Page 240 of The Monster and the Masochist

“Come on, Reverend. You made Theo stand in those heels for hours while you tortured her. Surely you can manage another twenty minutes? You’re not going to let a woman outperform you, are you? How embarrassing.”

He screamed again as I pressed a little too hard on my next downward slice into his flabby chest.

“Though, I will admit… endurance is the name of the game here…Unfortunately for you, pedophile is a long word.” I grinned, and I carved out the rest of the brand to the satisfying sound of his pathetic, muffled screams.

Alexa Play: The Worst In Me by Bad Omens

“Wake up, sweet girl…”

Swimming through the dream I’d been drifting in, something tickled my nose, and I scrunched it up as I slowly came back to the waking world.

“Cass?” I croaked, my voice still rough with sleep.

There was that tickling feeling again, and as my eyes fluttered open, I found my wife smiling down at me from where she’d perched on the edge of the bed.

She was stroking a finger lightly down the bridge of my nose, and when she did it again, I gave her a sleepy smile and tilted my head so I could kiss the tip of her finger instead.

“Are you ready for your surprise? It’s waiting for you in the basement.”

“What time is it?” I asked, sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of my eyes with the heels of my hands.

“Almost midnight. Try to hurry. I left Cal down there, and I don’t trust him to be alone with… your present, for very long.”

Feeling a rush of excitement… or maybe anticipation, I shoved back the blankets and swung my legs out of the bed.

I was in a pair of flannel pajama pants and an oversized t-shirt, and I shoved my feet into an old pair of slippers with a yawn.

“Do I need to get dressed?”

“No, what you’re wearing should be fine. Let’s go,” Cass whispered, leading me out of the room at a surprisingly quick pace.

We’d just made it to the top of the stairs when Ryan poked his head out of his bedroom, frowning at us.

“What are you two doing? Have you seen Callum? He never came up to bed.”

Cass sighed, shaking her head in irritation.

“He never told you, did he?”

Ryan frowned. “Tell me what?”

“Fucking Callum…” Cass muttered under her breath. “Alright, you might as well come too. Guess it’s going to be a family affair.”

“What are you–”

“Don’t bother, dude. I’ve been trying to get her to tell me what she’s been up to all day, and she won’t budge. We should probably just follow her.

“Fine. Let me just put a damn shirt on,” Ryan grumbled before disappearing back into his room.

He didn’t take long, and I could tell he was anxious to find his fiancé.

Honestly, I would be too, if I were engaged to Callum.

He needed constant supervision, or he tended to get into trouble. Ryan seemed to genuinely enjoy… supervising him, but right at this moment, I think he was more worried than anything.

We followed Cass down the large ornate staircase to the main floor, then through the foyer to the stairs leading down to the embalming room.

“What the fuck…” Ryan muttered as we descended into the cold, clinical halls of Fairview’s basement.