Page 70 of The Monster and the Masochist

Again, I was having a hard time keeping the surprise off my face.

“No. Of course not. I actually love that about her. Cass is not an easy woman to impress. She has high expectations for people. It makes it all the more rewarding when you manage to get her to actually like you. It makes every smile feel precious if you know you need to earn them, and they’re not just given away for free,” I replied softly, remembering how hearing her giggle for the first time the day before had made the whole world feel like it was made of literal gold.

Alyssa looked like she was going to melt into a puddle of goo at my feet. Those cartoon hearts were back, and I let out a sigh of relief.

Phew. Almost lost an ally there.

“You’re right! Other people don’t seem to get that. Everyone told me I had my work cut out for me when I took this job. One of the junior attorneys wished me luck on my first day and told me I was brave for wanting to work for Cuntzilla,” Alyssa babbled, but that angry little scowl was back on her face.

“Wait…What!?” I barked, and Alyssa glanced at me from where she was diligently folding my boxers into neat piles on the bed.

“Yeah. Can you believe that? So unprofessional. Honestly, everyone made it seem like I’d be working for the devil or something, but they’re all so wrong about her. It really pisses me off. I’ve been an executive assistant for nearly ten years, and Ms. Walker is by far the best boss I’ve ever had.”

I was still hung up on the fact that someone at Cass’s work had called her cuntzilla behind her back, but I forced myself to push that aside. Right now, I wanted to hear from Alyssa what it was like working for Cass. I felt like I was getting to peek into her very private world that she rarely ever spoke about, and I was greedy for any scraps this woman would give me.

“The best boss you’ve ever had? How so?”

Alyssa smiled softly as she moved from the clothes on my bed to start pulling things from my closet.

“I’ve worked for CEOs who basically expected me to do their jobs for them so they could spend every workday on the golf course. I’m expected to perform tasks that a person with triple my salary should be doing, while still also getting them coffee, making appointments, and remembering their kid’s birthdays.

“Cass isn’t like that at all. She never asks me to do anything outside of my actual role. Like I said, this is a really big exception, but I’m more than happy to help with this. I hope she asks me for help with the wedding…” Alyssa paused, getting all dreamy-eyed again before snapping herself back out of it.

“What was I saying? Oh yeah. Basically, Ms. Walker really only expects me to do my actual job. And on top of that, when I do my job well, which in my opinion should be the bare minimum of her expectations, she surprises me with concert tickets or gift cards to nice dinners. She may be a little abrupt sometimes, but she’s never mean-spirited and never raises her voice at me. I really don’t understand why people give her such a hard time. I honestly think they’re jealous of her or something. People see a woman winning, and they just want to tear them down.”

My chest was feeling a little tight listening to this woman’s description of the person I was about to marry in a few days, and an overwhelming rush of pride rolled through me.

I knew Cass could come off as harsh sometimes, but I saw right through her. At her core, she was a good person who cared about the people in her life. She just took a while to warm up to people. Cass didn’t trust easily, but she had good reason not to. After what her mother had done to her, I was surprised she was capable of trusting anyone at all.

“Anyway, I’m really glad she seems to have finally found someone who loves her just the way she is. I think she’s lonely, you know? She works so hard and spends all her time in the office. I’m sure part of it is because she loves what she does, but I think it’s also because she doesn’t have anyone to go home to, you know? I’m really happy that won’t be the case anymore.”

I was so busy processing that little nugget of information, I almost didn’t catch that Alyssa was reaching for a very private box I kept on the top shelf of my closet.

“Wait!” I shouted, leaping to my feet and rushing over to where Alyssa was struggling with a box I didn’t think Cass would want her professional assistant handling.

“I’ve got that one,” I said, reaching easily over the woman’s head to swipe up the large blue container. “Why don’t you go check on the movers and see if they have those boxes? I think we’re pretty much done here.”

“Sure thing!” Alyssa chirped, completely oblivious to the fact that she’d almost just gotten a very X-rated preview into what it was like to be in a relationship with someone like me.

She flitted out of my bedroom, and I released a heavy sigh before tugging the box down and setting it on the bed.

I didn’t normally keep a lid on it because there had never been any need to. I was the only person who was ever in here–unless I brought a partner home to mess around with. But I was glad I knew where the lid was in this instance, so I could pack this particular container up discreetly.

Fishing the top for the box out from under my bed, I snapped it in place before hunting down a sharpie and writing ‘Theo, Bedroom’ on it, hoping that would be non-descript enough to keep anyone from thinking twice about what was inside.

I wasn’t exactly shy about my sex life, but I didn’t think Alyssa needed to see my collection of straps, either. It’s not like they were used. All the ones in the box were brand new. I’d just tossed the one I’d been using with Sienna since I wasn’t planning on sleeping with her anymore.

But still. It wasn’t exactly something you wanted your future fake wife’s assistant to accidentally stumble upon.

Staring at the unassuming box, I wondered for a minute if I should bother packing it at all. We hadn’t discussed whether my living with Cass meant continuing to be sexually active together. For all I knew, yesterday was just a one-time thing to help her figure out whether or not she might be into women or not.

It wouldn’t be the first time a ‘straight’ woman had wanted to experiment with me, only to go back to dating men once the novelty had worn off.

But… remembering how aggressively she’d kissed me that morning, as if she’d been trying to physically claim me in that coffee shop, I decided, fuck it.

A gal could hope, right?

Worse came to worse, this box just stayed in whatever closet Cass allowed me to use while I was living with her.