eye before flicking back to Beth.
"See?" Annie added, everyone ignored her.
"There's a distribution system." Rio said. "You've been distributed to."
Beth shook her head. "What what does that mean?" She asked.
"It means you're on the hook now." Rio said simply.
"It's like, 100 grand." Ruby gasped.
"Oh, you don't got to wash it." Rio said.
"Then what do we do with it?" Cass asked.
"Burn it, eat it, wipe your ass with it." Rio said. "And then write me a check. Because either way, I'm coming to collect." He turned to leave, his goons following after. "Hey." Annie said, getting his attention. "Guess who ended up taking the piano lessons?" She said. "Six years." She smiled mischievously. "It's gonna be fine."

"Okay, the pins represent the stores with the biggest ticket items." Beth explained in grave detail. "We've got blue for electronics, yellow for appliances–"
"Is this the same map you used for Black Friday?" Ruby asked.
"Yes, but I expanded it, because it is way too risky to shop locally right now." Beth explained.
"Damn, you really upped your crafting game, Martha." Annie joked, picking up one of the pins.
"Hey, hey. There is a system." Beth said. "I am trying to keep us organised so that we don't get caught."
"Okay." Annie sighed, putting the pin back.
"What if they test the bills?" Cassandra asked. "I once saw a guy at work get straight up tased." She muttered.
"Well, at least he wasn't arrested." Beth said hopefully.
"And then he got arrested." Cassandra added.
"I used a security pen from work on one of the 20's." Annie piped up. "We're not getting tased or arrested. This cash is—" she makes a kissing noise, like a Italian chef. "—primo."
"The red bands are the fake money." Beth explained, the ginger woman got a look in her eye as she explained, like a cat that got the cream. "So when you make a return, you put on a green band." She demonstrated. "And you keep it separate."
"Red goes out, green comes in." Ruby repeated.
"Just like Christmas." Annie said.
"This is who we are now, huh?" Ruby asked.
"I mean desperate times." Annie muttered.
"We can do this." Beth said. "We're just normal women, shopping."
"With money to burn, baby!" Annie laughed.

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