Page 66 of The Catalyst

Looks like my princess wants to have a little night time fun at the carnival. An absolutely evil idea fills my mind as a soft chuckle leaves my lips.

This is going to be fun.

CHAPTER 28

BETH

Shanti switches on the electricity to the carnival in the manager’s office. Only God knows how she knew where it was or which switches to flip. It’s a small box of an office with a wall of switches and a kid-sized desk in the middle.

“Let’s have some fun!” Shanti announces, but Judy is just panicking.

“Do you really think no one is going to notice the lights? You’re going to get us arrested!”

“Take a chill pill, babe. Trust me. We’ll be fine. It’s not going to be the cops that find us.”

Shanti always says weird things that are impossible to interpret so I mostly ignore it. She talks like she knows things that haven’t occurred yet with such certainty one would think she’s talking about something she experienced.

Judy doesn’t have the ability to ignore it. “Not going to be the cops? That’s worse! At least the cops would just take us to jail.”

As long as I’m not being arrested for trespassing, I’m fine. I don’t exactly have anyone who would bail me out outside of my present company. Nigel is M.I.A. My mom is in rehab. The only other person I could think of…well, I’m not sure if he would post my bail.

Sure, Ollie would fuck me within an inch of my life and hold me in his arms through the night, but that doesn’t necessarily translate to him being my emergency contact. We haven’t talked about the extent of our relationship or where the boundaries lie. Everything is just open for interpretation so, no, he’s not someone I presently know I can depend on in times of distress.

I want to be able to lean on him when I need to and anytime I have gone to him, he has been there, but…I don’t know. Maybe I’m just overthinking it.

Yeah, that’s probably it.

“We’ll be fine. Even if the cops are called, it’s a big carnival. We could just hide until they leave. Problem solved. Plus, even if you are arrested, do you really think Ro would let you rot in a jail cell?”

“Beth is right. His head is shoved so far up your ass that he would still look at you like you hung the moon even if you made him raise a kid that wasn’t his.”

See what I mean? She says things that make no sense at all, but she’s good people.

“Let’s just go look around,” I say when I notice Judy start to open her mouth with an offended look on her face.

We all know Judy was virgin territory when she started dating Ro and those two have been stuck on each other since years before I moved to town–Shanti gave me that bit of gossip. I highly doubt their relationship is going anywhere. They’ve been stable since she kissed him at that party and, clearly, she would never cheat on Ro.

Ronan and Judy are the epic love everyone strives to have at some point in their life. Those two were made for each other. They have the kind of childhood friends to lovers type of relationship that would influence writers like Lisa Kleypas and Julie Garwood.

I would be jealous if it wasn’t for the fact that it’s a little too sweet for my taste.

I pinch Judy’s arm as my warning not to start something. We both know how Shanti is. She doesn’t mean anything by the things she says. She’s never trying to offend people. She’s just…different.

We went to her house a few days ago and I met her mother. She was nothing like Shanti and when Shanti started saying strange things, her mother pulled me to the side and told me to ignore her daughter’s strange statements, that it was nothing for me to worry about.

Whatever the hell that meant.

“Ow,” Judy mutters as she grabs the spot I pinched.

“Come on!” Shanti cheers as she practically runs out of the office and leaves me and Judy behind.

“What was that for?” Judy slaps my arm and I roll my eyes.

“Calm down. You can’t just go off on Shanti. You know she doesn’t mean anything by it. Everyone knows how crazy you are about Ronan Walsh, alright? We just have to let it roll,” I say as I squeeze her hand with sympathy.

“Are you saying you would let it go if she insinuated you were cheating on Nigel?” She crosses her arms at me.

Well, I am, but only me, Nigel, and Ollie know how much he deserves it. I’m sure Charlie, Ro, and Oisin would find it understandable, except that I’m screwing around on Nigel with his best friend. That part might be a little below the belt for them.

---