Temptations

  A BAD BOY ROMANCE

  By:

  Scott Wylder

  Table of Contents:

  Chapter One: Hum-Drum Days

  Chapter Two: Talk of Vacation

  Chapter Three: Recruiting a Friend

  Chapter Four: Decision Made

  Chapter Five: Monotony Broken

  Chapter Six: The First Temptation

  Chapter Seven: A Savior

  Chapter Eight: One Night on the Mountain

  Chapter Nine: Morning After

  Chapter Ten: How Dangerous Indeed

  Copyright © 2017 by Scott Wylder

  All rights reserved.

  In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited, and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.

  Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.

  Chapter One: Hum-Drum Days

  The alarm blared and Alyssa rolled over without opening her eyes, smacked the snooze button and hugged her pillow. She didn’t want to get up. It wasn’t even daylight outside yet. She dozed, knowing the alarm would sound again in ten short minutes, demanding that she get up and start her super boring, super routine day at the Super Mart. When the alarm sounded the second time, Alyssa hit the OFF button and sat up. Dragging most of the cover with her, she slid to the edge of the bed and stood up, stretching so hard that her shoulders popped.

  The tiny, one-bedroom apartment had been home since her senior year at high school. As soon as she had turned 18, Alyssa had saved enough money to get her own place. Living with her aunt had been turmoil and drama that Alyssa couldn’t take anymore. Almost three years of living with Maddy was plenty, so Alyssa finished high school while living on her own and working part-time at the Super Mart in town. Doug, her boss, had moved her immediately to full-time after her graduation and she had been grateful. That was five years ago.

  As she went through her morning routine, Alyssa wondered for the millionth time what it would have been like now if her parents were still living. If the wreck had never happened. And, for the millionth time, she came up with no answer. She just didn’t know, couldn’t know and would never know.

  The sun was just starting to rise as she walked out of the apartment. The building was silent as she descended the stairs to the front door that let out onto the sidewalk. It was only a short walk to Main Street and then to the Super Mart. The coffee and fresh pastries smelled delicious as she neared the little mom ‘n’ pop coffee shop on the corner of Main. The Tasty Pastry, it was called. Alyssa stopped in for a cup of coffee.

  “Morning, Alyssa. On your way to work?” Sheila asked from the counter.

  “You know it, Mrs. Todd. Gotta go make the big bucks so I can fund my big adventure some day.” Alyssa liked Mr. and Mrs. Todd, but she was also afraid of ending up just like them, same routine every day for the rest of her life.

  “Still planning a big adventure, huh?” Sheila smiled sweetly, her once dark hair framing her face and making her seem like a grandmother from some saccharine fairy tale.

  “Yes, Ma’am. I don’t want to be stuck in this rut forever. A girl has to have goals, right?” Alyssa poured her coffee and walked to the pay counter, smiling back at Sheila.

  Sheila glanced at the coffee, touched the screen of her POS and said, “A girl has to be careful what she wishes for, too, Miss Alyssa Stone. Sometimes those big adventures aren’t so great. Sometimes, it turns out this boring old rut we’re in is perfectly fine. Safe. Secure,” she paused, eyeing Alyssa for a second, “That’s one-ninety-nine, Sweetie.”

  Alyssa pulled two dollar bills out of her pocket and handed them to Sheila. “Mrs. Todd, I think I’m tired of safe and secure. I’m bored out of my gourd, actually.” She laughed and waved to Sheila who returned the laugh and wave.

  Back on the sidewalk, Alyssa thought about what she had to do at work today. It was an odd six hour shift and she would be home well before two. That would leave the rest of the day to fill with something so she wouldn’t go stir crazy. There was a matinee showing of a horror movie in town—it was a two-for. She decided to ask Toni if she wanted to catch the shows with her.

  Stopping just outside the Super Mart, Alyssa mentally readied herself to go inside. Pulling the fake smile that looked so genuine that it made her blue-green eyes sparkle and caused her dimples to show, she left her troubled thoughts there on the sidewalk in the pre-dawn glow and walked inside, sipping coffee as if nothing was wrong at all.

