flash fiction almost-black-friday

rules and set up for #13 over @ purgatorian(jj), here's this week's (albeit slightly hasty, and i do apologise, but life gets in the way sometimes) effort:

With money in my pocket and a... grin to match the crescent above, i bounced along happily, so proud of myself for pulling it off. karma didn’t enter my thoughts- i was too busy with the thrill of my skill and success.
i should’ve noticed i was being followed, especially with that tightly-curled nouveau riche begging to climb out of its 5th-pocket holding cell, but my plans for it were tearing my mind from safety...
new home in a new country, paid in full. no need to look back, and no mortgage ruining the forward view either. i would take nothing and tell no-one.
with so much to consider, the woman catching up to me escaped my observation until she pulled up alongside and honked and waved me over. and maybe if she were less attractive i wouldn’t have stopped. but i suppose everything for a reason...
i pulled over and just barely cracked my window as she got out and walked back to me- no need to expose myself too hastily- and quick double-checked the wonderfully uncomfortable bulge poking into my hip.
she leaned over to the gap between the glass and metal and whispered,
“they took you.”
“what? and why are you whispering?”
“they’ll have sent somebody out to follow you home so if you find out it’s fake before they move off tonight, the tail can radio and tell them to cut out before you or the fuzz can make it back.”
“find out what’s fake?”
“when they cashed you out they gave you a roll, right?”
“right.”
“did you check it?”
“the guy counted it out in front of me…”
“then he reached down for the rubber band, right?”
“yeah.”
“and switched the wad in his hand for the fake bills below the counter.”
i couldn’t squeeze any words out of my suddenly-constricted throat so instead i shifted in my seat so i could finally free the roll that had been crying against its tight, dark quarters. by the time i unfolded it and looked up to ask her the best route to sneak back without the tail selling me out, she was pulling away fast.
i grabbed my phone from the passenger seat and called jerry.
“jer…”
“yeah, man.”
“business. you and the boys each grab your favourite pipe and meet me…”

walk good.