Page 8 of The Catalyst

“I haven’t seen you around here,” he states the obvious as he dissects every move I make, from the way I breathe to where I look. He’s trying to figure me out.

“That makes sense, considering I’ve never been here before.”

He smirks. “Never been to Grove Hill before? You must’ve lived under a bridge. Everyone’s been to Grove Hill.”

“No, not a bridge. I just lived in a much smaller place away from the big city. Grove Hill is more like the suburbs to the big city, while Hempstead was the rural neighborhood no one knows the name of. It was boring.” I shrug, not really caring to talk about my hometown. It was quiet, but even quiet places can explode in deafening noise the same way it did two times in close succession.

“Hempstead, huh? That’s out past Prairie View, right?”

No time like the present, Bethany. Your bucket list is counting on you. Judy did the brave thing. Now, it’s your turn.

“How about we just cut through the small talk and get right to the point?” I say before leaning up onto my toes and pressing a kiss to his full lips, tasting the lingering beer. His fingers wind in my hair as he takes control of the kiss and tilts my head back, deepening it.

My bucket list needs something to come off it tonight, and I decided to throw myself off the deep end with this one.

“What’s your name?” he asks breathlessly as he pulls out of the kiss, trailing his thumb over my bottom lip.

“Shut up and fuck me,” I moan before I kiss him again. He gets the message loud and clear.

He lifts me, wrapping my legs around his waist, and all I know is his tongue delves deeper.We bump into the walls until we reach a door that must lead to his bedroom.

Score.

* * *

That wasby far the best sex of my life, even if it was probably one of the shortest rounds. Not that I’ve had much sex. I’ve only ever been with this man, Shawn, and the unknown fucker from the bar weeks ago.

We’re done. It’s over, but he’s half on top of me and his arm is on me. Honestly, I don’t want to go, but no one is going to protect my heart more than me. He won’t, nor will Judy, even if she’s shown she could be a good friend.

When he lifts his hand to run his fingers through his hair, I pull myself off the bed, even though my legs are made of gelatin at this point.

“Hey. Where are you going?” he mutters, but I just send him a playful smirk before dashing out the door, not caring that he still has my underwear and I’m now sans panties in a short skirt.

I have a feeling this was the only way he was going to let me leave his bed until the morning.

I race down the stairs and out the front door, holding my skirt down against my legs as I make my way to where I can see Judy in Ronan’s lap, heavily making out with him. If I don’t intervene, she’ll end up in the same position I was in a few minutes ago.

“Break it up. You’re not fucking her tonight, lover boy.” I practically drag Judy off Ronan and they both give me an incredulous look.

Don’t be a hypocrite, Bethany!Judy practically screams with her eyes, but that’s not what this is. I have no clue how many guys Judy has been with, but I doubt that she would be comfortable giving it up to Ronan so quickly if she was sober.

“Fine,” Judy groans before blowing Ronan a kiss over her shoulder. Maybe she is actually drunk now. How long was I inside with the sex god?

“Let’s go.” I pull her alongside me as we dash across the yard. The crowd has thinned out, but the eyes still follow me. “Did you do it?” she whisper-yells as we make it to the street, and I nearly shriek.

“Oh, yes!”

Judy drags me along as I hold down my skirt. “Be careful! I lost my underwear back there.”

We slow down as we round the corner, and she takes a breath. “I can’t believe you actually had sex with him! You do realize he’s going to be hounding you relentlessly, right? You just screwed their leader.”

Their leader?

“I thought you said they were the founding families of Grove Hill?” I ask. I’m not sure what to make of this. Maybe I’m drunk too.

“They are, but they’re also the gang that runs this town.”

A gang? I just had a one-night stand with a fucking gang leader and she didn’t think to give me this information earlier?

---