Nomads again.
Thor turned on the TV and turned it so Denko could watch, too. Denko refused to give his vote on what we watched until Thor threatened him with more Silver Spoons, and we settled on Die Hard 2.
Odin took off to make arrangements, and Zeus joined us. At one point, they even agreed with Denko on a critique of how a bad guy would really set a trap.
“You guys didn’t actually work together ever with Denko, did you?” I asked.
“Not directly,” Zeus said. “Odin and I were in the field while he was still in training. Right? What year were you first in the field?”
“You really think this is going to work?” Denko said. “Your days are numbered, and all the camaraderie in the world won’t change that.”
“Everyone’s days are numbered,” Thor growled.
“You picked the wrong team, Isis,” he said.
“Seriously?” I said. “Have you been paying attention at all?”
Zeus sighed and held up a finger and a thumb. “Somebody is this close to duct tape on his mouth. This close.”
I leaned back against Thor and tried to concentrate on the show, but Denko had ruined it what with his death threats. My guys took it in stride, but I wasn’t as hardened as they were. I wanted to ask that we switch the channel to something without explosions and gunfire, like maybe Oprah, but I didn’t want to show Denko I felt insecure.
Odin came back with tickets and bags. It was time.
Thor made Denko get into a bed. He tucked him in and gave him a shot.
“Dead,” Denko said. “You’re dead.”
We all stood around and watched the drug take him.
“Seven hours,” Thor said. “Minimum. Maybe eight until he’s conscious and calling attention to himself.”
“Let’s go, then,” Zeus said. We had the room reserved for another day; it would be a healthy head start. We changed back into our street clothes, and my guys loaded up on the weapons. They made me put on my wig and skirt suit, which was surprisingly no worse for wear. I was shocked my guys hadn’t torn anything.
We set out from our glorious hotel and split up. Zeus went off to see somebody about putting together a new Vegas go bag and stashing it. Thor went to get supplies and a car for the trip, and Odin mysteriously insisted I come with him. He hailed a cab.
“What’s our job?” I asked Odin.
He leaned up and gave directions to the driver, then sat back. “A little bit of the Vegas experience before we go,” he said.
“The casino?”
“No, no casino.” He turned to me. “It was big, what happened today.”
“I know,” I said.
“I feel like we came through something. That’s the thing about us. We come though things together. Help each other grow. And that thing between me and Zeus…”
“It was between me, too.”
“I’m glad it’s over.”
“It’s never over,” he said. “I’ll always have the history I do. So will Zeus. And you and Thor, too. It’s just about staying vigilant. Our problems are lions guarding the gates of our love. It’s up to us to fight through.”
I kissed him. “I love that.”
We pulled up in front of a Dunkin’ Donuts. What? Odin was hungry again already? The Dunkin’ Donuts stood between a pawnshop that was lit up like a Christmas tree and a wedding chapel, or the sort of over-the-top wedding chapel you hear about in Vegas; this one was a facsimile of a rural countryside wedding chapel, looking weirdly out of place with its plain white façade and peaked roof with a cross on the top. Though countryside chapels didn’t typically have Pastor Roger’s Wee Chapel painted above the door.
I eyed the donuts in the window as we stepped out. “I’m still full from our lunch,” I said.
“Me too.” Odin took my hand. “Come on.” He led me down the sidewalk in the direction of the chapel…and up the steps.
“What are we doing?”
He turned to me at the top. “I’m thinking about the four of us. Forever.”
“A wedding? Odin…”
“It’s not legal, but…”
“You want the four of us to get married? Here? Now?”
He put a finger to my lips. “Keep the four part to yourself for now.”
“What?” I laughed and grabbed his finger. “Odin, we’re supposed to be escaping. Don’t we have flights booked?”
“We have time.”
“Odin…”
“I know we didn’t ask you formally. We didn’t ask each other either, but—”
“We don’t have to ask. It goes without saying, but…” Heart pounding, I gazed up at the peak of the roof, an arrow into the blue, blue sky. “Getting married…”
Odin pulled me close and kissed my forehead. “Are you into it, baby?”
“Fuck yeah! But I’m…” I looked down at my outfit. “I’m in black.”
“Not for long.” He pulled me inside. We were expected.
Pastor Roger strolled up to greet us; the pastor was a deeply suntanned fiftysomething with bright white teeth and physique that suggested he did a lot more kneeling under a barbell than at an altar. The choirgirl with him looked suspiciously like an ex-showgirl what with her long, shapely legs sticking out from under a choir robe that was definitely shorter than what you’d see in an actual church. She looked me up and down. “Size ten. Come on.” She led me into a side room stuffed with wedding gowns—beaded ones, princess ones, elegant hip hugging ones, strapless styles. It was a little bit…wonderful. “These are all tens.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Pick one. Dress and tux rental is included with the price.”
I was on those dresses instantly.
I pulled off my wig. We were going to do this right.
