Not Your Baby | Good Girls

Chapter Five

There is nothing more gangsta
Than a woman with a mind of her own.

Cassandra walked behind Beth, carrying a grocery bag in each hand. Beth's dog waited at the door, jumping up at her as they opened it. The dog whimpered. "Hey, buddy, what's wrong? You need to go pee?" Cassandra asked, she was so focuses on not dropping the shopping and making sure she didn't trample the dog that she almost walked right into Beth as the older woman froze. "Nah, he's good." A unfamiliar voice said. "We already took him out." Cassandra screamed. Sat in front of the two women, in Beth's perfect suburban kitchen where three men. The one in the middle had a complex eagle tattoo running down his throat. The two others looked like common gang members—the type your saw on TV getting busted for drugs or something. "What do you want?" Beth said, she clung onto Cassandra, her voice trembling. "Oh, relax, sweetheart." The leader said, his voice smooth and thick. "I just need you to call your lady friends over so we can all have A little talk." He explained, looking at the two women like this was the most natural thing in the world. "About what?" Beth asked. Cassandra spotted the golden gun on the table. A real one.
"Oh, about the money you stole from us." He said.

"Yo, this backsplash is dope." The leader said pointing at Beth's marble counter tops. Ruby, Beth, Cassandra and Annie all sat huddled together in the corner of the room looking up at the gang members with fearful looks in their eyes. "What's that made out of, marble?" He asked. "Yo, you ever get any problems with staining back here? Like if you cookin' a big pot of spaghetti sauce or something like that?" He looked expectingly at Beth. Annie nudged her, shaking her out of her shock. "No, I don't think so." She said, her voice surprising calm.
"We didn't know you owned the store." Ruby's voice wavered as she locked eyes with the criminals.
"I look like some kind of grocery store manager to you?" He asked, chuckling. "What, like Rotary Club or somethin'?" He said, laughing with the other gang members, before becoming serious. "Nah, let's just say that we got certain "arrangements" with some local businesses. I mean, we help each other out and what not, you know?" He explained.
"Like money laundering for drugs?" The words had left Cassandra's mouth before she had time to think.
"Told you it was shady." Ruby hissed with tears in her eyes.
"Why don't you stop worrying about my business dealings and start figuring how you gonna pay me my money back." The leader said.
"We can get it back." Beth said, sounding determined.
"That'd be great." He said.
"Most of it." Annie corrected.
"Sorry, what?" The guy glared at her so hard Cassandra thought the blonde girl would brake down crying.
"Some of it for sure." Annie repeated. The three other women shot her a look. "Oh, what, like you guys didn't spend a dime?" She defended herself.
"How much, Annie?" Beth was seething.
"I don't know." The younger sister said. "I don't know, I probably spent  like 100." She whispered. "Grand."
"What?" Ruby hissed. "I'm gonna shoot you myself."
"Nah, you just gonna pay me back is all." The gang leader said. "And right quick too. With interest." He added. The four girls clung onto each other as the two other gang members walked towards them. "So see you real soon, yeah?" The leader said as the three of them left, not before pointing at each one with his golden gun. "You know, you really got to be careful, ladies. I mean, with citrus on marble, like lemon and whatnot, that stuff will erode like crazy."

Cassandra was stressing out. Apparently she had been the only one not to spend any of the stolen money, and now all of them were sat in Annie's small apartment trying to scavenge up the rest of the money that they owed the gang members. "Where are we at?" Beth asked as Annie tapped away at a calculator.
Cassandra sighed, frustrated. "Short." She said simply.
"By how much?" Beth asked.
"Over 60 grand." Ruby muttered. She sighed. "What about the car?"
"I took it back." Annie said. "Lost over half its value, B-T-dubs."
"Well, maybe you shouldn't have bought it in the first place." Ruby muttered under her breath.
"My, what a helpful contribution." Annie said sarcastically. "Let me just grab my time machine."
"Oh, my God, we should just go to the police." Ruby said. Annie and Cassandra looked at her like she had grown a second head. "Wait. What?" Cassandra asked.
"We haven't done anything that bad yet." Ruby explained. "We don't have records."
"Uh, yes, now we do." Annie said.
"If we just explain to them that—" Ruby began.
"Explain what?" Cassandra interrupted. "That we meant well?" She asked. "Gee, officer, we're sorry, we didn't mean to piss off the gang." She said sarcastically, holding out her hands like she had handcuffs on.
"We just wanted to rob the grocery store." Annie joined in.
"Okay, I'm just trying not to die, okay?" Ruby exclaimed. "If you have a better plan—"
"Actually, yes, I do." Annie said. "We should take it from somewhere else. We'll just steal it, and then we'll pay them back." She explained. "And then we'll just put the whole thing to bed."
"Bitch, are you out of your mind?" Ruby yelled.
"Enough!" Beth shouted, but both women ignored her.
"That's the best possible plan." Annie continued.
"We're gonna get that money." Beth said cutting off both of them. "We're gonna figure it out. Because we are strong and we are resourceful and we've accomplished way harder than this." She said. "I once made 300 damn cupcakes in one night, and they were both nut and gluten free."
Annie rolled her eyes. "Kid still had an allergy attack."
"And you don't always have to fact check me, okay?" Beth yelled. Cassandra sighed. "I'm gonna take a shower." Beth said. "I smell like booze and crime."
"I'll call you tomorrow." Cassandra said to Annie as she and Ruby left.