Saving 6 (Boys of Tommen, #3)

by Chloe Walsh

For my children. Earthside and in heaven.

My feet came to an abrupt stop the minute my eyes landed on a tall blonde, with the face of an angel, sitting on the wall at the entrance of the school. “What?” Darren demanded, looking around us. “Where’s the fire?” “There.” Struck dumb at the sight of her, and with all notions gone of continuing any further conversation with my brother, I pointed to the girl whose long blonde hair was splaying all around her in the breeze. “Her.” “I don’t know her,” my brother noted. “She must be a first year.” Looking like nothing my eyes had ever seen, I watched as she sucked on a Chupa Chups lollypop, entirely uninterested in the lad attempting to talk to her, while her long legs dangled from the wall. “Jesus Christ.” I blew out a breath. “I don’t care if you’re gay or not, lad. You can’t deny that girl is the best-looking thing your eyes have ever seen.” It was at the exact moment in time that her gaze flicked to mine. The minute our eyes collided, I felt a pang of heat shoot straight to my chest. Holy fuck. When I met her gaze head on, I fully-expected her to blush and look away. She didn’t. Instead, she tilted her head to one side and studied me with a similar look to the one I was sure that I was sporting. Arching her brow, she slowly removed the lollypop from her mouth, and gave me an expectant look. My gaze flicked questioningly to the dark-haired lad still trying and failing to garner her attention before returning to her face. With a defiant tilt of her chin, she gave me a loo...

“Seriously, Dar. It’s a wonder we’re related at all.” “Well, we are,” he reminded me before pulling me in for a hug. “I’ll always be your brother, no matter what, okay? Don’t ever forget it.”

“Dar?” Hovering uncertainly, I turned back to find him already walking away. “I’ll see you after school, yeah?” My brother didn’t answer. “Dar?” He didn’t turn back to look at me, either. “Darren?” Instead, he pulled his hood up and kept walking away from me.

“So, is that guy your keeper, or can you think for yourself?” a female voice asked, and I spun around to find none other than blondie from the wall standing in front of me – and holy fuck if she wasn’t even better looking close up. With all notions of Darren’s weird farewell long forgotten, I focused entirely on the face looking up at me. High cheekbones, pink pouty lips, big green eyes, and hair that looked like something out of a magazine, she was, hands down, the best-looking thing my eyes had ever seen. “I can definitely think for myself.” “You saw me back there,” she stated evenly, green eyes snaring me. “I did.” “You kept walking.” I nodded like a fool. “I did.” “Don’t do that again.” Fuck me. “I won’t.” She looked me over once more before nodding in approval. “You’re beautiful.” Well shit. “Likewise.” “Hm.” Her lips tipped up. “So, do you have a name, boy-who-can-think-for-himself?” “Does it matter?” I countered, needing to regain some ground I had lost to this powerhouse of a girl. “We both know that you’ll be calling me baby by the end of the day.” She licked her lips to bury her smile. “Is that so?” I stepped closer. “You tell me, blondie.” Now, she did, and it was a glorious sight. “Okay, that was seriously smooth.”

“Is that your way of telling me that you don’t have a boyfriend?” “No, it’s my way of telling you that I will have a boyfriend once you ask me.” “Jesus.” My heart rate sped up. “You’re not backwards about anything, are you?” She winked and slid her school bag off her shoulder. “Where’s the fun in that?” Thrown off kilter by this girl, I took the bag she held out for me and slung it over my free shoulder. “There,” she said with an approving nod, admiring her bright pink bag on my shoulder. “That should do it.” “Should do what?” “Warn the other girls away.” “Warn the other girls away?” My brows rose up. “Did you just mark me with your bag?” “I sure did,”

Tony’s brows rose. “Is that Paul the boyfriend?” “More like Paul the prick,” I scoffed.

“Can I just stop you right there,” I interjected, holding a hand up. “Yeah,” she said, turning to look at me with an expectant look. “Why?” “No reason,” I replied. “I just wanted you to stop talking.”

“Don’t push your luck.” “But I’m your favorite, right?” With a teasing lilt to her voice, she said, “Your favorite friend?” “Yes, fine! Whatever. Christ,” I grumbled, rolling my eyes. “You’re my favorite friend, with my favorite legs.” “Well, now see, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” she laughed, reaching up to pat my cheek. “And just so you know, Joe?” She leaned in close and pressed a kiss to my cheek. “You’re my favorite friend, with my favorite everything.”

I know you care about him, Aoif. I get that, okay? But boys like that can’t be fixed. Not with friendship, or love, or anything else, because they are just not fixable.”

“G-get me o-out of he-here!” “I’m trying,” he bit out. “It’s your ass.” “If you s-say that m-my ass is f-fat, I’m g-going to s-scream.” “Your ass is perfect.” Reaching up to grease his hands with washing up liquid from his hair, he tried and failed to un-wedge my hips. “It’s this goddamn sink that’s the problem.”

“So, this home economics partner,” Joey said, following me over to the table. “Is he your friend?” My heart flipped in my chest. “He was.” “Was?” Nodding, I sank down on my chair and took a bite or toast. “He used to be my best friend.” “What changed?” “We had a fight.” “Is that right?” “Uh-huh. He broke my heart.” Pain flicked in Joey’s eyes. “Molloy.” “Joke.” Relief flooded his features when he swallowed my lie. “Well, I hear this partner of yours feels shit about the fight the two of you had.” “Does he now?” “Yeah.” Joey nodded. “He misses his friend.” My heart flipped. “He should miss her. She’s amazing.” He smirked. “He wants her back.” “She never left.” I swallowed deeply. “She just needed a time out.” “Good.” He nodded. “Because if she did leave, he wouldn’t like it.” “He wouldn’t?” “No.” His green eyes locked on mine from across the table. “He wouldn’t.”

