Taming 7 (Boys of Tommen, #5)

by Chloe Walsh

Hugh said that Gerard’s daddy, Joe, was in the big brown one and his sister, Bethany, was in the little white one.

My daddy got Gerard out of the water.

“I prayed for it to be you,” I said quickly, needing to tell him all the things I had saved up in my head since the boat. Since the drowning. “When they said someone had been saved from the water. I prayed for it to be you.” He choked out a sob and turned to look at me. “You d-did?”

Already crying

I nodded. “I promised God I would do all the good things in the world if he brought you back.” I beamed at him. “And he listened.”

I opened my mouth to complain, but Gerard answered for me. “Please don’t take her away from me.”

“That’s okay, Gerard.” I smiled extra hard to make him feel better. “I thought you were the bestest.”

school.” “Just stay.” He squeezed my hand. “That helps.” “It does?”

“It’s okay, though, because your daddy is with her, so he’ll keep her safe.” “What about me?” he whispered as a lone tear trickled down his cheek. “Who’ll keep me safe?” “I will, silly,” I replied, releasing his hand so that I could give him a hug. “I’ll keep you safe, Gerard.”

Im bawling

“I mean it,” he urged, turning to look at me now. “I can’t lose another person I love.” “You love me?” He nodded sadly as another tear trickled down his cheek. “I love you most of all.”

“You know, Gerard, if you ever get super sad, I can be your sister, too. Hugh won’t mind sharing.” “You can’t be my sister, Claire.” “Why not?” “Because you can’t have the hots for your sister.” “You’ve got the hots for me?” My tummy flipped like a pancake again. “Not Lizzie? Because I heard Hugh say that she’s super pretty once.” “Lizzie? Ugh. No way,” he grumbled, lip curling up in disapproval. “I don’t see Lizzie.” “You don’t?” “I don’t see anyone.” His lips tipped up in the smallest of smiles before he added, “Except for you.”

Tears

“Yep.” I beamed at him. “You can hold my hand forever.” “You promise?” “Uh-huh.” I yawned, feeling sleepy. “I promise.”

Her senses became my senses, and I found a way to anchor myself in the moment.

Get out of her bedroom, asshole. Get your shit together. You have no right to lean on her like this.

Being happy was a decision I made for myself and, miraculously, it helped. It wasn’t real, I didn’t truly feel that way, but I was a firm believer in faking it until you made it. After all, I would be dead without the sentiment.

It was like anything I had ever manifested for my life. Even if it didn’t necessarily come true right away, I acted like it had until it did.

Real

I wanted to be talented like Johnny, to be smart like Hugh, to be creative like Patrick, therefore I did and was all those things.

Why be fucked-up Gerard when I could be Gibsie the fuckup? It couldn’t hurt when I was Gibsie, because Gibsie was my armor, and humor was my sword.

I didn’t think too much about the words that came out of my mouth. I usually said whatever was on my mind at the time, and that formed the person I had become in the minds of my friends. I was naturally self-deprecating, never purposefully cruel, and my attitude made people laugh. My mouth spurted shit at the expense of my own character, like a cloak of self-sabotaging protection.

If drugs were to Joey Lynch what Claire Biggs was to me, then there was no amount of rehab that could sway me to kick the habit. Because she was the habit of my lifetime.

Joey mentioned

Because I didn’t feel things with girls. I never felt anything. I was numb to the point of being dead, and if I didn’t feel things with Claire, then it would confirm that my past had truly broken me beyond repair.

I wanted to waste my time on her. All of my time. All of the time.

“Any chance of some breakfast in bed for your favorite brother-in-law?” And there it was. His mask. The divide that separated the sensitive boy I adored from the humorous one all our other friends enjoyed.

It slipped effortlessly into place. Gibsie belonged to the rest of the world. Gerard belonged just to me.

Being alone fucked with my head worse than anything else. Because being alone meant that I had to think. And I fucking hated thinking.

“Gibs, I’d let my ma adopt the whole bleeding school if it meant that I got to keep that girl.”

Johnny

“I’m not the one, Claire,” Hugh choked out and I watched as a full-body shudder rippled through him. “Not this time. Not anymore. I can’t keep saving…” Dropping his head in his hands, he sucked in a sharp breath, shoulders slumped. “I have Katie now… I can’t do this with her again.”

