Binding 13 (Boys of Tommen, #1)

by Chloe Walsh

This girl is different, my stupid fucking brain chanted. This one is for keeps.

You could love this girl your whole life, the crazy thought persisted inside my brain over and over, if you just let yourself.

"Shag off, Gibs." Cormac glared down at him. "I wasn’t talking to you." "Maybe not," Gibs replied, tossing his drink back. "But I'm sure as hell talking to you."

"Walk away, lad," I commanded in a low tone as I clamped a hand on his shoulder and pulled him back to me. "This isn’t your fight." "Like hell it's not," he snarled, lunging forward so hard that I had to double my efforts to keep him at bay. "You're my best friend and this prick has been disrespecting you for months." "Let him," I replied calmly, catching Hughie's eye and gesturing for him to get his arse over here pronto. "I don’t care, and neither do you." "Oh, I care," Gibsie snarled, eyes locked on Cormac.

"You know what the messed-up thing is," I mused, voicing my thoughts aloud. "It's that if you told me you liked her, I would have stepped back." Folding my arms across my chest, I glared at him. "I would have respected the shite out of you for being a man about it, and I would have walked away. Bella and I were never serious. I didn’t have a relationship with her. But I had one with you. And you betrayed me."

"Because you're with her? No," I told him. "If she fucks with Shannon? Absolutely." "Shannon?" "Yes, Shannon," I bit out, tone harsh now. Cormac stared blankly. "Who's Shannon?" "Shannon is the reason you're going to end up with a broken jaw." "The hell?" "Bella was threatening to go after her," I snarled. "If that happens, I will fuck you up." He blanched. "Why me?" "Can't hit a girl which means I'll be coming for the next best thing," I explained. "So, bear in mind that every single time your Bella decides to make a threat, spread a nasty rumor, or fuck with my Shannon, I'll return the favor on your face. Every single, goddamn time."

"Did you get me something?" "Yeah, I got you a burger." "Thanks, Johnny." "And then I got hungry so I ate it." "You're a monster."

But I want to fuck her... I want in your sister so bad you wouldn’t believe it... The things I imagine doing to her would shock you…

Sitting in his car, drunk off my ass, knowing that I was more than capable of beating the shite out of him, but knowing I wouldn’t. Because of her. Because he was important to her. Because if I hit him, I would hurt her. And hurting her was bad. Hurting her made me want to hurt something harder.

"What I'm trying to say here is that I appreciate you looking out for my sister," he finally said. "She's had a hard few years and Tommen seems like a good fit for her. So, I guess I'm hoping that you continue keeping an eye out for her at school –you know, making sure no one is giving her any hassle."

"Friend." His word held a bite to it. "My sister needs a friend, Kavanagh," he clarified. "She doesn’t need to be getting her hopes up on a guy who’ll be gone come the summer."

"Your girlfriend allotted your money into daily budget packets." Joey gaped at me. "What?" "Yep," I giggled, placing Tuesday's envelope back down on the pile.

"Is it normal to be mad at a person because they love you?" my brother asked, eyeing the envelopes with confusion. He turned his green eyes on me and asked, "Is this normal?"

"No." I blushed. "I just want you to know that you're important to us. And we appreciate everything you do for us."

"Shit, Kav," Gibsie snickered, taking a step back from the stove. "I was wrong. This fucker right here is the daddy."

"What the fuck is that?" he demanded, voice deathly quiet, as his blue eyes blazed with fire. "What?" I squeezed out, panic-stricken. Tipping my chin up, he brushed my hair off my shoulder and released a low growl. "That," he growled, trailing his thumb over my cheekbone. "And that," he added, skimming the curve of my eye.

Johnny shook himself down like a dog would, causing rain drops to splatter everywhere. "You laughing at me, Shannon like the river?" he teased, noticing my smile. I shook my head again. He smiled one of the big, double-dimpled smiles that caused my heart to spazz out before gesturing for me to follow him down the long entrance hall and into a spacious foyer with two huge archways on either side of the room, leading god knows where.

"Fine," Joey snapped, glaring at me with blazing green eyes. "Tell my sister our father just called. Our mother had a miscarriage on Friday night, and he's on the way home from the hospital with her now." "Shite," I muttered.

I couldn’t live like this. I was so alone. All my life. I was so scared.

"So?" Johnny replied, still with his back to me. "Having a vagina doesn’t automatically tie you to a cooker – or a fucking hoover." He shook his head. "Christ, if I even thought about pulling that sexist shite on my Ma, she'd cut my balls off."

"I know," I replied, believing every word. Biting down on my lip, I turned to face him and said, "Don’t forget about me when you're a rich and famous rugby player." "You never know," he said with a smirk. "I might take you with me so you can cheer me on in the stands."

