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“From this moment on, you are dead to me. All your shit? Handle it yourself. The next time he hits you? I won’t be there to shield you. The next time he drinks all the money and you can’t feed the kids or get the electricity switched back on? Find some other asshole to get cash from. The next time he throws you down the staircase or breaks your fucking arm in one of his whiskey tantrums? I’ll turn a blind eye just like you did right here in this kitchen. From this day on, I won’t be there to protect you from him, just like you weren’t there to protect us.”
“Listen, I texted your dad,” he told me. “He’s on the way, Johnny, lad. He’ll help us.” “Good,” I replied, tone clipped, as I tried to catch my breath and process this. “I’m going to need him to take my case when I go down for murder.” “Think he’ll represent me, too?” Gibsie asked. Shrugging, he added, “When you’re embarking on hell, it’s always good to have a buddy.”
Do you hear me? I’m here, I’m in, I care, and I’m not going the fuck away.”
baby?”
“Well, you asked me earlier if there was a chance I’d ever forgive you?” Swallowing, I clutched the edge of the mattress, looked my mother dead in the eyes and whispered, “Drive him away and the answer will be never again.”
I knew that car. It belonged to Gerard Gibson. And wherever Gibsie was… “Then go for it, because I’m not going anywhere, asshole!” an achingly familiar voice with a thick Dublin accent boomed. “Go right ahead and call the fucking Gards, because quite frankly, I’d love to speak to them.” Johnny.
“It’s safe to say that pussy got us into this, Kav.”
“I don’t need better,” I said softly. “I like pizza.” But I love you.
“If you had a million quid in your arse pocket, I wouldn’t have you pay for me,”
“You and me,” I whispered, shivering. “Those things you said to me at the hospital. All those other times, too. I conjured you up in my mind and I concentrated on your face. I imagined your voice in my head and just kept you there—in my mind. Talking to me. Keeping me calm. Making me feel”—my breath hitched and I had to take a steadying breath before finishing—“safe.”
“I don’t just like you. I fucking—” Shaking his head, Johnny rubbed his jaw before looking back at me. “Shannon, I love you.” I stopped breathing. “You love me?” He nodded slowly, blue eyes locked on mine. “Like, a crazy fucking amount.” “Really?” “Really,” he confirmed.
“I love you,”
“I’ll give you anything you need, baby.”
“Are there any more Lynch children in my house, Jonathan?”
Neither one moved. I glanced back at Shannon’s wary face and then to her brother, and my blood heated to the point of turning to lava in my veins. Jesus Christ, what the fuck did those people do to these kids?
A crazy fucking amount. X
I’m not going anywhere. And I meant it. I promise. X Just text me when you wake up, let me know you’re okay. X I miss you. X Can you call me? Can I call you? Are you free to talk? X
Boom, Boom, Fucking Boom, Buddy
suppose now’s a good time to tell you that I get a little obsessed with the things I love, huh?” There was that word again.
“It’s like a Great Dane and a Chihuahua trying to mate, but they somehow make it work.”
“Back off, buddy,” Claire warned, coming to stand beside me. “I have a weapon—” She pointed over Darren’s shoulder. “He’s right over there and I’m not afraid to call him.”
She was calling for reinforcements.
“Have at it, bulldozer—and don’t forget your crutch.”
“I fucked it, baby.”
I was a saint. No joke.
drank hot chocolate with her friend, I made the small talk, I provided the reassurance I knew she needed from me, and I reined in Gibsie as best I could, and I did all this with the worst case of blue balls known to man.
“Hey, I’m all you’ve got, thirteen,” Shannon called back, grinning. “So don’t mock me.”
“I’m not in your corner, Shannon,” Johnny replied in a gruff tone. “I’m standing right beside you.”
“I know, baby.”
“Crisis averted. Everyone breathe.” “What the fuck is wrong with you, Joey?”
“If you keep it up—if you force them apart—he will lose his shit. Draw a battle line with that fucker and he will go to war with you.”
“I needed to know you were safe.”
“Because you were up late bumping uglies with your girlfriend?” Gibsie teased,
“But for the record, I think you’re really smart.” His brows shot up. “Me?” “You,” I confirmed quietly before slipping out of the room.
“If I had one of those, it would be sticking up, too,” she blurted out, cheeks pink.
“I’m right here, baby.”
“Come on, Shan. Let’s go make some bleeding babies.”
Was he picking a fight with me over my birthplace? Jesus…
“You have issues,” Gibsie accused, sounding horrified. “You have serious fucking issues with taking things that aren’t yours. You’re like a kleptomaniac but with humans!”
“Yep, so you might want to call your husband and see if he’s familiar with child abduction cases,” Gibsie replied for me.
“Because we’re going gardening, girls,” Claire replied breezily.
“Your pooch?” I frowned. “You call it a pooch?”
while throwing a silent prayer to the heavens, thanking Jesus for my fucking fantastic best friend and his forward thinking.
Smiling at her, I attempted to close my bedroom door, but she held a hand up, stopping me in my tracks.
mentally debating if Shannon would break up with me if I hauled ass and ran while I still could because this woman was going to cut my dick off.
“I’m here, Mrs. Kavanagh,” Shannon croaked out, peeking out from between my legs. “Sorry?” “Shannon.” Mam blew out a ragged breath. “Come on out from under the bed, please.” “I kind of can’t, Mrs. Kavanagh,” Shannon squeezed out. “Why not?” “Because I’m kind of naked,” she choked out,
“Don’t worry, Shannon’s mammy.” A blond head popped through the sunroof of the Audi, with a shit-eating grin attached to it. Grinning widely, Gibsie waggled his brows and said, “He’ll take good care of your little girl,” before disappearing back into the car and cranking the stereo to the max. Popping back up once more, he threw himself into the chorus of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin,” as he sang at the top of his lungs and made suggestive hand movements, all directed at my mother.
“I know, right?” Gibsie shot back, grinning. “It was getting a little heavy for a Monday morning, and it just felt right. Like an urge or something.”
“I’m in the same car as you, asshole,” Gibsie growled. “I can clearly hear your conversation. What do you want me to do? Stick my head out the window and bark at the traffic like a dog?”
