Taming 7 (Boys of Tommen, #5)

by Chloe Walsh

“Caoimhe wasn’t the one who was raped!” Claire screamed at the top of her lungs, and I swear to god my heart stopped dead in my chest. “It wasn’t her, Lizzie! Mark didn’t rape your sister!” And then, she blew my world when she pointed a finger at me and screamed, “He raped my boyfriend!”

“Because I’m fine, Claire! Do you hear me? I’m okay, dammit. I am always okay, Claire!”

“I don’t want to be your friend anymore.” “You don’t mean that.” “Yeah, I do.” Tears trickled down his cheeks as he cried. “I’m not your boyfriend, Claire Biggs, and I’m not your friend.”

His voice cracked and I watched as this huge boy, with limitless popularity and pull, broke down in front of us. “Fuck!” Head bowed, he clutched at his hair and continued to stare at the letter. “Fuck, Gibs.” A pained cry escaped him. “Not you, lad.” His big shoulders racked with shudders. “Not fucking you, Gibs!”

Kill me.

“Don’t believe me. Label me as a liar. If hating me fills a hole in your heart, then you go right ahead and hate me, but don’t expect me to wait around and take your shit anymore. Because I’m done with it all. Including you.”

His hand was on the back of my neck, pinning my face into the mattress. “Daddy,” I tried to scream, but he couldn’t hear me all the way from heaven. “Come back and take me with you.” “Just stay down and take it, you little bastard!” “It hurts,” I strangled out, my body bowing in agony when I felt something impale me from behind, ripping my small body in half. “That’s it,” he grunted as he continued to hurt me, pushing me, deeper, harder, rougher. “I’ll make a fucking man out of you, ya little pussy.” “Stop.” I was crying. I knew I was. My mouth was open, I could feel tears trickling down my cheeks, but my voice wasn’t coming out. “Please stop.” Numb, I felt the life leave my body, fading quicker every time he rammed his privates into mine, as the pain grew worse, and my mind started to wander away…

Curled up in a ball on my bed, I watched as he stood over me and zipped up his school trousers. He wore the ones the older boys wore. The boys who went to secondary school. “You know the score, baby brother.” Sitting down on the edge of my bed, he pushed my hair out of my face and reached between my legs. “Keep your mouth shut and I’ll keep going easy on you.” Trembling, I didn’t dare answer him or look in his direction. I knew better. I knew what happened when I didn’t behave. When I didn’t give him what he wanted. “Good boy. You’re always okay, aren’t ya?” He stroked my cheek and then stood back up. “I’ll see you tomorrow night.” I waited until my door was closed before checking myself over and pulling my Power Rangers pajamas bottoms into place, shuddering when my hand emerged with the familiar sight of blood…

IS THIS WHY HE HATES BLOOD?

“I’m going to marry you when I’m a big girl,” she told me, reaching across to press her Barbie’s face to my action figure. “You’ll be my shiny prince in the white garner, and I’ll be the princess.” When she grinned at me, I felt my lips smile back. Because she didn’t have any front teeth and I thought she looked so silly. “You’re really going to marry me?” “Uh-huh.” Her brown eyes were big and happy, and she smelled like sunshine. “I’m going to take you to my castle in the North Pole, where we can build snowmen all day and Santa flies over our castle every night to give us presents.” “Does your castle have a chimney?” “Hmm, don’t think so.” “Then how is Santa going to leave us presents?” “Santa’s supersmart,” she explained. “He’ll get your daddy to fly down from heaven and use magic to open the door…”

“Why would you say that?” Leaping off the couch, Caoimhe moved as far away from me as she could get. Like I was dirty. Like I was bad. “Are you telling lies, Gerard Gibson? Because that is the worst, most awful thing you could say about a person.” “I don’t know,” I heard myself reply. “You don’t know if you’re telling lies or you don’t know why you said it?” she demanded, hands on her hips. “I’ll give you one more chance to tell the truth.” Her eyes looked so mad. “Then I’m telling your family what you said.” “I…” I shook my head, feeling so sad because I knew what she wanted me to say, and I wanted to please her. She was my favorite babysitter. She told the best bedtime stories, and nobody came in my room when she was here. I didn’t want her to go. “I…” Frowning, I thought really hard about what to do, trying to find the words that would make her happy and like me again. “I…was…making a joke?” “Oh, thank god!” She sighed out this big, loud breath and then she came back to me. “You must never say things like that, Gibs.” She sat down on the couch beside me. “I know I was your babysitter before I was Mark’s girlfriend, but you can’t make up stories about him because you’re jealous…”

bad and she’s bawling her eyes out.” “See?” the blond in the office encouraged, pressing the palm of my hand against her breast. “That feels nice, doesn’t it?” I nodded slowly. “Have you touched a woman before?” I shook my head. “Do you like how it feels?” I nodded again. “You’re so cute.” Smiling, she reached for my other hand and pushed it into the waistband of her skirt. “You can practice on me if you want…”

“Alright, class, eyes to the front of the room,” Mr. O’Donovan ordered when he walked into our classroom on Monday morning with a tall, dark-haired boy in tow. “We have a new boy joining the class,” he explained, clapping the tall boy on the shoulder. “This is Jonathan Kavanagh. He and his family moved down from Dublin this past summer, and I want you all to make your best effort to make him feel welcome.” He squeezed the scowling boy’s shoulder again. “From what I hear, we can expect great things from this one on the rugby pitch.” Turning to the boy, he said, “Kavanagh, why don’t you take a seat down the back of the class with young Gibson,” before pointing at me. Still scowling, the boy sauntered through the rows of desks with his head in the air. I knew the lads would say it made him look like a cocky fucker, but I thought it was great. Dropping his schoolbag on the floor next to mine, he pulled his chair back and sank down, still scowling, still looking like he thought he was too good for the rest of us. “How’s it going?” Robbie Mac whispered, turning around from the desk in front of us to introduce himself. “Robbie.” “Johnny,” the boy sitting next to me acknowledged with a polite nod. “So, you’re into the rugby, are ya, Johnny?” His lips tipped up in a small smirk. “You could say that.” “Well, me and some of the other lads from class usually have a game after school on Mondays. You should come.” “What about you?” It took me a moment to realize that he was addressing m...

OMG HIM MEETING JOHNNY

My walking heartbeat.

“We all love ya.” Sniffling, he pulled me closer and pressed a kiss to the top of my head. “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had, and I love the fucking bones of you, ya mad eejit.” He choked out a pained laugh. “And if you think this is going to chase me off, then you’ve another thing coming, fucker, because I’m never leaving you. Do ya hear me? Because you’re my Gibs.” “And you’re my Kav.”

I'M SOBBING

Keith Allen had filled his Land Rover with his belongings before he too left the street. In the opposite direction.

Is he gone too? Please. Keith sucks

A legal separation had already been put in motion, and Sadhbh had decided it best to remove her son from the home until all traces of Keith and his son had been wiped away.

THANK GOD

“He’s always called me sunshine, Hugh, but knowing what we do now, knowing how badly he suffered in silence and continued to smile?” I shook my head and exhaled a shaky breath. “I don’t think there’s another person on this earth more deserving of the title.”

“He’s Team Gibsie until the end of time.” “Yeah,” I replied, readjusting both bags on my back. “Me too.”

But the lines had been drawn. And I would forever stand with this boy. After all, taming 7 had been the adventure of my lifetime.