I saw a pack of motorcycles coming down the road. I palmed the horn, rolled down the window, and waved at them.

Rin came running. “What are you calling them for?”

“I need a ride to my wedding,” I explained tersely.

“Yeah, but you don’t need help from them. Don’t you know who they are?” she screamed as she pulled my hand off the horn. “They’re Hell’s Dragons. It’s one of the biggest gangs around these parts. We do not want them messing with us.”

“I just want a ride. Maybe they can help me get back to town, or better still, away from you and away from Carver. I would, dead serious, rather ride with them than with him.”

Her lower lip quivered in anger. “No. You don’t know them. You don’t know what they’re like. You can’t go with them. You won’t be safe.”

I continued waving and honked the horn again. “You think I’m safe with you?”

Her eyes widened.

The bikers pulled up and Rin disappeared into the back of the camper.

One of them stopped next to me and raised his visor. “What’s up?”

“We’re out of gas and I am going to miss my wedding if I don’t get back to the city. Could I get a ride?”

The biker moved his tongue around his teeth like that was the way decisions were made. “I’d need to talk to the guys.”

I inclined my hand politely. “Please do.”

Rin returned from the back with a red gas can. She hopped out of the trailer and circled to the tank. “That won’t be necessary,” she said in an overly cheery tone. “I was just tricking him. We aren’t really stranded.”

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The biker looked at her with drooping eyelids. “Are you the bride?”

“No,” she said as she opened the gas cap.

“Is she the stripper from your bachelor party?”

“No. She’s a kidnapper! Would you believe it?” I said, feeling the tension escape from my shoulders.

He stroked his beard and peered at her, his disgust evident. “If that isn’t the worst trick to play on someone, keeping a man from his wedding? Do you know how many years a man waits to get married?”

She put her hands on her hips and tried to smile. “I’ve been told.”

“Do you want us to take her with us so you can drive straight there?” the biker offered.

My eyebrows went up. I was sorely tempted.

“You wouldn’t!” she cried as she lifted the can to fill the tank.

The biker waved a dismissing hand at her and turned back to me. “How far do you have to go? That’s not a lot of gas.”

“Edmonton.”

He looked at it and then at the camper. “You might not make it. You got any money?”

“Do you have any money, Rin?” I called.

“Yup. Loads of money. There’s so much of it, it’s coming out of my ears.”

The biker got out his wallet and gave me two twenty-dollar bills. “I hope this helps. Seriously, want us to take her with us? She’d look good on the wall.”

I chuckled. “I think I have to return her to her owner. Thank you for the money.”

“Think of it as a wedding present.”

Rin replaced the gas cap and turned to the biker. “Everything is sorted now. You can go.”

He regarded her with an emotion that was best friends with boredom, except lower on a mood spectrum. “I’ll wait until I see him drive away.”

She eyed the gangsters and rushed to get back in the camper.

“What’s your name, friend?” I asked pleasantly.

“Santa.”

“Are you sure it’s not Mr. Claus?”

“I go by that too,” he said with a smile.

“I’m Fletch,” I volunteered. “And thank you again.”

Rin got in the seat beside me.

Looking at her, a huge problem just struck me. I turned back to the biker. “Where are we? How do I get back to Edmonton?”

He grinned and told me the way.