Page 34 of The Monster and the Masochist

All jokes aside… are you okay?

I stared at the text, my fingers hovering over the keyboard.

I wasn’t okay.

I knew I wasn’t.

I was wrecked from drinking all that vodka, and it was seriously going to fuck with my endurance during training later. There was a sharp pain in my side, and I knew it was my liver yelling at me. My whole body was inflamed, and I was stiff and maybe getting a little sick from sleeping on the ground all night… but… Cass had come to my place to find me. She’d messaged me to see if I was okay. She’d been worried I’d fucked a bartender for Christ’s sake… Maybe she didn’t hate me as much as she wanted me to think she did.

Even just this small scrap of affection from her was enough to bring me back to life. It was giving me something to hope for. Something to look forward to.

I smiled and responded.

Theo:

I am now, princess.

Istared at Theo’s last text as I waited in line for my coffee. I hadn’t even bothered to try and use that monstrosity Edmund had bought me this morning, and had come right to the cafe to get my daily caffeine fix.

It wasn’t clear to me whether the machine was actually broken or if it was user error on my part, but I couldn’t be bothered with it today.

I told myself it was because I didn’t want to be late getting into the office again, but really, I’d been hoping Theo would be here.

Theo hadn’t been here waiting like I’d hoped. In my imagination, she’d been leaning against the service counter with her annoyingly sexy new haircut and her usual lazy smirk, just waiting to push all my buttons.

But she hadn’t been. That gruff old man she’d been with the day before was at the same table, though, and he looked just as grumpy as I was.

When the barista called my name, I snatched up my coffee, and before I knew what I was doing, I was approaching the old man at the table.

“Excuse me,” I said, and the man looked up at me. His weathered hands were curled around a small paper cup filled with black coffee, and he had a crossword out over what I recognized as a fight plan.

So she hadn’t been lying about that, at least.

“Uhh, can I help yuh, miss?” the man asked, his tone rough but not unfriendly.

“Yes. Are you Theodora’s coach?”

The man’s bushy grey eyebrows rose, and he nodded, standing up. He held out a hand, and I slid my Chanel up to my elbow so I could shake it.

“Yeah. Name’s Jerry.”

“Hi. I’m Cassandra–”

“I know who you are.” His eyes narrowed slightly on me, and I forced my face not to give away how surprised I was that he knew me on sight. My belly warmed slightly.

Theo must have talked about me to this man… Why did that make me feel all fluttery?

“Yes. Well, nice to meet you. I was just wondering… have you seen Theodora yet today? I was just messaging her, and she wouldn’t tell me where she was, and I’m…”

Worried about her.

The words caught in my throat, but Jerry seemed to understand what I was implying.

“She hasn’t shown up yet. She was due here an hour ago.”

I frowned.

“Is that… normal? For her to be late like that?”