21. Cassandra Walker
It was harder than I’d expected it to be to let Theo leave my condo after she’d let me dry hump her leg like some feral cat in heat.
If it had been anybody else, maybe the way I’d basically mauled her would have been embarrassing for me, but…
Holy shit.
I’d come so fucking hard.
And we hadn’t even done anything but grind against each other. We hadn’t even taken any of our clothes off.
How was it possible that I’d come like that for Theo when sometimes even my own vibrators felt like freaking disappointments?
And don’t even get me started on any of the men I’d had the displeasure of sleeping with over the course of my life.
With Theo, it had been different.
Like I’d finally found the missing piece of the puzzle, and suddenly I understood why everyone always talked about sex like it was this mind-blowing, amazing thing instead of some boring chore I’d sometimes resorted to when the physical need to get off had grown to be too much.
After doing… whatever that was with Theo… I felt so… relaxed, and calm.
I rarely felt calm.
Maybe Cal had been right this whole time… Maybe I was so uptight because I really did need to get laid more often...
But it was more than that.
Whatever that had been had been more than just sex for me, and from the way Theo had looked like she might literally start to cry after, I knew I wasn’t the only one feeling that way.
The thing was, Theo didn’t know what she was getting into with me, and I was worried that when she realized exactly how insane I was, she would go running for the hills.
But… judging by the way my body literally wanted to cling to her when she finally told me she had to go home or risk Jerry’s wrath, I feared it might already be too late.
I gritted my teeth, annoyed that she was putting on her shoes when I wasn’t ready to let her out of my sight yet.
My beast roused from where it had been sleeping in its cage, and my skin pebbled as its great, reptilian eyes landed on Theo.
‘She’s leaving us.’
‘Just for a little while, she’s coming back.’
‘Mmm.’ My beast’s eyes narrowed, and I clenched my fists anxiously. ‘Make sure that she does.’
Even though I wanted to demand she stay here where I could keep an eye on her, I knew I couldn’t let her see how much it was bothering me that she was going back to that sad, pathetic excuse for a home.
She didn’t even have anything on the damn walls for fuck’s sake.
She was basically a squatter in her own house, and I didn’t want her living there anymore.
She deserved better.
Besides, I couldn’t have her disappearing on me again and going for a ‘walk’ which I still think was just code for ‘fucking sexy bartenders.’
Maybe I should ask Vox if he still had cameras installed at Fairview…
“Cass?”
Theo was frowning at me, and I blinked, reluctantly shaking off my potential surveillance plans.
“Yeah, sorry. Was just thinking about logistics for our fake wedding,” I lied, and Theo gave me a hesitant smile.
“Alright. I was just saying… I guess I’ll see you next week for the…ceremony?”
Next week?!
Yeah fucking right.
No way I was letting her disappear for a whole week.
“No, actually, I was going to have my assistant send over some movers to your place as soon as possible. Ideally tomorrow.”
Theo blinked at me, looking adorably baffled.
“What?” she managed to get out, and I smirked, pleased that for once I seemed to be the one throwing her off balance.
“You’re obviously moving in. We’re fake engaged. Nolan’s probably already run his fat mouth at work about this, and there’s a possibility the press might come by looking for a chance to interview my new fake fiancée. It would be weird if you weren’t already living here.”
“I… I’m moving in? Here?” Her eyes were bulging slightly, and a sick sense of satisfaction swirled deep in my gut at how flabbergasted she was.
“Yes. As I said, ideally tomorrow.”
“Cass, that’s…” Her mouth opened and closed twice as she tried to figure out how to respond.
I just raised an eyebrow, crossing my arms over my chest.
“Are you arguing with me, Theodora?” I asked, and she shook her head, eyes still uncharacteristically wide.
“No. No, I’m not… I just… I wasn’t expecting that.
” She rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly, and I grinned at how pink her cheeks were.
