Page 58 of Abdominal Snowman

Stricken, Soren nodded again. “Of course… anything.”

Sage drew in a deep breath before she asked, “Can you make snowstorms with your power?”

Staring at him so intently, she saw every emotion flash across his face as he processed her question. Surprise, fear, guilt.

Her chest got tight, and he didn’t even have to answer before the next question left her tongue. “Did you make a snowstorm so I couldn’t leave?”

“It wasn’t like that—”

“You made sure I couldn’t leave and then…” And then… was sweet. Made her breakfast. Made her laugh.

Made love to her.

He lied.

Her throat got tight. “You are a dog! Is this what you do to poor women? Make them wreck their cars and then seduce them with your wine in the snow and your monster cock?”

Sage couldn’t believe she’d been so idiotic. She groaned loudly at her stupidity and turned away from Soren. She couldn’t even look at him right now.

“Sage, no, please listen to me...” His voice was choked, and when she faced him again, her throat burned and her eyes watered.

“Why should I? You lied to me, seduced me, and kept me here. Whatever you had to do to keep your secret safe, right?” she scoffed, tears dripping down her cheeks. She swiped them away angrily. “Was it all a lie?”

Her heart cracked as she asked the question, and she shook her head. She didn’t want to hear his response. “No, never mind. Just…” Sage’s voice trailed off, and she didn’t know what to say. Turning away from Soren, she walked toward the front door.

“I need a while,” she told him.

Without waiting for a response, she closed the door behind her and breathed in the cold air.

Her sinuses burned, but whether from the icy air or the unshed tears, she didn’t know.

What she did know was that there was one person who’d never disappointed her, and Sage needed to talk to her.

As she pulled her phone out of her pocket, her gloves fell to the porch. Sage grumbled but put them on so she wouldn’t freeze off her fingers.

One task at a time.

She dialed Gabi with the touchscreen gloves and waited.

As a greeting, Gabi began with, “You never call this much anymore, you must miss me h—Sage?”

Hearing the familiarity in Gabi’s voice, even though she’d just spoken to her, made Sage’s heart hurt all over again. She breathed in shakily, but not quietly enough, because Gabi called her on it.

Gabi’s voice turned sober, all jokes forgotten as she clicked into action mode at Sage’s tears.

“What happened?”