Page 59 of The Catalyst

Whatever he wants us to do, I doubt we’re supposed to be doing it. Isn’t that part of the appeal, though?

The house is silent as Ollie pulls me behind him and down the stairs. I don’t know why a part of me expected him to take me to his room, but I did. I shouldn’t be surprised though. No one ever goes in there except for him. Oisin said Ollie likes his privacy and not even the women he fucks goes into his private space. Not even Nigel has been in there and he’s Ollie’s best friend.

There’s liking one’s privacy and then there’s Oliver freaking Doyle.

Maybe he has a pile of rotting corpses in there or a torture chamber. Yeah, that seems right up his alley.

Instead of leading me down the hall, he directs me to the side door through the kitchen and we step out onto the driveway.

His car is the first one. I don’t know how he expects to use it. He can’t exactly back out of the driveway with the others blocking him in. The yard is in front of his car, but he wouldn’t drive that way, would he?

“Get in the fucking car, princess, or I’ll bend you over the hood and let the entire neighborhood hear you scream for my cock. You’ll have an audience in five seconds flat,” he warns, his voice low in my ear.

A shudder races through my body from the threat. I swear, he goes from ice cold to a blazing inferno in half a second. I’m not exactly against the back and forth. It keeps things interesting.

I walk around the car and over to the front passenger door to the gorgeous slate gray Mustang that hesomehowfits in. I suspect he did some customizations to this car so his long legs could fit inside.

That seems like the most plausible option.

He unlocks the door and we both climb in. Ollie puts the key in the ignition, turns on the car, and throws it in drive. My eyes widen as he presses on the gas, drives the car through the yard, and around the house.

The entire car shakes as he jumps the curb onto the street. I immediately grab onto the handle above my head, a little horrified by his driving.

“Where are we going?” I ask, my nails digging into the handle.

“Somewhere we can get some privacy,” he mutters, his voice low and level. He sounds so unaffected, it’s astonishing.

“We can go to my house,” I offer. Where else did he think we could go? It’s the middle of the night. Most businesses are closed and this town is a lot stricter about fake I.D.’s than Hempstead. I can’t get into any bars. Sure, there’s Denny’s, but the closest one is on the other side of town along with McDonald’s and other twenty-four hour establishments. “My house is next to Judy’s, if you know where that is.”

For the first time since he fucked me in the kitchen, I catch the hint of an emotion on his face.

Confusion.

“Why would I know where she lives?”

Ohhh.

He’s never been to her house.

I’m pretty sure only Ronan and Nigel have been to Judy’s house.

“I’ll give you directions,” I add while trying to stop myself from laughing at the look of confusion still on his face.

I doubt anyone has ever described him as adorable, but in his own twisted way, he kind of is.

* * *

Oliver pullsinto my driveway and as soon as he puts the car in park, I announce, “I’ll open the garage.”

He looks at me taken aback. “Why?”

“Um, Judy will recognize your car if she sees it.” I love Judy, but I also don’t know if I could trust her not to blab to Ronan about seeing me and Ollie sneak off to my house.

I get out of the car and walk over to the garage door.

When my mom went to rehab, she disabled the mechanics from the garage door so I could get in if I needed something. She locked up the rest of the house, but really, what person would think it’s disabled?

I grab the handle on the door and pull it until it’s high enough that I can push it up. I stand on my tip-toes until the garage door is in place. I walk in and move off to the side. My mom’s car is in the spot on the other side of the garage, but something looks…off about it.

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