Page 26 of Tempt Me

I looked at the clock on the nightstand and saw it was about three in the morning. I doubted she was doing anything and just sleeping, but I needed a run to get my head cleared before I had to wake up in a few hours and teach.

I sniffed the gym clothes from yesterday, shrugged, threw them on, and saluted the apparition of Tick-Tock Joe as I jogged out the door. The air was still wet, and the moisture in the atmosphere made it feel sticky with the combination of Texas heat.

The sun wouldn’t be up for a few more hours, and I could keep to the shadows. I didn’t exactly know where Fallon lived. I only knew she wasn’t far from the school.

Making my way over to the ground under my window, I found my phone in some trash. Picking up the infernal device, I swiped to a search engine and typed in her name. I didn’t find anything, and I cursed, irritation lacing around me like a poisoned glove.

Tick-Tock Joe was jogging around me, his jeers and taunts giving me a headache.

“You can’t even stalk a bitch right. How pathetic, Pharaoh.”

I typed in other names and tried to get a bead on her location. The only thing that came up was some boating houses off the pier. Fuck, these places were big enough and gaudy enough for the high-prized dick bag owners to have sold their firstborn to buy them.

Could Fallon be this wealthy?

Why would she be going to a community college? Wouldn’t this type of money demand the Ivy League?

I searched the dude’s name on the boating website. Sure enough, a little strawberry blonde-haired girl stood awkwardly beside her older sister, who looked like her. Also, a blond-haired boy smirked at the camera with a winning smile. Under their photos, read “Fallon, Francis, and Noah.”

So my Little Voyeur was loaded after all. She even had a boat called The Legacy. Why did she act like all the other kids in the college? And why didn’t she have a damn pen the first day of my class?

“Not all rich people are snobs.” Joe laughed, pulling up some tube socks on his bony legs. “But all poor people are idiots.”

I rolled my eyes. “Why are they idiots, Joe?”

He snickered like a creepy pervert. “Because they aren’t rich, duh. Boy, you’re stupid like the rest of them.”

I rubbed the bridge of my nose. “Then get the fuck out of my head.”

“Awe, and miss all the fun? Nah. I’m good.”

I sighed and set my destination for the mansion the boat company’s family owned. It wasn’t far.

I couldn’t make Joe disappear, so I decided to drown out his mindless chattering and grunting from running by turning up my device all the way and blasting the music in my ears.

It was the song I played for Fallon on my guitar, the one I used to sing to Xenia at night.

The beauty of the night was peaceful, and eventually, I tired myself out so much from my run that Joe evaporated back to his hellscape.

I noted that exhausting myself seemed to cull my delusions.

I got to the fancy ass gates and peered through the wrought-iron metal. There was a single light on in the center of the house. I couldn’t see shit else, but something told me that was Fallon’s room.

I snuck around the back, listening for any dog that might take a bite out of my ass, and inspected the walls, ground, light fixtures, and doors for cameras. They didn’t deserve to see my pretty mug.

Ah-ha…there’s a camera!

I pulled a small round device out of the ground and inspected it. Well, fuck. As rich as these folks were, the cameras on their lawn were well-paid knockoffs with stickers taped to the ends.

But I wasn’t complaining.

I hopped over the hedges and made my way to the shining light in the center of the big ass house.

Fallon was there. She was standing in the window with a nightgown on. There was an asshole talking to her. She didn’t look very happy. Her arms crisscrossed over her chest, and she looked out the window. The man was pointing at her and clearly yelling about something.

She had her hand against the glass, staring out into the night and, unknown to her, directly at me.

I moved my fingers to trace hers in the distance. Her soft skin felt too good in my imaginary grip. That guy was too close to her for my comfort. He’d better walk away before I sought him out and shoved him into the drainage pipe in their pool.

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