Releasing 10 (Boys of Tommen, #6)

by Chloe Walsh

“She doesn’t believe me, Hugh,” I said when my sister slammed the front door behind her. “It doesn’t matter what she believes,” he growled, tucking my hand in his as he glowered at his closed front door. “You’re telling the truth.” “I am?” “Yeah, Liz.” When his eyes flicked to mine, I could see the sympathy pouring out of them. “You are.” “Okay.” I blew out a shaky breath, and Hugh gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. “Okay.”

I invited Shannon too, but she didn’t come. I wasn’t surprised about that. She never came to Claire’s sleepovers either. Her parents were strict about that sort of thing.

Claire was always happy and when I spent time with her, I felt happy, too. Like right now, for instance. We were coloring in my front room, while we waited to be picked up for Hugh’s party, and I felt happy. I wasn’t scared or sad or angry. All I felt was peace and contentment. Claire gave that to me without even realizing.

“Lizzie is not a witch,” Claire corrected, sounding outraged. “She is Morticia Addams.” “And let me guess; your brother is Gomez.”

The fact that she recreated it with Feely😭😭😭

Gibsie’s eyes flicked to Mark before focusing on Claire. “Are you okay?” “Of course,” she replied happily, throwing her arms around him. “I missed you, Gerard.” “I missed you, too,” he replied, attention shifting from his stepbrother to Claire. “Your mam’s outside talking to Catherine,” he added, turning them around so that he was the one with his back to the couch. “I wanted to come with her to make sure you were okay.” He shrugged. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

He probably was afraid Mark did something to her😭

“Gibs!” Mark barked, causing both of us to jump. “Come over here, fucker. I want a word with you.” Gibsie reached for my hand at the same time I reached for his, and I asked, “Do you want to come upstairs with me to get Claire’s bag instead?” Nodding eagerly, he fell into step with me as we bolted into the hallway, heading straight for the staircase at top speed. Not stopping until we were inside my room, Gibsie stood with his back to my door and exhaled several shaky breaths. “Are you okay?” I asked, feeling worried. “Yeah, I’m…” Breathing hard, he held a hand up and momentarily focused on his breathing until it evened out. “I just hate that guy.”

“Can you keep a secret?” I whispered, feeling nervous. Gibsie’s eyes were wary, but his head was nodding slowly, as he walked over to my bed and sat down next to me. “I’ll keep your secret, Lizzie.” “You swear?” Another noble nod. “Pinky promise.” Hooking my pinky finger through his, I turned and gave him my full attention. “I think I hate him, too.” The moment the words were out of my mouth, I started to shake. “I’m sorry,” I was quick to blurt. “I shouldn’t have said that.” Not out loud at least. “It’s okay,” he replied, reaching for my hand. “It’s okay, Liz.” It wasn’t okay. Because if he found out…

My friend sat with me for a long time, eyes locked on mine, before he finally spoke. “Has he hurt you?” “Who?” “Mark.” I thought about it for a long time before shaking my head. “Are you sure?” Was I?

Leaning close, I whispered in his ear, “He hurts Caoimhe.” And then I pointed to my bed for good measure to emphasize what I was trying to tell him. “He does things to her.” His entire body stiffened. “What kind of things?” “Bad things,” I whispered, remembering it vividly. What I’d seen. In the dark of the night when I was supposed to be sleeping. Her cries. The sadness. The pain in my heart. “He takes off all her clothes, and then he makes growling sounds when he holds her down on the bed. He pushes the hard thing inside her and she cries, Gibs. She cries so hard, but he always covers her mouth with his hand and keeps poking her until she stops crying. And then, when he stops wrestling her, when the white stuff comes out, he gets out of her bed and goes back to…he goes downstairs for a drink.” Gibsie reached up and wiped a tear from his cheek. “He’s bad, Liz. He does it at my house, too.” My eyes widened in horror. “To Caoimhe when she sleeps over?” Gibsie paused for a moment before closing his eyes and nodding.

Gibsie☹️💔

“I want him to go away,” I admitted, scurrying closer to him, as I admitted my thoughts for the first time out loud. “I don’t like when he’s in my house.” Shivering, I added, “I want him to go away and never come back.” “Me, too,” he whispered, turning his shiny, gray eyes back on me. “I haven’t told anyone else,” I whispered. “Not even Hugh.” “Me either,” he whispered. “Not even Claire.” “Promise you won’t tell?” I held up my pinky finger. “I can’t get in trouble again.” They’ll send me away. “I promise if you promise,” he vowed, hooking my pinky with his. “I’ll take it to the grave.”

