Page 95 of The Catalyst

Our phones buzz on the coffee table in unison as I sip my glass of whiskey, hoping to lose my memories in the comfort of oblivion. The vibration is followed up by a second one and I place down my glass before picking up the offending device. I flip it open and nearly spit the alcohol in my mouth when I see her name in my phone.

Princess.

“It’s Beth. She finally responded,” I announce. Nigel drops the ice pack and reaches for his phone as I open the message. It’s a video file with a message attached to it.

Princess:

Enjoy the show. I sure as hell did.

I click play on the video file and wait for it to load. This might have worked better if she just emailed it.

“What the fuck!” Nigel explodes and jumps to his feet, looking angrier than he did when he saw Martin with Beth’s panties.

What the hell got under his skin?

I look down at my phone and though the image isn’t perfect–what more could I expect from a flip phone versus a computer screen–I can make out the shape of a bed, someone laying on the bed, and someone moving toward it.

I snap my phone closed, ending the video, before moving to the computer desk in the corner of the room. Computers are expensive so we just have a common computer in the living area for anyone to use as they need it.

I really want to know what I just saw, which I’m pretty sure I already do.

I hook my phone up to the computer and when the connection pops up, I open it and click on the file for the video. It pops up on the screen and the image is a lot clearer.

Beth sent me a fucking sex tape of her and my cousin.

The sound is very low on the video, but the sound isn’t required as I watch him bury his face between her thighs and the way she arches her back off the bed. I know from the look on her face that she is screaming and it’s euphoric. She may be recording this, but that isn’t where her attention is.

My devious little minx.

This was a pretty petty move, even for her. However, I think a part of it was a message for me.

“Turn it off!” Nigel demands as he punches his fist into the wall. “I swear, I’m going to kill him the next time I see him!”

“No, you won’t.” I flick my wrist at him as if to tell him he’s dismissed. I hear him stomp his way up the stairs, his door slams, and he screams once he’s locked inside. I can’t help the chuckle that vibrates through my chest.

Yes, this was a message for me. She knows I pay close attention to everything, every minute detail. Nigel doesn’t, even if he did, he never saw the photographs that I did. He didn’t see the pictures hanging in the living room and kitchen of Beth’s house. He only ever visited her room and that was through the window.

I spent a great deal of time in the kitchen and living room with her.

That’s the same room from the picture I saw of her and her childhood friends sitting on a bed, smiling without a care in the world. She told me it was taken in her childhood home in Hempstead, in her bedroom.

That’s where she’s hiding.

Check-fucking-mate.

However, even though I have all the information I need, I sit through the entire video because she went through the effort to make this for me. It would be disrespectful if I didn’t watch her get fucked by my cousin in a hundred different positions I’ve never seen before.

I tilt my head to examine them. When I get her back, I’ll have to try a few of those out myself.

CHAPTER 38

BETH

Martin has spent the last few nights with me at my house and I can’t say I don’t like the company or the incredible sex. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship. I provide him a place to escape his father and he provides all the emotional and physical needs I have.

And, I’m not talking about food or a roof over my head.

I wake to the sensation of his lips running over my shoulder, rousing me. “Let me sleep,” I grumble like an ornery beast, but he just chuckles in my ear.

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