Severed Ties: A Dark Stalker Romance (Tainted Love Book 1)
Severed Ties: Chapter 16

It didn’t take long to replace her, even without checking the tracker on her phone and in her bag, but maybe that’s only because I’ve been following her for so long I know every place she frequents. Clara doesn’t date, or at least she hasn’t in the last nine months, so it only seems natural that she would choose somewhere she feels comfortable. People are generally pretty predictable if you watch them for long enough, and my little fawn certainly isn’t exempt from that.

She’s halfway through her drink when I arrive, and her date can’t keep his eyes off her cleavage. She’s been wearing more low-cut dresses recently, something I’ve both loved because I’ve been able to see more of her milky skin and loathed because so has every other man she’s come in contact with. Justin, I recognize from the few times I’ve visited the Saint James family at the office, hangs on her every word, even if they are few and far between.

Although I can’t hear them from my position on the other side of the bar, I can tell every time he tries to redirect the conversation to her and she quickly deflects it. Interesting. Her background report was sparse when Everett ran it. A long list of addresses when she was a child, and then she put herself through college, but there was little else of value. No information about her parents. Nothing about friends or run-ins with the law. Nothing. I’m surprised he didn’t keep digging when this was the report that came back, but maybe he just didn’t think Clara was a threat to Wynter and that’s why he didn’t keep digging.

Clara orders another cocktail and a low growl escapes from my throat. I don’t like that she’s drinking with another man. Doesn’t she realize he could take advantage of her? Doesn’t she know alcohol lowers her inhibitions and makes her a target of predators? It doesn’t seem to matter that Justin has the cleanest past I’ve ever seen in a file or that he doesn’t make a move to so much as hold her hand. I still want to kill him just for looking at my woman.

She carefully stands, but I don’t miss the way her body tenses. She’s hurt. She was limping when I saw her leave The Circle, but I thought perhaps her heels were hurting her. She doesn’t normally wear such high shoes, but it seems there’s more to it than that.

I allow her some space before following after her. I don’t think she’ll look back, she doesn’t normally look over her shoulder when I’m following her, which is a lot, but I can’t be too careful, not when she’s already fled from me once tonight.

Clara steps into the women’s bathroom and I allow myself to close the gap between us, quickly slipping through the door and quietly turning the lock behind me. She’s still none the wiser as I take quick steps forward and tug her back into me. I quickly press my palm over her lips before she can scream. The last thing I need right now is for people to come running in here to save her when she’s the safest she can be with me.

As soon as she’s in my arms, the feral part of me settles and I let out the breath that’s been caught in my throat since she disappeared into the night.

“Should have done as you were told, little fawn,” I murmur against the shell of her ear.

Her eyes widen and I don’t miss the way her body relaxes ever so slightly when she realizes she’s not really in any danger. Well, I’m not going to kill her, but she’s certainly going to be punished for going against my orders and leaving not only the security room but the whole fucking building.

Small hands pull at my much larger one over her mouth, but she’s not strong enough to dislodge me, and she hasn’t earned the privilege of speaking, not after her defiance.

“Did you think I wouldn’t come after you, Clara? Did you think you’d be able to outrun the big bad wolf?”

Goose bumps break out along her soft skin, and I barely swallow the groan that claws its way up my throat. She’s not afraid. She’s not worried. She’s turned on. If I asked her here and now, she would deny it until the end of the earth, but I know the truth. Her body can’t hide the way she reacts to me any more than she can control the way her heart speeds up anytime I’m around. I’ve grown addicted to watching her carotid artery thump heavily in her neck. But then, I’ve grown addicted to just about everything about Clara, so it’s no surprise that her heart beating in her chest fascinates me to the point of obsession.

“I’ll let you in on a little secret, fawn. There’s nowhere you can run, nowhere you can hide, that I won’t replace you.” I shouldn’t say these things because I can never allow myself to have her. It’s not safe. She’s not safe with me. Not when I can lose my temper so easily and have no control over my own actions.

She tries to speak against my palm, but it comes out as a garbled mumble. I should release her. I’m fairly certain she’s not going to scream, but if I allow her to speak, I also have to release her from my hold, and I’m not willing to do that yet.

I finally relent and allow my hand to drop from her pouty lips and use it to anchor her to me tighter. Even though I should let her go, should let her live her life with a nice, normal man like Justin, I can’t do that. I can’t allow someone else to make my woman happy, even if it makes me a selfish asshole to keep her all to myself.

“What the fuck?” she snaps. “You scared the shit out of me.”

“You mean like you did to me when you walked through a brawl?” I challenge.

She’s quiet for a beat and tries to push her way out of my hold. It’s not until she presses too hard on her left side and lets out a hiss of pain that I realize she really is injured.

“Where are you hurt?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Clara, if you don’t tell me where you’re hurting, I’ll strip you right here in this public bathroom and replace out for myself.”

A shiver racks through her small frame and I don’t miss the way her eyes dilate in the mirror across from us. How very interesting. My little fawn likes that idea, and by the way she readjusts her feet, I think she might like it a lot.

“I was knocked over when I was leaving The Circle. I’m fine, just a little sore.”

A growl climbs up my throat, but I can’t swallow it down. “You should have stayed in the security room like I told you to,” I rumble.

“I had a date to get to.”

“A date I also told you that you weren’t going on.”

She huffs out a sigh and glares at me through the mirror. “You have no say over who I do and do not date, Tommy. We have nothing to do with one another. You work for one side of Frost Industries, and I work for the other. There’s nothing else to it.”

If only she knew. If only she realized how obsessed with her I am. But how could she possibly know? How could she know I’ve been following her for months, that I’ve installed cameras in her apartment and software on her phone to monitor every call she makes and receives? I’ve broken into her apartment at night and have watched her sleep. My obsession with her knows no bounds. She doesn’t know about any of that, and if I have it my way, she never will. Because if she knew, she would run for the hills and I’d never be able to convince her to come back to me.

“You must be blind if you believe that, Clara.” I chuckle, but there’s no humor in the sound.

“I need to get back to Justin.”

“You’re right. You need to go back out there and tell him you’re not feeling well, and then you’re going to walk your pretty little ass out of this bar, where I will be waiting to take you home.”

She balks. “You can’t be serious.”

“Oh, but I am, little fawn. I’m dead fucking serious and if you’re smart, you’ll do exactly as you’re told, or you’ll be faced with consequences I promise you won’t enjoy.” Or maybe she will. Maybe she’ll love every single second of it.