Bandit Bound: A Bad Boy Romance Novel (12 page)

"Is there something wrong?" she asked bravely.

"Oh, of course not, I'm just trying to be as thorough as possible, it is my job after all," he said in a serious tone. He looked her up and down.
He's looking at me like I'm a murderer
, Savannah thought.

"Okay, can I go get my coffee then?" she asked, annoyed.

"Yeah, I'm sorry for taking up your time this morning and I really appreciate that you were so co-operative," he said.
Why would I not be co-operative?

Savannah walked back into the bank, shaken up. Her mind started to wander.

Am I being set up? Is there something that they know that I don't? Is that why Vincent did all of that? Is there a clever plan that incriminates me and not him? Maybe that's why he gave himself up so easily.

Maybe he's going to get away with it and I'm going to be the one to go to jail.

No, that's crazy.

Savannah once again slumbered her way into her office and sat down on her chair. She lifted her hand up in front of her. It was shaking. A lot.

"Fuck," she muttered under her breath. "That's crazy. That's impossible. I didn't do anything wrong, how could I be in trouble? I'm being paranoid," she continued to say very quietly in her empty office.

"Something the matter?"

"What?" Savannah said, snapped out of her daze. She looked up and saw Chad. He had a bandage on his nose which had been broken in the fight during the bank robbery.

"Heard you talking to yourself in here. You okay?" he asked.

"Oh, yeah, I'm just sorting some stuff out on the computer. You know how I get when I haven't had coffee," she said.

"No, I don't really, but alright, just checking in," Chad said. He frowned and walked away.

Ugh, why does he still work here?
Savannah thought. Her mood had shifted from paranoid to angry.
Why is it always so fucking cold in here? Why am I still doing this shitty job? Why did the only guy I like have to be a bank robber psycho?

Why are my office walls so stupid? I hate the angles. And the shapes. God!

She shook her head hard, got up and approached the coffee machine. As she was walking, she passed Lucy who looked at her in disdain.

"Savannah," she said snootily with a nod of her head. Savannah simply frowned at her and walked past her. Lucy let out a fake chuckle and the click-clack of her high heels faded into the distance.

I think I'm gonna quit this job,
she thought.
I can't take it anymore. I'd rather do anything. I hate this place!

She took a sip of her coffee.

"Shit!" she said, reeling back from the cup. The boiling-hot coffee tingled on her lips, stinging it.
I'm just glad nobody saw me
, she thought.

Could this day get any worse?
She thought as she turned around to return to her office. As she did, her heel slipped on some of the coffee that had spilled on the floor when it burned her lips. She wiped out, landing on her tail-bone. The ceramic coffee cup emblazoned with the bank logo shattered on the floor, spraying coffee all over the laminate floor.

Savannah sat in the hot coffee and sobbed for about two minutes. Fortunately for her, no one walked in during her emotional collapse.

The rest of the day was miserable and it didn't take long for Savannah to pack her things and leave. She practically ran out the door to get home.

12

Savannah was lounging on a sofa after work, watching TV and trying to de-stress when her phone began to vibrate. She picked up the phone in a hurry and answered.

"Yes?" she said.

"Savvy," an urgent voice replied. It was Lily.

"Yeah, what's up?" Savannah said.

"I found something about your guy," she said excitedly.

"What? What'd you find out?" Savannah asked. Her body perked up and she sat upright in the sofa now.

"Yeah, there was a thing on some small newspaper site about him. Says he's being held in a maximum security prison while he awaits trial. Crazy, I didn't know they even did that. His bail was like a trillion dollars!"

Savannah's heart sank.
I really will never see him again,
she thought. She wanted to cry but refrained from doing so.

"That's... good?" she said pained and confused.

"Yeah, I mean, I guess," Lily said, understanding the situation. "Just your luck, huh?" she joked.

"Yeah, just my luck. Today I slipped on coffee and smashed my coffee too. Today kind of sucks."

"Well, there's always tomorrow," Lily said. "Sorry to be the bearer of bad-good news!"

"It's okay, thanks for looking and finding out. It would have killed me if I didn't know what happened."

"No problem. Say, do you want to do something tonight?" Lily asked. Savannah took a moment to think about it, lightly pressing one finger against her lip in contemplation.

"I think I'm actually going to go to sleep," she decided.

"Sleep? It's six," Lily said.

"Yeah, you know, with my luck today wherever we go, something bad will happen. We'll get into the parking lot and lightning will hit me. And that puts you in danger. This is for your safety, okay?" Savannah said in an attempt at a joke.

Lily laughed. "You come up with the weirdest excuses," she said. "You really do need sleep."

