Page 100 of The Monster and the Masochist

Honestly, I hope you do it again.

Soon.

That adorable little frown of hers deepened as she processed my words, then she cleared her throat.

“Yes, well… dinner will be ready at six. Please have your things unpacked and put back in our room before then,” she ordered gently, and my stomach exploded with a nervous rush of butterflies.

Our room?

Damn.

Guess I wasn’t moving out after all…

Sliding down the wall, I collapsed on the floor, finally allowing my shaking legs to recover.

An unhinged grin spread across my face, and I let out a breathy laugh as I dropped my head back against the wall.

Holy fucking shit.

“Way to go, Theo.” I smirked to myself. “Just bagged yourself a psycho.”

I wondered vaguely what it said about me that instead of being disturbed and terrified, I was the happiest I’d ever been in my life.

“What about this one?” I asked my younger sister as I came out of the dressing room of The Bridal Collective for what felt like the four-hundredth time.

Naomi was curled up on one of the white couches in the bright space, holding the glass of non-alcoholic prosecco one of the bridal attendants had given her.

The Bridal Collective was the only store in Silent Hollow worth shopping at. There were other shops, but none of them were as elevated as this one. It normally took months to get an appointment, but I was pretty sure Alyssa was a witch or something at this point. She always managed to get me exactly what I wanted, no matter how tight the timeline.

So, here I was, hoping to say yes to the dress with literally only one day left to get this particular task done.

Gnomes tilted her head to the side, her blonde hair tied back in a sleek, elegant bun at the nape of her neck.

She was in loose black pants and a matching black turtle neck that covered her from wrist to chin. It was a far cry from the bright, floral sundresses she used to wear before she and Cal had been kidnapped, but I supposed it was normal to explore different styles, especially at her age.

She was in her first year of college, and what better time to try to figure out who you wanted to be?

I’d have been less concerned about the drastic change in style if it weren’t accompanied by weight loss, dark circles under her eyes, and the fact that it looked like she’d completely given up on upkeep when it came to dying her hair.

Her dark roots had grown out to the point that it felt like she might as well just dye her hair back to her natural color if she wasn’t going to maintain it, but every time I asked her if she wanted to go to the salon together, she just brushed me off.

“I’m not sure… how do you feel about it?” she asked, refusing to tell me whether she liked it or not until I gave my opinion.

I think it was so she didn’t accidentally tell me she hated something I loved, which was sweet of her, but I needed a real opinion here.

“I don’t know. I feel like a cream puff.” I sighed, plucking at the massive amount of tulle flowing from my waist.

Naomi snorted.

“You hardly look like a cream puff. That’s an Oscar de la Renta. You look like a princess.”

I sighed.

I’d told the bridal attendants to bring me this type of silhouette for exactly that reason. Theo always called me princess, so I thought it would be nice to try to look like one for her, too.

At least for one day.

But it just wasn’t me.