  The usual entourage greeted her: Maggie, the haggard bakery/deli worker who rarely smiled and talked even less often than she smiled. “Mornin’ ‘Lyssa. Good to see you.”

  “Morning, Maggie. Good to see you, too. Cooking up anything good today?”

  This earned Alyssa a grunt and a shrug from the short squat Maggie.

  “I’ll take that as a definite yes. You’re cooking up some wonderful lunch back here that the customers won’t be able to live without, Maggie!” They both laughed.

  Then there was goofy Greta, the cashier on duty this morning—tall, angular, red-haired, 22 year old who still acted 15 most days, but she was full of good cheer and was annoyingly upbeat—good in this business. The customers liked her, especially the early morning regulars. “Good morning to you, Miss Alyssa! Are you ready for an amazingly wonderful day at Super Mart?”

  Alyssa laughed and rolled her eyes dramatically, “Oh, yes! Is it really going to be that wonderful in here today, Greta?”

  “Every day can be more wonderful than the last, if you just set it in your mind that it shall be so, Miss Alyssa.”

  “Looks like you’d soon hit a level of wonderful that would just cause the universe to implode. So, please don’t implode the universe today, Greta.”

  Alyssa kept walking toward the office, sipping coffee along the way. Just as she rounded the counter and headed for the door, she almost bumped into Stan, the elderly maintenance man, who really only did very light janitorial work nowadays. “Well, hi there, Little Miss. How are ya this morning?”

  “Oh, Stan, you know, I’m just glad to be here. Living the dream and all that jazz.”

  He chuckled. “All that sarcasm in such a little package. How do you contain all that?” He laughed, waving a hand and shaking his head as Alyssa stepped into the darkened office.

  “I’m just talented that way, Stan the Man. Want me to give you lessons?” She poked her head around the corner to grin at Stan.

  “Nope. Don’t need none of those lessons, thank you very much.”

  Alyssa walked back out of the office with her PDA attached to her pants pocket and her Telezon in her hand. “Well, if you’re absolutely certain that you don’t want my super helpful lessons…they’re free today only, Stan. I won’t repeat that offer.”

  “Girl, I’ve floundered through this bitch life without the help of sarcasm so far, I’m sure I can find my way to the end of this journey without it. But you feel free to just keep right on using it. Whatever helps you cope.” Stan shuffled toward the buggy corral, shaking his head and chuckling.

  Alyssa went to start inventory before the store opened to the public in less than an hour.

  The third time her PDA sounded and she saw that it was again Greta, Alyssa was on the verge of losing her temper. She strode to the front of the store, again, to see what calamity was causing grieving her cashier.

  “Yes, Greta?” Alyssa stood at the end of the check-out lane.

  “Oh, there you are. Listen, do you want me to rotate this stock of gum? Put the new in the back of the shelf and the old in front? I mean, it’s gum and the expiration dates are only a week apart. But if you don’t—”

  Alyssa held up a hand. “Greta, you know what I’m going to tell you, right? Every time, every item. Rotate.” She spun on her heel and had gone halfway down the nearest aisle before Greta responded with an affirmation.

  At this rate, she would never get the inventory finished before Doug got in to open the store. It was her butt on the line if the inventory and stock were not done by opening time. She hurried down the last two aisles, the Telezon beeping furiously as she tried to scan items and enter the numbers needed for ordering, sorting and picking.

  Chapter Two: Talk of Vacation

  Twenty minutes later, Doug was in the office, flipping on lights and logging into the company computer, whistling the same tune he whistled every morning. Again, Alyssa wondered if she were destined to live the same mediocre, routined life that most of the people she knew were living out in this small town. Work five days a week, up before dawn, house cleaning on Tuesdays, Aunt Maddy visiting every Thursday, money into a bank account and bills paid the first Friday of every month. She stepped behind the counter, heading to hand in the Telezon, and hoped again for some big adventure to take her away from all the monotony. At this point, she would take just about anything.

