8. Cassandra Walker
The rest of the night was uncomfortable.
I couldn’t focus on anything anyone was saying to me because Theo’s smoldering gaze followed me everywhere.
I could feel my face burning beneath her scrutiny, and the gooseflesh on my skin became a permanent fixture.
To make matters worse, the bartender seemed to have a hyper-fucking-fixation with her, and by the end of the night, she was basically pressing her tits up in Theo’s face.
Theo didn’t shy away from appreciating the view either, which just pissed me off even more.
My monster was having a field day in my head, telling me all the different ways we could dissect the pretty bartender.
All I had to do was let it out of its cage.
The longer it whispered violent fantasies in my ears, the better all its gore-laced plans were beginning to sound, and it was getting harder and harder to ignore it.
I’d already been frustrated when I’d arrived because my rightful appointment as partner was being withheld over someone as creepy as that reverend, and now Theo’s weird decision to crash my party without even bothering to talk to me the entire night had left me in a decidedly bad mood.
I was doing my best not to take it out on my colleagues, which was not a strength of mine. So when people finally started filtering out of the restaurant, I was relieved.
Once the restaurant was practically empty, I decided to confront Theo. I hadn’t wanted to do it in front of my peers.
Straightening my blouse, I turned on my heel and leveled Theo with one of my most terrifying glares.
This was a look I had used to break murderers in the witness stand, so I expected at least a wince from the object of my frustrations.
But of course. She was unbothered.
Always so, so unbothered.
What was that like?
She just met my gaze with one of her annoyingly cool, laid-back grins.
She raised that damn eyebrow at me again, and I scowled.
That’s it. Enough was enough.
I stalked over to her, making sure she could tell from the look on my face that our conversation was not going to be a pleasant one.
She shifted slightly as I approached, swirling a fresh Manhattan in her hand.
As I got closer, I noticed she’d covered the bruise on her cheek with a bit of makeup. It was barely a shadow now, but it was there.
I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her.
I wanted to demand who she’d let hit her this time, so I could hunt them down and stab them in the fucking face.
I wanted to ask her why she seemed to be so obsessed with a sport that constantly hurt her.
Didn’t she care about her own safety?
Didn’t she care that it made me crazy to see her so beat up all the time?
Instead of screaming all the questions that had been eating me alive since the day she’d been stabbed, I focused on a much less damning question.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I hissed once I was standing in front of her.
She allowed her gaze to slowly peruse the length of my body, and another sheet of chills erupted beneath my skin.
“Hello again, princess.” Her voice was like thick honey. So calm, relaxed, and perpetually even-toned. “Twice in one day. How lucky am I?”
“I don’t think luck has anything to do with it, Theodora. Are you following me?”
She knew just how to get under my skin.
The thing about Theo was that she never did anything overtly rude or awful to me. It was always death by a thousand papercuts with her.
It was like she knew exactly where my buttons were, and she took great pleasure in lighting them up like Buddy the freaking Elf when he rode an elevator for the first time.
Calling me princess was one of them. Always implying that I was some helpless damsel in distress when I had spent my entire life destroying the things that tried to hurt me.
It was insulting.
“Don’t call me that,” I snapped, and her lip twitched.
“What should I call you then?” she purred, taking a sip of her drink, her dark eyes shone in the warm glow of the ambient lighting. “Beautiful? Gorgeous? I’m also partial to baby girl.”
I wrinkled my nose at her.
“That’s infantilizing, and you know it.”
She frowned slightly, and for once, she wasn’t looking at me like she thought I was some stupid prissy girl who couldn’t take care of herself. She was looking at me like she cared that she’d upset me.
“Is that what you think I’m doing, Cassandra?” she asked softly, and I shivered as her raspy voice seemed to dance and play across my skin like a living thing. “You think I’m infantilizing you?”
Gritting my teeth against the confusing swirl of emotion she always seemed to draw out of me, I tried to hold my ground.
