9. Harli
Harli
“Well, what happened to yo’ parents because you never speak on them?” Trench inquired as he rubbed my bare back as I laid on top of him.
I’d been avoiding discussing them ever since me and Trench started talking.
There was a lot of shame I carried knowing my parents died at the hands of the drugs they put before me.
After their deaths, I went through hell trying to make it on my own while feeling like I wasn’t good enough.
It hardened me in ways that kind of made me emotionally unavailable, but something about getting to know Trench over these two months made me want to change that.
Aside from the amazing sex, when we talked our conversations would range from some surface level shit to deep without feeling pressured.
“They’re dead,” I answered after I realized he’d been waiting for me to say something.
“Baby, I’m so sorry for your loss,” he sat up on his elbows and looked me in my eyes.
“Don’t be. They died due to the drugs they put before their own daughter.”
“They missed out on a great woman,” he comforted me before he kissed my lips.
“Aht, aht that smooth talkin’ ain’t gettin’ yo’ ass no more pussy. Matter of fact, I gotta go meet up with the girls by four.”
“Uh, it’s ten minutes to four.”
“Fuck! I gotta go!” I panicked as I jumped into action to get dressed.
“We still good for the steak house tomorrow, right?”
“You know I ain’t passin’ up on you treatin’ me to steak,” I assured before I kissed his lips and left out of his hotel room.
I enjoyed the hotel rooms because they allowed me to be alone with him without any interruptions from Ryda or his parents.
I didn’t have any parents but I was sure that trying to plan out your adult child’s every move was controlling not concerning like they try to make him believe.
His process of getting his own spot was underway, and I couldn’t wait for him to step into the world on his own two feet.
Due to his complicated relationship with his parents, I hadn’t met them.
I wasn’t trying to push that because I didn’t know how long this thing between us would last.
It was refreshing to be able to be myself around him.
This shit had me moving in ways I’d never done before because I was always early to all meetings at the Rose Clubhouse.
We cleaned it and made it the perfect meet-up spot for us.
As I sped down the canopy road on my bike, I wasn’t surprised to see both Ryda and Kruz’s bikes there.
I parked next to them and made my way inside.
“Ooh, there you are ‘cause I was ‘bout to put out a missin’ person report for you,” Ryda chastised. “Let me guess, you were with Trench?”
“Yes, I was,” I answered. “I can assure you as your leader that it’ll never happen again.”
“Wait, wait, who made yo’ ass the leader?” Ryda popped her head to the side.
“The fact that I been runnin’ plays and gettin’ everything together over the last four weeks. You must want to sacrifice your free time to make sure every I is dotted, and T is crossed?”
“I mean…”
“Exactly! Now, like I was sayin’ before I was interrupted, as the leader I’ll be sure to continue to be on my shit, especially this close to a hit date. Are we ready for tomorrow?”
“Yes, we are,” Kruz answered as she typed on her laptop. “We still have access to all of the cameras at Magnolia Market. With us hitting it early morning before the Brinks truck comes to do their pickup, the store will be relatively empty with it just opening.”
“And the manager I’d been goin’ in there and flirtin’ with these past two weeks will be openin’,” Ryda explained her assignment for the hit. “I’ll be sure to make sure he doesn’t play superhero while y’all hit the store.”
“Good! We’ll meet down from the store an hour before we hit it to get in position.
Everybody should have stolen a car yesterday to use for tomorrow.
Do not forget we will get in our cars and take different routes back to the clubhouse.
If you are being followed, these are the backup spots around the city that are good for you to hide at.
There will be a burner phone and change of clothes in a bag at each spot. ”
I handed them each a map that had every spot marked off.
Like I’d told Ryda, I made sure that there was a plan for anything that could go wrong because that’s what a leader does.
Once we were done, I stayed back at the clubhouse to review everything one last time.
This had to go off without a hitch so I could bring this to Dice along with filling the third spot.
Let ‘em see what they were actually getting.
The next day, we were at our meet-up location on time.
The Brinks was set to show up in thirty minutes, and I wanted to be long gone before they got here.
As we waited for the store to open, we watched the cameras as the manager did his morning walkthrough.
After he counted down the register for the morning, he opened the store up.
