It wasn’t about her boyfriend who had gotten himself mixed up with the wrong people. Honestly, really didn’t even like the guy when I met him and knew that Becca deserved way better.
I don’t like many men after-
Not letting my mind go to that subject.
Ilaria had always been good at cards. Maddie was a genius with computers. Becca was the potion master. Tessa and I had always been violent.
So we made our own little girl gang. A sort of Robin Hood where we take from the Cartel and donate to charities that benefit women around the world.
Of course we keep a portion of the money too so that we can live too.
Taking from them made us feel good and gave Becca a purpose. It made her smile again and we kept doing it even after she didn’t need help smiling anymore.
What do people say?
Bad habits die hard.
My phone vibrates.
Meet at the car
Maddie must see me drinking in one of the cameras so I lift my glass towards it, saluting before downing my drink and standing to walk away.
None of the guys know their bosses are passed out in the card room or too fucked up to alert them that something has gone very wrong.
Dummies.
I’m slinking out the door, walking calmly so not to alert anyone that something is wrong but also keeping my eyes peeled to make sure that nothing is wrong.
Maddie is deleting the footage from the card games right now and then following the trail of us from the hotel. She will leave her room in about thirty seconds, deleting her own trail in live time until she is in the car with us.
When we get home she’ll scour for traffic cams and anywhere that might have gotten a glimpse of us. She’s very good at what she does.
Turning the corner, I see the getaway car.
Becca is in the back with Maddie, who has her laptop out as she cleans up, and I slide in beside them. They smirk, the tension from what we’re doing a mix of excitement and fear in the vehicle.
We’ve never been caught yet and there is something about it that makes it harder to be afraid of when we do.
Tessa and Ilaria get in the front, a big bag that I know is full of money on Ilaria’s lap.
“Good night?” I tease, getting a smile from my friend.
We had started doing this to get Becca to smile but it seems that Ilaria is the one that needs to now.
She nods her head, her thumb running absently over the empty ring finger. Her engagement ring is locked up at her fathers house because she was afraid someone would try and start something if they saw it.
Really she is attached to it and refuses to admit that she might GASP have actual feelings.
Ilaria is the only one in the car that hasn’t been in love before.
There’s something beautiful in the idea that she can fall in love with someone for the first time in her life now that she is a bit older and has the space for it.
I wasn’t ready for it. The intensity of it. The flames of it. The poison. The pain.
Love is a lot of things but mostly it’s not for me.
For my friends I’d love to see them in love.
Sure, we love each other and that fulfills me enough in some ways but each of my girls deserves that nauseating happily ever after that you see in books.
Maddie deserves someone that isn’t afraid of how smart she is. Who sees that she is beautiful but also sharp, deadly in her knowledge. Someone that isn’t afraid of being with a woman who is always going to have an edge on them.
Tessa deserves a man who uses his hands to hold and cherish her. There have been too many men who had touched her and ripped her apart with their rage. She deserves a man with patience and laughter in his eyes to bring out the laughter in hers.
Becca deserves someone who won’t back down from a fight. Someone with spine who can protect her and cherish her. Her ex had just gotten them in trouble and almost killed because he was greedy. She needs someone who is only greedy in the way that they love her. She deserves a second chance at that forever love.
Ilaria deserves a love that understands her world. Someone who gets that her family and friends are taking up so much of her heart but they’re happy to share that with her. She deserves someone who will give her passion and a lifetime of joy.
And me?
I deserve a drink after tonight.
As we pull up to the house I can see the way my friends are looking at me and I know we’re about to have a very wild girls night.
18DANTE
