Page 24 of The Catalyst

“Jesus, babe! Girls’ night,” Judy mutters with a sneer across her face.

“Nah. You’ve had your time together. I need my time now.” Ronan slides up next to her and mauls her with kisses and inappropriate touches like I’m not sitting right here.

Teenage boys and their crazy hormones.

“And you’re coming with me.” Nigel grabs my hand and pulls me to my feet. “Trust me. You don’t want to stick around for this next bit,” he jokes, but I know he’s right.

I definitely don’t want to bear witness to Ronan and Judy screwing like her parents aren’t in the next room sleeping.

We were supposed to have a sleepover, but it was fun while it lasted.

“Then, I’ll just go home. Goodnight,” I say as I make my way toward the front door to my house, but before I can reach my destination, Nigel has his arms around my waist and hauls me over his shoulder.

“Oh, no, you don’t. Come on, butterfly.”

“Nigel!” I hiss angrily. “Put me down. This is dehumanizing!” I punch his back, but the bastard just laughs at my lame attempt to free myself.

“Nope. You already tried to run. I’m not risking it.” He finishes his trek to his truck just as I hear a scream come from none other than my mother.

“Bethany, what are you doing!”

I curse under my breath before I yell, “I’m being kidnapped!”

Nigel’s hand comes down hard on my ass before yanking open the door to his Ford pick-up truck, depositing me in the seat. “Behave, butterfly.” He winks at me playfully, and I groan.

“Get me the hell out of here before I have a coronary.” My face must be as bright as a tomato. This is embarrassing.

My mother just witnessed Nigel manhandling me like a damn caveman and probably thinks he’s taking me off to fuck my brains out whether I want to or not.

That is probably going to happen, but I’m a willing participant in the fuckery.

“Versus?” His eyebrow raises.

“I’d much rather givehera heart attack.”

Nigel laughs as he closes my door and runs around the truck, jumping into the driver’s seat.

My mother doesn’t seem to be in as much of a good mood as Nigel. She’s probably drunk off her ass and will convince herself this is all a bad dream within an hour. At least she didn’t walk in on him fucking me. That might’ve given her a seizure.

For a widowed woman, my mother is very sex-negative in her viewpoints.

“Go, go, go!” I rush as he throws the truck into drive and speeds out of the neighborhood. With one last look, I watch my mother stumble across the lawn, but then she flops onto the ground and gives up.

What a pity.

“That’s a big change of tune,” Nigel jokes, but I lean back in the seat.

His truck is much older than Judy’s car but it’s not in horrible condition. The dash has a few scratches, but the seat upholstery is in mint condition. Then, there’s the smell.

Leather, cinnamon, and reefer.

I love the smell of this truck and how warm it is. I could see myself begging Nigel to take me on drives so I can be here, but that would go against my current stance.

“Trust me. You don’t want to have a confrontation with a drunk preacher in the middle of the night. Where are we going anyway?” I ask as he turns out of my neighborhood but goes in the opposite direction of his house.

“I’ve got something I want to show you,” he responds quickly before reaching over the bench seat and he squeezes my thigh reassuringly.

I should push his hand away, but I don’t really want to. I’m just a big contradiction because this man has me all wrapped up in knots. He has for weeks, and it's driving me crazy.

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