Binding 13 (Boys of Tommen, #1)

by Chloe Walsh

“Uh, no… I mean yes, of course… I didn’t… Um, you have all your teeth now,” I spluttered, feeling flustered and foolish for voicing my thoughts aloud.

Embarrassed, I set the picture down on the desk and stepped around him, needing to put some space between us. I couldn’t think when I was this close to him.

huh.” I was terrible at most things in life, but I kicked ass at GTA. “Joey has Vice City and San Andreas and I’ve cleared both games.” His brows shot up. “In a week.” His mouth fell open. “No.” “Oh yeah.” I nodded, smiling proudly. “I’m the best.”

“Sit your ass down, little Lynch, so I can beat you,” Johnny interrupted me, tone laced with amusement.

“You should get comfy,” I noted when he sprawled onto the beanbag next to mine. “You’re going to be watching for a while.” Clicking into the game, I thumbed on my controller, attention riveted to his massive television screen, and muttered, “A long while.” “No cheats!” Johnny barked an hour later. “That’s fucking cheating.” “No, it’s not.” I laughed as I keyed in another cheat code to load my guy up on life. “You never said anything about cheat codes.” “Yeah, I fucking did,” Johnny huffed from beside me. “‘No memory cards. Start from scratch, and the person who completes the most missions before dying is the winner,’” I mimicked his voice. “You never said anything about cheat codes.”

“Yeah, well, I didn’t expect you to be the Bill fucking Gates of Grand Theft Auto, did I?”

“Because I thought you were sweet,” Johnny shot back, and I didn’t have to look to know he was pouting. He’d been pouting for almost an hour.

Pausing the game, I turned and gave him my full attention. “Are you a sore loser, Mr. I’m a Big Rugby Star?” Johnny’s face turned a hilarious shade of red. “Don’t you like it when a girl beats you?” I continued to tease, using the same smack-talk taunts that drove Joey berserk when we played together. “Can’t you take your beating like a man?”

“Go on into the bathroom and change out of those wet clothes,” Mrs. Kavanagh instructed as she placed some towels on the foot of his bed. “I’ll put your uniform in the dryer and it will be ready before you go.”

“Don’t be so rude, Johnny,” Mrs. Kavanagh warned. “Show the poor girl to the bathroom and bring me down her clothes to dry.”

Ignoring her son’s protests, she turned to face me, smiling. “A nice hot shower will warm you up, love.”

Mrs. Kavanagh looked between us and then beamed. “He’s a terrible loser, isn’t he?” “I am fucking not!” “I know.” I giggled. “His father’s the same,” Mrs. Kavanagh added. “You should see him if he loses in court. No speaking for hours.” “Ma,” Johnny snapped. “Can you just leave us be? Please?” “I will,” she replied. “Once that poor girl has a warm shower and some dry clothes on her.” “She doesn’t want a—”

“You’re a small four.” Her eyes trailed over me. “With the most amazing bone structure. Shannon, love, it’s a pity you’re not taller. You’d make the most beautiful mod—” “Jesus Christ, Ma,” Johnny barked, running an exasperated hand through his hair. “She’s not a bleeding doll.”

“Again, I am so fucking sorry about her.” Johnny shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know what’s wrong with that woman today.”

“Yeah,” he muttered. “Just be glad she didn’t drag you into that clothes room.” Shuddering he added, “You’d never get out of there.”

“A six-foot-three rugby-playing son,” I mused, smiling back at him. “I can see why you might have thrown her.”

“Oh.” Blushing, I knotted my hands in front of myself and shrugged uncertainly. “Um, okay?”

“Where will I put my clothes?” “Just throw them out to me when you’re naked…ah, when you’re ready,” he muttered gruffly. “I’ll put them in the dryer,” he added before closing the door and leaving me alone in his bathroom.

I had no clue how I ended up getting my ass handed to me by that pint-sized girl, but that’s what happened. Watching her completely dominate my PlayStation was so fucking hot. Seriously, her skills with a controller, and her ability to kick my ass like she did, only made her infinitely sexier. She was fucking perfect.

I couldn’t handle that. Not when all I wanted to do was be naked right with her. I was only seventeen. This was a temptation I doubted a man twice my age could resist.

Shannon naked on my bed. With me naked on top of her. Preferably in her. If my fucked-up dick held out. Stop it, asshole. Stop those thoughts! “You knew I needed you to take me because I don’t have my bleeding car,” I hissed, frustrated. “And now? Now, I have a naked girl in my room, Ma. A naked fucking girl and I’m holding her bleeding clothes.”

No, because as delighted as I was to hear my dad would be home for the night, Mam had gone way too far this time. She had meddled in something I didn’t want anyone meddling in. She meddled with Shannon.