“Oh, good,” she said. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but ash brown is all wrong for you.” With that she pulled out the perfect dress—a simple sleeveless gown of creamy white silk.
I gasped.
“I know, right? I’m like the dress whisperer. Put it on. Have you given thought to your vows?”
Vows. Was I ready for this? I tried it on. Perfect.
“Come on,” she said. “Your wedding’s in ten.”
She led me out to a flowery little chapel area. Goin’ to the Chapel was playing. And Odin stood there, devastating in his tuxedo.
“Goddess.” He removed his glasses, slow and sexy. I could feel my face nearly splitting with a huge smile as I strode toward him, clutching my bouquet of white roses.
Just then, Zeus burst in. And looked at me. And stilled. “What’s going on?”
“Get him a tux,” Odin said.
“What are you doing?” Zeus said.
“We’re getting married,” Odin said. “The God Pack is getting married.”
“What the hell?” Zeus said, long legs eating up the distance toward us.
“Is this your best man?” Pastor Roger said.
“Odin,” Zeus said, going to Odin. “You didn’t have to—”
“I did. I know it doesn’t fix things for you, but I want you to see we’re with you in everything.”
“Brother.” Zeus clapped Odin on the arm and turned around to me. “This is...I…” His green eyes shone. “You look beautiful,” he whispered urgently, and then he yanked me to him and kissed me long and deep.
“Is he your…best man?” Pastor Roger asked with less certainty than before.
“Um…” It seemed a big thing to leave out, that four would be marrying.
“Get me a tux,” Zeus said. “I’m ready.”
“Only the groom gets the tux,” Pastor Roger said.
Odin peeled off a wad of cash—a thousand bucks from the looks of it. “We’re going to go for a nontraditional wedding.”
Pastor Roger shrugged. “That’ll rent him a tux.”
I took Odin’s hand at the altar. “Is Thor coming?”
Odin pulled his phone from his pocket. “He’s supposed to be here.”
&nb
sp; “Do you have vows?” Pastor Roger asked.
Odin looked at me with a glint in his eye. Yes, we had vows. Odin always thought of everything.
“Rings?” Pastor Roger asked.
“Just placeholders,” Odin said, pulling me roughly to him. “We’ll steal you a real ring, later, baby. The ones you steal are always more beautiful.”
Shivers went all over me. Could I love this man any more? Could I love any of them any more?
Pastor Roger didn’t have a comment on whole stolen rings thing—or the make-out session with the best man.
Well, he was just lucky we hadn’t brought a witness gagged and bound in a magician’s cut-me-in-half box. Because that would definitely fly in the face of wedding etiquette.
Zeus strolled up looking like the most elegant secret agent ever. His smile took my breath away. About halfway down the aisle he slowed, as if to savor the moment. As if he’d been waiting forever for it.
“One more is coming,” Odin said.
My choir showgirl looked at her wrist where a watch would be. “We have a service after yours.”
Zeus came and stood on the other side of me, holding my hand.
Pastor Robert furrowed his brow. “When the actual ceremony starts, we’ll want the best man off to the side.”
Gulp.
“We all stand here,” Zeus said.
Pastor Roger studied his face and seemed to decide that this best man could stand wherever he pleased. He too looked at his wrist where a watch would be—it seemed Pastor Roger’s Wee Chapel had no shortage of imaginary watches. “We might have to start without your fourth.”
“We can’t,” Odin said. “He’s a groom.”
“A double wedding?” Pastor Roger frowned. “This program is for one wedding.”
“Not a double wedding, a single wedding with three grooms, one bride,” Zeus said. “One wedding.”
It took Pastor Roger a moment to digest this. “Wait, I can’t marry four people.”
Both Odin and I looked nervously at Zeus.
“I think you can,” Zeus growled.
“I think…” I cut in, trying to sound reasonable, “I think…maybe you could make an exception?”
“I’m not marrying four people,” Pastor Robert said. “It’s not even legal. You can’t just…” He trailed off, staring at Zeus warily.
“The four of us are a romantic unit,” Zeus said. “We love each other, and we want to marry.” He glanced over at me with a look of such intense love. I felt like the luckiest woman in the world, to have these fierce, amazing men to love.
Just then, Thor burst in.
“Quick, put him in a tux,” Zeus said.
“That’s illegal,” the pastor said. “Even with the same-sex marriage act…”
But something was wrong. Thor was running down the aisle. “We have to go.” He stopped at the altar, studying us with confusion on his face.
“What’s going on?” Odin said.
Thor said, “I went back to the hotel to—” He glanced at Pastor Roger, then continued, “To get something out of the parking lot—and I noticed that the curtains to our room were open.”
“We didn’t leave them open,” I said. Which meant somebody had gotten in there.
“You guys,” Thor whispered. He took my hand. “Ice.”
Odin strolled over to our hosts. “I think it goes without saying, Pastor Roger, that making a call to the police right now would not turn out well for you.” He took the phone from the man’s hand and pocketed it. “Our reach and our power are awesome. You do not even want to know what would happen to you—”
The pastor held up his hands. “We’re cool. No calls.”
