Bandit Bound: A Bad Boy Romance Novel (6 page)

Maybe it's just 'cause it's Saturday,
Savannah thought. Oh well. She greeted her co-workers with extra friendliness because of her good mood. Even Chad, who seemed the most on edge of all.

"Hi Ch--"

"Hey," he said, interrupting her greeting. "Have you seen those vent guys? They're supposed to be in today." His face was red with either anger or embarrassment; it was honestly hard to tell most of the time.

"No, I literally just walked in the door, like, one second ago," Savannah said cheekily.

"Well, they're supposed to be here, it's supposed to be done now, I don't know what the hell is going on," he grumbled.

"If I see them, I'll tell you," Savannah answered. "Lighten up! It's a beautiful Saturday morning." It didn't seem to have much effect.

"It'd be a lot more beautiful if those god-damned assholes would show up and do their freaking job," Chad answered, getting more hot-headed and red-faced than ever. Savannah simply sighed and walked past him.
I tried,
she thought.

She sat down in her office chair which felt more comfortable than ever. There weren't as many customers around, so she was free to do as she pleased for the first few hours of the day. Savannah spent those hours on the Internet, checking for cruises and vacations. There were some pretty cheap deals to Angora, which was somewhere she always wanted to visit.
Maybe I'll finally take some time off,
she thought.
I deserve it.

Chad's red skull popped into the office once more.

"You seen those guys yet?" he asked. There was a desperate urgency in his voice, like something was going really wrong.
Maybe it's his ass on the line this time,
Savannah thought.
I wish. Good riddance.

"Nope, I told you I'd tell you if I saw them, and I haven't told you," Savannah answered with a big smile on her face to contrast her annoyance.

"That's fucked," Chad said as he looked down in a panic. "Can you ask Lucy for their number? I swear I had it before, but I've been calling them every day now and it just goes to Joey's Pizza Palace."

Savannah laughed.
What an idiot,
she thought.
I bet he just got the pizza place mixed up with the vent guys and never realized it. Who cares, anyways? It's just some vents. It can wait, can't it?

"Yeah, I'll call her and ask."

"Thanks, she hasn't answered any of my calls today, but I know she likes you more so maybe she'll pick up," he said.

"Really? Lucy likes someone less than me?" Savannah joked. Chad actually laughed at this with a surprising moment of self-awareness.

"Seems that way," he said.

A blurry moment passed and Savannah found herself head down and covering her ears. Her brain caught up with her body and began processing what had just happened. There was an extremely loud bang and the sound of shattering glass, followed by a few excited screams of fear.

Savannah had a view of the front entrance of the bank from her cubicle-office and couldn't believe what she saw.

Six men, wearing what looked like Halloween masks. There was a fox, a bear, a lizard, a goat, a horse and a cow.

Everything was so loud. There was shouting, muffled, but extremely loud. Muffled through the masks. When Savannah saw the guns in the hands of the masked men, an urge in her arose to do something about it but she remained frozen in her chair like a deer caught in headlights. It all seemed to go in slow motion to her. What took seconds felt like hours.

"Everybody stay exactly where you are!" a deep, damaged voice screamed.

It came from the man in the lizard mask. Savannah was intensely scared and the voice seemed to burrow down to her deepest instincts as she obeyed his command. He was a towering man as well, nearly seven feet tall and what must have been around three hundred pounds of muscle. Under the sleeve of his shirt was a tattoo. Savannah had the presence of mind to try and remember it, but not enough of it showed to give her any idea what it might be, other than that it was black ink which was useless information to her.

The lizard-masked man pointed his gun freely in the faces of the terrified customers in order to ensure that his commands were obeyed. It seemed to be an effective strategy.

"Hey you, get up," one of the voices called out to Savannah. She jerked into an even stiffer position than before and looked at the man in the mask. It was the goat.

"Me?" Savannah asked nervously.

"You fuckin' stupid or something? Yeah, bitch, you!" he hollered at her angrily. A chill went down Savannah's spine and for a brief moment she thought that this was going to be her last moment on Earth.

Snap out of it!
She thought. The moment the thought finished, she stood up on her feet and started to follow the goat.

"Hands up!" the goat yelled, taking a step back and pointing a pistol at Savannah. Savannah screamed and closed her eyes.

"Put your fucking hands up!" he screamed again.

"You think she's got a gun? Look at her!" another voice yelled. Savannah opened her eyes and saw the fox staring at the goat. The goat turned his head to the fox, then quickly back to Savannah.

"I ain't taking any fucking chances. Put your god damn hands up, bitch!" the goat yelled once more.

"Get cow into the vents, get out of here!" the fox yelled back at the goat. Savannah began to hyperventilate.
Is this a nightmare?
she thought.
It has to be a nightmare.

"Listen, nobody's going to hurt you, Savannah," the fox said calmly.
Vincent?
Savannah thought.
But the voice isn't really the same, although the figure is.
"Just put your hands up so I know you're not holding a knife or something and come walk out with the rest of the unfortunate souls out here. Okay?" His voice was soothing, or at least the closest thing to soothing in a situation like this.

"Okay," Savannah answered. She slowly raised her hands into the air, but just as her hands went from below the desk to above he, she deftly hit a silent alarm button on the bottom of her desk. Savannah started to walk towards the fox. "How did you know my name?" she asked suddenly and winced at the foolish mistake of asking a question like that to a bank robber with a gun.

