Page 14 of The Monster and the Masochist

I shrugged again, already turning away to head back to my table.

“You’ve inspired me, what can I say?” I called back over my shoulder.

I didn’t look back, but I could feel her gaze burning into the back of my head the whole time.

‘Istill think we should kill the barista,’ my monster purred in my ear as I navigated my Audi through Silent Hollow’s financial district.

‘We’re not killing the barista,’ I silently snapped back, taking a sip of the coffee Theo had given me. And thank god she did. It was the only thing keeping me together this morning. I was hanging by a damn thread.

‘You never let me kill anybody. I’m losing patience with you,’ my monster growled in frustration, and I gritted my teeth against the urge to just tell it to shut the fuck up.

‘I let you kill my mother.’

The beast that lived inside me snorted, and I rolled my eyes. Usually, I didn’t outwardly react to the voice in my head, but alone in my car, where no one could see me, I allowed myself to indulge.

‘Let’ is an interesting choice of words, little killer. I seem to remember you begging me to slit her throat.’

‘Please. I don’t beg,’ I snipped, and my beast chuckled softly.

‘Come now. Just one little barista. It would be easy. All you would need to do is learn her schedule. We could follow her home. I bet she screams so pretty… Besides, she was flirting with your street fighter. Don’t you want to punish her for that?’

‘Theo is not my street fighter. Besides, I’ve told you a thousand times. We can’t just go killing innocent people. We’ll end up in prison.’

‘Let me have the street fighter, then, if you do not want her. I bet you she screams even prettier than the barista.’

Rage and fear coursed through me at the thought of my monster setting its sights on Theo.

“Theodora is off limits. You are forbidden from killing her.’

‘I do not have to kill her to make her scream.’

This psychotic conversation with the demon in my head was doing nothing to improve my mood.

I’d already been in a shitty mood when I’d left my condo that morning, so being blindsided by none other than Theo freaking Fairview on my pit stop at my local cafe had thrown me for even more of a loop.

No one managed to rile me up the way Theo seemed to, and it was one of the many reasons I needed to stay the fuck away from her.

I’d spent the entire drive to my office thinking about Theo instead of the four point two billion things I needed to get done today, and honestly, it was exhausting.

She was hurt again.

She was hurt again, and I hated it.

Anger swirled in my gut at her complete disregard for her own safety.

I didn’t understand why she constantly put herself in danger like that, and it infuriated me.

It was why I’d been avoiding her for weeks.

Every time I saw her and noticed she’d suffered a new bruise, all it did was make me want to murder the fuck out of whoever had put it there, and frankly, I’d been spending most of my life trying not to indiscriminately kill people that pissed me off… much to my monster’s dismay.

So, it was better for everyone if I didn’t constantly trigger myself by spending time with that adorable little masochist.

I was still thinking about the soft smile on Theo’s beautiful, yet bruised face, when the elevator chimed, indicating that I’d arrived at the lobby of my firm.

The doors slid open, and I immediately felt more balanced.

‘Be quiet now. We’re at work. You know the rules,’ I muttered silently to my beast, and it sighed but conceded, curling deeper into the cage I’d built for it in my mind.