Page 156 of On Edge

Troy tenses too, and then moans, and I feel him come inside me, filling me with his hot release. When he’s spent, and I’m a quivering mess, he tosses off the mask and pulls me to him.

He kisses my throat and then my mouth, slow and teasing, his teeth grazing my lips softly…every touch slicing me until I fall apart.

Later,wrapped in the coat I stole from the hotel, still tasting him on my lips, he walks me to where one of his drivers is waiting with a car.

“I need to finish up here,” he says roughly. “Pete here will take you back. Are you okay to go to the hotel alone? Or do you need me to accompany you?”

It’s the second time he’s not ordered me about. I suppress the urge to check him for a fever. “I can manage.”

“My good girl.” He strokes my cheek with his thumb, and I shiver. “Wear this when you go back inside.” He takes the cap from where I’d stuffed it in my coat pocket and places it on my head.

He stares at me for a long moment, something unreadable crossing his face.

“What?” I ask.

“Nothing.” But he’s still staring. “Just... you look familiar dressed like that. I had a feeling of déjà vu.”

Before I can ask what he means, his warm lips are on mine, his cologne around me like a hug, and then he’s gone, disappearing back down the alley to the barber shop to do God knows what with the body.

I stand there in the rain, touching my lips where he kissed me, trying to make sense of what just happened.

I watched my fiancé kill a man.

And instead of running, I let him fuck away my virginity over a barber’s chair.

What does that make me?

“Lost,”Nell whispers.

“Miss Lovett.” The driver holds the passenger door open, umbrella raised to shield me from the rain. However, it feels a bit late for that now. I climb in.

“Back to the hotel, miss?” The driver settles into the front seat.

“The hotel,” I repeat, glancing back toward the alley to see where Troy had gone as we pull away.Taking care of things.That’s what he’d said. What does that mean, exactly? Cleaning up the body? Hiding evidence? Guilt twists in my stomach. I feel like a coward, running away. If Darrow did hurt Nell, shouldn’t I stay? Shouldn’t I help him?

“Actually, can we go back and wait for him?”

The driver’s eyes meet mine in the rearview mirror. “Mr. Severin said to take you straight back, miss.”

“I know, but...” I twist my hands in my lap. “I think we should wait.”

“Mr. Severin will be some time, miss. It’s better if?—“

“I don’t want to leave yet.”

The driver’s eyes soften slightly. “Of course, miss.”

We turn around, and pull over on the other side of the road. Then I sit in the idling car, rain drumming on the roof like restless fingers, to wait. Minutes later, another vehicle pulls up to the alley entrance. It’s black, monstrous, and expensive-looking, the kind of car that Troy would own.

The driver’s door opens, and Mundel gets out, adjusting his cap and raincoat against the rain. Through the streaked window, he starts towards the barbershop, but he stops just shy of the alley entrance, makes a call, and then waits.

When Troy emerges, he’s no longer wearing the demon mask. He’s wearing only his suit jacket and trousers, no shirt. Mundel holds an umbrella over him and offers him a black satchel. Troy takes it, opens it, and drags out a t-shirt and puts it on.

I reach for the door handle and open it slightly. But stop when I hear Mundel’s voice carrying through the misty rain.

“…we’ve found her.”

Troy stills. “Where?”