Redeeming 6 (Boys of Tommen, #4)

by Chloe Walsh

“But you are friends with my baby sister, which means that you could be forty and you’d still be a kid in my eyes.”

That’s exactly how I feel about anyone born in 2006 or after.

“No, no, no,” Mr. Ryan interjected, swiftly coming to block me. “You heard Mr. Nyhan, Joey. You’re on your last strike, son. No more fighting. He will expel you.” “Like I give a fuck,” I roared, pushing against the hands that were holding me back. “You saw that. You saw what he just did to her.”

Bro you’re still trying to get in trouble?

Sure, I had a smoke behind the shed with the lads at lunch today, same as always, but it was a cigarette and not a hit from Rambo Regan’s perfectly rolled joint, tempting as it had been.

“Sure, I had a burrito, take out from home as always, but it was one of those with processed cheese, meat heated up after days in the freezer, canned refried beans, and diablo sauce from Taco Bell, and not the ones with all hand made fresh ingredients beans, rice, (carne asada/pollo), guacamole, salsa tomatillo, pico de gallo, cilantro, and onions, at the Taquerias and taco trucks, tempting as it had been.” That’s what it actually sounds like.

I had a partner, a friend, a true equal who was willing to go down in flames with me. And my father took that away from me. He took her away from me.

I f*cking h8 teddy lynch so damn much.

Tears stung my eyes and I had never felt so fucking lost and hopeless. Mam feared me. Shannon felt betrayed by me. Molloy couldn’t stand the sight of me. The only three women I had ever loved in my whole life, and I was letting them down left, right, and center. I couldn’t seem to do the right thing by anyone. You are such a fuckup, lad.

I just wanna fucken cry reading that 😭

It was a report-card-type booklet assigned to the most disruptive students with the worst attitude problems and needed to be signed off by each teacher upon arrival to class and at the end. At the end of each day, the principal himself would have every student with a red book come to the office to have any or all comments received in their books checked over by him in person. As you can imagine, Joey had received more than his fair share of red books down through the years. Usually, a student, no matter how badly behaved, only had to carry around a red book for a week at the most at any given time. But I specifically remember Joey having one for the whole of second and third years without a break. Looking entirely unimpressed with whatever Miss Lane was saying to him as she pointed at the red book on her desk, Joey simply handed her a pen and folded his arms across his chest, waiting for the signature.

Ngl, I would like Chloe Walsh to write a BOT bonus book which is Joey’s Red Book, I’m nosy AF 👀

“Three and a half months!” My eyes widened and the panic I was feeling multiplied by about three and a half months’ worth. “Three and a half fucking months and I’m only hearing about it now?”

At least you found out about it while she’s pregnant, imagine finding out about it only after the baby is born 💀

“It’s like I have this whole other person in my head, a whole other voice, even though I know it’s me. It’s my voice, but it’s a destructive fucking voice that rears its head every time I’m stressed.”

“The worse shit gets in my life, the louder the voice gets, louder and louder and louder, until it’s literally screaming in my head, and I can’t focus on anything other than doing the one thing that I know that will quieten it down.”

Him: I’ll be sober Also him: *smokes something more harmful than the first drug he tried*

“I’ll get you a cigarette.”

Why the fuck is Marie promoting her son’s drug addiction?

“That girl over there looks like she’s in her early twenties, but that’s it. All these women are way older than me.”

I wanted to scream early 20s is also teen pregnancy but then remembered the book is set in 2005 and early 20s pregnancy was the norm then.

I wasn’t the instigator of the drama. No, that title had undisputedly fallen to our mother, who had made the fatal error of accusing some rich lady’s son of statutory rape. I mean, really? It was fucking embarrassing. There was only one rapist in our midst, statutory and otherwise, and it was the man she’d nestled down in bed with every night for the past twenty-four plus years. Fucking hypocrite.

100% agree

Stone-cold sober

This better include cigarettes

“And that guy right there is Mammy’s first boyfriend. Daddy likes to call him Paul the prick.”

I love how some parts of the series are still hilariously funny despite the series being heavy and emotional instead of a romcom.

Taking a deep drag of my cigarette, I looked around the garden, feeling beyond agitated.

NO! NO! NO! YOURE SUPPOSED TO BE SOBER FROM THAT SHIT TOO! 😭😭😭