Page 197 of What We Burn

ME:

Dean and the cleaners should be there soon. Keep the door locked.

MILO:

Fascist.

ME:

I need to check on Sage then I’m on my way. Surely you can be a good murder puppy until then.

MILO:

Detective! Are you flirting with me? I might give you a bow too.

I drop my phone into my pocket without responding, but a smile tugs at the corner of my mouth.

The elevator opens to the VIP corridor and the guard holds out his hand for the keycard. Music replaces the silence—bass, voices, the club moving around me as though there isn’t a corpse wrapped in plastic across town.

I give back the card and shoot Knox a text as I head toward the main floor.

Me:

Location?

Knox:

Playroom three.

My dick gets so many ideas that I’m in front of the door before I can decide which one is my favorite.

When I reach the door, I knock and wait until I’m invited in.

The moment I push it open, I find Sage curled in Eli’s lap beside the padded bench, wrapped in a dark blanket with her face tucked against his throat. A narrow leather collar sits where the cameo choker should be. One foot rests in Knox’s hand where he sits on the floor against the bench. Her heels have been abandoned beside him, and the blanket covers the black dress I gave her at the motel.

Eli looks wrung out. Knox looks calm in the way he does after a good session.

Sage lifts her head.

“Hey, wildcat.”

“Hey.” Her voice is destroyed.

I crouch in front of her. “You good?”

“Yeah. You?”

“Dean and the cleaners should be with Milo soon. Milo has the room secured.”

“Good.” Her gaze drops. “I’m sorry for messing up.”

I put my hand against the side of her face, my thumb moving over her skin. “You made a bad operational call by going alone. We made one by keeping you outside the work after you told us exactly what you needed. Both things are true.”

Knox squeezes her foot. “It’s our job to take care of you, Fury.”

The door opens behind me and Micah slips in with a tray balanced on one hand—bottled water, a plate of fruit, cheese and crackers. Of course he anticipated the crash. Micah always does.

He takes in the scene in one sweep and his expression softens.