Keeping 13 (Boys of Tommen, #2)

by Chloe Walsh

Johnny silenced me by putting his lips on mine. Stunned, I could do nothing but sag against him, giving him all of my weight and trusting him not to break me.

“You love his sister, and I love his sister’s best friend,” Gibsie replied, scrubbing Joey down with a sponge. “It’s safe to say that pussy got us into this, Kav.”

“That’s how you make me feel,” she whispered, blue eyes burning their way right down to my soul. “Better. Alive. Free. Safe. Important. I feel like I can breathe for the first time in days, and that’s only because you’re here—because I’m with you.”

“I love you,” he went right ahead and rocked my world by saying again. “Present tense—as in I mean it now. And maybe I shouldn’t be saying that, maybe I’m fucking everything up by telling you that when you’re in the middle of your family stuff, but it’s the truth.” He shrugged helplessly. “I’m in love with you. I think I’ve been that way for a while now—a long fucking while, if we’re being totally honest.” Exhaling shakily, he added, “And that scares the shit out of me worse than the thought of not making the U20s. You scare me more than anyone I’ve ever come up against on a pitch.”

“No, I mean a girl as kind, and caring, and trustworthy, and loyal as you,” he countered gruffly. “And beautiful. Jesus Christ, you are so fucking beautiful that it’s painful to look at you. I’ve never seen anything like you in my life.”

“It’s like you see me—and I see you. Christ, I think you saw through me that very first day on the pitch at school, because I sure as hell haven’t been the same since, Shannon. You don’t give a shite about rugby. It never fazed you and that threw me because I’m not used to that. I’m not used to having someone want me for…well, for me—but you did. And you took the time to notice me. To see things that no one else was seeing, things I didn’t want to acknowledge to myself.”

I’m sticking around because I need you.”

“What do you need from me, Shannon?” he croaked out, voice thick and husky. “I’ll give you anything you need, baby.” Shaking his head, he groaned like he was in pain. “I just…I want to make you happy.”

“You,” I whispered. “All of you.” “I’m already yours,”

from the very first day you walked into my life, you changed me. That very first time I saw you? You sparked to life something inside of me.” Releasing a heavy sigh, he shrugged again, eyes locked on mine. “And I haven’t been the same since.”

Being with her was an obsession that threatened to consume me daily.

“You’re my everything.”

“I’m taking them,”

“All of them.”

“That’s m-my Granda Murphy’s s-song,” she hiccupped. “You remember me t-telling you t-that?” “Yeah.” I remembered her telling me about her grandfather singing this song to her when she was frightened, and it was all I could do in this moment. “Should I stop?” “N-no.” Shannon shook her head. “D-don’t stop.”

“I’m here forever.”

“You are home.”

Stretched out on the flat of my back in the grass, I curled a strand of her hair around my finger and inhaled deeply, breathing her scent into my chest and then sighing in contentment.

“I could stay here forever,” she whispered,

Getting onto the U20s squad had been my plan for so long, and I was starving for my shot. I’d earned it. I wanted it. Jesus, of course I wanted it. More than almost anything in the world. Just not more than her.

“You did it!” she cried and then threw her arms around me. “You made it, Johnny!” Scrambling onto my lap, she wrapped her arms and legs around me and squealed. “Oh my god, I’m so proud of you.”

“I’m scared to take this and lose you.”

“I’m yours, too,” she promised. “You can have both.”

“I want you to chase your dreams and show the world how amazing you are.”

“You two are made for each other,” Katie chuckled. “It’s so adorable.” “Don’t tell them that, babe,” Hughie growled. “You’ll give them ideas.”

“But don’t forget that you’ll always be my 13.”

“My binding 13.”

“You heard about that?”

“Yeah.”

“I ...

You’re in my mind all the time, Shannon. My heart, too. You did something to me all those months ago. I think you broke me, because I’ve not been right since.

“Shannon, I love you, and I’ll be home soon.”