"Your name tag, cutie," the voice replied confidently.

"Right, you know, I always forge--"

"Shh," the fox interrupted. "The less you talk, the faster this goes. Don't talk anymore, just be patient. Nobody's going to hurt you." Savannah nodded and was walked into the main lobby with the rest of the hostages. The fox looked at them briefly, nodded, and then jogged off towards the bathroom.

Savannah, Chad, and the rest of the hostages looked at each other nervously.

"So," Chad began.

"Shut your mouth!" the cow-masked man said. Chad's face turned red and Savannah recognized his uncontrollable anger rising to the surface. She frantically shook her head at him, trying to dissuade him. This raised the suspicion of the cow who gripped his pistol tight.

"Why don't you losers get a fucking job? Hey, wait a minute, aren't you--" Chad began before the butt end of a pistol knocked him unconscious from behind. The fox stood over his body and shook his head towards him in disdain.
It looks like he knows who that is,
Savannah thought.
Could it really be Vincent? Why would he be here?

"This dumbass," the fox said to the cow as he looked at Chad, who grunted and nodded. The fox darted off towards the bathroom again.

"Bear, watch this one," the cow said to the bear-masked man, who replied with a grunt and turned towards us. The bear held a pump action shotgun and stared Savannah down, with as much of a cold stare as one can offer through an animal mask.

A loud bang, followed by a sort of chainsaw-esque noise rattled through the building. Savannah was sweating profusely and it trickled down her forehead and armpits.

"Relax, I haven't had to use this thing in years," the bear said as he gestured towards the shotgun in his hands. "People are smart nowadays. No wannabe heroes," he added. Savannah wanted to tell him there was nothing heroic about robbing a bank but wisely bit her tongue.

More loud bangs were heard. Chad grunted on the floor, feeling at the back of his head where he was struck. Savannah strangely felt very little sympathy for him; the way he behaved towards everyone else throughout his time at the bank had alienated him quite a bit from her.

I should feel bad,
she thought.
But he kind of had it coming.
There was the slightest bit of delight in watching him get what she deep-down thought was his just deserts, but she refused to let that thought become a conscious one or acknowledge it as being an okay thing to think.

The goat came out of the hallway to the bathroom with a big burlap sack that was full to the brim with cash.
How did they get the money from the bathroom?
Savannah wondered in deep confusion.

The fox looked at the goat and nodded.

"Rraragh!" a deep voice screamed and the blurry visage of Chad flew past Savannah and tackled the fox. Chad started swatting at the fox with a flurry of strikes, but the fox deftly blocked every single attempt at a strike.

In the scuffle, the fox mask had been dislodged and the man's face as almost entirely visible.

Vincent,
Savannah thought.
It's him.
She recognized the face instantly; after all, she had been fantasizing about it quite frequently since the moment they met.

Vincent was back on his feet in just a few moments and adjusted his mask back onto his head, all while fending off Chad. Chad took a huge swing at Vincent, who dodged it and used Chad's own inertia to hurl him face-first into the ground, breaking Chad's nose with a sickening crunch and knocking him unconscious.

Savannah looked on in fear and fascination. The way Vincent dismantled Chad in the fight so quickly was quite a sight to behold and there was a feeling of extreme sexual excitement that ran throughout her whole body, which she quickly tried to push aside.

"You good?" the cow asked.

"Great," Vincent replied. He looked at Savannah knowingly.
He didn't look at me, but he must know I know it's him,
Savannah thought.
Why is he robbing the bank?

"Ah, piss," one of the masked robbers said. That's when Savannah heard faintly in the distance the sound of approaching sirens. It worked, she thought and sighed with relief.
We're going to be okay. Just stay cool and don't piss them off.

"Someone must have silent alarmed us," the lizard said angrily. "I should gun all of you fuckers down right now!" he screamed then waved his gun around. A few terrified customers yelped for their life when the gun pointed past them, ducking or crying.

"But I'm a real nice guy, so I won't," he said with a twisted sort of pleasure.

"Hmm," Vincent said, his hand on his chin in contemplation as he looked around. The other masked robbers had an immense amount of cash around them.
How did they get to it so fast?
Savannah wondered.

"Hey, beautiful," Vincent said as he turned to Savannah. "Looks like you're coming with us." Savannah's eyes widened and her heart froze.

"What?" she asked. Vincent didn't bother to explain again with words but with actions; he grabbed her by the elbow and started walking her to the back exit of the bank.

"Stop! What are you doing?!" she screamed.

"Shh!" Vincent hissed. "You're going to be fine, trust me," he added.

"Trust you? Are you fucking kidding me?!" Savannah yelled.

"Leave her alone!" an elderly woman said, stepping forward. One of the masked men pushed her back and she stumbled onto the service counter with a frown on her face.

"Take me instead!" a young man said.

"You idiots," Vincent said angrily as he continued to walk Savannah out of the building.

For a brief moment, the two of them were alone walking down a hallway while the rest of the robbers 'handled business'.

"Is that really you, Vincent?" Savannah whispered as they marched away to an unknown fate. He took off his mask, revealing his gorgeous face to her in all its glory. Light beads of sweat ran down his cheeks and brow. He smiled at her deviously and then pulled the mask back down onto his head.