Page 69 of Hunted Temptation
Turning my head, I look back at the girl. She’s watching me, but she is stoic. I want to grab her and drag her along with me, but I can’t make the decision for her. She has to make it for herself, and she’s not ready.
She may never be ready, but she’s been forced into enough by men, so I won’t be forcing her into anything.
“Are you sure?” I ask.
She dips her chin, and I do the same. It’s mutual respect, even if I think she’s wrong.
“Go out the back and get in my car. I need to back up Hale.”
He doesn’t have to tell me a single fucking thing. It may be a pussy move, but I do what he orders. I make my way toward the back staircase. Finding the back door, I slip out. I’m not sure where Boden’s car is parked, but I’m not going to stand around looking for it, either.
I move as quickly as my still-weak legs will let me, and it takes me a few moments, but I find the back driveway just as a car pulls up, driven by the PI. He turns his head, looking over to me, and then he smiles.
What the actual fuck is going on?
Chapter Twenty-Seven
ELODIE
When the carpulls up into a driveway, I bite the inside of my other cheek until I taste blood there as I pinch my eyes closed tightly. When I hear the driver chuckle, I lift my chin slightly and turn my head, opening my eyes to see what’s so funny. And that’s when I seehim.
Vaughn.
He appears disheveled and a bit disoriented, maybe even a bit shocked. He doesn’t look like himself. Something is wrong. I knew it. As I continue to watch him, the shock turns to anger.
Rage.
He moves toward the car, and before I realize what’s happening, the driver’s door is being wrenched open. I’m not sure if he sees me, if he knows that I’m here, but I don’t make a noise.
I watch as the PI is jerked out of the car by his shirt, then Vaughn pulls his arm back, his fingers ball into a fist, but before he can slam said fist into the PI’s face, I scramble to the door and open it.
Calling out for him to stop.
I can’t let him hurt this guy. Not when I know that when he dies, Vaughn could possibly be linked to it. If something happened to Vaughn, I’m not sure I could live with myself. Because it would be my fault. I can’t take that kind of guilt.
Only when he hears my voice does Vaughn freeze. He’s still gripping the man’s shirt when his eyes meet mine.
“The list,” I say.
He knows what I mean. Releasing his grasp on the man, he takes a step backward, brushing his hands on the thighs of his pants. As he does this, I notice that it’s not just his hair and his expression that are disheveled. It’s his clothes, too. He’s a wrinkled-up mess, and I’ve never seen a hair out of place before, let alone his clothes.
“Not sure what you thought you were going to get away with, but you failed, jackass,” Vaughn snaps before he makes his way toward me. My entire body relaxes the moment he wraps his arms around me and pulls me into his body for a hug.
Then I hear it.
One, two, three shots before a fourth. I gasp, pinching my eyes closed as my arms flex even more, and I hold on tighter to him. I don’t ever want to let him go. I found him. He’s alive and safe.
I feel Vaughn’s hand slide up my spine before it tangles in my hair, then, with little warning, he tugs my head backward as he tips his down, his eyes on mine. His lips twitch into a smirk.
“You found me,” he murmurs.
“I found you,” I whisper. “But you should probably call Merrick and let him know that I’m safe. He was supposed to be watching me.”
Vaughn’s lips twitch again before he speaks. “Yeah,” he murmurs. “But not before I taste you.”
His lips find mine, and almost instantly, I forget where I am, that there were gunshots, and that Vaughn was in danger. I nearly forget everything around me. There is only him and me, only the way he makes me feel.
The rest of the universe disappears.
