Page 191 of The Catalyst

“Phone call.” Someone reaches down and extends my phone to me. I quickly snatch it. No one is supposed to call me when I’m at work.

When I see my woman’s name on the screen, my body relaxes, and I smirk. That damn brat.

Answering the phone, I press it to my ear. “Babe, you know you can’t call me while I’m?—”

All I can hear is her breathing until her words overshadow my own. “Oliver! He knows! I?—”

My heart drops at her words.Hebeing Nolan fucking Gray, and what exactly does he know? He knows about the little crotch goblin, which only means terrible things are coming. Instantly, I push myself out from under the car and jump to my feet.

There’s a lot of background noise on the other end of the phone. Then, I hear her scream.

“Ollie! Oliver!” she’s screaming, but she’s not close to the phone. I don’t even bother telling anyone I’m leaving. I race out of there and go straight to my car, keeping the phone to my ear.

“I’m coming, crazy girl.” Jumping into the front seat, I put my keys in the ignition and floor it out of the parking lot, my heart slamming against my ribs from the panic.

“You stupid fucking bitch!” Then, the line goes dead, and my stomach bottoms out as I glare at the road.

No, no, no!

If I can’t get to her quick enough, someone else can.

I try to call my cousin, but there’s no answer no matter how many times I call. What the fuck is happening?

There is only one other person I know who would race to Beth with as much fire and determination as I would. Luckily, she’s much closer to the Gray house.

I dial Gunderson, and she picks up quickly. “Hello?” she answers cautiously, like she has no idea who just called her.

“Where are you?” I growl as I jump on the highway at top speed, not caring at all if a cop tries to pull me over. As soon as I explain that my woman is being attacked, they’ll probably be really understanding. That’s if I don’t kill them for inconveniencing me with the interruption.

“Where am I? Shouldn’t you be working, Oliver?” she huffs at me.

“Where the hell are you!”

“Jesus! Don’t be such an ass. I’m at home. Why? Since when do you care where I am?”

“Since Beth is in trouble, that’s when!” I explode into the phone. A part of me worries that she’ll hang up from my outburst, but I should’ve known better than to assume that.

“Trouble? What’s happening?”

“I have no fucking clue. She called me freaking out and…I think Nolan is hurting her. She said he found out about the…baby. I won’t get there for another thirty minutes. I don’t know who else to call?—”

“I’m going. I’m only three minutes from there. I’ll get Ro to meet me. I’ll get her out, Oliver.”

The relief that floods me is instantaneous.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I hang up and press down harder on the gas, weaving between cars as I race down the highway at top speed. At this rate, I’ll have to change the tires after this trip from how much rubber I’m burning, but I don’t give a shit. I just need her to be okay.

If she…if he…I’ll fucking kill Nolan and the rest of his fucked up family if Beth doesn’t have a pulse when I get to her. I will rain hell down on everyone in Grove Hill until the undead have no choice but to join her soul back with her body. Every last shred of humanity in me will cease to exist the moment I hear my crazy girl is dead. She’s the one thing tethering me to this world. Not my mom. Not my friends. That all went out the window the second I saw that truck hanging off the bridge, and my eyes met her petrified, green ones full of tears. It was then I knew I would be hers forever. We are bound in life as well as death. My very soul has its claws so deep in hers that I can no longer tell which one of us is holding on or if the nails really digging in are mine or hers.

My molars grind as I imagine tearing the skin from Nolan’s body with my bare teeth until his blood coats every surface and all that is left of him is bone marrow and hemoglobin, the goo of it all making him melt before me like the wicked witch in theWizard of Oz.

A couple of minutes later, my phone rings, and I instantly pick up, turning on the speaker.

“Yeah?”

“She’s not here!” Gunderson gasps. “They let us check the house to make sure she’s not here and she’s not. They said Martin took her for a drive, whatever that means.”

I curse under my breath. “What about her phone?”

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