Bandit Bound: A Bad Boy Romance Novel (3 page)

Savannah briefly explained all of the highest-end savings accounts that required the highest initial payments. She spoke of them confidently, somehow sure that this gorgeous, cocky man wouldn't be able to afford any of them.

To her surprise, he selected the account with the highest initial payment that she described (she almost explained it to him as a joke).

"Excuse me?" Savannah asked in awe.

"Yes, I'd like to deposit one hundred thousand immediately," Vincent said with a stoic tone. Savannah looked at him as if he was crazy.

"You want to open up the account with an initial deposit of one hundred thousand dollars?" she asked skeptically.

"That's right," he replied. Savannah realized that situations like this required her to call higher-ups to make sure that everything was okay. Certain money-laundering cases and other criminal activities were associated with this kind of initial deposit.

"Okay, I just have to call my manager," she responded with a visible bead of sweat dripping from her head.

"Oh, there's no need for that," Vincent replied as he touched Savannah's hand with his own. An electric spark shot off between the two of them and Savannah felt as if she were under some form of hypnosis.

"Is that right?" she asked with a quiver in her voice.

"Yes, it's for a non-profit," he answered. He looked into her eyes intensely. The electric blue in his eyes seemed to entrance Savannah. There was a long pause; Vincent's hand was still on Savannah's. She didn't even consider pulling it away.

"Which not profit is that?" she asked, fumbling over the words.

"Save The Orphans," he responded.

Savannah's heart stopped and painful recollections of her childhood rose up to the surface. Her eyes lightly watered with tears. "Is there something wrong?" he asked, his cocky mood quickly changing to one of concern.

"No, nothing," she replied.

She never told anyone in her new life that she was an orphan growing up, passing from house to house. She certainly wasn't going to tell it to this handsome stranger, even if she did feel some kind of connection with him.

I have to call the manager for initial deposits this large, but I don't want to risk jeopardizing such a huge contribution to something that's so important to me,
Savannah thought. She made up her mind.

"Well, I usually have to call my boss when it comes to deposits that big, but since it's for such a great cause, I'll make an exception for you today," Savannah said, knowing she had secretly discovered access to the software that would override problems like this.

"That'd be great," Vincent said with a big smile. His teeth were pearly white and perfectly arranged. It was now that he finally took his hand off of hers and drew it back to himself. Savannah fought an instinct to stick her hand out to chase down his, as if to say, 'wait don't stop doing that'.

Savannah started typing some information into a form on her computer when something struck her and the rattle of fingers on a keyboard came to a halt.

"Wait," she said.

"Yes?" Vincent replied.

"Why are you putting all of this money into an account instead of just donating it directly to the charity?" Savannah was nervous because she realized something strange was going on.
Maybe I really should call my manager,
she thought.

"They didn't take cash," he said with a knowing smirk.

"Sorry?" she asked.

"I'm making the deposit with cash, Savannah," he said with a deadly serious tone. Savannah looked down at the suitcase that lay beside Vincent with widened eyes.

"The suitcase?" she asked nervously. Vincent nodded. "That thing has a hundred thousand dollars, cash, in it?!"

"Not so loud," Vincent said sternly and his smile turned to a frown. Savannah looked down from his admonishment, embarrassed; it felt like being scolded by a parent. It sent a shiver of excitement through her body and she squirmed a little in her chair.

"Sorry," she whispered.

"You don't have to whisper," Vincent added, followed by an amused sigh.

"Sorry again," she said full-voiced. "Listen, Vincent," she said. She reached her hand out to put her hand on his as he did to her, but just as she extended her arm he withdrew and put it on his lap.
Ouch,
Savannah thought to herself.
I guess I'm not his type after all.
"I was going to make an exception for you because of the organization you're doing, but I absolutely cannot process a hundred thousand dollars in cash. In fact, I'm required to contact the police because of this," she said. At the mention of the word 'police', blood withdrew from Vincent's face and an extra serious look overcame him.

"How disappointing," he said as he stared directly at her as if to say he was disappointed in her more than the process. It worked; Savannah frowned and felt like a disappointment. "I suppose I should take my business elsewhere," he concluded.

"Well, I don't really, um," Savannah said, panicking at the thought of him leaving without getting his phone number or giving hers to him.
What am I doing?
She thought.

"That's what I'm saying about the pretty ones, they're not much good at conversation, unfortunately," he said with a smug smile as he stood up to leave.

"That's not true, and that's not okay to say," Savanna sternly answered, causing an even bigger smile to go on Vincent's face. "I'm perfectly capable of handling a conversation, I'm just really stressed out today and you're the one bringing a suitcase full of cash trying to deposit it like it's not a big deal so I'd be careful about who you're calling stupid." Her heart sank after finishing her rant.
I've never been this rude to a customer before,
she thought.

Vincent looked at her piercingly. "Boy problems?" he asked mockingly. Savannah swallowed her rage.

"I'm sorry, that was uncalled for and unprofessional, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave the building now," Savannah said as she entered damage control mode.

"Well, I was leaving anyhow," he said with pride. "Just one more thing."