Odin was already peeling off his tux jacket. “Have our clothes back here in two seconds, and you can keep the money.”
“You guys.” Thor arranged my veil around my shoulders. “This is…you guys. It would’ve been…” Thor was touched. Choked up.
“It would have been beautiful,” I said.
Zeus looked so sad just then. This sort of thing meant so much to him. It would’ve been beautiful. Not legal, but beautiful.
“Hey.” I held out my fist. “God Pack.” Thor put his hand on mine, and then Zeus and Odin followed suit.
And then, with a crack in his voice, Odin said, “I promise to always love you. And protect you. And to fight for your dreams.”
The vows.
Those were the vows he’d written.
“Let’s go.” Thor pulled away his hand.
“What the hell?” I grabbed his hand and put it back. I was the only girl and therefore apparently the only one to get weddings. I looked each one of my men in the eye and repeated the vow. “I promise to always love you. And to protect you. And to fight for your dreams.” And then Thor said it, looking at each of us. Finally Zeus said it, voice cracking.
And it meant something up there on that altar in some fake chapel in that city full of fake things. One super-real thing: the four of us together, fighting for each other.
Only then did we break hands.
By the time we were in our underwear, our marriage helpers were back with the clothes.
We suited up, and two minutes later we were rolling tensely past glittering Las Vegas hotels in the white Firebird Thor had stolen. As usual, Zeus was driving, with Odin in front and Thor and me in the back.
It was a bit past rush hour. ZOX could be anywhere.
Shadows slanted over the glitz and glam and a very inconvenient traffic jam. We cracked the windows to let in the cool evening air, but not enough for people outside to be able to see us.
Thank goodness Thor had coveted this car and come back for it, or we’d still be in the chapel, unaware. Thor never could resist a classic muscle car. The tinted windows had probably put him right over the edge.
The traffic loosened up beyond the strip, but the tension didn’t. We circled through the city and switched cars at a lot near the Vegas airport. Thor hated to lose the Firebird, but we had to be safe. We nabbed a Navigator and got on I-15.
“They got close,” Thor observed as the Vegas suburbs gave way to desert.
“You wish we were dead, motherfuckers,” Odin said.
Zeus’s lips quirked.
I nestled into Thor’s shoulder and gazed out at the salmon-and-orange-colored sky.
It felt good to be moving, but we couldn’t relax quite yet; staying safe meant watching the mirrors and the traffic. It meant mile after mile of tense little exchanges—What do you think of that black Volvo? Have we seen that Honda before? You want to pull off and lose the group?
My guys needed sleep—desperately—but we probably wouldn’t sleep until the plane.
But this was how we drove. This was how we rolled.
We were heading to Rome, Italy. Odin had arranged for three separate flights out of Salt Lake City following three different routes, just to break up the pattern.
It was full dark by the time we stopped for gas in Primm Valley. Thor and I headed to a strip of Western-themed shops to grab snacks. That’s when I saw the bakery.
Cake. I snuck over and bought four pieces, each nestled in a fancy black box.
I broke them out once we were zooming back down the highway. “We didn’t have a proper wedding, but we should still have cake.” I handed them around. “Chocolate isn’t a traditional wedding cake, but—”
“Chocolate is better,” Thor said.
Odin turned in his seat. “I loved our wedding.” He said it like a confession.
Zeus beamed in the rearview mirror. “I did, too. The traditional wedding was somebody else’s wedding. But this one was ours. Better than what I could’ve dreamed.”
“Me, too,” I said.
We ate cake under the starry sky, not talking. Not needing to.
We just drove on and on into the night, hunted, exhausted, and dangerously in love, determined to love each other and protect each other and fight for each other’s dreams.
Always.
&n
bsp; .
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed your time with the kinky bank robbers as much as I did.
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Also by Annika Martin
Taken Hostage by Kinky Bank Robbers
The Hostage Bargain (Book #1) US | UK | AU | CAN
The Wrong Turn (Book #2) US | UK | AU | CAN
The Deeper Game (Book #3) US | UK | AU | CAN
The Most Wanted (This Book) US | UK | AU | CAN
Criminals & Captives
PRISONER (book #1) by Annika Martin & Skye Warren
This is a sexy, dark new adult romantic suspense I wrote with my pal Skye. In Prisoner, a hot and tortured prisoner takes the prison’s prim volunteer teacher (a college student) captive on a cross country escape/road trip. Grayson & Abigail are two very damaged characters (and ***dubious consent alert***!!). Only the first book is out, but more will come, because Grayson comes from a whole gang of tortured criminals who take women captive…yeah, it’s all very gritty and ‘lost boys’-ish!!
US | UK | AU | CAN
Writing as Carolyn Crane
Sexy Romantic Suspense
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The Most Wanted (Taken Hostage by Kinky Bank Robbers #4) Page 20