Saving 6 (Boys of Tommen, #3)

by Chloe Walsh

I never knew devastation until he walked into my world and gave me a glimpse into his. I never knew demons until I stood beside him and watched him battle monsters more frightening than my imagination could ever concoct. I never knew heartbreak until he decimated my heart by decimating his body. I never knew hurt until he walked away from me. I never knew. I never…

“I love you, Joe,” he threw me by saying. “You know that, right?”

He is leaving soon.

“Got any more blonds lurking around school, waiting to fall at your feet? Because I’ll be happy to take them off your hands.”

“Yeah, well, fuck Dad,” I spat. “He’s the one who should be ashamed of himself, not you.”

Feeling off-balance, I eyed him warily before shaking my head and walking off in the direction of the entrance. Stop. Don’t go. Something’s wrong. Turn back. This is all wrong.

HE KNEWWW

“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.

“Hmm.” 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.”

“I’m Aoife.” She laughed, holding her hand out to me. “Joey,” I replied, accepting her small hand in mine.

Because Darren was still gone, and he was still here. The one person I depended on in times like this—on nights like this—had walked away without as much as a backwards glance. I should know. I watched him go.

Thankfully, Tadhg and Shannon didn’t seem to understand the way in which our father was hurting our mother. I, on the other hand, had been ten years old when I learned the meaning of the word rape.

Make sense of what that animal had forced her to take into her unwilling body. Repeatedly.

Because her screams meant she was still breathing. Her silence could have meant that she was dead.

Like a revered blood oath, I mentally reaffirmed the vow I had made to myself the night after Darren walked out, and that was to protect my brothers and sister with everything I had in me. I would never allow them to be beaten like I had been, or abused like our mother, or defiled like our brother.

Balking, she seemed to ponder her choices before locking her eyes on mine. “Well, are you going to walk me home or not?” For fuck’s sake…

Of course I fucking liked her. She was the first thing my eyes had landed on when I walked through the entrance of Ballylaggin Community School last September, and the only face I consistently sought out since.

My stomach rumbled loudly at the concept of getting fed tonight because, let’s face it, the odds of finding anything in the kitchen on a Monday night at my house weren’t in my favor.

“Four,” he muttered before quickly correcting himself and saying, “three.” “Four, three?” I grinned. “Which is it?” “I had four, I have three,” he replied in a flat tone. “Oh my god,” I croaked out, feeling a pang of sympathy hit me. “Did one of your siblings pass away?” “He’s still breathing,” Joey deadpanned. “But he’s dead to me.” Well, crap…

Stupid Darren

“You are a really weird fucking girl,” he grumbled, looking thrown off-kilter, before begrudgingly adding, “With nice legs.”

Joey was thinner than Paul. He was taller, too. He had muscles, that I could vouch for having seem him shirtless many times after P.E., but he was seriously lean.

Or someone hungry…

Rocking baby Ollie in my arms, I held the bottle to his lips, watching carefully for any sign of wind just like Mam showed me to do. She couldn’t do it herself. Nope, of course she couldn’t.

She looked like a corpse.

“He’s gone this time,” she whispered. “He won’t be back. I p-promise.” “You don’t believe that any more than I do,” I replied, too weary to fight with her. It had taken everything in me to go toe-to-toe with her asshole husband earlier. I had nothing left in the tank, not even my hatred to chug on. “He’ll be back, and he’ll be worse the next time.”

“He’s going to kill you, Mam,”

Well he does...

“Yes,” she confirmed with a pained expression on her face. “You remind me of your father.” Shuddering, she clenched her eyes shut as a tear rolled down her cheek. “I know it’s not your fault. I know, okay, but you just remind me so much of him. More and more each day.”

What the heck.

“You are,” she said before leaving the room. “In every way.” And with those words, my mother cut me deeper and more viciously than my father ever had. Ever could. 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.

“You just saw how he reacted with the Garda back there, Katie. It was almost as if he wanted them to take him away.” “What?” My neighbor laughed. “That’s crazy talk. Nobody wants to be taken away by the Gards.” “Most don’t,” I whispered. But he does.

“Where’s the killer instinct, boy?” Saved up for when I’ll need it against you.

“Because you refuse to have a girlfriend.” “Which is a good thing for Ricey,” he huffed. “Considering I seem to spend most of my time looking out for his!”

I threw my head back and laughed. “I always win, Joe.”

Persuasion was certainly a skill that Aoife Molloy had honed to perfection.

“We’re not friends, Molloy. And stop snuggling me.” “Friends snuggle.” “Friends do not fucking snuggle.” “I snuggle with Casey all the time.” “Well, I can assure you that I have never snuggled with Podge.”

“You’re mine, okay?”

“We’re friends.” She laughed. “I was hoping for something more along the lines of ‘Aoife, you’re my dearest, sexiest, most lovable, bestest friend in the whole wide world’.”

“You’re my favorite friend, with my favorite legs.”

It’s bad enough you’ve got her father throwing you scraps like meat to a half-starved stray—” “You’re a fucking dead man!” “Don’t do it,” Podge was quick to say, perceptively stepping in front of me and pushing me away from the prick with a death wish. “He’s not worth it, Joe.” No, but she is. Fuck, where’d that thought come from?

SHE IS

I swung my gaze around only for my eyes to land on Molloy’s fantastic fucking legs as they dangled from the wall she was perched on. Shielding my eyes from the evening sunshine, I squinted up at her. Dressed in an oversized white jumper and tight denim jeans, she sucked on a red freezer ice pop and smiled down at me. “Nice winning score, by the way.” “Nice legs.”

“Come on, Joe,” she said in a playful tone, green eyes dancing with mischief. “Paul can be third wheel.”

“Joey!” a chorus of young voices echoed out, and I watched as Ollie and Tadhg came thundering toward me.

Love them.

“Yeah, you were the bestest,” Ollie agreed, wrapping his arms around my waist. “Good job, Joe.”

“Is she your friend, Joe?” Ollie asked, looking back to me. “She’s pretty.” “I sure am his friend, Ollie. And aren’t you just adorable to call me pretty.” Her gaze flicked to me and she winked. “Joey thinks I’m pretty, too.” “Pretty fucking annoying,” I muttered under my breath.

“I want you to.” I want you, too…

“We’re having another baby, Joey.”

SEAN

I couldn’t look after the baby. But I couldn’t leave them to look after the baby, either. For fuck’s sake.

“I thought there was a cat in heat in your room with the noises you were making.”

I could do nothing but stare at his face and resist the urge to slap it—or kiss it. I wasn’t sure which.

“Exactly,” I cooed. “A lamb could never give you such good ear scratches. That boy is full of crap.” And sexy as hell.

“I know you do,” I replied, reaching up to rub the prickly fucker’s shoulder. “It’s okay. I forgive you.” Heat blazed in his eyes when he snapped, “I’m not sorry.” “I know.” Reaching up, I ruffled his blond hair and grinned. “I still forgive you.”

“Woo! Would you look at the ass on number six!”

Sitting on top of our team’s dugout, inside the fencing where she had no business being, Molloy winked down at me. “Nice moves.” “Nice legs,” I replied, feeling much more sated now than ten minutes ago.