Page 21 of The Wrong Idea (The Kinky Bank Robbers #2)

“Is he following?” Odin asked.

“Yup,” Zeus said.

Crap. My blood raced. Was this it?

“Step on it,” Odin said. “You’ll take a sharp left on Oak.”

“Wait,” Zeus said.

“Do it,” Odin barked.

“He put on his signal,” Zeus said.

“Don’t chance it,” Odin warned. “It could be a fake-out. He wants us past Oak.”

I held my breath. The seconds stretched.

“Zeus,” Odin warned.

“He’s turning,” Zeus said.

“You sure?” Odin asked.

“Yes!” Zeus hissed out a breath. “We’re good.”

I heaved out a sigh of relief.

We had to stay down for a long time after, but when Zeus finally gave the A-okay to sit up, I threw myself at Thor and hugged him. “We’re okay,” I said.

He held me tight, pressed his face onto my shoulder. “We’re okay,” he whispered. And then, to the group, he said, “I’m sorry.”

“We can’t take you anywhere, can we, Thor?” Zeus joked from the front. But it was one of those tiny-bit-of-truth jokes.

“He would’ve died,” Thor said.

“I know.” Zeus eyed Thor in the rearview mirror.

He lowered his voice like he did when he was talking really seriously.

“We’re a family now. You know what family means?

We get to mess things up and be messed up, and we still belong together.

You won’t be rid of us, even if you act like the biggest screw-up in the world.

And vice versa. We’re all stuck in this thing, and I know you’ve felt restless, like this isn’t the life you set out for yourself.

But you know what? There are no rules to what we have to be.

You had to save that guy. It was the most important thing to you right then, so you know what?

It was the most important goddamn thing to me, too. ”

“And me,” Odin said.

“Me, too,” I said. “It needed to happen.”

Thor nodded, taking it in.

“The God Pack should never be a prison or an authority,” Zeus said. “We’re a creative fire supporting each other to be whatever the fuck.”

Odin grunted in assent. “Yeah, we’re a creative fucking-g ferment.”

“Yeah. A creative ferment. Okay?” Zeus said.

“I got you,” Thor said.

I nodded, unsure what ferment meant when used as a noun, but it wasn’t the kind of moment where you wanted to pull out your phone.

“And you know what else?” Zeus asked. “We’re going to find some more doctoring opportunities for you, and that’s final. And I don’t mean patching bullet wounds for jackasses who get themselves shot. Real doctor stuff.”

“I don’t see how,” Thor said. “I don’t have privileges anywhere.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Zeus barked. “We’re getting you doctoring again, got it?”

“Thank you,” Thor said. “Thank you.” He definitely seemed calmer. More settled. He’d needed to express himself as a doctor the same way I’d needed to bust off of that farm and challenge myself, find the edge of myself.

I thought about the way Zeus had seemed to peer into my soul back in the army surplus and vintage store. I had a new sense of him, of all my guys. We made each other more whole, I realized.

“Even so, it wasn’t fair to you all,” Thor said.

“It’s not about fairness,” Odin said. “It’s about family.”

Maybe it was my highly emotional state, but tears stung my eyes. There were no limits to what we would do for each other.

I looked over at Thor. I don’t know how Zeus thought he could get him doctoring again, but together, we could do anything.

I leaned up and half hugged Zeus—as much as you could from the back seat while a guy was driving, anyway.

He ruffled my hair, like it was all so casual, but the tenderness in his eyes tore a hole in my heart.

I moved over to sort-of-hug Odin, clutching as much of his chest as I could reach, and then I kissed his shoulder.

“Goddess,” he said, like it was a little bit unnecessary, but he rested his arm over mine and squeezed me back—hard—like he needed it as much as I did.

We were okay for now.

Zeus said, “Odin, tell me every fucking camera in that supermarket was off, or else Ice is everywhere on TV tonight.”

I’d almost forgotten. I had gone into that supermarket with my mask off.

“I took their cameras offline, too, like you said,” Odin said. “Unless one of the shoppers was filming.”

“Yikes,” I said.

“Why would they?” he said. “From the sounds of it, you were cool as a cucumber.”

“I was a fucking cyclops,” I said. “A cyclops in a satellite.”

“Umm…yay?” Thor said.

“So, is the guy gonna be okay?” Odin asked.

“I think so,” Thor said. “He was stabilized. That nurse knew her shit.”

“You needed to help him. We needed you to do that,” Zeus said. “Case closed.”

Odin was rooting through one of the bags. He pulled out a bundle of money. “Dye packs.” He tossed them out the window.

Luckily, we still had a ton of money left. A ton!

“That was—” I put my hand over my thundering heart. “Oh my god—we did it!”

Odin smirked. “Anybody can rob a bank when the robbery runs smoothly. What sets us apart is that we can handle the complications. And if it had come to a hot exit, we would’ve handled that, too, because we have the tactical advantage in every way, not to mention the motherfucking-g balls to pull it off. ”

I smiled, loving Odin and his bank-robbing prowess. They all seemed to be looking at me, waiting for me to add something. I sat back and crossed my legs. “The Giraffes obviously don’t know shit about us. We kick ass, and always will!”

“Hell yeah,” Zeus said.

I chuckled. “And when they see we knocked over a bank in kilts, they are going to shit.”

“So is Agent Denko,” Odin said. “Denko will shit.”

“You think he’ll know it was us?” I asked.

“Defo,” Odin said. “Especially with Thor’s stunt. But with no new images? We’re fine.”

For now—that was the unsaid part of it.

Would their mortal enemies ever let them just live?

Would they ever let them just be? Right then, I realized, if I could have any wish, it would be that—for my guys to live in peace.

Never to have to look over their shoulders.

They didn’t seem to care about that as a goal, but it was officially my goal now.

“You wish we were dead, motherfuckers,” Zeus said. “That goes on the tattoo.”

I groaned.

“Let’s do it,” Zeus said. “Another tattoo!”

“Where to now?” I asked. I was feeling starved and wired and exhausted, and even a little horny.

“Home, goddess,” Thor said. “Home.”

For a second, I imagined the farm, but of course that wasn't possible.

My thoughts flew to my sisters as they had so often since the decision to kill Melinda.

I whispered a little prayer out to the universe for them to heal quickly from the loss of me.

For them to stun everybody with the power of their optimism and embrace of life.

For them to know, somewhere deep inside their hearts, that everything was okay.

No, I wouldn’t be going back to that farm anytime soon. It was their home they meant. The hideout they’d told me so much about.

“Are you sure?” I asked. “What if they’re watching it?”

“We’re reasonably sure that ZOX doesn't know about this one. Our surveillance guy, Manning—the one you met at Guvvey’s? He checked it out,” Zeus said.

I nodded. “The weird brocade jacket guy with the one-man pondering show?”

“He’s weird, but one of the best,” Zeus said.

“ZOX will think we’ve blown town,” Odin said. “Just wait.”

A small grin crept onto Thor's face. “Right, because what would be more ridiculous than staying in town after such an ostentatious robbery? And doing one that’s even wilder?”

“Right?” Odin said. “And anyway, I have somebody scattering breadcrumbs out in Maine. That will keep them busy for a while.”

“Maine would be a logical place to go. Seashore?” I asked.

“Of course,” Odin said. “You know how we like a lot of escape routes.”

“Home, then,” Zeus said.

Home. Was it too good to be true? And what about the Prime Royale? Even their own surveillance guy had warned against it. I thought again about his one-man pondering show. Was he just a freak, or was he scared to come right out and tell them the truth?