Page 116 of The Catalyst

She’s not going anywhere. Why would she? Aimee O’Reilly is safe at my house.

“Be safe, Aimee!” Malakai calls out with a big fake smile before he gets into the car with my two childhood besties and speeds away, closely followed by Aimee’s blue sedan.

I should be relieved by their departure, but so much needs to be done. I can’t rest until I know Aimee will be okay.

“We need to go, too,” I say as I turn to Nigel, but he must be oblivious to my conundrum because he pulls me into him and runs his nose along the line of my jaw.

“Yeah, go back to my place and get naked.” He growls against my throat, but I don’t yield.

“Later.” I gently push him back until I meet his lust-filled eyes. “We have something to do first.” Reaching into my back pocket, I pull out the recorder I’ve kept on me to avoid Aimee seeing it. She would never trust me again if she knew I did this. She might run and never come back. I can’t take the chance of her ever finding out about this, but I can’t let her be put in harm's way.

His expression sobers. “What’s on there?” he asks.

I say the only thing I can. “Everything.”

* * *

The party is stillin full swing when we return, and–to show how much of an unfeeling demon he is, I’m sure–Oliver has a busty brunette in his lap with a mixture of fear and lust in her eyes.

A part of me feels like he’s been doing this to be vindictive. After all, I’ve returned to Nigel’s bed, but I also haven’t seen any signs of him screwing anyone. However, there’s still a woman on his lap and that turnsmeinto the jealous type.

The wordminereverberates in the back of my head every time I see another woman look at him, let alone touch him. I know how hypocritical that makes me.

Grabbing the air horn from the key table near the front door, I hold it up in the air before pressing down on the small red button that releases the ear-piercing noise. A gaggle of drunk girls and even drunker guys screech from the pain of the horn before I lower it.

“Party is over. Out.Now.” The demand is clear in my voice, and Charlie and Oliver look at me like they want to maim me for interrupting their fun, but I’m not deterred. Everyone groans with irritation. “Either you leave now, or I get the fire extinguisher and the rock salt. If that’s not a big enough deterrent, I’ll just call the cops now to save time.Leave!”

A horde of teenagers race out the door, and even the ones out on the lawn disperse, but my attention is on the men in this room.

“I am not drunk enough for whatever this is,” Charlie mutters as he picks up his beer from the coffee table.

Oliver just glares at me, but that expression is nearly constant on his face. He even glares while fucking.

“I’m going to save it for later, but you are getting reamed for how you chased Nigel’s sister out of here–”

“Come on, crazy girl,” Oliver starts with a humorless laugh on his lips. “We didn’t chase her out of here. She wouldn’t tell us what she wanted other than she wanted to talk to yourboyfriend.” He practically sneers the word as if it offends him. If he had an issue with how I handle my problems, he could’ve just said so. For someone who doesn’t do the whole jealousy thing, he looks like the textbook definition right now. “Do you expect me to read minds?” His glare returns.

“Hardly. I don’t expect you tonotbe a massive dick, either.”Don’t think about said massive dick right now, Beth. You have a point to make.“What I do expect is that when I tell you to shut the fuck up, you do as you’re told.” Maybe I’m being a bit of a bitch, but I’m still salty over what happened between Aimee and Oliver only a few hours ago.

Being the genuine asshole he is, Oliver mocks me the whole time I’m talking with a hand gesture of a moving mouth.

Fucking prick.

I reach into my back pocket and pull out the recorder, showing it to the four sitting around.

It’s odd to not see Judy or Arely at a party with Ronan and Oisin, but it works in my favor.

“What is that?” Oisin asks as he takes a hit off his joint before passing it to Ronan.

“The smart-ass answer would be a recorder,” I quip before adding. “We found Aimee, and she told me a lot of things. She wouldn’t let Nigel in her hotel room, but she let me in, and I recorded everything. She told me the whole demonic story of what she’s been through.”

All four men sit up straighter, even though Oliver’s expression remains unfazed.

“Where was she?” Ronan asks.

“Hempstead, out past Prairie View about twenty miles from here,” Nigel responds before sitting next to Oisin, exhaustion clear on his face.

“That’s outside of our jurisdiction,” Charlie mutters with a shrug.

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