Page 3 of Hunted Temptation (Alpha Nights: Unlikely Heroes #4)

Chapter Two

ELODIE

A noise wakes me up. My eyes widen, but I don’t move. I fell asleep on the couch. The movie I had been watching is over, and the app I had been watching it on has timed out, so there is only a blank screen in front of me.

Pushing myself up to sitting, I scan the dark living room, trying to find the source of the sound. As I take in my surroundings, something causes me to pause. The house seems too still.

But there is no source of what woke me up.

I’m met with nothing but silence. Placing my feet flat on the floor, I stand. As I make my way to bed, I turn everything off in the house. I’m still a bit unnerved, even though I’m not sure if I heard a noise or if I dreamed it.

Sliding between my sheets, I lie back on the pillow, staring at the dark ceiling as I try to fall asleep… but sleep evades me. My body feels almost like it’s humming, and I’m not quite sure why.

It feels as if I’m on the precipice of something big, ready to tumble over into a whole new life or adventure. I know that can’t be right. Shaking it off, I decide it’s just anxiety and general upset about college... about my future.

Sitting up again, I throw my legs over the side of my bed and stand. I walk over to the window to look out at the sidewalk. I don’t really see anything other than the darkness of the street in front of me.

But then something causes me to pause.

It catches my attention.

There is a light on in the house across the street. The upstairs bedroom light is on, and there is a shadow. I can’t make out from this distance if it’s a man or a woman, especially in the dark, but since I’ve never seen a person over there before, ever, I’m surprised.

Lifting my hand, I place my palm against the window, wondering who could be there and why. The house is a short-term rental, but I’ve never actually noticed anyone renting it before.

I wish I could fly over to that house and hide. Vanish . Disappear . I wish, among all wishes, that I could be in that house. That I could walk away from this life and walk into whatever that one is across the street.

I wouldn’t even care what it entailed. I would embrace it. I can’t imagine life would be any worse there than it is here. I know you’re not supposed to think of the grass being greener on the other side, but the grass I’m standing in is black and moldy.

Tilting my head to the side, I let out a heavy sigh. I will never be able to get away. I know I’m stuck here, in this house and in this fucked-up world, probably until the day I die. My father will never let me leave. He will never release me, never allow me to be free.

I wonder off-handedly if my father gets paid for my services.

Services.

What a joke.

It’s not a freaking service. It’s me being forced to do what I do, to him and whoever else he schedules. It’s men who are perverts. Men with money, men with power. I don’t know how they’re powerful, but I know they are. My father wouldn’t be associated with them in this way if they weren’t.

And on top of all that, it’s pure hell.

Every second of being me is hell. It feels as if I’m under a microscope every minute of every day. Dipping my chin, I rest my forehead against the cool window, keeping my hand pressed against the glass as if it’s some kind of lifeline to the outside world.

It’s not.

I’m not part of that world. I never was, and I never will be. Sure, when it’s necessary, I’m paraded around like some kind of show animal. The community needs to see the perfect daughter of the police chief. They need to know just how amazing and perfect he continues to be.

Hiding in plain sight is what he is. And the whole town is none the wiser. My spine straightens, and I lift my head as a thought slides through my mind. What if I’m not the only one?

I’ve never questioned if there are others like me, used the way I’m used.

Could it be? Could I be one of many? My stomach twists at the thought, and I also feel extremely stupid for not having thought of that before.

I’ve been so lost inside my own head, my own demons, that it’s never even crossed my mind.

Even as the questions swirl, I wouldn’t know how to find out. I wouldn’t know what I would do with the information. Who would I go to? I couldn’t run to the police, I couldn’t go to the sheriff out in the county, I couldn’t go to the highway patrol.

Every single man in charge within a hundred miles knows exactly who my father is, and if that man doesn’t know my father personally, then he either respects him too much or is too scared of him to actually do anything about anything.

And that’s only if any of them would believe me, which, based on personal past experiences alone, they indeed would not.

So, that leaves me exactly where I was five minutes ago.

Hopeless.

VAUGHN

I see her standing at the window. She’s fucking beautiful, even from this distance. I mean, I could look over to the computer and see a clearer image of her, but I don’t want to. This is the version of her I want to see right now.

Her head shifts forward, her forehead touching the glass of the window, her palm pressed against it as well. I’ve done some research on her while I watched her sleep on the living room sofa.

Elodie Scoggins. She recently graduated from the local high school in the top half of her class. No extracurriculars. No social media. No friends I could find anywhere. Her father, on the other hand, although I have his background memorized, I started looking into his community involvement.

Which is heavy.

He’s not just a little involved. He’s overinvolved. He is all about appearances. He needs approval, craves it. He inserts himself in the middle of the community not just because he’s a police chief, but because he’s overcompensating.

He’s overcompensating for being a gigantic piece of shit.

She straightens her spine. Her hand drops from the glass before she turns and walks away. Once she’s gone, I turn toward the computer and watch as she slips into bed. I need to stop focusing on her and do my job, but she’s part of the job… That’s what I’ve convinced myself of.

