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“You know fuck-all.” A cruel smile spread across his face. “He’s either going to end up killing himself or someone else.” “Then let’s hope it’s you.”
How he fathered five pretty epic humans was beyond me, but he had, and all four of his sons bore an uncanny resemblance to him.
“Meaning he’s too busy getting his hole off Sexy Legs to even think about getting high,” Alec snickered. “Jesus, her pussy must taste like ambrosia or whatever it is the gods eat— Ow, Jesus, fuck, don’t hit me with that.” Clutching the side of his head, he groaned, “Dammit, Joe, you’re lucky I’m wearing a helmet. You could have given me brain damage.” “No, you’re lucky you’re wearing a helmet,” I shot back, still wielding the boss of my hurl precariously close to his throat. “Next time you even think about my girl’s pussy, I’ll take the head clean off your shoulders, ya hear?”
“We’re taking some time out,” I forced myself to admit out loud to quite possibly the only person I trusted aside from the two girls in my life.
“Jesus, you really love her, don’t you?” More than life.
Pissed off, I stalked toward the group of rich pricks huddling at the sidelines of my goddamn pitch.
“Got a staring problem, assholes?” “Ah, Jesus,” Alec groaned, clutching the back of my T-shirt. “We’re going to die.”
“I don’t do friends,” I said coldly, sizing up each and every one of the overgrown bastards, with their designer clothes and expensive haircuts. “And I don’t do favors.” “Hey,” Alec huffed, folding his arms across his chest in outrage. “Thanks a fucking lot, friend. What am I? Dog shit?”
“It’s Gibsie, although my mother calls me Gerard—” “I don’t give a shit what your mother calls you,” I interrupted, leveling him a warning look.
“I know, I know, you’re not a dealer, blah, blah, blah. I heard ya,” he reeled off. “But if you could make an exception just for tonight, then I would really owe you one.” “You already owe me,” I muttered. “The last five minutes of my life that I’m never getting back.”
“Did you not hear me?” She gaped at me like I had lost my mind. “I said it’s going to be filled with rugby players, Aoife. Big, hot, sweaty, sexy rugby players.”
“You know that I would never hurt your pussy, Claire-Bear.” Yeah, he was a few crayons short of a full box.
“Best friend or not, if you put your hands on me again, I will rip your arm off,” I warned, batting his hand away.
Taking it all in with sober eyes, I briefly considered telling them that if they were trying to conceal a hookup they were doing a pretty terrible job, before remembering these assholes were not my monkeys and this was not my circus.
“You know, I used to have an epic crush on you when I was younger.” She didn’t blush or blanch when she said it either. Girl had an impressive pair of balls on her.
“Yeah, that’s Claire,” Katie replied. “She’s probably one of the sweetest girls that you’ll ever meet.”
“You’re honestly trying to tell me that those two aren’t in love?” “I never said they weren’t in love.” Chuckling, she added, “Only that they’re not together.”
“Want to hear a fun inside scoop going around the rugby circle?” “Not really.” “Well, I was forced to hear it, so you can, too.” “Please don’t.” “Apparently, Bella’s been sleeping with Cormac since before Christmas, even though she’s meant to be with Johnny Kavanagh, but he’s out on injury.” “Oh, the scandal,” I replied flatly. “What life-changing information I have been given about three people I couldn’t give one single fuck about. How will I ever contain my excitement?”
The boy was built like a brick shithouse, with both nipples pierced and more muscles on his body than he had common sense in his head.
While the rest of his friends had long since abandoned their girlfriends and dates, Gibsie hadn’t taken more than three steps away from Claire all night.
Our eyes met, green on green, and he winked at me from across the room. And just like that, I was ruined.
“You can’t tell me what to do, Joe,” I growled, feeling a combination of drunk and dizzy. “You don’t own me.” “Well, that’s bad fucking luck on my account, because you sure as shit own me!” Drunk or not, his words hit me like a wrecking ball to the chest. Feeling the air whoosh from my lungs, I glared up at him, feeling a torrent of emotions crashing through me. “Why would you say that to me?” “Because it’s the truth.” “Since when?” “Since I was twelve.”
“This round?” Defiant as always, she looked up at me with those ridiculously sexy green eyes and arched a perfectly groomed brow. “I always win, Joe.” Yeah, she did, even when it wasn’t good for her.
Because every part of me loved every part of her. The good, the bad, and the ugly.
Taking my hand in hers, she led me onto the dance floor, and like the habit of a lifetime, I followed after her, knowing that this girl was by far my greatest addiction.
“Stop trying to protect me and start making me happy,” she countered, eyes locked on mine. “Because it’s time to pick your poison, Joey Lynch.”
“It’s you,” he repeated gruffly, fingers tightening on my waist. “I pick you. Every single time.”
“I know I have a fucked-up way of expressing myself, and I don’t show it like I should. But it’s true. I don’t want to do anything to hurt you, yet most of the time, that’s exactly what I end up doing.”
