Roman rang the bell and looked up at the security camera, lifting the box until a buzzer went off, unlocking the door. He pulled it open and used his foot as a wedge to keep it unlocked. Within seconds, Denny was at Roman’s side, wearing a black ski mask. He pulled a large semiautomatic handgun from his waistband. Roman quickly removed his sunglasses and pulled down his brown skull cap, which turned out to be a ski mask as well. He opened the box, removing a sawed-off shotgun along with a large black satchel. Locked and loaded, they stepped into the jewelry store, which only had two customers—Sasha and Paris—and four employees, including the security guard.
“Okay, everyone. Hands up! This is a robbery!” Roman announced, taking charge. He slid a shell into the shotgun chamber and pointed it at a female employee’s head when she reached for a security button. “You don’t want to die, do you, lady?”
“No.” The woman shook her head, pulling back her hand.
Roman glanced over at Denny, who had already disarmed the security guard and zip-tied his hands. He tossed him the satchel. “Time to go to work, cuz!”
Suddenly, the store was rocked by a startling crash.
Denny was smashing the showcases with his gun and dumping trays of jewelry into the black satchel as Roman covered everyone with his shotgun. They were moving fast. Clearly this was not their first robbery.
As Denny smashed and grabbed, he was making his way toward the Duncan cousins. Sasha casually slipped her hand into her oversized purse and wrapped her fingers around the 9 mm handgun she carried at all times. Unbeknownst to the boys, she and Paris had been trained at Chi’s Finishing School in Paris, one of the world’s most renowned mercenary and tactical training schools. Taking these amateurs down was going to be a piece of cake.
Sasha was about to spring into action when Paris, whose trained eyes had been studying both boys since the minute they walked in the door, calmly grabbed her cousin’s wrist and shook her head. Reluctantly, Sasha backed down and watched Denny smash the showcase in front of them and clean it out.
“Time to go, cuz!” Roman shouted, looking out the window. “Our ride’s here.”
“I’m done,” Denny replied, looking over at Paris. Their eyes met for a brief moment.
“Then let’s get the fuck outta here,” Roman said, backing up toward the exit. Denny headed for the door, and just like that, they had cleaned the place out and were gone.
As the store employees scrambled to call the police and untie the security guard, a confused Sasha turned to Paris, and said, “What the fuck was that? I could have stopped them!”
“For what? They didn’t rob us. Last time I checked, your ass wasn’t Supergirl, and I damn sure ain’t Wonder Woman.” Paris glared at her defiantly.
Sasha shot back, “Paris, they just cleaned this place out. We shouldn’t have just let them get away like that.”
“Why not? Nobody got hurt other than the security guard’s ego.” Paris shrugged. “If you had taken them down, we’d be dealing with the police for the next five hours and probably have our faces all over the six o’clock news.” She gave her cousin a pointed look. “And who the hell was going to explain that to my mother and father? ’Cause it damn sure wasn’t gonna be me.”
Paris’s words hit Sasha hard as she glanced around the room. “Now that you put it like that . . . I’m sure this place is heavily insured.”
“Exactly. Besides, I got a feeling we’re going to see those two again real soon.” Paris flicked the postcard Denny had given her earlier and smiled knowingly.
Nevada
1
“Oh my God, that was so much fun. Paris and Sasha are going to be so jealous when they see these pictures on Instagram,” Uncle Rio shouted, showing off the selfie he’d taken as we walked toward the parking lot. I had spent the entire day at Splish Splash with Rio, Kia, Danielle, my dad, and his girlfriend, Marie. “Aren’t you glad you came now, Nevada?”
“Yeah, it was a blast,” I replied, checking out Danielle and Kia’s backsides, which were barely covered by their bikinis, as I walked a few feet behind them. I tried to be subtle about my gaze, but when I glanced over at my dad, he gave me the look, letting me know I was busted. I swear between him, my mom, and my grandmother, there were always eyes on me. I was just thankful that Marie didn’t notice, because Danielle and Kia worked for her, and I didn’t want her to think I was some disrespectful pervert.
Thanks to Uncle Rio’s horrible sense of direction, it took us almost half an hour to find the Mercedes Sprinter van we were traveling in, but everyone was still in high spirits. My dad climbed behind the wheel, and Marie sat up front with him. The rest of us slipped in the back. Although there was plenty of room, Danielle, an exceptionally pretty white girl with long blonde hair and a body like a swimsuit model, sat right next to me, pinning me to the van’s wall with her body and spreading out across the seat. Danielle was the more aggressive of the two girls, and it was clear all day that she enjoyed being the center of attention, especially mine. I made sure to play it off like it was no big deal, but my dad seemed to always be looking.
“Look how sunburned I got.” She pulled back the top of her bikini that barely held her full breasts to start with, so that I could see the lighter pigmentation of her skin compared to her bright red sunburn. I tried not to let my eyes linger on her breasts too long, but it was a challenge.
“You wouldn’t be sunburned if you’d put that sunscreen on like I told you,” Marie scolded her, more like her mother than her boss. “I don’t understand