I need them to be friends again please😭💔

“Don’t worry.” Gibsie tried to soothe me, wiping a tear from my cheek now. “We’ll be grown-ups by the time that happens, with our own houses, and he won’t be invited inside.” “Like the three little pigs and the big, bad wolf?” “Exactly,” he agreed with a small smile. “Mark Allen can huff and puff all he wants when I’m a grown-up, but I’ll be strong enough to keep him out.”

“Hey, Lizzie?” “Yeah, Gibs?” “You sure you’re okay?” “Yep.” Smiling, I reached up and brushed a tear from his cheek. “I’m always okay, Gibs.”

Oh I’M not okay

I loved Gibsie, he was one of my greatest friends in the world, but sometimes his house reminded me of mine, and I didn’t want to be there, either.

“Oh shit.” Untangling our joined hands, Hugh turned my hand over and stared at my wrist. His eyes darkened when he trailed his finger over the recently scabbed-over jagged line. “Did Brian get you again?” His concerned, brown eyes flicked to mine. “Is that why you left the party?” No. “Yeah.” Repressing a shiver, I slid my hand from his and pushed my sleeve down. Pulling myself into a sitting position, I clasped my hands together and shrugged. “Sorry.” “Don’t be sorry, Liz,” he replied, turning his body to face me. He had a smile on his face, but his eyes still held the world of concern in them. “Do you want my mam to have a look at that scratch? It looks fairly deep.” “Nah, I’ll be grand.” Anxious, I reached up and tucked my hair behind my ears. “I can’t even feel it.”

Hugh stared at me for a long time before recapturing my hand in his. “What’s wrong?” “What do you mean?” “You look scared.” His eyes searched mine. “You’re not telling me something.” “I’m fine.” Smiling, I forced a laugh, but it was a weak attempt. “Honestly, I’m grand, Hugh.” He didn’t look convinced. “Talk to me.” I couldn’t. Oh God, I wanted to. But I just couldn’t.

“Then why do you look like you’re two seconds away from crying?” “I don’t.” Tears filled my eyes. “I’m not.” “Liz, come on.” He gave me a disbelieving look. “It’s me.” “I’m just…” Shaking my head, I blew out a pained breath before muttering, “It doesn’t matter.” “If something is upsetting you, then it matters,” he replied, keeping his whiskey-brown eyes locked on mine. “It matters a lot to me.”

I opened my mouth to answer him but all that came out was a shaky breath, because what could I tell him? That I was plagued by the monsters my own imagination had conjured up to terrorize me? That I was tormented by sickening images and horrendous thoughts that made me want to die? Or how about telling him that I was filthy, impure, and defective? Which one was I supposed to tell him about? Which sin would be the one that drove him away?

“I’m just having a bad day,” I finally settled on. Hugh looked at me like he didn’t believe me, but he didn’t push. Instead, he squeezed my hand and whispered, “I love you, Lizzie Young.” Guilt and hope bloomed in my chest, making me feel both excited and devastated all at once. “No matter what?” “Ye...

She seemed a lot more relaxed this weekend and had slept like a baby last night. She credited this to having me in her room, having told me numerous times that I was her own personal dream catcher. Apparently, my presence in her room, with my makeshift bed on the floor next to hers, kept the monsters at bay.

I didn’t like to think too much about it because whenever I did, I was crippled by wave upon wave of devastation. It was a reminder that she was different. That she had a problem that I couldn’t fix for her. I couldn’t fight what I couldn’t see, and it made me feel helpless.

None of it scared me off being with her, though. Because, even if I didn’t have the emotional capacity to truly appreciate the battles she fought, I had the wherewithal to acknowledge the gifted mind hidden beneath the fractured particles. Her family didn’t seem to...

My best friend had a beautiful, complicated, and brilliant mind, and I knew I had enough love in my heart for her to remain...

“It’s your sister’s birthday,” Mark stated, walking into Lizzie’s room for the third time tonight. Without knocking. For the third time. “The next time you walk in here without knocking on the door, I’m going to rip your fucking head off,” I warned, glaring up at him from my perch on her bedroom floor. Shaking the d...

“Did you not hear me, munchkin?” Ignoring him completely, Lizzie picked up the dice for her turn, but her hand was shaking in a way that made me know she was stressed.

Beyond irritated by his presence, and angered further by that horrible fucking pet name, I climbed to my feet and stalked toward him. “Are you honestly this devoid of intellect?” I demanded, having had more than my regular quota of Mark Allen for one weekend. “If you’re too thick to take the hint, then let me spell it out for you. Liz doesn’t care about your girlfriend’s party. Not even a little bit, and neither do I. So why don’t you do all of us a favor and fuck right off.”

“Bullies feed on fear.” Shrugging, I added, “And Mark can’t feed on me.” “Why not?” “Because I don’t fear him.” “You don’t?” “No, Liz, and you shouldn’t either,” I replied. “Because I would kill him before I ever let him hurt you.”

