Page 86 of The Monster and the Masochist

The only problem was that I had so little left of me to give.

I could only hope it was enough.

Igroaned as the most annoying sound in the world cut through the warm, safe cocoon of sleep I’d succumbed to.

“What the fuck!?” I growled, rolling onto my back and cracking an eye open to take in my surroundings.

It took me a moment to remember where I was.

I was in Cassandra’s room.

We’d fucked each other senseless and passed out in a cum-drunk haze.

The tight, crackling feeling of dried cum on my stomach told me we hadn’t even had the good sense to clean up after.

“Morning, baby,” Cass chirped, and I felt more than saw her drop a peck on my cheek, considering I could still barely open my damn eyes.

“What time is it?” I grumbled groggily.

“Four.”

“In the MORNING?” I yelped, bolting up in bed.

“Yup.” She huffed as she kicked off the blankets and rolled out from between the sheets.

“What? Why!?” I sputtered, and she glanced over her shoulder at me, frowning.

“It’s Thursday. I have kickboxing at five. Then coffee and shower by six thirty. Office by seven.”

My jaw dropped as she peeled off her now completely wrecked slip from the night before and stalked, butt naked, to her ensuite.

“I should have gotten up earlier. I don’t usually have to shower beforehand… shit.”

I rubbed my eyes with my palms as I heard the shower turn on, followed by a few muttered curses as she got in without giving it time to warm up.

Shaking my head, I tried to force my mind into the land of the living before following her like a ghost into the bathroom.

She was completely visible through the glass walls of the shower, as the water still wasn’t even hot enough to create steam.

I watched her, baffled, as she quickly but efficiently scrubbed herself with a soapy loofa, while trying to keep her hair out of the stream as much as possible.

“I didn’t know you did kickboxing… You do this every day?”

I stifled a yawn with a fist over my mouth.

“Kickboxing isn’t every day. Monday and Tuesdays are HIIT, Wednesday is active rest with either yoga or Pilates, depending on how sore I am. Thursdays and Fridays are kickboxing. Saturday is an off day, and Sunday, as you know, is range day with Gnomes and Ryan.” She rattled off her fitness schedule while referencing the target practice she did every week with her younger sister and Ryan.

I called it ‘going to church.’

It was a weekly ritual we all indulged in regularly now since Cal and Gnomes had been rescued from being kidnapped a while back.

I wondered if kickboxing was another form of self-defense training disguised as a workout.

I wouldn’t be surprised. That experience had rattled us all pretty badly.

“No wonder you’re so cranky before you get your coffee…” I muttered. “That’s fucking insane. Why do you do all this shit at four in the morning?”

“I’m usually not done with work till nine, so I wouldn’t have time to go afterward. This body doesn’t look this good from sitting in an office all day, Theodora. What? Did you think I was just naturally this hot?”