Unbridled and Untethered [The Double Rider Men's Club 10] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (5 page)

Her luscious lips moved away and her intent gaze went to a point behind him then suddenly widened in fear. He straightened from her with reluctance and turned toward the poorly timed disturbance.

From the front of the bank a loud voice called out, “This here is a robbery! Everyone on the floor facedown. Now!”

The sudden screams from the other patrons weren’t quieted until rapid gunfire erupted into the air.

* * * *

Emma Rae fought the sincere urge to scream as the bank robbers advanced quickly into the lobby. Zeke put his arm around her and quickly helped her onto the floor as three gunmen rushed farther into the bank. She didn’t have time to be worried about their near kiss before the tip of her nose was pushed into the marble tile she’d just been standing on.

Zeke whispered, “Just be quiet and stay calm. We’ll be okay.”

She’d gone from being in a near trance from the unexpected close quarters with Zeke to extreme danger in a single second. Her roller-coaster emotions had fled the track and now sailed into the atmosphere. She took a deep, slow breath and tried to keep her insides from liquefying in terror.

Three men, wearing thick black ski masks, gray coveralls, and carrying large black guns, swarmed even farther into the bank. They moved together as if they were a unit, but ten steps into the room, they suddenly split off into three different directions. The tallest went behind the cash windows. The paunchy, heavy one traveled to the center of a group of patrons sprawled in the center of the bank, waving his wicked-looking gun around threatening all those on the floor. Emma Rae glanced to her right in time to see the average-size gunman kick a bank officer in the face. She looked away and closed her eyes.
Stay calm
.

Chancing a look, Emma Rae glanced to her right again. Bleeding and holding his nose with one hand to staunch the flow, the now-wounded bank employee was pulled to his feet. The gunman who’d kicked him grabbed a handful of his jacket shoulder and pushed him out of the main room. She lost sight of them on the way down the hall to where Emma Rae knew they kept the safety-deposit boxes and the vault.

Another gunman, Mr. Paunchy, taunted the remaining frightened patrons. “Everyone better be kissing the marble floor and keeping all thoughts of being a hero to themselves. I’ve got plenty of rounds of ammunition to ensure cowardice today. Don’t test me.”

She glanced to her other side and noticed one of the gunmen behind the counter, where the bank tellers usually stood. Skinny and tall, this robber had slung his rifle over one shoulder and was grabbing what looked like fistfuls of dollars from the cash drawers behind the counter. He shoved wads and wads of cash into a bright-blue bowling bag as he made his way down the long line of cashier windows.

Looking in this direction also afforded her a nice view of Zeke. He was faced away from her and watching the gunman collect the money from behind the counter. All of a sudden, Zeke turned his head and faced her. His gaze zeroed in on hers. The frown lines around his eyes softened just a bit as he watched her steadily for a few private seconds. His expression seemed to attempt to convey reassurance, as if he was telling her to just hold on for a few more minutes until the thieves got what they wanted and left.

Emma Rae swallowed her rampant fear and tried to smile back. She probably didn’t pull off any sort of happy expression. His arm, still snugly fitted around her shoulders, squeezed her. For the first time in ages, she was comforted by the touch of a man. She wasn’t repelled, frightened, or tensed by Zeke’s very intimate contact. Not to mention the inevitable fact that she’d just about kissed him in the center of the bank lobby before the crazy robbery started.

They’d get through this together, laugh about it later, and hopefully find a quiet place for that kiss she was determined to have. Would it be like all the times she’d dreamed about this past week? Probably it would be better.

“Hey. You two, lovebirds. On your feet.” Emma Rae felt someone kick her ankle. Zeke rose to a sitting position but kept his gaze riveted on her face.

“Get up,” the gunman said again. His rough smoker’s voice grated out, “What are you waiting for, an engraved invitation?” He kicked Zeke’s calf and pointed the gun at his head. Zeke patted her on the arm once. She actually missed his warm connection as he moved from her. That hadn’t happened in a long time.

