Page 21 of Sadist

Her absence when she crossed to her desk felt visceral, as if the oxygen had been sucked from the room, leaving me floundering anddefinitely not turned on. At all.

An irritated grunt from where she was peering at one of the screens drew my attention, and she pulled out her phone, doing something on it for a moment before casting an eye over me.

“If you want a shower, have one now,” she said, the sultry note gone from her voice.

I nodded. It was the only thing I was still capable of doing, so I fled to the sanctity of the shower area, the flimsy protection of the curtain giving me at least the illusion of privacy to gather myself.

Theo was moving around in the living area. I faintly heard the clink of the mug being swept up, and the sounds of things being moved into place, as I stepped under the stream of water, sighing as the heat of it soothed my tense muscles. The longer I was in that cell, the worse it was getting. There was relief in this space. A semblance of freedom that made me eager to stay out here.

I had just lathered my hair when I caught the sound of the main door beeping, so I stuck my head out from under the jet of water, straining to hear. Theo’s low voice murmured something, and another feminine voice replied. I hurried through rinsing the suds out, cut the water, and grabbed a towel from the neat stack in the corner.

“I do not appreciate being blindsided, Theodora,” the unfamiliar woman said reproachfully.

Theodora?I bit my lip to smother the laugh that almost slipped out.

“You have always trusted me to get the job done. This doesn’t work if I have to clear everything with you first. We already know this,” Theo said, sounding unfazed.

“And shall we discussthis?”There was a meaningful silence after the woman’s comment, which I assumed came with a pointed finger in my direction.

Theo’s reply was too low to catch, and I leaned closer to the curtain to try to make out their words as both women’s voices lowered. There was a cold laugh, and then a, “Don’t be ridiculous,” from the unknown woman.

“Oh, and I want Zichen off the job,” Theo said, as they moved through the room.

“Pardon?”

“Well, I assume this proverbial wrist slap is because he raised concerns about my capabilities to the Chairs,” Theo said. “There’s no other reason for you to be here, is there?”

There was a hint of coldness to Theo’s voice I hadn’t heard yet. Not even toward the two men who had been here for the recording. There was no reply from the other woman, and a pause that lasted a little too long.

“I have no time for insecure men. Replace him,” Theo said evenly. “If you insist on giving me a team, at least make it one that isn’t mutinous.”

“As you wish,” the woman said. “I’ll have a replacement linked in by tomorrow.”

The rest of the conversation was lost as the two women moved further away, and I carefully picked my way back over to my clothes and toweled my hair, running my fingers through it, then coiling the long, wet strands into a bun. The door beeped again as the woman left.

I stepped out of the shower to see Theo sitting in front of her screens, multiple windows pulled up as she typed.

“So…what am I meant to do now?” I asked.

“Make yourself comfortable, Sweets,” she replied, distracted with whatever she was doing. “Unless you feel like making me breakfast.”

She turned to look at me when my confused silence stretched on for too long. She looked…irritated. Thrown off, maybe? And I guessed it was from whoever was just here.

“What?” she asked.

“Make you breakfast?” I clarified, feeling like I was missing the point where I had become some sort of weird house guest.

“I like my toast on the rare side. Warm bread with lots of butter,” she said, spinning her chair around to look me up and down. “Unless you would prefer climbing up on the table over there and opening those pretty legs for me. I’m famished.”

“What is wrong with you?” I tried to block the images that had just slammed into my mind, making everything clench.Fuck.

“Oh, many things,” she murmured. “Currently, you are my main issue.”

“Me?” I asked incredulously. “I wouldn’t even be here if you hadn’t dragged me from my life. Every problem you have withmeis your own doing,Theodora.”

Her eyes went a little dark, and something in her expression changed.

“Be careful, Sweets.”

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