Page 17 of Monsters of Midlife

I frowned at him, the wheels in my brain slowly turning. “No,” I agreed. “You don’t. In fact, you have stood against me on many fronts. Not the least of which your desire to bring monsters to Earth.”

“I don’t touch your monsters,” Set countered., his distaste apparent.

My monsters. How I hated that word. But the truth was, they were my monsters. I was one of the only monster demigods on the planet and if something happened with the creatures, it was my responsibility to send them back home.

“Come and have a drink with me,” Set stepped forward and waved over a servant to fill two whiskey glasses.

“I’m not interested in having a drink with you.” I growled. “I want you to back off of my life.”

“You are making too many assumptions,” Set smiled at me, taking a sip of whiskey.

His smile.

The whiskey.

Everything that was happening was exactly what Set wanted. That couldn’t be good for me. Set and I were opposing forces in the DGC.

“How are things in the monster world?” Set asked conversationally stretching out his hand with a glass of whiskey.

Distraction.

Chaos rose within me as I felt the lies. Set never wanted to speak with me. My hand flew through the air, crashing the glass of whiskey to the floor.

Caroline. I had to get back to Caroline.

Set’s grin said it all as he began to laugh. “It’s too late, Monster,” he said. “She’s already dead.”

Chapter 12

CAROLINE

I sat nestled on the couch wrapped in the old, crocheted blanket my grandmother made me. It’s childlike lavenders and pinks always lifted my spirits and made me feel a little bit of wonder and joy. But right now, I did not feel that, no matter how hard I tried. All I could feel around me was this deep cavity where my heart once dwelled. It had been so long since I’d felt anything there. Now I sat in a state of shock on the couch staring at some show on the television. I wasn’t even really paying attention; all I was thinking about was Ryder. How he had been in my living room and as much as I wanted to deny it, it felt like he almost could’ve claimed me if he had wanted to. He hadn’t. He wanted his wedding ring back for work purposes. I had no idea why, but I could only imagine it was to get his parents’ wedding rings back.

He must’ve met somebody new.

“It’s none of your fucking business,” I grimaced to myself, clenching my hands to stop from smacking myself.

It was none of my business. I didn’t want to know and I didn’t need to know. All I needed to do was get on with my life. I had done it the only way I had known how. I ignored my feelings and carried out my research work with careful analytical focus, conducting painstaking experiments that took all my focus to carry out correctly. There had been no room for Ryder in the last three years. There had only been my work and Laney sometimes on the weekend when I didn’t spend it at the lab.

Today, though, I’d been too distracted to stay late at work. Instead, I’d come home to fall into a mosh pile on my sofa and wait for the feelings to disappear again. Now I was desperately waiting to slip into the place where I didn’t have to think about the perfect guy who’d broken my heart. Mr. Right, who had decided he didn’t want me anymore.

I wanted to crumble forward and cry, but I couldn’t even do that. My insides felt shriveled and dried. I had cried all those tears for months after Ryder first left…waiting, hopelessly believing in some small part of myself he would come back to me. I had fantasized he would return. Then the grim realization came that he wasn’t coming back.

He was gone.

I had determined to pick my life back up again.

I thought I had been doing well. I thought I was looking good and doing all the right things, but with Ryder back in my life for one minute, I was a mess. Curled painfully on my couch in a comfort blanket. Just add ice cream and I’d be a teenage girl.

Only I didn’t feel like a little girl. I felt like a worn out, dried up, used, middle-aged maven nobody was going to want to look at twice, especially not somebody like Ryder. That ship had sailed. I was going to have to get used to just being middle-aged, frumpy, and unwanted.

The room dimmed around me. I wasn’t sure if it was the unshed tears or my constricting heart, but it was hard to breathe. A low rumbling filled the air. I bent my legs, placing my feet on the ground.

Earthquake.

I looked around at the walls. They were shaking and rumbling. My porcelain teapot, sitting decoratively on the living room side table, rattled.

I glanced at the table through the kitchen door and then at the doors. Maybe I should move under a table for some protection. The ceiling rippled like a wave was moving through it.

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