"See? I told you. I'll catch you later, and thanks again," Savannah said.

"Okay, you better. I haven't actually seen you in ages!" Lily chided.

"I know, I know," Savannah said and hung up. She changed into her pyjamas, closed the blinds to her bedroom and promptly passed out on her bed.

Several hours later, a loud knock at the door startled Savannah into wakefulness. She rubbed her eyes and turned on her phone as a makeshift flashlight. The bright light strained her eyes and she squinted them in an attempt to adjust to it.

She walked out of her bedroom and down the stairs to the front door.
Who the hell is at my door at this time?
She wondered. She looked down at her phone again to check the time and realized that it was only eleven p.m. She laughed at herself.
Still
, she thought,
weird
.

"Lily?" she asked as she made her way to the door. She peeped through the door and saw a police officer standing at her doorway. She froze and the anxiety from earlier in the day came back with full force.

Oh God, are they going to arrest me?
She thought. A voice of reason in her head countered the paranoia.
Why would they arrest you? You didn't actually do anything wrong, Savannah,
the reason-voice chided internally.

"Hello?" she asked through the door.

"Hi, Ms. Solitaire?" the officer's voice answered back.

"Yes? What do you want?" she asked suspiciously.

"Could you open the door for me please?" he asked calmly. He had a smirk on his face as if he knew something that she didn't.
At least he isn't as suspicious as the other cop,
she thought. She took a moment of contemplation and opened the front door.

"Hi, I'm sorry to disturb you so late at night," he said.

"It's not a problem. May I ask why you're here?" Savannah asked.

She looked at the police officer and was somewhat startled. He looked rugged; raw. A thick unshaved stubble was on his face and there were multiple small scars on his face. There was a small bandage under his eye.
He doesn't look like a cop,
she thought nervously.

"I'm sorry to inform you that your captor has escaped from the facility he was being held in and that we have reason to believe he may try to get into contact with you tonight," he said.

"What?" Savannah asked. Her body froze up.
He broke out? He's coming to see me?

Is he going to kill me or is he going to kiss me?

"I'm here to watch over the house to make sure that nothing happens to you ma'am," the cop said.
He looks so calm. He... almost looks like he's going to laugh?
Savannah thought.
What the hell is going on here?

"Can't I stay somewhere else?" she asked. She felt the sweat start to exit her pores as the nerves kicked in.

"It would be better and safer if you stayed here, miss," he said.
Seriously, he's weird,
she thought.
Why does he look so amused?

"Why aren't there any other police officers here? Is it just you?" she asked skeptically.

"Oh, there's another one in the cruiser just parked back there," he answered, pointing at a black sedan across the street.

"That's not a cop car," Savannah said.

"It's undercover," the cop answered. He saw that she was skeptical. "It's okay, watch. Hey! Steve!" The window of the sedan started to roll down. "Wave for her!" A uniformed arm slung out of the window and waved at her.

I guess they're really cops. It makes sense, I guess,
Savannah thought.
Why didn't he actually come out of the car, though?

Then again, it's pretty easy to buy a cop costume...

"Can I get your badge number?" Savannah asked. "I'm just nervous, sorry, but please," she added.

"Of course," the officer replied. He handed her his badge right into her hand. She read it and tried to memorize the numbers but soon realized she had no idea what to look for. Savannah settled for remembering the badge number, which was now mostly carved into her brain.

"Okay, well, what should I do?" she asked after staring at the badge.

"Just go do whatever you were doing before. Sleeping, it looks like. I will take care of you ma'am, there's nothing to worry about. This is really just a precaution, okay?" he said.

"Yeah, a precaution, okay. I'm sorry, it's just scary and I don't feel that safe in here anymore," Savannah said.
I don't feel that safe with these 'cops' either,
she thought.

"You are perfectly safe, miss. I promise you that. I am positive that no harm will come to you tonight. Just go back inside and continue your night, I won't make a peep. I'm just here as a precaution," he repeated himself.

"Okay," she said nervously. "I guess I'll go back to bed, I guess." The officer smiled and nodded, then turned around and gave a thumbs up to the car across the street.
That's not right
, Savannah thought.
But what am I going to do about it?

Savannah slunk back into her house, making sure to lock all of the doors. She even went to each window and locked the locks that she normally never locked. She went back upstairs slowly and sat in her bed.

"Fuck, I can't sleep like this," she said aloud in her empty room. "What the hell am I gonna do now?"

She looked around the room and saw nothing to pass the time, so she reached into her pocket and took her phone out and began to check her email.

Her inbox had received the daily smattering of 'almost-spam-but-not-quite-spam' emails; deals, offers, forwards from distant relatives. On top of them all sat a particular email.