Emma looked over her shoulder and watched as Zeke slowly get to his feet. The gunman threatening him wore gray coveralls like the others, but his garment fit so tight around the paunch of his midsection the zipper flap bent back and the teeth, barely held together, looked in jeopardy of bursting open.

Hands in the air at shoulder height, Zeke turned his attention from her and faced the gunman. He was taller by half a head than the man holding them hostage. Emma Rae couldn’t stop the furiously comforting thoughts from swirling in her head about Zeke. Something about being near him made her feel emboldened. She should be terrified, but his mere presence beside her made her feel stronger.

“You, too, sweetheart. Get up. I have a job for the two of you.”

“I can do it,” Zeke said. “You don’t need her.”

Suddenly the barrel of Mr. Paunchy’s gun was shoved beneath Zeke’s chin. “I
do
need her.” The gunman put his cold gaze on her. “Get up, sweet thing, or I blow your boyfriend’s head off.”

Emma Rae rose to her feet very slowly and carefully. Zeke gave her another reassuring smile.

“Let’s go.” The gunman pointed toward the hall in the direction that the bank officer with the bloody nose had gone. The hallway they’d disappeared down was unlit and partially in shadows. She took a small step and paused. A very bad feeling encompassed her at that moment. Were they being led to their deaths? If so, she didn’t want to be killed in the darkened passage.

The warmth of Zeke’s body seeped into her back as he stepped closer. He waited for her to move. Emma Rae couldn’t seem to take a step. She earned the wrath of the gunman.

“Get moving, or I’ll splatter your blood right here in the lobby,” he roared. Next he shoved Zeke into her. She took another step, trying to calm her unnatural fears about the shadowy darkness of the hallway and being led to her death in the claustrophobic vault.

Zeke’s hands fell onto her shoulders. He squeezed lightly, and they moved a few tentative steps forward. She stopped as the looming darkness filled the well of fear already dug deeply in her soul.

He squeezed her again gently as if to calm her yet get her to move. The gunman, apparently tired of her hesitation, came around in front of them, grabbed her forearm, and dragged her toward the hallway. Zeke stayed with her like he was tethered to her waist with a short rope.

Clenching her wrist painfully, the gunman pulled her down the shadowy hall until they’d reached the end. She didn’t have time to be more than uncomfortable with the darkness. He soon pushed her into the safety-deposit-box room. It was lit brightly, and her erratic heartbeat slowed in the light. The bank officer with the bloody nose was at the far side of the room, facedown on the floor and unmoving. There was a table with several safety-deposit boxes resting in the center of the flat surface.

Emma Rae stopped and reared back from the gunman’s grasp. “Is he dead?”

“Don’t know. Don’t care.” He grabbed her arm again and yanked her to the table. “Grab that white bag on the floor and start loading up what’s inside the boxes into it.”

Emma Rae stared dumbly at the bank duffel near her feet. She wanted to be anywhere in the world but right here right now. Looking up at Zeke, she hoped to gather strength for the task. He smiled and winked at her.

Before the gunman got violent again, Zeke bent over, picked up the bag, and handed it to her. She managed to unzip the top of the large bag even with her fingers trembling furiously. Zeke started lifting the narrow safety-deposit-box lids and dumping the contents of each into the bag as she held it open. Once they’d emptied all of the boxes on the table, Zeke took the bag from her shaking hands and zipped it shut again.

“Let’s go,” the gunman said and punched Zeke in the shoulder. “Bring that bag with you.”

Next they were led to the dark, cavernous vault. The space was much larger than she’d pictured. She wished they’d turned more of the lights on already.

Stacks of cash lined several metal shelves along either side of the room like shelves in a library. The skinny, tall gunman who’d been grabbing all the money from the front cashier windows was now shoving vault cash into a large, dirty off-white duffel bag.

“Look at all this money,” he exclaimed excitedly. His childlike exuberance was out of place in Emma Rae’s opinion. His voice was pitched high, sounding like he was barely more than a boy. He shouldn’t be here ruining his life this way. The young gunman shoved another wrapped stack of bills into the open top of his bag. “So how are we going to get all of this money out of here?” he asked the paunchy, cigarette-smoke-scented man next to them.