“I’ll love you the right way this time,” he whispered, and his breath fanned my cheek. “If you’ll show me how.”
“What I did at Christmas? How far I went? It scared the shit out of me, and all I could think about was if I didn’t get you away from me, I would end up destroying my world, because that’s what you are to me, Aoife. You’re my whole goddamn world wrapped up in one girl. So, yeah, maybe I’ve gone about it entirely the wrong way, but all I’ve ever tried to do is protect you.”
“I’m not your mother or your sister. I’m not another girl who needs something from you. I’m the girl who wholeheartedly wants you. I’m the girl who wholeheartedly loves you. The hurler. The mechanic. The boy. The protector. The asshole. The lover. The addict.”
“But I have a purse in the living room big enough to smuggle a bottle back to my place.” He stopped in the hallway and turned to face me. “Should we, though?” “Someone’s going to end up drinking it.” I shrugged. “Why shouldn’t it be us?” He studied my face for a long moment before making his decision. “Get your bag,” he instructed. “I’ll get the bottle.” “Already on it,” I replied, bumping his fist with mine as we moved in opposite directions.
Shirtless, and propped up against the wall his bed was aligned against, Joey had his head tilted sideways as he slept. He had one hand balled into a fist at his side, while the other hand hung limply around his brother’s waist. Protecting him even in sleep.
“You’re grand, I promise,” Joey mumbled, eyes still closed as he tightened his arm around the little guy, and my heart squeezed tight at the sight. “Just close your eyes, Seany-boo.”
“Ugh,” I groaned. “Why? What did I do?” “Smoking.” He gave me a hard look. “Not cool, Molloy.” “Yeah, okay,” I snorted. “Like you can talk.”
“Molloy, I can assure you that you are insanely sexy.” “I am?” “Absolutely,” he replied and then choked out another laugh. “Especially when you have champagne bubbles coming out of your nose.” “Oh, fuck right off,” I snapped, grabbing a pillow from behind my back and smacking him over the head with it.
“So, boys can listen,” I mused, readjusting the waistband of his boxers he’d clearly dressed me in last night. “I thought that was just a myth.”
“No, I can’t,” Joey replied slowly. “Sunday is my only day off, and I’m spending it with my girlfriend.” Ha-ha-ha-ha! Giving her a sweetly smug fuck-you smile, I leaned up on my tiptoes and pressed a kiss to her son’s cheek.
Where she saw weakness, I saw strength. Where she saw fear, I saw resilience. Unlike me, Shannon didn’t need to alter her mind to survive the world we lived in. She thought she was the weakest link in the family chain, when it couldn’t be further from the truth. My sister was titanium.
Feeling panicked when she finally worked up the courage to release me and shrug on her coat, I busied myself with scratching my chest, anything to stop myself from throwing her over my shoulder and locking her in her room where I could keep her safe.
“Tadhg, Ols? Let’s go, lads. It’s time for school,” as I shifted into daddy mode and got the rest of my brood sorted.
From the tender age of nine or ten, Joey Lynch had been knocking on Shane Holland’s door, treating him like his own personal doctor, seeking help and finding it in the worst form. And, like a black-market pharmacist, Shane had been more than willing to take advantage of a vulnerable child from a broken home.
Breathing hard and fast, he used the hem of his jersey to wipe his face, and the move gave me a glorious glimpse of his toned stomach, while his teammates celebrated the win. The moment he noticed me watching him, a slow smile spread across his face. Cupping my hands around my mouth, I called out, “Nice abs.” “Nice legs,” he called back with a wink, and just like that, I was ruined.
“Hey, stud.” “Hey, queen.” “Queen?” My eyes danced with delight as I reached for the waistband of his sweats. “Now you’re talking my language.”
“Because I’ve got serious wifey feelings for you.” “Jesus, baby.” Flipping me onto my back in one swift movement, he was back between my legs, pushing inside me. “Don’t play with me.”
“Jesus,” Alec groaned from beside me. “I know you’ll kill me for saying this, but I would do pretty much anything to get between those—” “You’re right. Finish that sentence and I will kill you.”
“Thank you?” It seemed like the appropriate phrase given that she had blown my world with her tongue. “Seriously, thank you.” “Such good manners,” she teased, reaching up to pat my cheek before moving for the door. “Don’t worry, pookie. I plan on cashing in my love chip later.”
Whether it was to compliment her or not, I knew my role in this relationship and had my lines rehearsed off by heart… Hey, Joe, have I put on weight? Where? Your imagination? Hey, Joe, does my belly jiggle? You’d have to have a belly for it to jiggle, and you clearly don’t. Hey, Joe, you think she has a better figure than me? Nobody has a better body than you.
Girls were dangerous creatures with hidden meanings behind every word they spurted, and Molloy was no exception to the rule.
“I swear those damn things do more damage to girls than Ouija boards.” Molloy laughed. “How can you compare a weighing scale to a Ouija board?” “Easy.” I shrugged. “They both summon demons.”