"Yes?" Savannah asked. Vincent reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a business card.

"Take this, and give it to your manager," he said coolly. Savannah hesitantly took the card away from him.

"Okay," she said, void of any confidence. An idea popped into her head. "Hey, wait a minute, here's my card," she said too excitedly as she fumbled on her desk reaching for it.

"That's alright Savannah, you have a real nice day," he said with an intentionally fake friendliness so as to offend her. He turned around and walked out of the building.

"What the hell was that?" she said out loud to herself as she leaned back in her chair. The whole experience felt like some sort of surreal dream. The moment Vincent went out of her sight it was like waking up.

Just as he left, Chad walked into her office. He smelled of body odor and his presence was about as unwelcome as could be at this point. He stared at Vincent as he walked out of the bank with his hundred thousand dollar briefcase.

"Was that the guy who did the stuff with the safes?" he asked.

"What?" Savannah said, resisting the urge to plug her nose in front of him to escape his foul odor.

"Like, uhh, um, two weeks, or three, uh two weeks ago?" he said with unimpressive uncertainty. Savannah shrugged.

"No, no, he was! That was the guy who installed the new safes like two weeks ago! Don't you remember?" he asked pointedly. He seemed offended that Savannah wasn't able to answer.

"First time I've seen him," she said passively.
Can this conversation end now, please?
She thought.

"You gotta pay more attention honey," he said. Savannah's stomach turned at his calling her 'honey'.

"So, why are you here?" she asked, now completely annoyed at his presence and unable to hide it.

"Whoa, kitten's got the claws out today," Chad said, followed by a hearty obnoxious laugh at his own joke. "Anyways, I didn't mean to intrude on your precious time but I just want you to know that Stan won't be with us anymore," he finished.

Savanna's jaw dropped.

"What? Why?" she asked.

"He jeopardized the safety of the bank after being explicitly ordered not to. When he pulls stunts like that, he's putting the bank's money at stake. He's putting our lives at stake. I can't have that, we need someone who actually listens," he said proudly.

Are you fucking serious?
She thought.
You never even told him! Nothing was at stake, except for your pride, you miserable asshole.

"Oh," she said, making sure not to reveal her true thoughts.

"Yeah, anyways, just thought I'd let you know. Peace," he said in a painful attempt to sound hip.

"Thanks, I guess," Savannah said, holding back fury.

The rest of the day passed without much action. The chatter of happy customers mixed with angry customers, phones ringing and moving feet all smeared into one long five-hour blur and at the end of it all Savannah found herself outside the front door with her purse in tow.

"What a day," she said to herself as she made her way back home.

3

"Yeah, and then he got him fired on the spot," Savannah said into the phone which was wedged between her shoulder and her ear as she typed in an order online for fast food.

"For going into the bathroom?" Lily replied.

"Yeah, cause he went into the bathroom when some guys were working with some vents or something," Savannah said.

"He's a janitor, though, cleaning bathrooms is kind of his modus operandi, isn't it?" Lily asked, flabbergasted at the story.

"Yeah, he goes in at the same time every day and Chad didn't even warn him not to," Savannah said. Retelling the story made her angry all over again and Lily could hear it in her voice.

"That's so stupid, and he's so gross, too," Lily said followed by an audible gag noise.

"For serious," Savannah said. She hit the enter key on her order and leaned back on her bed, picking the phone back up and pressing it against her head with her hand. She soaked in the comfort around her; her oscillating fan was blowing refreshing cool air on her hot body. She wore an over-sized t-shirt loosely over her body and pajama pants.

"So, how's it going with Casey? He's been posting sad-ass status updates all day, are you guys cool?" Lily asked with concern.

"Oh man, I actually forgot," Savannah said. That gave her a long pause.
Did I seriously just forget that Casey existed? How could that be?
She thought. The breakup had happened that very morning yet her friend had to remind her that he was even alive.
It must have been this stressful day,
she thought.
Or that guy, Vincent. I hope not.

"You forgot what?" Lily asked with a confused laugh.

"Yeah, we broke up and stuff, I couldn't take it anymore," Savannah said.
It's as if I'm describing throwing out old clothes or something
, she thought. Lily let out a loud laugh over the phone line.

"It sounds like you're describing throwing out old clothes!" she said. Savannah then laughed loudly as well; Lily knew her pretty well, and occasionally she would just read her thoughts completely.
That's what happens when you're friends with someone for over ten years, I guess,
she thought.

"Yeah, I don't know, he just wasn't very excited. All he ever talked about was his chemistry class and what kind of job he was going to get with his degree. I mean, that's nice and all, but it bores me to fucking tears!" Savannah ranted. She leaned back in her bed and stretched her legs out, counter-acting some of her anger.

"Oh my God, I didn't want to say it, but he never
ever
shut up about the chemo-techo-whatever places he was thinking of applying to," Lily said, cheerfully opening the floodgates of her own gripes with him.

"Yeah, and the bedroom, ugh, not much fun," Savannah said.

"Still, though, did you seriously forget that you broke up with him this morning or are you just trying to act cool?" Lily asked, breaking up the light mood a little bit. Savannah thought about the question deeply.