“Do you honestly think you can sell me that shite, Johnny Kavanagh?” Mam shot back, lips twitching. “I’m your mother. I brought you into this world, and I know every single time you tell me a lie.”

“Just tread carefully and exercise patience. She’s younger than you, and as I’m sure you’re more than aware, you need to move at her pace.”

“That’s worse again,” I barked, flustered. “There is a naked sixteen-year-old girl in your seventeen-year-old son’s bedroom right now—one you put there, I might add!”

“And how do you propose I do that?” I demanded. “When you put a naked teenage girl in my bedroom?”

“I know your father spoke to you a few years ago about the birds and the bees.” She placed a hand on my shoulder and steered me over to the island, obviously not fucking hearing again. “But considering this latest development, I think it might be a good idea for us to talk about it. Just so we’re all clear on how important it is to take things slowly.”

“It’s completely natural to want to experience pleasure with a partner,” Mam continued to say, ignoring my pleas. “When you’re both old enough to fully understand the act of love.”

“I’m trying to help you, love, so you know what to expect.”

“No, Ma.” I dropped my head in my hands and fought back the urge to fucking cry. “I’m not a virgin.”

“I know it’s uncomfortable, but you can talk about these kinds of things with me, son,” Mam urged. “I was a teenager once upon a time, too, you know,” she added, reaching over to pat my shoulder. “I understand all the urges your body is going through, and a female perspective can be helpful.”

“So, you didn’t do, uh, let’s call it the deed, with Shannon—”

And there was nothing good about what I wanted to do to Shannon Lynch.

“First, for the last bleeding time, Shannon is not my girlfriend,” I snapped, flustered. “Second, I haven’t been a virgin since first year. And third, I can roll a condom on in the dark with one hand tied behind my bleeding back, so I don’t need the sex talk, or tips, or any of that shite.”

“Thirteen,” I muttered under my breath as I held her to my chest and patted her back.

“Because you brought her here, Ma, not me,” I replied as I continued to rub her back. “Let’s say, for argument’s sake, that I was with Shannon. Which I’m not,” I quickly clarified. “But if I was and you were worried about me getting up to no good, then why in the hell would you bring her over here?”

“Because you’re my baby,” Mam sniffled. “Oh god, my baby is sexually active.”

“I’m playing bleeding PlayStation with the girl,” I strangled out. “Shouldn’t that tell you how safe I’m being?” “That’s true.” Mam nodded and sniffled. I sighed. “Thank you.” “So, I don’t have to worry, do I?” she added. “Being safe?” She sniffled. “Using—oh, dear god, condoms—” “No, Ma, you don’t have to worry because I am not having sex,” I said, sticking to the story, and pulled her back to my chest. “So just relax.”

In the space of one day, I had upset no less than three females. The one that created me by telling her that I was no longer an innocent. The one that used me by telling her via text message to fuck off. And the one that blew my fucking mind.

“You can trust me, because nothing is happening between us,” I repeated for the millionth time. “But I need to take a shower because I’m fucking soaked, so I’m going to use your bathroom, okay?” I moved for the door only to turn back and say, “Call me when it’s time to pick up your demented dogs.”

Johnny would never understand how lucky he was to grow up in a home like this, with parents like his and towels this soft. For a long time, I just stood there in the middle of his bathroom, listening to absolutely nothing. No screaming voices. No stomping footsteps. No rattling door handles. No feelings of impending doom. Just peace.

I was not, however, prepared for the sight of Johnny’s naked ass. He was standing in front of his chest of drawers with his back to me, a towel on the floor at his feet, and was in the process of pulling a pair of boxers up his thighs.

“Oh god,” I squeaked and then tore my gaze away from his round, tight ass. “I’m so sorry.” Spinning around, I bit down on my lip and forced back a moan. “I didn’t expect anyone to be in here.” “It’s fine, Shannon,” he said, laughing. “Don’t worry about it.” Let me die. Dear God, open the ground and let me fall through it.

Everything I had imagined from the moment I laid eyes on him was right in front of me. And with this unobstructed view came the realization that both my imagination and my visual memory sucked.

“No one is hurting me, Johnny,” I whispered, eyes glued to his in the mirror.

“Someone touched you,” Johnny whispered in my ear, placing his fingers on the marks. “I want to know who.”

“I got smashed up in P.E.,” was all I came up with.

“I ended up on the bottom of a pileup. Happened just before you came in.” Shaking my head, I forced a small laugh. “It was total carnage.”

“So, the hand of one of the lads in your class just so happened to land on your neck?” he asked, tone laced with disbelief. “His fingers just so happened to squeeze your throat?”

how about the bruise on the back of your neck the time before that? Or the red mark on your face the time before that again? Or the bruises on your thighs? And your arms? And the rest of you?” He glared at me. “Was that those pesky Legos, too?”