Page 36 of The Monster and the Masochist

I growled in frustration.

Maybe Jerry was right.

Maybe it was better if I just stuck to my original plan and stayed the fuck away from Theo. Let her work out whatever was going on with her on her own…

But as I slid into the driver’s seat of my Audi and checked my phone one last time before pulling into the early morning traffic, our text exchange seemed to taunt me.

‘All jokes aside… Are you okay?’

‘I am now, princess.’

As if something as simple as texting me had made whatever she’d been going through better.

The possessive monster that lived in my chest preened over that, and I sighed, dropping my head back against the seat.

Fuck.

We were both so fucking fucked.

My mind was swirling with plans on how I was going to manage to keep better tabs on my little enigma when the elevator dinged, signaling I’d arrived on my firm’s floor. I’d barely stepped into the foyer as Alyssa barreled up to me.

“Ms. Walker!” she squeaked, and I frowned, forcing myself to push Theo to the back of my mind and switching into work mode.

“Good Morning, Alyssa.”

“Ms. Walker, Edmund and Vivian want you in their office immediately! This might be it! I bet you they’re making you partner!”

Though after my conversation with Nolan the day before, I wasn’t so sure that was the case, I still found myself smiling at my assistant. I felt somewhat touched by the fact that she seemed genuinely excited for me.

“Thank you, Alyssa. I’ll head over there now. Please hold all my calls.”

“Of course!” she beamed, nearly bouncing on her toes with excitement. “I’m so happy for you, Ms. Walker. You worked so hard on that case. You deserve this.”

I blinked and glanced back at her, searching her face for any sign of disingenuousness, but all I found was true pride and adoration shining in her eyes.

“You’re sweet, Alyssa.” I smiled at her, making a mental note to give her a few VIP tickets to a concert or something as a reward for being so loyal. “Take a long lunch today. I’ll email you if I need you.”

“O-okay! T-thank you, Ms. Walker!”

I bit back a grin as I stalked toward Edmund’s office, ignoring the glares from most of the junior attorneys as I passed through their work stations.

Hopefully, Alyssa was right, and Nolan had just been jumping to conclusions. If I were making partner today, I wouldn’t need to worry about defending that snake of a man I’d been forced to endure the night before. I could pawn him off on one of these snotty juniors and focus on cases I actually wanted to work on.

My fantasies were short-lived, however, as Edmund’s assistant greeted me and led me into his office.

I knew immediately I wouldn’t be making partner today when I saw none other than Nolan fucking Cross sitting on one of the black leather couches set before Edmund’s desk.

‘Ugh. I can’t believe this guy is still alive,’ my beast muttered, sounding bored and unimpressed. ‘Your life would be so much simpler if you just listened to me, for once.’

Ignoring my beast, I did my best to compose myself as Nolan’s blue eyes met mine, a cocky smile spreading across his face.

“Good Morning, Cassandra. Glad you could make it.” He glanced at his watch, as if implying I was late.

That dyke is fucking in love with you.

After everything that had happened, it felt like Nolan had said those words to me days ago, but the fury I felt as they flit through my mind was just as strong as it had been when he’d first said them.

Fighting back the urge to literally slit his throat in the middle of my boss’s office, I ignored him and turned to face the partners, who were sitting opposite Nolan, on a matching couch opposite the crystal coffee table that was the centerpiece of Edmund’s bright office.