Redeeming 6 (Boys of Tommen, #4)

by Chloe Walsh

When the words, “Nice legs,” filled my ears, I froze in my bedroom doorway. Froze and peed myself.

“Are you in labor?” “Depends,” I cried, throwing my arms around him when he reached me. “Are you really here?” “I’m here, queen.”

“Then yeah, Joe,” I sobbed, clutching onto him as another contraction started to build up inside of me. “I’m definitely in labor.”

“Yeah, I’m going to need you to let me out of this car,” Gibsie announced, dry-heaving from the front seat as he drove like a maniac toward the city. “Like right fucking now!” “You’re driving the bleeding car, ya bollox,” Johnny

“Talking down to me like she knows everything.” Glaring at the sat nav attached to the dashboard of his car, he shouted, “What the fuck do you know about it? Huh? You’re not even from Ireland!” “It’s a bot, Gibs, not an actual person,” Johnny tried to explain. “Don’t take it personal.”

And then he opened his eyes and looked at me. And I was done. My heart no longer beat for me. For the rest of my days, it would beat entirely for the child in my arms. Fuck.

I sleep well at night knowing that I have a grandson like you in the world.

“Thanks for my baby, queen. You still take the air clean out of my lungs.”

“It’s my turn, Molloy.” He kissed my hair. “To look after you.”

“Actually, we decided to name our son after the man who raised the both of us,” I confirmed quietly. “Because, let’s face it, the only man I ever had to show me the way was your husband.”

“And tell your old fella that your grandad has a Burdizzo on hand if he gets any notions about giving you a brother or sister before he finishes his apprenticeship and puts a ring on your mother’s finger.” “Burdizzo?” Casey frowned. “The hell is that?” “It’s what they use on farms to sever a bull’s testicular cord,” I strangled out, thinking back to something Podge once told me. “You can tell your grandfather that you’re going to be an only child.”

It was her. It always had been. It always would be. The girl from the wall.

“I’m going to take care of you,”

“Because I lo...

“Because I think you’re sex...

“Because you’re m...

“And because everything I have, everything I am, I owe to you.”

“He’s my brother,” a familiar voice snapped, and I swung around to find Shannon, of all people, standing up to a group of girls in the hallway. “And you shouldn’t believe everything you hear.” “Is he single?” “You’re not his type.” “What’s his type?” “His girlfriend.” I smirked to myself. Well, this was a turnup for the books. She was defending me.

“He’s probably riddled with HIV,” the girl beside him sneered. “Trust me when I tell ya, Buckley, that the best part of you ran down your father’s leg,” a familiar voice shot back in defense, and I turned in the direction of where Gibsie was pulling out the empty chair beside him.

I had a girlfriend and a son to go home to that I wouldn’t have if she hadn’t taken a second to talk me down from the edge that night. The thought of what could have happened—what would have happened—if she hadn’t intervened meant that I would be forever indebted to her. My son had a father because of her, and whenever the shit hit the fan for her, because it would hit the fan, then she would have my backing.

Yeah, for the rest of the school year, she would come under the same umbrella that Tadhg and Shannon did. “Well, if it isn’t the broken boy and the comeback

think you have the loneliest blue eyes I’ve ever seen, and looking at you hurts, but not nearly as much as being near you hurts. Your fractured pieces are sharp and jagged and cut anyone who gets too close.”

“Trigger,” I roared, slapping a hand over my eyes two seconds too late. “Trigger, trigger, get-your-fucking-dick-out-of-my-baby-sister trigger!”

“Get out of her, you big, overgrown bastard. You’ll break her!”

“For fuck’s sake, Shannon, why’d you have to tell me that?” I hissed, stomach churning in disgust as I staggered blindly for the door. “I only wanted a spin to Aoife’s place, not another reason to be in therapy.”

“Yeah, I know,” I coaxed, upping the pace of the patting. “You need to take a big shit, don’t ya? Come on, big man. Get it out. Daddy’s here.”

“I can do this,” I continued to argue. “I can look after Aoife and AJ. I can, Trish, and what’s more, I will. We’re a family. We’re going to be together, and that’s not going to start when you decide that I’m stable enough. It starts now.”

“And the boy’s right. They’re a little family.” “And if he lets her down again?” “I’ve a shovel in the backyard that we can use to bury him with.”

You’re the glue. The three of us are here together because of you.” He squeezed my hand again. “AJ wouldn’t be here without you, and neither would I. So, don’t doubt yourself because you’re temporarily out of steam. The only reason you’ve been running on fumes in the first place is because you’ve spent your entire pregnancy picking up the slack for me.” His words curled around my heart, and I shivered. “Joe, it’s okay. I understand. You were sick.” “Yeah, I was,” he agreed. “And I can’t change that part of our story, but I can lighten the load for you now. I can step up now, Aoife, so let me do it, okay?” He cast a glance in my direction, imploring me with his clear green eyes to listen to him. “Let me take care of you.”

don’t deserve your forgiveness,” he replied, voice thick and gruff. “But I will earn it. Because whatever comes our way, from here on out, I’ll be right beside you.” He nuzzled my nose with his before pressing a kiss to my lips. “Because in this version of forever, we get the happy ending, Molloy.”

“For you. Because if you put that weapon of mass temptation anywhere near me without a condom, I’ll cut the damn thing off.” “Sounds like foreplay, Molloy,” Joey purred, prowling after her when she raced back into the bedroom.

But like a phoenix rising from the ashes, my brother was reborn the day his son took his first breath. Joey was living for himself now. For his little family.

Joey Lynch and Aoife Molloy: both full of flaws and humanly imperfect and yet so undeniably perfect for each other.