Page 5 of Hunted Temptation
Except I won’t be focused on just Elodie. Unfortunately, I’m going to have to keep my attention on the chief. Much to my personal dismay. I would much rather focus all my attention on Elodie and figure her out—insideand out.
Sitting down at the desk, I turn on the device and load up the program. I know what I need to do to get into his system. He may be the chief of police, but he won’t have anything that I can’t get into.
It takes me a little longer than I would prefer, but after about two hours, I’m in the system. I can’t hack into what’s been recorded unless I get into a different program, but I don’t need that yet. I am going to see everything I need to see through this. Everything from this moment forward.
As I go through the feed, I frown when I see that there is a girl’s bedroom under surveillance. Pink bedding, stuffed animals on a shelf just below the ceiling. Porcelain dolls are on display. It’s eerie. This doesn’t look like the bedroom of an eighteen-year-old. It doesn’t look like the room of any teenage girl, no matter her age. I don’t like it.
Sinking my teeth into my bottom lip, I lean back. I’ve printed the floor plan of the house. I start to make notes on where all the cameras are placed. When I’m finished, I take a look at the plan and frown.
The master bedroom has no camera. Neither does the home office, along with any of the bathrooms, but all of the other bedrooms do, and so do all of the common rooms. Leaning back in my chair, I pull up every camera, and almost half a dozen squares appear on my screen. I put them in order of the rooms in the house, and then I take them in. Memorizing them.
I’m not sure how long my eyes flick from one camera to the next, memorizing not only what room each of them is in but also where everything is in said rooms. My spine straightens when I watch Elodie walk into the pink girlie bedroom.
She turns toward the camera, her eyes filled with unshed tears and her shoulders slumped. I watch as she dramatically falls onto the bed, bringing her knees to her chest as she curls into the fetal position.
What the fuck?
Keeping my gaze on her, I don’t look away. Every primal instinct in my body calls me to go to her. I don’t. But that doesn’tmean I don’t want to. There is a knock on my own door that causes me to jump.
Closing my eyes, I let out a sigh with a chuckle, annoyed at my ridiculousness. I stand before moving toward the front door and look through the peephole, then I watch the grocery delivery driver walk away.
I’ve ordered enough food to sustain me for a week. I don’t know how long I’m going to be here, so I figure if I stay stocked up on a weekly basis, it’s the best way to take care of my groceries.
Once I’ve put everything away, I go back to my computer. Elodie is gone, no longer curled up on her bed, and as my eyes scan the other cameras, I realize that she isn’t in any other part of the house, either. Then I watch as she walks out of the bathroom into her room.
She’s wearing a robe. I know I should look away, but I don’t. Like a fucking pervert, I watch as she opens a drawer and takes something out. Then she slips her robe off, which leaves her completely naked. My cock should not twitch, but it does.
Instantly.
ELODIE
I should not have snuckaway today. It was dangerous. I know it was. My father has been in a mood the past few days, and not a good one. But I needed to get to my high school counselor. He said I couldn’t go to college, but I’m not going to let that stop me. She needed my signature on some paperwork that she was sending off to a college.
Hopefully to my new college.
Right now, I’m desperate.
My father refuses to do anything to help me in any way when it comes to school, and I can’t qualify for any help until I’m twenty-four. I don’t know why I thought he would. I was living in some kind of dreamworld where I thought I had freedom and a sense of normalcy.
I thought that because I went to public school here in town, I would just do what everyone else was doing and pack my things to go away to school. I should have known that it wasn’t an option.
I allowed myself to imagine something normal.
But there is nothing normal about my life. There never has been.
Now that I’m eighteen, I can sign some documents myself, but I don’t think it will be enough. My grades are okay, but there is no way I’ll be able to get an academic scholarship. I’m not an athlete or particularly gifted in the arts, either.
There are no scholarships for me, and student loans aren’t feasible either. I’m pretty sure I won’t be getting out of town by way of college like I anticipated—not for lack of trying. After signing the papers and my high school counselor being less than hopeful for me, I sneak back into the house.
I wasn’t expecting everything to be this hopeless. A few months ago, I thought I was going to be walking away. That I was getting out of this house, out of this world. But I’m not. I’m doomed to stay here forever.
I move into the bathroom to take a long, hot shower. I don’t know what my future is going to look like, but what I do know is that I can’t stay here for a second longer than I have to. I have to find a way out of here. For my own sanity, for my own safety, I need to go far, far away from here.
After my shower, I walk into my bedroom and put on some comfy clothes—a pair of lounge shorts and a matching tank—butinstead of just that, I grab my oversized zip-up hoodie, zipping it all the way to the neck before I flip the hood over my head.
The good news is he won’t be home today. I have a few hours to just relax without worrying about him. Walking out of my bedroom, I move toward the kitchen in search of food. I’m usually too nervous to eat much, especially if my father is anywhere near me.
But he’s not coming home tonight, so I can maybe enjoy a meal in peace. The house is empty, but I never feel alone here. I don’t know that I’ve ever truly been alone a day in my life, but at the same time, I’ve never felt anything except lonely. If that makes any sense, which I’m not sure it does, but it’s exactly how I feel, all the time.