“Molloy.” “Joey.” “You came.” “I did.” He stared hard at me for the longest moment before blowing out a ragged breath, and muttering the word, “Thanks.” “Of course.” Sliding my hand into his, I squeezed and leaned in on my tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek. “I’m so sorry, Joe.”

replied, with a small wink that was just for me. “Yeah.” My heart hammered in response, and I quickly turned on my heels, and walked straight back, not stopping until I had my arms wrapped around his waist, and my face buried in his neck. “You will.” Joey was rigid for a long moment before his arms came around my body and his pulled me tightly against him.

“Iris?” I cocked a brow. “Good song choice, Molloy, but I have to admit that I’m not feeling the festive vibe from it.” “No, asshole, not as a Christmas song,” she urged, cranking up the volume. “As our song.” I opened my mouth to respond, but she reached across the console and cover my lips with her hand. “Shh. Just humor me and listen, okay?” Reluctantly conceding to her demands, I nodded once, and kept my eyes locked on hers as the lyrics of the song fucked with my head. “Well?” she finally breathed, when the song ended. “It’s perfect, right?” “Yeah, Molloy.” My voice was thick as I wrestled with a million complicated fucking emotions. “It is.”

“I care.” Reaching out a hand, he grabbed the front of the hoodie I was wearing – his hoodie – and fisted the fabric as he pulled me back to him, our bodies flush together. “I care. I care. I care,” he repeated, eyes locked on mine, as his hand moved up from my hoodie to cup my neck. “Too much.” “See?” Blowing out a ragged breath, I sagged forward, letting my head fall against his chest. “That’s all I wanted to hear.” “I know, Molloy.” Resting his chin on my head, he sighed heavily. “I know.”

“And nice legs.” “I’m wearing jeans tonight.” “Not in my head.”

“You’re my best friend,” she blurted out of left field. “But don’t tell Casey, because she’ll claw your eyes out for that title.” “I’m honored.” “You should be.” “Well, you’re mine, too,” I agreed with a chuckle. “But don’t tell Podge because…yeah, he won’t give a shit.” “So, we’re besties?” she asked, holding her pinkie finger up. “Fuck it.” I shrugged and hooked mine around hers. “Why not?”

“Yeah, well, she wasn’t my first choice that night,” I heard myself admit. “If I recall correctly, my first choice was taken.” Stopping in her tracks, she turned and looked up at me. “She’s not taken anymore.” “Are you serious?” My eyes widened. “Rebecca’s single now?” Molloy’s eyes narrowed. “You dick.”

“The quintessential lost boy.” Her lips grazed mine as she spoke. “Don’t worry, Peter Pan, I’ll be your Wendy.”

“Don’t hate me, Molloy,” Joey mumbled, falling into the passenger seat the minute I let him go to open the car door. “You’re all I have to wake up for in the morning.”

Resting against the velvet padding interior was a tiny silver locket with the date 30.08.99 on the front. “That date…” I blew out a shaky breath. “It’s— “The first day of first year,” he explained quietly. “The first time I laid eyes on you, and the first time I understood what it meant to have my heart beating for someone outside of my family.”

Alone in the dark, I couldn’t tell the difference between what was real and wasn’t. Shadows danced on my bedroom wall. I couldn’t feel a thing. I couldn’t hurt. No more pain. No fucking more...

“We’re going to have another baby,” Mam told me. And there it was. The last ounce of hope left in my heart being snuffed out. “Congratulations,” I reeled out numbly, as I moved for the door, knowing that even though I was getting out tonight, this baby only tightened the chains around my ankles. I was completely fucking unravelling and I couldn’t stop it from happening. It had happened. I had finally hit my limit. I had nothing left in the tank. Nothing left to give these people. I was done. Gone. Dead inside.

There was no morality in this. No one needed to love me if it meant that it hurt them this deeply.

But I'd been so determined to save him that I hadn’t noticed I’d lost myself in the process. Our love was toxic.

“I want you to know that you’ve been the best part of my day every day since I was twelve years old." “Don’t Joe.”

“You were like an island. Somewhere for me to go and escape. Somewhere safe. Someone to anchor me, if that even makes sense. And I took advantage of that when I had no right to. I was selfish when I dragged you into my world. Now, I need to put you first.” A tear slid down my cheek as his words only enforced what I already knew to be true; that I would never get over this boy. “Then put me first by not doing this, because I don’t want this, Joey. I don’t want your goodbyes.” “You might not want me to say goodbye, but you need me to.” And then he cut me deeper than a guillotine ever could when he added, “I was always going to fuck this up, Molloy.” With a resigned look, he slowly released me and backed away. “I’m only sorry that I didn’t put you first sooner.” "Oh

He pressed one final kiss to my brow before stepping away from me. “If I don’t walk away from you now, I never will.” And then he disappeared out of my bedroom window, dropping onto the roof of the shed below. “Joey,” I cried, leaning out the window. “Don’t do this.” With one final glance at me, he pulled his hood up, dropped to the ground, and called out, "I'll be seeing ya, Molloy, " over his shoulder. And then he was gone.