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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.
“It’s the age-old trope. There’s always a reason why the good girl lusts after the chemically dependent bad boy.”
This boy possessed all of the terrible traits that mothers warned their daughters about. Every bad, wrong, and dirty teenage-boy characteristic wrapped up in a perfect, fucked-up package.
“Then one of these days, I’m going to hunt you back.”
“My boss’s daughter is my girlfriend.” Laughing, I patted him on the shoulder. “That she is.”
“You forget that I’ve known you since you were a small boy of twelve,” he reminded me as he steered us toward the back door. “I remember looking at this small scrap of a lad standing in the garage, down on his luck and with the weight of the world on his shoulders. That small boy asked me for a chance that day,” he added, voice thick with emotion. “I took a chance on that boy, and I’m glad that I did because the man that small boy turned into is a man who I am damn proud of.”
“Don’t hate me, Molloy,” Joey mumbled, falling into the passenger seat the moment I let him go to open the car door. “You’re all I have to wake up for in the morning.”
Excited, I snatched up the box and flipped the lid open. Resting against the velvet padding interior was a tiny silver locket with the date 30.08.99 on the front. “That date…” I blew out a shaky breath. “It’s—” “The first day of first year,” he explained quietly. “The first time I laid eyes on you, and the first time I understood what it meant to have my heart beating for someone outside of my family.”
“When I say I don’t love you,” he continued, nuzzling his face in my neck, “it’s the furthest thing from the truth.”
“Because I want to look that bastard in the eyes and show him that you have someone ready and willing to go to war both with you and for you.”
Being in love with someone hell-bent on self-destructing was such a lonely place to exist.
“Because you might not love yourself, but I do. I love you enough for the both of us,”
“Because I feel like I’m dying when I’m with you, and I feel like I’m dead when I’m not.”
“Which means that I’m going to keep on loving you, Joey Lynch. So you might want to start thinking about how to stop breaking my heart.”
Pulling the sleeves of my jumper down over my hands, I shivered from the cold as my gaze raked over my bedroom floor, eyes searching for the familiar key ring. Don’t do it, my pride warned. Don’t be so desperate. Oh my god, do it! my heart encouraged. You know he still loves us. Eyes landing on my car keys, I quickly snatched them up and hurried out of my room. Yay, you’re going to do it, my heart cheered. You can leave me at the door, my pride declared, checking out on me. This is beyond pathetic.
