Aimee pulled up to her sister's house with a sigh, she was over an hour late and knew her oldest sister would be up her ass for her tardiness. If there was one thing her Mrs. Perfect didn't like, it was making her wait. She was as bad as their mother, Mrs. Guilt Trip.
Aimee pushed her sunglasses up, scraping her long bangs out of her eyes, while climbing out of her black mustang. She took the steps quickly and slide inside, removing her leather jacket as she called out, "Okay, I'll take the verbal lashing about my poor time management after I get a bottle of Merlot. Lord knows you have some here."
She tossed the jacket onto the sofa, as she turned the corner to come face to face with her oldest sister being held at gunpoint.
"Aimee!" Beth exclaimed, her blue eyes as wide as saucers and mouth gaping.
"What the hell?" Aimee huffed, her eyes leaving her sister and the large gold gun pointed at her to the very familiar face and set of tattoos.
"What're you doing here?" She asked Rio, her eyes narrowing suspiciously.
"Could ask you the same thing, Aimee." He rasped, his tongue doing that thing that drove her wild. A slow tour of those soft lips before being bitten in thought. She was intimately aware of what his mouth could do and despite the golden gun in his hand, she was distracted by that knowledge.
"How do you know him?!" Beth growled, her hands still raised and balled into fists.
"I..." Aimee paused a moment before offering with a shrug, "I met him at work."
"Oh at the club." Beth scoffed, her lip curled with disapproval. "Such good clientele you have, Aims."
"Oh shut up." Aimee growled, crossing her arms defensively. "So I don't like used car salesmen with spare tires and jowls."
"Not to uh, interrupt but I'm here for my money." Rio growled, his dark eyes drilling holes into both women.
"Oh my god, is he your pimp?" Beth gasped, her hands going to her hips as she went into full mom mode.
"Jesus Christ, Beth!" Aimee shouted, her eyes blazing hot and cheeks red. "That's what you fucking think of me."
"Well, what do you expect? You're a exotic dancer."
"Fuck you, Beth. I'm a gogo dancer, I don't get naked."
"Enough!" The dark eyed gangster growled, pressing the gun to Beth's neck as he growled in her face. "You took something that wasn't yours. You heard of the Fine and Frugal, Red?"
Beth's mouth dropped open, her eyes flicking to Aimee who furrowed her brow.
"The grocery store?" Aimee asked with a scowl.
"You know." He drawled, taking his gun from Beth's face to point it at Aimee lazily. "There's something different about you."
Aimee swallowed thickly as she realized she'd used her favorite persona on him that night. She'd taken French for a few semesters in college and fell in love with it. Both her and fellow dancer, Kelsey, liked to play with different characters for work. The night she'd enjoyed with him, she'd been French Aimee.
Shrugging at his accusation, Aimee offered, "You didn't tell me you held up suburban housewives for a living."
"Nah, see you got it all wrong. You and your girls held up the grocery store and took my money."
Aimee stared at him in confusion before bursting into laughter, her eyes nearly in tears as she realized her was serious.
"You've got to be kidding me." Aimee scoffed, looking over at Beth to see if she was just as flabbergasted, but the woman seemed even paler than before. "Beth?"
"Well." Her oldest sister shrugged, her eyes rolling a bit in resignation.
"The fuck?" Aimee cursed, glancing back at the man still brandishing a gun.
"Call your other girls. We got things to discuss." The gangster ordered, his dark eyes pinning Aimee with a glare. "I'm gonna talk to your baby sis while you do."
Tipping his chin to the other two men, who drew their weapons, the inked man gripped Aimee's elbow and pulled her from the room.
They ended up in Beth's bedroom, Aimee caged by him against the dresser. He had his hands flat on the wood, his gun still below his palm as a warning that he could use it at any moment.
"So, you're not French. Just a whitebread suburban bitch."
Aimee scowled, crossing her arms tightly around her torso. "I'm not suburban."
He clicked his tongue and made a show of looking around the room before he smirked at her. "Nah, yeah. You're right. This ain't no Leave It To Beaver set. This is straight up hood rat."
"This isn't my house." Aimee snapped, her cheeks flushed angrily. "You don't know me."