He doesn’t return to the house until well after ten in the morning, almost noon. Elodie is still asleep. Not sure if it’s quality, because she was up so late. Scoggins parks his car in the driveway, then I watch as he unfolds from the driver’s seat before walking inside.

Placing my palms on the desk, I can’t look away as he moves through his house. Tilting my head to the side, I take him in. He’s not doing anything a normal man wouldn’t do after work, but he wasn’t at work. He couldn’t have been. I don’t know any city where the chief works nights.

Now that I’m logged into the house cameras, I can see them moving around, and I can focus on when and where to follow him because I will be doing that. I’m just not sure if I’ll be able to take my eyes off her during the process.

I don’t think I will.

There is something bigger happening with this girl. Her haunted eyes, her sneaking out only to come right back, and then making a whole plate of dinner just to put it all back and go to sleep.

Elodie is the most interesting part of this, not only because I want her, but because she intrigues me—completely and wholly. I want to figure her out.

Scoggins doesn’t go to his bedroom like a man who would do after a night of working. He walks into the kitchen, grabs a bottle of beer, opens it, tilts his head back, and empties half the contents in one gulp.

I watch as he sets the bottle down on the counter. He doesn’t go to his side of the house. With the split floor plan, I know exactly where the master bedroom is located and where Elodie’s room is. He doesn’t go to his own. Instead, he moves toward Elodie’s bedroom.

Why the fuck is he going to her room?

Instead of looking away, I stare straight at her bedroom, watching and waiting. The door gently creaks open, and then he steps inside, slowly moving toward her bedside. My lips press into a thin line when he reaches out, extends his index finger, and slides it down her jawline.

My muscles tighten.

Awareness prickles my entire body.

He’s too close.

The touch is too intimate.

I don’t like anything about it. I’m not sure how much longer I can watch this.

I know there is a bigger picture here, and I need to focus on that, but I also know I won’t be able to just sit here and allow anything to happen to her.

I won’t be able to see him hurt her in any way.

She’s too special, which is laughable, because I’ve never even been close enough to touch her.

I knew it the moment my eyes connected with her image… to that photograph.

Elodie is mine.

Her eyes open, and she winces slightly the moment she realizes it’s Scoggins at her bedside.

Well, at least she knows whatever this is is wrong, too.

I don’t like being a bystander. I’m not that kind of man.

Scoggins takes a step backward and says something, but I can’t hear him.

My next move will be to put some listening devices in this fucking place so I can find out exactly what’s happening here.

Scoggins takes a step backward but doesn’t walk away. His mouth is moving. Dipping my chin, I narrow my eyes at them, pressing my lips together. I can’t take my focus off the situation.

He moves toward the door, looking over his shoulder at her, then his mouth moves again, and she retreats into herself immediately. He opens the door, slips out of the room, and closes it behind him.

Instead of paying attention to him walking through the house, I keep my attention on Elodie. She is now sitting up with her back against the headboard. She has her knees up, and her arms are wrapped around her shins. Her chin is resting on her knees as she stares straight ahead at nothingness.

I don’t like the way she has reacted to whatever the fuck is happening here. Shifting my attention from her, I find Scoggins. He’s moving through the house and reaches the master bedroom.

He slips inside, and I’m unable to see anything further, because he doesn’t have cameras there. That’s next. Listening devices and extra fucking cameras. I need to know what the fuck is happening in there.

The next few hours are uneventful. Elodie eventually slips out of bed and into the bathroom. Twenty minutes later, she emerges wrapped in a towel. Like the pervert I am becoming, I watch as she drops the towel and puts on her panties and bra.

I can’t look away from her body.

She’s stunning.

She slowly slides a pair of short biker shorts on, which do amazing things for her ass, then she pulls a tank top over her head and puts her hair up in a messy bun before she leaves her bedroom and walks into the main living area of the house.

She doesn’t go into the kitchen the way I expect. I know personally, I like to have some protein when I wake up in the morning. But she walks toward the back door, and I can’t see her any longer.

Instead of pulling up the perimeter cameras, I keep my gaze out of the window and on the corner of the fence. I wait for her to climb over, but she doesn’t.

Deciding that I need to take a little walk to blow off a little steam, I stretch and head out of the house. Moving across the street, I stroll down the sidewalk until I reach the back part of Scoggins’s fence.

There is a knot that’s fallen out in one of the fence posts, so, like the pervert I’ve become, I peer through said knot.

Elodie is standing at the edge of the back porch.

She’s staring straight ahead, but I have no clue what she’s looking at.

She lifts her arms in the air, stretching from side to side, then she drops them to her side and lets out an audible sigh.

It’s the first sound I’ve heard from her lips, and I can’t deny that it’s sexy.

She’s sexy.

Taking a step backward, I decide that this is a good opportunity to disable his perimeter cameras and put a tracker on Scoggins’s car. Hurrying back to the house, I sit down in front of the computer and get to work.

I cannot get comfortable here, no matter how great the view is. I need to get this job done and move on. I’m losing actual income doing this. As much fun as it is to be a pervert, I do need to get on with this. There are pieces of shit that need to die. Scoggins isn’t the only one.