Lizzie

“He only sees the parts of her he wants to see,” Hugh spat out. “He won’t do a damn thing, Claire, which suits Liz perfectly, considering that’s the only reason she’s with him.”

“Hi, Gibs,” the smallest of the three acknowledged with a shy smile. “Little Shannon.” I smiled warmly at my best friend’s girl as she stood in my front hall, armed with what I knew was a mountain of picnic food—courtesy of Mammy K—all ready for a day at the beach.

Shannon

Good day. Good day. Good day. I was manifesting the hell out of it.

Manifesting king

I hope so. “I’m going to miss this,” I changed the subject by saying. “I wish we lived in a world where summer never ended.” “But then we wouldn’t have autumn,” Shan offered, happy to follow my lead. “And you know how much we love Octobers.” “True,” I agreed dreamily. “Woolly jumpers and falling leaves.” “Hot chocolate and Halloween,” she added with a wistful sigh. “Bonfires.” “Dark evenings.”

True

“Okay, new plan. Let’s build a world full of Octobers.” “Now that’s a world I want to live in,” Shan agreed.

“But I knew, Shan. I knew something was wrong in your house,” I confessed, repeating a conversation we’d had a couple of times this summer. “I didn’t do anything about it, and the guilt is still eating me.”

“I know, baby,” Johnny, who was equally drunk, soothed as he rubbed soothing circles on her back. “Joey will be home on Monday.” “I just…I love him so much,” she mumbled, clawing and pulling at Johnny as if he would disappear at any minute. “Oh god, but my heart loves you most of all.” “Right back at you, Shannon like the river.” “You’re really for keeps, aren’t you?”

Joey

He had darkness in his life and so much pain, but he kept the most beautiful sunny disposition about him. It was incredibly humbling to be around the boy. To know all he had endured in his short life and that he still woke up with a smile on his face in the morning.

“Ha. Funny,” Lizzie drawled, smacking his hand away. “Touch my hair again and lose your fingers.” “I was only joking, Liz. Chill.” “And while you’re at it, go fuck yourself.”

“Yeah, because stick and stones will break my bones and words will make me starve myself to death.” Lizzie narrowed her eyes. “Isn’t that how the saying goes?”

“I hear what you’re saying, Shan,” Johnny added. “But for me, I find it really hard to tolerate Lizzie’s behavior when I’ve seen how you carry yourself.” Shifting around in the back seat, he draped a protective arm around her shoulder. “You’ve been hurt more than anyone I’ve ever known, and still you spread kindness.

You know, since the academy frowns on rapists that drive teenage girls to suicide and all that jazz.

“This is our year, Shan. I can feel it in my bones! Autumn is a such a good season for me.”

“Look at that itty-bitty baby Joey.”

Joey

“Another Lynch boy.” “He’s not a Lynch, he’s a Joey.” “News flash, Joey’s a Lynch, Gibs.” “Nah, he’s a Joey. Like Bono. He doesn’t need a last name. Iconic.” “I think the term you’re searching for is infamous.”

Joey

Joey Lynch

Apparently, Ronan was suicidal enough to call Aoife Molloy a slut to a hothead like Joey Lynch’s face. Like come on. What the hell did he think would happen when he called the newly appointed mother of a man’s child that kind of name?

Joey lynch

“Exactly,” Johnny agreed, giving me a grateful look. “You know his mind wasn’t here anyway. He’ll have a couple of weeks off to spend with his family and then he’ll be back.”

“We both know what’ll happen if I let him go.” Whoa. Seriously, I’d never heard him sound so furious.

“Call me fat one more time and I’ll sit on you,” I warned, outraged. “I mean it, Hugh. It’s called being big-boned. And yeah, so I’ve put on a few pounds over the summer. Big deal. I can lose the weight, but you can’t lose that face, lad.”

“Can someone explain to me why Joey Lynch got a two-week suspension for hitting one rugby player, yet Thor incites an entire rugby team into brawling and gets off scot-free?” Lizzie demanded, folding her arms across her chest. “Seems to me like the patriarchy is in full working order at Tommen. Rich boys looking after rich boys and all that jazz.”

Joey and lizzie

After the rumor went around about her sister’s suicide note, I used to hold my breath when I saw her, waiting for her to tell the world the truth. When it didn’t happen, I started to suspect that she didn’t know the full story.

Poor lizzie

That’s why she didn’t know. That’s why none of them knew. That’s what I had to remember to forget.

“I want you to replace the memory of that day with this one.”