"Yeah, sure. You're right I don't know you." He jut his chin at her, flashing his ink. "But I guess you know me huh? That why you pulled me back stage for a private show? You fuck me for intel? Whatcha do, clone my phone, pick my wallet?"
"What?" She huffed, her eyes narrowing. "I didn't do anything. I didn't know they were off playing cops and robbers. Jesus, Beth is like a mother of the year stepford wife. Why they hell would she go into a life of crime?"
"The change?" He rasped, cocking an eyebrow as he rolled his lip between his teeth.
Aimee couldn't stop the laugh that escaped her throat before she slapped a hand over her mouth to smother it. She was grinning below her palm despite the situation. The gangster stepped back and looked down at her with mild amusement shining in his eyes.
"You really think I did that shit?" She asked after getting her giggles under control.
"Like you said, I don't know you." He rasped, tucking his gun away before leaning against the wall across from eyes left a trail of heat as they passed over every inch, his tongue bitten between his teeth as he seemed to recall what was below her clothes.
"Well I didn't." Aimee huffed, tucking her hair behind her ear awkwardly. "I lied about the French thing. It's just..." she hesitated before looking away to confess the reason. "Sometimes it easier to pretend to be someone else for a little while."
When he was silent, Aimee glanced towards him and found his dark eyes staring intently at her. She felt a blush rise to her cheeks as she remembered what he looked like buried between her thighs, this pitch colored eyes gleaming up at her as he buried his tongue inside her.
"Let's go." He muttered breaking her out of her revery, taking her elbow before steering her out of the room to join the others.
Aimee found Beth, Annie and Ruby sitting together when they entered the kitchen. The other two Hispanic men were holding guns but only pointing them in the girl's general direction.
"Thank god." Annie gasped, at the sight of her. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Aimee muttered, standing to the side as Rio paced around the kitchen. He was looking at the countertops and backsplash while rubbing his lips in thought.
"She's fine because she knows this... gangbanger." Beth scoffed, her eyes flicking to the men as they shifted at the word.
"Jesus, Beth. I'm not the one robbing grocery stores so get off my ass." Aimee growled, her eyes angry and jaw clenched at the insinuation.
"We didn't know you owned the store." Ruby offered, interrupting the argument.
Rio laughed, rubbing his jaw in thought. "I look like some kind of grocery store manager to you? What, like Rotary Club or somethin'? 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?"
"Like money laundering for drugs?" Annie whispered to Ruby.
Ruby grumbled under her breath. "Told you it was shady."
Rio circled the kitchen island, his hands trailing over the smooth counter top as he spoke. "Why don't you stop worrying about my business dealings and start figuring how you gonna pay me my money back."
Beth sat up straighter, her hands folded in her lap. "We can get it back."
"That'd be great." Rio mocked, nodding his head encouragingly while folding his hands in front of him. Aimee noticed he had his gun out again, the shine of the gold glittering under the kitchen lights.
"Most of it." Annie muttered lowly, her eyes nervously looking over the other women.
"Sorry, what?" he drawled, cupping his ear. "What was that?"
"Some of it for sure." she shrugged, picking at her finger nails.
Rio laughed, his eyes far from amused as he glared at the women sitting in front of him.
Annie scoffed, her hands thrown up in the air. "Oh, what, like you guys didn't spend a dime?"
"I didn't because you didn't include me in your Thelma and Louise reboot." Aimee sneered, her arms crossing.
"How much, Annie?"
"I don't know. I don't know, I probably spent like like 100... grand."
"What?" Ruby screeched.
"I'm gonna shoot you myself." Aimee muttered, her brows furrowed as she watched the train wreck in front of her.
"Nah, you just gonna pay me back is all." Rio drawled, tucking his gun under Beth's chin again. "And right quick too. With interest."
Beth's eyes filled with tears as he pointed the gun at the other women before looking over Aimee with heated eyes.
"So see you real soon, yeah? You know, you really got to be careful, ladies." he commented, tipping his chin to the fruit bowl on the island, "I mean, with citrus on marble, like lemon and whatnot, that stuff will erode like crazy."
Rio's voice turning colder as he looked over the group while tucking his gun away. "You got a week before I collect."