Page 130 of The Monster and the Masochist

I paused. Pops?

“You fucking lied to me. I lost it on your poor coach when you were out cold, blaming him for taking you out to get drunk before a big fight, and you know what he told me, Theo?”

I could only stare.

I didn’t remember telling her I’d gone for drinks with Jerry, but fuck. Sounds like I did.

I had a whole conversation with her while I was blackout?

This was definitely over.

The realization that this fight was probably her ‘breaking up’ with me was too much.

I felt myself start to shut down, and for once, I didn’t bother fighting it.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I sighed, and even to me, my voice sounded tired.

“He told me he’s been sober for ten years. He’s in AA, Theo. He had no idea you went out and got wasted the night before a fight. He’s just as pissed with you as I am.”

I shrugged again, turning my head away from her.

If she was going to break up with me, I didn’t want her touching me anymore. I just wanted to get this over with.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” she continued in that low, terrifyingly dangerous tone. “I am going to finish cleaning you up. Then, you’re going to rest. I will make sure you’re up every hour as per the medic’s orders, and tomorrow, you’re going to tell Jerry you’re retiring. Your fighting career is over. This ends now.”

My mouth dropped open in shock, and suddenly, I wasn’t numb anymore.

I was pissed.

A dark chuckle slipped out of my swollen lips, and Cass narrowed her eyes at the sound.

“No.”

“That wasn’t a request, Theodora.”

“Yeah, well, you don’t get to make those decisions for me, Cassandra. I’m not quitting fighting. What the fuck is wrong with you that you think you get to tell me to do something like that?”

“So this is how it’s going to be, then?” She sounded deceivingly calm. “You expect me to sit here and just wait around like some worried housewife while you subject yourself to that human equivalent of a fucking cock fight once a month?”

“I don’t expect anything from you!” I shouted.

Suddenly, she was grabbing me by the shoulders. She wasn’t calm anymore. I gaped in shock as she basically screamed at me from inches away.

“I THOUGHT SHE WAS GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU, THEO!” Her voice shook and cracked as she screamed. “She wasn’t going to stop!”

“I KNOW!” I screamed back before I could think better of it. “That’s how it fucking is!”

Cass let go of me abruptly. She stumbled back as her mouth fell open.

“So… she would have killed you if you weren’t able to get the situation under control?”

I shrugged again, suddenly feeling ashamed and awkward for some reason.

“If I couldn’t tap out in time, yeah. That’s why the fights draw such a big crowd and the winnings are so huge. They’re high stakes.”

She was staring at me like she couldn’t believe what I was saying.

We sat there in silence for a moment that seemed to stretch on forever, and I watched as that cold, strange rage flickered behind her irises.