Emma Rae had a sudden irrational and inappropriate answer. She clamped her lips together before responding that before robbing a bank, it was probably an excellent idea to have an exit strategy already in place. She and Zeke exchanged a glance. Perhaps he was thinking the same thing. Maybe they were both trying to keep an eye roll contained.

“Don’t worry about it. Just keep gathering cash. Make sure to get it all.” The gunman who’d led them back here suddenly shifted his attention from his cohort and put his focus directly on her. Or rather her chest.

Through the eyeholes of his mask, his muddy-brown eyes took entirely too much interest in her. His gaze ran from her breasts to her hips and back again. She fought the urge to cross her arms over her breasts to hide them from his newly engrossed view.

Emma Rae looked away from his regard and instead watched the other man as he collected stack after stack of money. The man she tried to ignore suddenly stepped closer. Her gaze shot grudgingly to his face. Through the mouth hole of his mask, she watched him lick his lips. A debilitating bolt of fear streaked down her body. She froze in place even though her inclination was to run far away. He suddenly grabbed her forearm. “Come with me. Let’s go get acquainted.”

She jerked her arm free and took a step away from his repugnant body. “No.”

“I’m not asking you, bitch, I’m telling you. Let’s go. Or maybe I’ll just have you strip naked right here, and I’ll fuck you in front of your boyfriend here. That might be more fun anyway.”

Zeke stepped between them. “I don’t think so.” His back to her, he called over his shoulder, “Stay behind me.”

“Get out of the way, lover boy, I just want a taste of her. You can have her back when I’m through. If she still wants you, that is.” His loathsome smirk twisted Emma Rae’s insides into knots. He moved to one side, catching her in his view again, and called out, “Take your panties off, bitch, and get ready for a
real
man.”

“Not going to happen.” Zeke’s calmly lethal-sounding voice comforted Emma Rae’s growing panic.

The gunman lifted his gun toward Zeke’s chin. Before he could get his gun in place, Zeke shot his hand into the man’s throat with a sudden punch Emma Rae barely saw happen. The gunman, eyes wide as if with shock, staggered back with his gun arm waving and a choked sound emanating from his throat.

Zeke clamped his hand around the man’s gun hand and wrestled with him for a few moments before the gunman broke free. Zeke didn’t back off. He charged the man again, wrapping a hand firmly around his flailing gun wrist this time to subdue the threat. He promptly pushed the man against a wall and pounded his arm above his head, obviously trying to get him to release the gun from his fingers.

The young gunman finally realized there was a scuffle going on. He dropped the duffel bag along with a handful of loose bills and headed in their direction. Before he got too close in his approach, the gunman pushed away from the wall and wrenched free of Zeke’s grasp. He charged at Zeke, who backed out of his way to stay on his feet.

The gunman’s arm came up, ready to fire the weapon again. Zeke pushed the gunman’s arm away from his chest area just as the man pulled the trigger. The roar of the gun firing in the small space consumed her attention. She looked in the direction of where the gunshot had gone. The path of her gaze led her to the shocked, wide-eyed expression of the young robber only a few feet from them. A second later, and with blood gushing from his chest, he fell to his knees and then did a face-plant on the vault floor.

Zeke and the other gunman continued to wrestle and fight. Emma Rae didn’t know how to help, so she just tried to stay out of the path of any further gunfire. Zeke grabbed the guy by his shoulders, pulled him downward, and shot his knee squarely into the gunman’s chest.

Another wild shot rang out, and a stack of bills paid the price. Zeke grabbed the man’s gun hand and slammed the back of it against the wall hard enough to make a
thwack
sound. The gun finally fell from the robber’s fingers and landed on the floor at their feet.

The gunman dropped to his knees and started grappling for the weapon again, but Zeke kicked the weapon with one heel. The power of his punt slid the weapon all the way across the space to land at her feet. He then kneed the guy in the face. The gunman who had wanted to do vile things went facedown on the vault floor, unmoving, just like his young accomplice.