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Either way, they were together for a really long time, even after everything
seemed to fall apart for Liz after her sister died. Hugh was the one she leaned on back then. Come to think about it, he was the only one she was willing to speak to for months.
Over time, Lizzie’s grief had taken ahold of her in ways none of us were equipped or mature enough to handle, and by the start of second year, Lizzie and Hugh’s relationship, along with a lot of her relationships with other friends, had completely unraveled.
she focused all of her pain on Gerard because of a rumor that involved his stepbrother.
“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.”
“She’s not a computer that needs resetting, Claire. It’s not that simple.”
“Yeah,” Shannon agreed, playfully slipping her arm through mine. “We’ve got his back.”
“After Caoimhe passed away.” Swallowing deeply, I pressed a hand to my brow and fought the internal panic clawing at me. “She was cutting for a while back then.”
she blames Gibs for what happened between Mark and Caoimhe.”
“I don’t need anyone to explain Lizzie Young’s coping mechanisms to me,” came his hard response. “I’m well versed in them.”
“Since I can’t take it.” He chuckled, still smiling down at me. “Can’t take what?” “Being touched there.” It was only then that I realized that I still had my hand in his shorts.
“You’re really for keeps, aren’t you?” “Just try to get rid of me.” Chuckling, he stood up from the sand in one swift move, taking my bestie with him. “I’ve got you, my little darling.” “And I’ve got you, Binding 13,”
securing this moment in time to memory because I didn’t want to ever forget this summer. Or this boy.
His brown nipples were pierced and adorned with itty-bitty silver hoops, and he had a tattoo on his left rib cage with the word Resilience in italic font that was decorated with a feather in black, and then a tiny Care Bear on his right hipbone.
Because this boy had always been my favorite boy. My favorite friend, person, human, everything.
“What the hell is that on your toast?” “Marmite,” Lizzie drawled slowly, taking another bite. Katie gaped in horror. “That’s so wrong!” “Maybe for you.”
“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?”
Katie stood up and walked away from the circle, and then, with a devastated look on his face, Hugh stood up and hurried after her.
“Hurt people hurt people,” Shannon continued. “She’s a hurt person. A hurt but very redeemable person.”
I trusted this boy with my life. Gerard wouldn’t kill me. After all, he’d promised to marry me before we both died.
knew from the very beginning that what Johnny had with Shannon was permanent. I’d never seen a fella plagued more by his feelings than Johnny. He loved the bones of that girl
Shannon Lynch was his endgame, and Johnny Kavanagh was hers.
My thoughts weren’t as clear as his, and my future wasn’t set in stone. It was blurred and changing every day. I didn’t know my own mind because I was afraid of it. To be in my head too much. To think too much. So, I didn’t. I didn’t think.
In her mind, Fa was short for father. In mine, it was short for fucking asshole.
Johnny Kavanagh was, at eighteen years old, one of the best rugby players in the country, and I had no doubt that given a few years, he would raise those stakes to be among the best in the world. He was that talented.
“My son Mark played outside center for Tommen back in the day,” the asshole himself continued to say, bragging and boring us to tears. “Of course, he didn’t turn professional like yourself.
since the academy frowns on rapists that drive teenage girls to suicide and all that jazz.
“I can’t put my finger on it, but there’s something about that man that just rubs me the wrong way,” Johnny said, lowering the volume on the stereo. That would be your good judgment, lad.
itty-bitty baby Joey.” “Joe said he has my nose,” Shannon gushed proudly, clasping her hands together. “He’s so beautiful, guys. And I know I haven’t met him yet, but I swear that I love him to death already.”
“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.”
Lizzie and Feely, of all people, had the weirdest argument at the beginning of break, which had resulted in Lizzie storming off.
“A lot you’d know about putting anything in girls’ mouths.” Lizzie was quick to defend me. “Get back in your box, asshole.”
All it took was one sexual innuendo at my expense to flip the trip-switch inside of his brain, causing him to erupt on his teammates in the middle of the lunch hall at Tommen.
“What’s your problem, Biggs?” “You’re my problem, O’Neill!” “Why me? Gibs is the one always stirring the shit pot!” “Yeah, well, he’s family!”
“Back the fuck up, Danny,” Johnny warned, pointing a finger at the boy who was still trying to goad Gerard into fighting. “We both know what’ll happen if I let him go.” Whoa. Seriously, I’d never heard him sound so furious.
“Now!” His tone was so full of authority in this moment that I found myself dropping into my chair for fear of getting in trouble. Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one to feel the pressure of the alpha’s siren.
was having the craic.” “You were insulting my girl.” “She’s not your girl, you spanner. She’s my sister.” “Stay out of this, Hugh. I’m defending my intended’s honor.”
“You’re always taking his side,” Lizzie snapped, throwing her hands up. “Every goddamn time, Claire.”
It hurt to be around Lizzie, to be the sole soundboard for her pain.
About the real reason her sister was dead. About what really happened that night.
“It’s all good, Gerard,” she added, smiling up at me. “You’re good.” No, I wasn’t. But I could pretend to be. For her.
“I’ll give you all my weekends, Claire Biggs,” His hand reached for mine, fingers entwining in that familiar way I treasured. “I’ll give you my weekdays, too.”
But being touched wasn’t so easy for me because I didn’t feel anything,
They’d be surprised if they knew the real me, the person I was beneath the surface, desperate for the kind of affection that I could control.
Sighing wearily, I placed my hands on my hips and observed his meltdown. Oblivious to my presence and with his back to me, Gerard continued to paint—or at least I presumed that was what he was attempting to do—his bedroom ceiling the most obnoxious canary yellow I’d ever seen.
It’s an act, my heart reminded me. Don’t let him trick you. All smiles and laughter. Hiding his heartbreak. Hiding his pain. I wanted to save him from his past. I wanted to love him through it all. I just wanted him.
I wasn’t sure how regular he was with taking his ADHD medication nowadays,
“Now, come on and help me. Put your own stamp on my ceiling.” Kind of like the stamp you’ve put on my heart?
“But I don’t want marry anyone.” Leaning closer, she licked my cone and smiled. “Except you…”
“You’re so beautiful,”