There were three old heads shopping and two employees in the store when I gave Ryda the green light to go in.
She fixed her bob wig before putting on her fake glasses .
“Remember the plan, ladies,” I instructed as I looked between Ryda and Kruz. “I wanna be in and out in under ten minutes, understood?”
“Got it,” they agreed in unison.
“Let’s get this money,” I encouraged as I gripped my lucky pendant.
We all got into our stolen cars and made our way to each side of the store with a door.
My adrenaline was pumping as I entered the store.
As I crept through the back, like planned, I met up with Kruz behind the employee’s door.
The safe we were hitting was in the office, but the manager was the only one with the code.
With me not wanting to draw too much attention to this hit, I was going to use men’s greatest weakness: women.
I signaled to Kruz that we could move forward.
We split off as she went down each aisle to gather the customers while I made my way to where Ryda, the manager, and the cashier should be.
The moment I bent the corner in my all-black clothes, wearing a shiesty, and pulling a big ass gun, I grabbed everyone’s attention.
“Scream and I’ll blow yo’ fuckin’ heads clean off,” I threatened before stepping behind Ryda to use as my fake hostage. “Now just do as I say, and everybody will make it out this bitch in one piece.”
They nodded their heads in understanding just as Kruz and the shoppers came into my view.
I looked down at my stopwatch and noticed that we had seven minutes remaining and everything was running on schedule.
Kruz cuffed the shoppers and the cashier together before cuffing them to a rail near checkout.
“Lock the doors,” I ordered the manager with my gun at the back of Ryda’s head.
He hesitated as he looked between us and the panic button that Ryda had him standing away from purposely.
Pissed that he was even contemplating that dumb ass shit, I walked over to him and went across his face with the side of my gun.
When he spit out some blood, I didn’t feel any remorse because he was holding us up.
“Keep fuckin’ tryin’ me and you gonna get yo’ fuckin’ head blown off.
Now lock the fuckin’ doors so you can open the safe. ”
“My God, Sam, do as they say I don’t wanna die,” Ryda panicked so believable I almost believed she thought she was really in fear for her life.
“Fine,” Sam surrendered.
With my gun still at the back of Ryda’s, we all walked over to the door for him to lock.
As we made our way to the back, I had three empty duffle bags waiting by the office door.
He opened the safe for us before I whistled for Kruz.
When she came to the back, she grabbed the manager to take him up front.
Soon as they left, me and Ryda started bagging the money.
Kruz returned just in time to grab her duffle, as I finished stuffing the last one.
Once all the bags were full, I looked down at my stopwatch and noticed that we had two and a half minutes left.
We each secured a duffle bag before splitting up with Ryda coming with me and Kruz going out of her exit.
I hopped in the driver's seat before dropping Ryda off at her car.
As I followed her out of the parking lot, I took a left while she hit a right.
Driving like I got some sense, I kept my eye on the rearview mirror for any cops.
The closer I got to Rose Clubhouse, the more I felt safe.
I pulled in, so happy to see each of my girls’ cars there too.
Grabbing my duffle, I jogged to the door.
As I tossed my bag in the middle of the floor with the others, I stood back looking at it with my girls.
Everything felt so surreal as our first heist went off with minor hiccups, but for our first time we did pretty good.
“We fuckin’ did it!” Ryda exclaimed, breaking the silence. “Like we really fuckin’ did it y’all!”
“I was so fuckin’ scared but excited too,” Kruz chuckled.
“Set It Off ain’t got shit on us!” Ryda bragged as she did a little dance. “Uh, Earth to Harli.”
“We have areas we can improve in,” I sighed.
“We were cuttin’ it close with the ten minutes.
Then Scott wannabe heroic ass made me draw blood, and I wasn’t tryin’ to do that.
What if he sensed that you were helpin’ us Ryda?
I gotta watch the news for the next few days and see if any of the shit we could’ve improved gonna get us caught up. ”
“Harli, you gotta relax,” Kruz stressed. “We ain’t Set It Off level, but Ryda is right. We got away with it. A win is a win, and we gotta celebrate that.”
“Thank you, Kruz,” Ryda huffed.
“I mean…” I dragged as I became excited that we’d successfully hit our first lick together. “We fuckin’ did it y’all!”