  “Hi, Doug. How’re you today?” She laid the Telezon on the wire rack in its designated space and placed the battery in the charging port beside it.

  “I’m fine as frog hair split three ways, Alyssa. How are you?” Without making eye contact or waiting for her reply, he continued as if she had answered, “Good. Good. So you’ll be having a substitute manager for a week while I’m away on vacation. I know I can count on you to help out as needed to keep everythi ng running smoothly, right?” He was clacking away at the keyboard and paused only for a quick glance over his shoulder at Alyssa.

  “Sure thing, Doug. When is your vacation?”

  “Next month. Mid-month. I’m going to spend a week in the mountains. I’m staying at a hostel and everything. The wife isn’t so excited about the idea, but I think it’ll be great. Maybe you should think about a vacation. You know, you have three weeks paid vacation.”

  “Sure, Doug. Can I take all three weeks at once?” She grinned, knowing he would flip out.

  “Well, yes, I suppose you could with proper notice so I can call in Tina and Andrea to cover your shifts.” He still typed furiously and didn’t spare a glance at Alyssa.

  “All right. I think I want to start vacation around the tenth of next month. Is that enough notice?” She almost chuckled at her own mischievousness.

  Doug’s fingers stopped typing and he swiveled his seat to face her. “No. No that is absolutely not all right! I just told you I was on vacation mid-month—”

  Alyssa burst out laughing. Finally, the reaction she was looking for from Doug the Reserved. “I’m kidding, Doug. Kidding! I just wanted to see if you were paying attention. Where would I go on vacation, Doug? Nowhere. So I might as well not take vacation and just take the pay for half of it instead.”

  “It might do you some good, Alyssa. Here,” he turned, shuffled some papers on his desk and turned back to her with a leaflet, “this should be fun for you and a couple friends. It’s really cheap, too but at least you’d be out of here for a while.” He furrowed his brow. “I worry about you, you know. You’ve done nothing different in the last five years, Alyssa. It’s not good for you to stay holed up in that apartment and never leave this tiny town. I knew your parents and they wouldn’t approve. They were much more adventurous and I know the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

  “I have done something different in the last five years. I moved up from part-time cashier to full-time supervisor at the Super Mart here, Doug. And I bought a cactus garden to put in my apartment two months ago. So, there.” She didn’t want to think about her parents, their deaths, her aunt, the apartment, nothing. She only wanted to do her job for the day and go home. Maybe see a movie with Toni this afternoon. She took the leaflet from Doug and walked out of the office quickly to avoid any further talk of her boring life.

  Without looking over the leaflet, she crammed it into her pants pocket and went to help Greta with the stock.

  At one, Alyssa made her way quietly to the office to clock out. Stan was gathering the trash from the office when she entered. “Well, quittin’ time, is it?”

  “Looks that way, Stanley. You going home any time today or are you just going to hang around here all day?” She clocked out for the day and turned to Stan.

  “I’m leaving soon as I’m done with this. Your sarcasm still intact or did a day of wholesome interaction with the public put it in check?” Stan chuckled.

  Alyssa wrinkled her nose. “It’ll take more than a day of the public to damage my sarcasm. See you tomorrow.”

  “Yep. Sure thing Miss Alyssa.”

  Chapter Three: Recruiting a Friend

  On the sidewalk, Alyssa took out her cell phone and texted Toni about the matinee and then slid the phone into her back pants pocket again. She was home and changing out of her work clothes before she remembered the leaflet Doug had shoved at her earlier. Now she pulled it from her pocket and looked at it.

  On the front was an aerial picture of mountain ranges that looked like ocean waves—blues and greens as far as the camera could see in any direction. At the top of the picture were the words: Want To Get Away From It ALL For A While? And across the bottom in some horrible font that wanted to mimic handwriting: Hike the Beautiful, Majestic Appalachian Trail…

  On the inside of the first page: Or Stay At One Of The Local Hostels

  …and hike only part of the trail…

  She studied the leaflet, every word, every picture. This is what I want to do on my three weeks of vacation! Me, Toni, Tommy. It would be fun.

