Page 71 of On Edge

That’s how I know she’s my soul mate. “You should go, now, before he comes looking for me.”

Nola is already slipping out, having packed away her things.

Laine hesitates. “Are you sure you’ll be okay? If you need anything?—”

“Actually, can you look into the Swanley tragedy for me? I need to know what happened to their son after he was sent to prison.” Laine used to be a P.I. She has dark web contacts that I can only imagine.

Her eyes narrow, like she wants to ask more, but all that comes out is, “Sure. Cash would be able to dig something up. I’ll try to get something for the next Stronger Together meeting. If you can make it?”

“I’ll try.”

She nods and exits the cubicle.I have just enough time to shove Severin’s phone and the vial into my pants.

A few seconds later.

“Sir! You can’t go in there! That’s the ladies’ changing rooms?—”

“I’ll do what the hell I like.” The masculine voice has an American drawl. It’s not Mundel.

It’s Severin’s. He’s here.

How did he know where to find me?

18

SAGE

My heart hasn’t stopped pounding since I left Fleet & Fawn. It almost arrests now when Troy nearly rips the door off its hinges. I grab the nearest thing I can find and hold it up like a shield, which happens to be the bra, thong, and suspender set I picked up as I came in.

Troy stops in his tracks when he sees it. His green eyes narrow, his jaw muscles bunching as he takes everything in…

The thin leather straps.

The see-through PVC.

And the spikes.

“Mundel called me.” His eyes narrow as he takes it in. “I was a few buildings away, in the middle of a business meeting, when he told me you’d run off.”

“I-I didn’t.” I struggle to get my words out. “I needed to do some shopping. Kathy said it would be okay.”He was in the middle of a business meeting?

Troy’s perfectly groomed brow arches. “I see.”

His tone makes my face heat up. “I’m sorry that you had to leave your meeting. But you see, my clothes got ruined in thestorm.” The panic in my veins has me rambling. “I don’t have anything to wear. I’ve had to borrow Kathy’s clothes. And you said to stay away from your wardrobe…”

He glances at his watch and then looks at me. “Are you shopping for anything in particular?”

“J-just the essentials.”

He eyes the spikes. “The essentials.” Slowly, he stalks in, closing the door behind him.

“What are you doing?”

He comes closer until I’m backed against the mirror. The dressing room suddenly feels like a coffin. He plants one hand on the glass beside my head, leaning in until I can’t breathe without inhaling his cologne. It smells like danger and expensive things I could never afford.

I hold my breath.

If I can’t breathe in, then his scent can’t make me feel wobbly, lightheaded. Like I might faint.