“I don’t know what you’re doing. Why are you here? How did you even get in here? This is a private event.”
Theo’s gaze darted across the bar to the woman she’d been flirting with all night.
The bartender was watching us with a small frown on her face, her eyes darting back and forth between us like she was trying to figure out what we meant to each other.
“Friends in high places,” Theo said, winking at the bartender who blushed like a little schoolgirl.
I wanted to scream.
Slowly, I turned my attention to the bartender, and her face immediately blanched at the look on my face.
Don’t look at my masochist like that, you little fuck.
The violent storm of anger that had maintained permanent residence in my chest since the first time my mother had told me she hated me kicked up to Chernobyl levels.
I knew it was bleeding out of the cage I normally kept it in, but this random chick was staring at Theo like she was hers, and she just fucking wasn’t.
Turning my back on the bartender and focusing my attention on the woman who seemed determined to make me kill a bitch tonight, I growled.
“Yeah, well, I didn’t invite you. How did you even know about this?”
She cocked her head to the side, and if I didn’t know any better, I would say her expression softened.
“Your brother told me you would be here, but I’ve been following your big case. I wanted to congratulate you in person, since you can’t be bothered to answer any of my texts.”
This surprised me. I knew the case had gone viral online, but as far as I knew, Theo didn’t even have an Instagram account. Maybe she’d seen it on the news? Either way, it didn’t matter.
“You came all the way downtown, got dressed up, and broke into a private event, just to congratulate me?” I scoffed in disbelief, and she shrugged, finishing off her drink and dropping the empty glass on the bar.
“Among other things. Haven’t heard from you in a while. I wanted to see how you were doing.”
I blinked, faltering slightly in my rampage at just how sweet that was.
She was making me crazy.
Crazier than I already was.
These ups and downs were going to kill me.
“Theo, this needs to–”
“Cassandra, are you heading out?”
I stiffened as Nolan’s voice rolled between us, and I silently cursed.
Ugh. I thought he had left already.
He approached the bar. His gaze skated down Theo’s relaxed form, and the two of them sized each other up like a couple of animals who were about to compete for the same scrap of meat.
It irritated me to no end that the scrap of meat in question was apparently me.
Theo straightened slightly, an unnerving smile spreading on her face as she took Nolan in.
She glanced at me, raising that fucking eyebrow again, and I wanted to tear my own hair out.
Nolan and Theo in the same room was enough for me to want to admit myself into a psych ward.
“Hey, I’m Nolan, Nolan Cross.” My rival and one-time fuck buddy introduced himself to Theo.
Feeling completely worn out and raw, I considered just abandoning this conversation entirely.
If I just left the bar, I could pretend this wasn’t actually happening.
“Theo, Theo Fairview.”
They shook hands, though the tension in the air was so thick I could have sliced it with a knife.
“How do you know Cassandra?” Nolan asked smoothly, placing his hand on the small of my back, as if he were making some sort of claim.
Theo’s eyes tracked the movement, and again, she gave me ‘the eyebrow’.
Nolan bristled next to me, and I pinched the bridge of my nose as a headache finally began to form.
“Our brothers are engaged,” Theo explained, her tone dry.
“I see. Did you enjoy the event? I wasn’t aware it was open to extended family,” Nolan asked. His delivery would have seemed pleasant to someone who didn’t know him, but I’d seen him use that voice in court.
Icicles were dripping from each syllable.
Theo’s eye twitched at the implication that she was family. She glanced back at me briefly before looking down at where Nolan’s hand was still resting lightly on my back.
“I was actually just leaving,” Theo said, sliding her hands in her pockets and turning away. “Nice to meet you, Norman.”
Nolan frowned.
“It’s Nolan.”
“Oh, what did I say?”
“Norman.”
“Ah.”
She smirked at him, making it clear that she knew exactly what his name was. She was just toying with him, and I was literally about to explode over how awkward this entire encounter was.
