Page 94 of The Monster and the Masochist

“Gotta shower. I’ll get out of your hair so you can… finish up.”

“Theo…”

She didn’t answer. She just stalked away down the hall, and I flinched as the door to the bathroom slammed shut.

“Jesus Christ… you were being serious… You’re really marrying her? Does she freaking live here?” Nolan marveled, staring after Theo with the dumbest look I’d ever seen on a man’s face.

“Get the fuck out of my house, Nolan,” I growled.

He turned wide eyes onto me, and I could see the gears spinning in his mind as he tried to make sense of what had just happened.

“But we still need to talk about the reverend.”

I jerked toward him, and he blanched slightly as I let him see how close I was to literally murdering him in my damn kitchen.

“If you value your life, you’ll get the fuck out of my damn house.”

I was a lawyer.

I knew how serious it was to make death threats, and I’d now threatened to kill Nolan twice… to his face.

Happily, like most people, he seemed to assume I was being hyperbolic.

It’s a turn of phrase people tend to throw around.

If you do this thing, I’ll be so mad I’ll kill you!

No one ever takes it seriously… But they should.

If I were the type of person to give out advice for free, I would tell you that if someone says they’re going to kill you, you should probably believe them.

Because at that moment, I was being fully serious, and the only reason Nolan was able to walk out of my condo with all his limbs intact was because I’d spent years in therapy learning how to control the beast that shared my body.

He stepped solemnly into the elevator, looking miserable and confused, and I watched him carefully with my fists clenched and shaking at my sides… more to keep myself from lunging for a knife than anything.

“Think about what I said, Cass. Please. I don’t want to lose you,” he said softly as the elevator door began to close.

I just stared, and he seemed to deflate even further as he took in the dead look on my face.

“Goodbye, Nolan,” I hissed as the doors closed and the elevator carried him to safety.

Ihovered by the bathroom door as I waited for Theo to finish her shower. She was in there for a long time.

Long enough that I seriously considered picking the lock and barging my way in, though, I somehow felt like that would be a massive invasion of her privacy.

She’d used the guest shower instead of the ensuite in our room, which felt like a strong enough message in and of itself.

After an excruciating amount of time, the water finally turned off, and I wrung my hands together anxiously as I waited for her to come out.

When she finally opened the door, she jumped slightly, clearly surprised to find me standing there, waiting for her like some creepy stalker.

She was rubbing at her wet hair with a towel and was in a clean sports bra with a pair of men’s shorts slung low on her hips, showing off every line of muscle that I’d already explored thoroughly with my lips and tongue.

“Theo…”

Her lips pursed, but she didn’t respond. She just brushed past me, and, to my dismay, made her way toward the guest room.

When she told me she’d moved her boxes out of the main bedroom the night before, I’d been surprised and… disappointed.