Instead, I nestled my cheek against his side and closed my eyes, allowing myself to drift off to sleep without an ounce of fear in my heart because it couldn’t exist inside of me, not when this boy had his arm around me.

I didn’t even try and stop myself from stroking her hair. I was beyond help when it came to her. I was beyond fucking stopping. Everything inside of me was shifting, honing in on this tiny girl.

My father terrorized me. He battered me. I lived in constant fear. But he never touched me like that. He never raped me. Which is exactly what happened to Darren repeatedly for months and months, over and over until they almost killed him.

Sniffling, I turned to look at him. "You're not coming back, are you?" Joey just stared at me, eyes filled with tears. "I can't," he whispered as a tear rolled down his cheek. "If I go back inside that house, I'll kill them both."

I was completely fucking clueless, armed and ready to go to war for a girl I didn’t know, against an enemy no one would tell me about.

was thoroughly addicted to every single thing about the girl and it had nothing to do with the physical – and the physical was pretty fucking perfect. Most importantly, she didn't look at me like I was a meal ticket. She looked right through all the bullshit. Seeing me. Seeing only me. And that made me want to move some shit around and place her slap bang in the middle of my world.

"More of her," I replied glumly. "It's all more when it comes to her." I shook my head and sighed heavily. "Jesus, I want her so fucking bad I can't think straight, Gibs."

"Thing is, Shannon's not just some random girl, Gibs," I strangled out. "She's different. She's not a hook-up, or a fuck and chuck, or a clinger looking for a leg up. I can't fuck her out of my system. She doesn’t even know who I am, lad. She had no fucking clue. And it was genuine. She wasn’t putting it on. I've met enough of those clingers to last me a lifetime and I could tell she was clueless." I shook my head and sagged against the leather. "And aside from all that, she's fragile."

"Fine, lad, I'll help you," Gibsie replied with a sigh. "Even though it'll never work, you're doomed to fail, and I'll more than likely end up giving the best man speech at your wedding at some ridiculously young age because you'll have bulldozed the shit out of things, but for now, I will absolutely help you bury your head in the sand."

"Then you better get a hurry on that climbing, Shell." Laughing, Claire continued to rub salt in Shelly's rebel wounds by adding, "Because he'll be out of here after he leaves school. Once he's through with The Academy and Irish Heads offer him a contract, mark my words when I tell you that he won't stay in Cork. He'll go straight back to Dublin and they'll welcome him with open arms. Because he's their 'homegrown' not ours."

"The fifth and sixth-year girls had this stupid competition going last year to see who could get with Johnny," Claire grumbled. "They called it Operation Binding Thirteen because they're completely sad and unoriginal." She pulled a face before adding, "Apparently, Bella won."

"You think I'd let anyone hurt you?" Johnny finally asked, his eyes dark and intense and focused solely on my face. "You think I'd let anything bad happen to you, Shannon like the river?"

His lips twitched for the briefest moment and then he shook his head as if waving off an unwelcome thought that had come to him.

She was mine and I didn’t want to share.

"That girl is fragile, Johnny." Mam nibbled on her lip, brows furrowed in concern. "There is something about her that makes me want to wrap my arms around her and cuddle the sadness out of her eyes."

"He's a fool, you know," she added. "You're gorgeous, and kind, and sweet, and loyal, and a million other brilliant things he'll never find in whores like that Bella Wilkinson."

"Then he's insane," she grumbled. "If I had a penis or liked girls, I would want you." "Thanks," I half sobbed/half laughed. "If I had a penis or liked girls, I'd want you, too."

No, this boy who made my heart jackknife in my chest at regular intervals and my common sense flatline, was standing in the middle of the school hallway, defending my honor.

"Don’t ever lie to me again," he finally said in a quiet tone, as he cast me a sideways glance. "I can't take it."

And I was nervous – so much that my stupid fucking heart could have been a strong contender for Olympic gold in boxing, it was thumping around so hard in my chest.

"I like a lot of stuff," I told her. You, most of all.

"You should," Shannon continued to say. "Listen to it, I mean." Her cheeks turned pink when she said, "It reminds me of you."

Because when she jumped, I flew clean off the ledge after her.

You. I would like to eat you, Shannon.

Like every time I walked away from this girl, the closer I got to leaving, the more depressed I felt.

I needed to be really fucking careful with my next move, because once I decided that she was the girl for me, that would be that. Once I committed myself, once my heart laid claim on her, I might as well slap a label on my forehead stating I'm yours, please be gentle with me because I'm here to stay.

It wasn’t uncommon for Gibsie to arrive at my house at any time of the day or night. I was just glad that he didn’t have the fucking cat with him this time.

"But just so you know?" he added, "She's always been your Shannon."

"Fancy getting out of here before Kav turns the lunch hall into a scene from The Game of Thrones?"