“My bad. Have a good night, Nolan. Cassandra. Text me later.” She winked at me, and I opened my mouth to snark back when her gaze landed on something over my shoulder.
She froze, and I watched the blood drain from her face.
Suddenly, all my irritation evaporated, and something close to panic erupted in my chest.
Theo was never scared. Why did she look scared?
I glanced over my shoulder to see what could have possibly put that look on Theo’s face, but there was barely anyone in the bar. Just Edmund saying goodbye to that creepy reverend guy.
“Theo?” I asked, reaching out to touch her exposed forearm. Her skin was warm and soft, but there was so much lean muscle rippling beneath my fingers that I found myself wanting to dig my fingers in deep, just to see how strong she really was.
Her throat rolled as she swallowed, then her dark eyes met mine, and whatever look I’d thought I’d seen was suddenly gone.
She was back to her cool, suave self, and she gave me a lazy smile.
She reached out and touched her finger to my chin lightly, and my breath caught in my chest.
Outwardly, she appeared fine, but the finger on my chin was trembling.
“Catch you later, princess. Get home safe,” was all she said before ambling out of the bar with her hands in her pockets.
“Theo!” I called dumbly after her, but she just ignored me, which was another red flag.
What had just happened?
Something had happened. I knew I wasn’t imagining it.
I just didn’t know what.
My mind was racing, and I was feeling conflicted.
Something was wrong.
Something told me I needed to make sure Theo wasn’t alone right now, but I didn’t know why. It was like an instinct, but… what was I supposed to do? Chase her out into the street?
Suddenly feeling like I needed another drink, I bit my lip, fighting the urge to literally hunt Theo down and demand she tell me what it was that had made her look like that.
Before I could make a decision, Nolan turned to me, his mouth a firm line.
“That fucking dyke is in love with you,” he growled.
I froze.
My monster snarled.
The word dyke rolled over me, and time seemed to stop.
‘Can we kill him now?’ my beast drawled lazily, and I almost said yes.
The way Nolan said it made something in my brain snap.
He’d said it like Theo was this disgusting, shameful thing, instead of the smart, brave, infuriating asshole that had helped save both my brother and sister’s lives.
She’d risked everything to help Ryan and Vox rescue my siblings. She’d suffered a stab wound. She could have died.
The memory of Theo lying up in bed, pale, weak, and suffering, flashed through my mind, and my stomach churned again with nausea.
Reducing her down to a vile slur made me suddenly hate the fact that I’d let Nolan touch me in any capacity, let alone behind closed doors.
It was like a switch flipped, and suddenly, the part of me that made my therapist use words like psychopath clawed its way to the surface.
All of the warm, human pieces that made me Cassandra disappeared in the blink of an eye.
I had an abrupt visceral vision of me smashing Theo’s forgotten rocks glass and using the shards to slice Nolan’s neck open from ear to ear.
‘Do it,’ my monster hissed. It was growling in my ear as it paced the length of the mental cage I kept it in.
Instead of giving in to the urges I’d been fighting my entire life, I slowly removed Nolan’s hand from my back and met his gaze dead on.
I watched the blood drain from his face with cold satisfaction as I let him see a part of me that I rarely let out of its cage.
“If you ever say anything like that in front of me again, I will kill you.” My voice was low, quiet, and devoid of any emotion. It was more of a growl than a whisper, and there was a brief flicker of real fear in Nolan’s face as what I’d said registered.
His mouth parted in surprise, and for a second, he looked like he was going to try and laugh it off, but as he studied my expression, he quickly realized I wasn’t kidding.
“You’re right, I’m sorry. That was inappropriate. I apologize.”
He reached out, as if he were going to wrap his hand around my waist, but I snatched up his wrist in a vice grip, still fighting to get a hold of the cold, lethal fury that was pumping through my veins.
“Don’t fucking touch me,” I hissed, then I dropped his hand and left the bar.
The second I stepped out into the street, I found myself frantically searching for Theo, but she was nowhere to be seen.