  Immediately, she texted Toni about the idea, wanting a confirmation and a date when she and her twin brother could go. The hostel was only ten dollars a night for each person. She wasn’t thrilled about the idea of sharing a sleeping room with strangers, but hoped they would luck out and get a room to themselves.

  Pacing the floor, calendar in hand, Alyssa planned out three weeks worth of dates, times, trails and even the night time activities around one hostel in a small town in East Tennessee. That wasn’t far from her hometown in Buladean, North Carolina.

  At five, Toni texted back: Wow you been on a kick about this hiking stuff. I’ll come over tonight and we can talk. See you at seven!!

  Alyssa only answered back with a smiley face. She was still busy planning and looking up the trails online that she planned to hike. She wanted to go ahead and book their room at the hostel, but knew she should wait to find out when Toni and Tommy could go with her.

  At six, Alyssa ordered a pizza online to be delivered at seven to her apartment. She paid with her debit card and walked out onto her little private balcony to catch some cool evening breeze. Her mind was still abuzz with the idea of hiking parts of the Appalachian Trail that she didn’t even notice the time and was mildly shocked when her doorbell buzzed.

  Toni and the pizza delivery boy stood expectantly outside her door. Alyssa gave the pizza delivery boy three dollars and grabbed the pizza box with one hand and Toni’s wrist with the other. “So what do you think? Can you go? Will you go with me? It’ll be great. I think Tommy will love it, too, he’s such a nature hound anyway. And the hostel—”

  Toni put her finger up to Alyssa’s mouth, “Shh! Hold on, Alyssa! Jeez, have you been drinking coffee or did somebody hook jumper cables to your heels?” Toni was grinning, but her eyes were wide and Alyssa knew she was slightly worried.

  “Sorry, Toni, but I’m so psyched about this. I’ve never wanted to do anything this badly before.”

  “Here, first things first. Put the pizza on the table and get us bottles of water. We’ll talk about it over food.” Toni grabbed Styrofoam plates and napkins while Alyssa got the waters and opened the pizza box.

  “OK. Now, will you go with me? You have to say yes, Toni. You and Tommy are my only friends and I’ve never asked you to do anything like this before.”

  “First: You poor thing. We’re your only friends, you got it bad, kiddo. Secondly, Tommy is off to spend the next three months at our uncle’s place down in Arizona. Something about Tommy inheriting part of the family business there because Uncle Harold never had kids of his own.”

  “All right, so you and I will go! We can go on our own, Toni, it’s safe enough in that little town, uhm, Erwin.” She jumped up and grabbed the advertising leaflet and shoved it across the table toward Toni. “Here’s all the information we need, plus I have a lot more information pulled up on the computer. It’s beautiful over there.”

  Toni looked through the leaflet a non-committal expression on her face as she ate pizza and drank water. “When were you thinking of going?”

  “I knew you’d go with me. I was thinking we could go next weekend. I have three weeks of vacation to take soon. Doug is on vacation from the fifteenth of next month until the twenty-second and I don’t want to wait until he’s back before I go.”

  “I didn’t say I would definitely go, Alyssa. I just wanted to know when you were planning on going. I can’t go next weekend and I definitely can’t stay away for three weeks. You’re not really thinking of staying in a hostel on the Appalachian Trail for three whole weeks, are you?” Now her eyes were wider and there was no smile on her face at all. Alyssa saw the confusion and worry written on her best friend’s face.

  “Well, that actually was my plan, Toni. I’ve never been anywhere, never done anything. I tell you all the time, I’m ready for some big adventure to sweep me up and away from here for a while. Well, maybe I have to make my adventure, chase it down and make it happen.”

  Toni shook her head. “Listen, I’d love to go on an adventure with you but next weekend is out because I have to work. And there’s just no way for me to go and stay for three weeks anywhere with anybody unless they’re paying all my bills.” She paced back to her chair and plopped down. “Maybe a weekend other than next weekend? But just Friday, Saturday and home on Sunday. I only get one weekend a month off from my job, Alyssa.”

 

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