Ronnie Masters | the MENTALIST (COMPLETE)

RED JOHN'S FOOTSTEPS : pt I

Note: ONLY ONE MORE CHAPTER IN THIS BOOK! I can't believe it. This is long overdue you guys. Happy reading!

inspired by Mrs. Kim.

Ronnie burst into the apartment with a rush of overheated energy. Her roommate took one long look at the tennis shoes that she kicked off by the door and the sweaty handprints she was leaving on the wall and set down his newspaper.

"You're seriously running already?"

She checked her watch. "It's seven o'clock." Her face was bright pink, slick with perspiration and decorated by whisps of hair that stuck to her skin. She bent and picked up the discarded shoes. "It's so hot out there. Already almost a hundred."

Cho watched her hobble on tender legs to the bedroom and then stagger back into the kitchen for a glass of water and a banana. "I mean—after only four months of recovery?"

Ronnie peeled the banana. "I've done the physical therapy. I'm doing the yoga. I'm swimming three times a week. I'm ready to get back into it. I mean look at me, I'm fat." She gestured to herself like he should have seen it already.

Cho's face scrunched up in complete disbelief. "What are you talking about? You are not fat."

She drank deeply and then took a few long breaths. "I haven't been this fat since I was ten years old. I can't stand it, Cho. I'm not myself."

"You're not healthy." He shot back.

Rolling her eyes at his very predictable response, Ronnie self consciously tugged at the hem of her running shorts. They were plenty long enough to cover the scars, but she couldn't help herself.

"I renewed my gym membership yesterday. I start my program tomorrow." She took off towards the bedroom again. "I could have just snuck out, you know. This is me communicating."

She didn't see him shaking his head. Grave disappointment covered his face as he went back to reading.

Ronnie turned on the shower and let it heat while she stretched.

"Don't wear that shirt you have laid out." Cho's voice called from the kitchen. "It's see through."

Ronnie's heart dropped. "No it's not." She scrambled up from her prone position on the floor and held up the baby blue blouse in front of the window. Daylight streamed straight through the thin fabric. "Cho, I wore this a week ago. Why didn't you tell me?"

"What good would it have done? We were in the middle of nowhere." His uninterested voice returned.

"We were informing next of kin." She shot back, absolutely horrified.

She thought she heard him snicker. "Yep."

The shirt hit the floor with an insubstantial rustle. "Cho, I was wearing a black bra that day." She remembered it very clearly, because that was the day that she was stabbed by the underwire of her favorite black bra while speaking the words, "I'm very sorry to inform you that your son has been killed."

"Yep."

Ronnie's cheeks flamed. "You are such a guy."

"Glad you finally noticed."

the MENTALIST

"Eggs and sausage," Cho announced as she returned from the shower. He spared her a glance to see that she'd abandoned the blue blouse for a dark red one that he couldn't see through.

Ronnie wrapped her stringy blonde hair up in a towel and poured herself a cup of coffee. "You done with the paper?"

Cho put a plate down in front of her. He liked the red shirt. It brought out the warm tones in her skin. "I'm going to the gym with you in the mornings."