"Don't you dare fucking talk to me like that." I snapped at the seething boy in front of me.
"Like what, princess? Like you're full of shit? Someone had to say it!" He yelled back.
"No, don't talk to me like you're better than me! You and I are the...
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★★★
"All y'all's hands up in the air now! You, out of the car! Let's go! Out of the car! Let's go! Hurry!" Barry demanded, and I took a sharp breath as I clamored out of the car with everyone else. "There you go, pretty girl. Here we go! Get out the car, let's go! Hurry up!" Barry yelled at me as I put my hands up with a scowl. I could tell it was him even with the stupid skull bandana covering his face.
"Back off, man," JJ warned, but when the gun raised, I shook my head nervously. "Shut up, JJ," I snapped at him. When he went quiet, I knew he understood the urgency. I swear this kid had a death wish sometimes.
As we all walked out of the car with our hands raised above our heads, the fear of being shot became all the more apparent as the sound of the gun in Barry's hands became closer to us. "We're broke," I growled at him, already sick of his shit. I had seen him in the Cut plenty of times, he had many customers there.
My aunt would buy cocaine from him sometimes for the times she wasn't drinking. I bought weed from him once but never did it again because I thought he was skeevy. I guess I was right not to trust him. He came close to me and held the gun to my head, my breath stopping short. I closed my eyes as his face got closer to mine.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP, BITCH," He yelled in my face as I continued to not breathe. The suspense was high in that moment, and I could tell there was nothing more than JJ wanted then to step in, but he had enough sense not to right now.
Barry wouldn't shoot me. He wouldn't shoot anyone right now, he'd be in prison for the rest of his pathetic life. I was confident the gun was just a scare tactic, and I knew this because Helen, like many Cut residents, kept a gun in the boat. The only thing was, though, that our gun wasn't loaded.
Helen was stingy and didn't actually want to buy bullets, so we kept the gun for its fear factor. I'm not saying I knew for a fact that Barry's gun wasn't loaded, but I knew he wasn't about to pop a cap in anyone today.
He harassed us into laying down in the ditch to the side of us, and when we all got down, hands on our heads, he began to pace back and forth. I was next to a seething JJ, and when I looked over to him, his face was set still in the midst of his rage.
I wanted to try to help him calm down, but I couldn't speak or Barry would flip his shit again. I saw JJ's jaw clench and my own heart my beating in anger at this whole ordeal. Barry went to look through the van, presumably to look for the gold. "It's a set-up, guys," Kie said, emotion thick in her wavering voice.
"That old bat shanked us. Fuck, goddamnit!" JJ barked through clenched teeth, slamming his fist into the ground multiple times. As we laid there in our own fear and humiliation, I decided enough was enough. I sat up slowly, crouching on my knees as I kept staring at Barry ransacking the van.
