Binding 13 (Boys of Tommen, #1)

by Chloe Walsh

“I’m your daddy on the field, bitch.”

“Because we’re your babies,” Hughie announced, leaning his weight on me.

“We were talking,” Johnny bit out. He cast a scathing glare at the photographer and then walked right over to me. “Smile,” he instructed quietly as he pulled me in to his side and clamped his huge muddy hand on my hip. Stunned, I stared up at him. “Huh?” “Smile,” Johnny repeated calmly, tucking me under his arm.

I wanted Shannon Lynch. And worse than wanting her, I really fucking liked her. She had this sweet something about her, and I liked how it felt when I was around her. I liked the way she looked, the way she spoke, the way she carried herself.

“It comes with cock, Claire-Bear,” Gibsie announced—and not quietly. “An unlimited supply of five-star cock.” “Say it louder,” she hissed, slapping his shoulder. “I don’t think everyone heard you.” “It comes with cock, Claire!” he taunted, accepting her challenge without an ounce of shame. “My cock.”

“You’re fucking kidding me!” Johnny roared, reacting to whatever his friend was whispering in his ear. Johnny’s head turned in Ronan’s direction before quickly snapping toward me. His eyes landed on my face, and holy crap, he looked livid. It was only a fleeting glance and he quickly turned his attention back to Ronan. This time I could clearly hear what he was saying.

“What are you waiting for?” Gibsie called out, waving his hands in the air encouragingly. “Get going, Forrest.”

Like a horrific case of déjà vu, I walked out of the bathroom and straight into a hard chest of muscle.

“Think you can put your hands on her?”

“Well, don’t talk to her!” I spat out, glaring down at his stupid fucking face. “Don’t look at her, and don’t fucking touch her. She’s not for you.”

Johnny barked out a laugh and held the door open, gesturing with his hand. “Come on, Shannon like the river. Get in my car.”

When asked for a comment on the status of their relationship, Kavanagh politely declined—although they say a picture speaks a thousand words…

Midnight fucking blue eyes and painfully accurate words. And now it was worse because not only was she in my thoughts 24/7, but I had a bleeding picture of her to torment myself with. And I would torment myself with that picture. I planned on it.

“What happened?” he demanded, glaring down at me. “Who the fuck made you cry?”

“Give me a name,” Johnny growled, dropping his hands to his hips. “And I’ll take care of it.” “What—no! I’m grand,” I quickly replied. “I have allergies.” “Me too. To assholes and bullshit,” Johnny snarled. “Now, tell me who made you cry and I’ll fix it.”

And in the middle of it all, I could only see him. This boy.

Be fucking frightened, I thought to myself. You have no idea of who you’re messing with.

No wonder the blond was pissed, I thought to myself. The dark-haired git was clearly going out with her, and yet he was staring at Shannon like she was dinner. My dinner, prick, I wanted to roar.

“Now,” I sneered, glaring down at their faces. “Who wants to call my girlfriend a whore to my face?”

“What’s your problem?” she cried. “We didn’t do anything to you!” “You sure as shit did something to her,” I snarled. “And when you fuck with her, you fuck with me.”

“Make sure your girlfriend gets it,” I hissed, glowering down at him. “Because if she doesn’t—” I paused to point at both the blond and the redhead before continuing. “If she or any of her whore friends even look at my girlfriend again, I’m coming for you.”

“I’ll protect you, Shannon like the river.”

Blowing out a shaky breath, I gingerly shifted my legs onto his lap. “Is that good for you?” “Yeah, Shan.” Offering me a small smile, he reached for his bottle of water and took a swig. “You’re good for me.”

Yeah, it was safe to say that I screwed up with the choice of film. My pint-sized companion was not a fan of horror.

Without meaning to or even trying, Shannon soaked up every sliver of my attention. It wasn’t a healthy feeling, but it was an addictive one.

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

“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.”

“Where are we heading?” Straight to your house because I wanna fuck your sister, I thought to myself. I smirked at the fabulous notion, and then hunted the crazy thought away with a shake of my head. Probably love her, too, I mused to myself, a fucking lot,

“I tried to call you but you kept cutting me off!” I glared at him. “You’re King Clit?” “Oh, yeah,” Gibsie snickered. “I forgot about that.” “What’s Hughie down as?” “Ginger Pubes,”

King Clit Is a Liability

“Yeah, well, I’m your best friend and you put me on the floor,” he shot back with a huff. “The dog gets the foot of your bed and I get the fucking floor.”

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

“For fuck’s sake,” Johnny snapped. Yanking the kitchen door open, he caught ahold of my hand and practically dragged me down the hallway. “Come on,” he ordered. “I’ll look after you.”

“Because no one should be putting their goddamn anything on her,” I barked.

“So she is being bullied?” My heart fucking sank. “Someone at Tommen?” If someone at my school did that to her face, then I was going to burn the fucking school down.

“I want you to hold fucking on to her,” Joey roared. Stopping at the front door, he spun around and glared up at me. “Can you do that, Johnny Kavanagh? Can you look after my sister for me?”

What are you doing? What the hell are you doing? Johnny’s penis has touched these things. And now your vagina has. You’re practically having sex with him!

“Shannon.” Johnny’s hand snaked out and wrapped around my wrist. “I don’t want you to go,” he said gruffly, tugging me back down beside him. “I want you here.” He rested a hand on the bed right behind my back and leaned close. “I want you to stay with me.”

“What do you want me to do, Shannon?” Johnny strangled out. “Tell me what to do here.” “Hold me,” I sobbed, burying my face in his neck. “Don’t let go.” “Okay.” One of his large hands cupped the back of my head and the other moved to my back as he held me to his chest, slowly rocking me on his lap. “I won’t,” he whispered, folding me up in his arms.

“Come on, Shannon like the river.” He inclined his head toward the door. “Let me feed you.”

“I’m too small.” “That’s okay,” he replied gruffly. “I like it.”

“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.”

Without a hint of warning, Johnny grabbed my hips and lifted me onto the stool. “He likes to pretend he’s a rocket taking off,” he added, unaware of how affected I was by his touch.

A little while later, when my eyes began to droop, he lifted his arm, and I didn’t even flinch when it came down around my shoulder. 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 thought I might be doing a good job, but if I pushed too hard too fast, she would retreat back in her shell. I wanted to smash that fucking shell and the bastards responsible for making her hide there in the first place. She was lovely. Fucking lovely. She didn’t need to be hiding any of her shine behind those bleeding shutters.

Stay. Stay with me, Shannon. I can keep you safe… “Bye, Shannon,” I told her instead, and with a reluctance that bordered on regret, I closed the door.

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. I knew I needed to get a fucking handle on myself. Except I couldn’t. Because she was addictive. And I was obsessed.

“I didn’t want her to leave, Gibs, and he just took her away from me. And I let him!” “You do know that you’re not allowed to keep humans as pets, don’t you?” he asked in a wry tone. “You know that’s just dogs and cats, right?” “Fuck. Right. Off,” I growled.

“Operation Bind what?” I croaked out. “Binding Thirteen,” Helen repeated, staring at me like I was clueless. In this instance, I was. “What does that even mean?” “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.”

“Nothing bad is going to happen to you,” he added, blue eyes dark and locked on mine. “Because I’m not going to let anyone hurt you, okay?”