“Uhm. Alright. I guess. Let me know when the movers are coming. I’m with Jerry until two, but I can try and get as much stuff packed as possible once I’m back home. ”
“Good,” I preened, pleased that I was getting my way.
And so easily, too.
“I guess we can figure out everything else after, like rent and shit? How much do you pay for this place anyway?”
I scoffed.
“Like I’m going to make you pay rent, Theodora. You’re doing this as a favor for me. This is just part of the arrangement.”
Theo frowned, her lips pursing.
“Yeah. Right. A favor. I just… I can at least cover groceries or something –”
“Goodnight, Theodora. I’ll have my assistant email you the details. Please text me when you’re home safe.”
I said that last bit in my lawyer voice, making it clear that the home safe text was an expectation, not a request.
Theo literally shivered before me, and the monster that lived inside me purred at the soft look of submission that crossed her face.
Interesting.
Interesting and dangerous.
Theo swallowed and nodded, looking more like a terrified rabbit than the calm, cool, fox-like version of herself she normally presented to the world.
She hovered for a moment, and when her gaze fell to my lips, I realized she wasn’t sure how to say goodbye after everything that had happened on the couch.
I suppose this was sort of a grey area. We weren’t actually together… but, if we were going to put on a show, we might as well start acting like we were.
Giving her a slow smile, I raised my hand and gently tapped my lips with my index finger.
Theo’s eyes darted up to meet mine, and her mouth parted slightly.
I guess I was just full of surprises today.
“Give me a kiss, Theodora,” I ordered, and a rush of dopamine flooded through me at how easily she just… obeyed.
Still quivering slightly, she leaned in, tilting her head to the side, and then… She was kissing me.
I’d just meant for it to be a chaste kiss goodbye, but the way she melted into it…
The soft, panty-melting groan she released had me turning feral.
She’d made that sound for me.
She was melting into my arms because she wanted to please me.
The idea of being powerful enough to control someone as untouchable as Theodora made me want to literally devour her until there was nothing left of her for anyone else to even look at.
Suddenly, I was clawing at her t-shirt, dragging her in closer to me, and thrusting my tongue back into her hot mouth.
She slid her fingers up into my hair and kissed me back just as desperately. Her blunt fingernails scraped over my scalp, and I shuddered at just how good she felt.
Mine.
Mine, mine, mine!
The monster in my chest was curling its claws into my heart just as desperately as Theo was curling her fingers in my hair, and I knew at that moment, things were about to get a lot more complicated than they already were.
Instinct told me to fight the possessive need to consume this woman.
She was too willing.
Theo wanted to be destroyed, and she’d stumbled into the arms of a monster who was all too eager to rip her to shreds.
It would ruin us both if I gave in to this.
As if she wanted to prove me right, she whimpered in my mouth, and another wave of aggressive need tore through me at the sound. I wrapped my hand around her throat, and her hips rolled slightly as she clung to me.
Squeezing hard enough to earn myself another delicious moan, I hummed with satisfaction as she teetered on her feet before me.
If I asked her to kneel for me, I knew she would do it.
If I told her to crawl, she would obey.
She was fucking putty in my hands, and I knew it.
It was too much power for someone like me to have over another person.
Theo deserved someone who could love and care for her in the gentle way she so clearly needed.
Nothing about me was gentle or loving.
I wasn’t sure I was even capable of love.
I’d sworn off love the day I realized my mother would never love me back.
I hadn’t even ever told my siblings I loved them.
All I could give Theo was my toxic desire to own her, and she deserved more.
I knew she did.
But as I bit her lip and she literally sank into me like she was begging me to hurt her even more than I already had… I knew it was too late.
I could feel my obsession for her spread its wings and glide across the horizon of my mind, like some great, looming thing.
Theo might not know it yet, but I did.
My monster was already latching onto her, and I wasn’t sure I was strong enough to fight it off much longer.
But I had to keep fighting…
Because if my monster ever truly claimed her, there would be no escape for her.
I would use her up until there was nothing left…
And I wasn’t sure either of us would survive it.