Saving 6 (Boys of Tommen, #3)

by Chloe Walsh

I never knew hurt until he walked away from me.

“Why do you hide who you are?” He shook his head, blue eyes laced with pain. “Joey.” “No, it’s bullshit, Dar,” I pushed, unwilling to let it go. “I’m not ashamed of you, and you shouldn’t be, either.”

Her gaze flicked to mine. The moment our eyes collided, I felt a pang of heat shoot straight to my chest. Holy fuck.

“I don’t want fifty more girls,” I replied, twisting back to find her still watching me. “I just want that girl.”

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

Something inside of me demanded I fight back, no matter how small or unimportant an argument might be. I couldn’t get ahold of it. It was like there was a demon living just beneath the surface of my skin, one that had taken too many kicks lying down and refused to take a single other.

“He’s going to kill you, Mam,” I lashed out. “Don’t you get that? Can’t you hear me? You’re going to die in this house. If you don’t get away from him, you’re going to die here. I can feel it in my bones…” My voice cracked, and I choked back a sob, unwilling to shed tears. “Don’t you love yourself? Don’t you love me?”

“It does. Tell me what you meant. I’m just like what, Mam?” Shaking from head to toe, I choked out, “Him? Is that what you were going to say? I remind you of him?” Please say no. Please say no. Please say no. “Yes,” she confirmed with a pained expression on her face.

“In what way?” I demanded, chest heaving. “In looks? Because if it’s in looks, then that’s not my fault. I can’t help who I look like, but I am nothing like that man in any other way.” “You are,” she said before leaving the room. “In every way.”

And it was right there in that moment that I knew deep in my bones it was the beginning of the end for me. The switch I had been so desperate not to flip these past few years had finally tripped. And I felt nothing.

I knew he was trouble, or maybe just troubled. Either way, I knew he wasn’t going to be anyone’s knight in shining armor.

“I saw you first. You’re my friend, not his. So stop worrying about my dad and start focusing on me.” “Technically, your dad saw me first—” “You’re mine, okay?”

“Snuggle me.” “No.” “Do it.” “It’s not happening, Molloy.” “Snuggle me, Joey.” “I said no.” “Snuggle me or I’ll scream.” “For fuck’s sake, fine,”

“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.” Well, shit.

“We’re having another baby, Joey.” No. “I’m due in November.” No. “The doctors reckon it’s another boy.” Please God, fucking no.

“This baby is our fresh start.” Liar. Liar. Liar.

“Why do you put up with it, Mam?” “I love him,” she replied. “I have invested more than twenty years of my life in the man and had my children with him. And believe it or not, he loves me, too.” “Then maybe he needs to love you better,”

“Because I have no intention of giving a boy that kind of power over me,” I replied simply. “From my viewpoint, men let you down. Even the good ones like Dad can’t be trusted. So why would I ever expose myself to that kind of pain? It would be emotional suicide.”

“I’m not afraid of loving a boy,” I told her honestly. “I’m afraid of losing myself in one.”

Her easygoing, playful nature meant that she didn’t take a lot of his jibes to heart, but I did. I fucking took them to heart for her.

“Make sure you do.” She laughed. “Because I’ve put an awful lot of effort into saving you, six.”

“What are you doing?” “What are you doing?” “You’re flirting with me.” “You’re flirting with me.” “So?” I scoffed. “I always flirt with you.”

“Being an asshole doesn’t seem to be working in my favor, does it?” “But you’re so good at being an asshole.” “Come closer and I’ll show you how good I can be in other ways.” “Okay, now you’re freaking me out,” I choked, springing away from him. “Stop this right now and give me back my asshole.”

“She’s not your anything.” “Uh, yes, I am.” “Hear that, Ricey?” Joey replied, with a shit-eating grin etched on his face. “Your girl here is my anything.”

“You’re my friend,” he finally settled on. “You’re finally admitting it without needing to be coerced?” Nodding, he forced a small, humorless laugh. “Only took a few years, right?” “Only a couple.”

“I like you.” “Wow,” I breathed. “Another admission.” “The hardest one yet.” “I bet.”

“I could go a fair bit crazy over you, Molloy.” His lips brushed against my brow as he said, “Stay out of my head now, ya hear?”

Was I breathing? I couldn’t tell. I couldn’t care if I wanted to. And I didn’t.

Because the truth of the matter was that I felt something for him. Something I shouldn’t, and something that definitely wasn’t good for me. But I still felt it.

Stop wishing. Stop hoping. Stop wondering. Stop willing. I needed to just stop when it came to this boy.

“Hmm,” Joey grumbled, nudging my shoulder back. “If it was anyone else, Molloy. If it was anyone else.” “But it’s me.” “It’s you,” he confirmed.

“Suit yourself.” “I will.” “You do that.” “That’s what I’m going to do.” “Good.” “Asshole.” “Crank.” “Prick.” “Witch.”

“What’s wrong?” “It’s stupid.” “Tell me.” “You’ll think I’m crazy.” “I already think you’re crazy, Molloy.”

“You’re mad at me because I used the words ‘nice legs’?” “On another girl.” “They’re just words.” “No, they are not just words, Joey.”

“You don’t say that,” she shouted back at me. “You don’t feed her my line.” “I didn’t mean anything by it.” “That makes it even worse.”

I hated him. I wanted to hate him so much. I needed to hate him. You need to stop loving him first…

“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.

“My Joseph. My brave, brave boy. Terrible burdens. A cursed cross to carry. But always rising from the ashes. Always getting back up. Always the…protector.”

“Promise me that you’ll…never…give in to them.” “Give in to who, Granda?” Gasping and wheezing for air, he looked me right in the eyes, green eyes on green and whispered, “The demons your father put in your head.”

“When we’re grown up and gone from this town, we’ll get our happy ending, won’t we?”

“I’m not your babe, Molloy.” “Whose fault is that?” she came right back with, not looking away and not backing down. “Hmm. I wonder.”

You shouldn’t settle for anything less than being in love to the point of madness. The only person that you should be settling for is the person who unsettles you the most. The person who drives you to the brink of suicide because he or she makes you feel so fucking much that you can’t catch your breath or remotely function without them.

“I care. I care. I care,” he repeated, eyes locked on mine as his hand moved up to cup my neck. “Too much.”

“And nice legs.” “I’m wearing jeans tonight.” “Not in my head.” “Funny.” She grinned up at me and I couldn’t stop myself from mirroring her actions.

“I would never hurt you, Molloy,” he slurred, his words a lot like his life, a broken mess. “I’d rather die than hurt you.”

He wasn’t violent by nature. He was violent because he wasn’t nurtured at home.

“Don’t do that.” His voice was gruff, green eyes full of dangerous heat. “Don’t look at me like I’m that guy, Molloy. Don’t look for hidden meanings in the things I say. I’m not the guy for you.”

Joey kissed me like he was starving for me and no one else’s lips could sate the hunger overtaking him.