“Because you’re my best friend, and there isn’t anything I wouldn’t do to protect you.” Her blue eyes softened when she whispered, “I love you so much, Hugh Biggs.” Reaching out, she covered my hand with hers and smiled. “I wish you could stay with me forever.”

“You’re all I want for my birthday.” The way she said it in such a blasé tone, like it was a given that she would only want me, made me feel like a million quid.

I knew Liz was gorgeous, but her appearance could never hold a flame to her mind. The fact of the matter was she both challenged and intrigued me to the point where I was wholly invested in her.

Leaning in close, I kept my eyes trained on hers when I pressed my lips to her wrist. I had no clue what to do once my lips were there, so I just stared at her for a long beat before asking, “Is that okay?” “Perfect.” Liz slowly withdrew her hand from mine and exhaled a shaky breath. She then proceeded to blow my mind when she kissed her own wrist in the exact spot I kissed her. “What are you doing?” My heart thundered so violently that I thought it might explode. “Why’d you do that, Liz?” She kept her eyes on mine when she cradled her wrist to her chest and whispered, “Because I wanted to know what it felt like to kiss you.”

The sky was crystal-clear, the sun was shining, and I was surrounded by my favorite people in the world. Hugh was right this morning when he told me today would be a good one. In fact, I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt so carefree.

“I’m warning you, Baby Biggs.” Laughing, Patrick reached out and pushed her float away. “If I go under, I’m taking you with me.” “Careful with the hair, Patrick,” Claire groaned, narrowly avoiding getting dunked. “It takes forever to tame these curls.”

“Looks like you’ve met your match in the crazy stakes, Hugo,” Gibsie offered drolly. “You should put a ring on it, lad. Maybe on your honeymoon, you can take her diving off Niagara Falls.”

“Ugh!” She complained loudly again. “Why do I feel like I’m doped off my head?” “Were you drinking last night?” I knew she drank alcohol with her friends on the weekends. She smoked, too. Not in front of our parents, of course, but I often spied her in the stables with a cigarette in her mouth. “Maybe you’re just tired from a hangover or something.” “I was home all night,” she replied, sounding frustrated. “We had a takeaway and watched movies in my room.” We. Meaning her and Mark.

Oh he 100% drugged her

When we finally pulled up outside the familiar house, I bolted up the driveway and into the house without giving my sister a backwards glance. I couldn’t have if I’d wanted to. Because I was about to burst. Moving on instinct, I barreled up the staircase, not stopping until I reached his bedroom door. “Jesus Christ, Liz!” Hugh exclaimed when I practically blew his bedroom door off its hinges in my rush to get to him. “What’s wrong?” His tone was panicked. “What happened?” I didn’t answer him. Because I couldn’t. Instead, I walked straight to him, not stopping until I had clambered over the books strewn across his bed and was nestled on his lap.

The tears I had managed to hold in all the way over here had reached their breaking point and my emotions exploded out of me in a flurry of heaving sobs. Hugh tossed the book he was holding aside and quickly wrapped me up in that familiar cocoon of safety and warmth. “It’s okay,” he coaxed, tightening his arms around me. “I’m right here.” He smoothed my hair over my shoulder and rocked gently. “Shh, Liz, I’m right here with you.”

Hearing his voice only made me cry harder and cling tighter. “It happened again.” “You had another nightmare?” “It felt so real this time.” Nodding, I trembled violently. “Please don’t leave me.” A tremor racked through his big body, and I slowly felt him relax on my mattress. “I’m not leaving, Liz.” His arm came around me, and then his lips were on my ear. “I’m staying.” Two words that meant more coming from him than ...

“Oh my God,” I heard Caoimhe groan from somewhere behind me. “I am so sorry about her, Sinead. I’ll call my dad to come pick her up.” “No!” That was Hugh. “She can stay, can’t she, Mam?” “Of course she can,” I heard Sinead reply. “Lizzie, sweetheart, what’s upsetting you?” I couldn’t explain it. Because it wasn’t real. Because Sinead would think I was crazy. Just like everyone else.

Because her son was my sun. “I just want Hugh,” I strangled out, voice shaking almost as much as my body. “Just…just Hugh, okay?”

The only time I truly felt anything was when I was with Hugh. He seemed to be the only person capable of kick-starting my emotions, and boy did they kick-start when he was around.

Claire didn’t need batteries to charge her up, just sunshine.

I just needed some quiet. The louder the noise grew, the more disorientated I became. I already knew that. I’d learned it a long time ago. Find Shannon, the kind voice in my mind instructed, she makes it go quiet for you.

My girls😣💗

My whole focus was on the small girl crying on the sidelines. Shannon. She was holding her school jumper in her hands and sobbing inconsolably, while her big brother comforted her. I felt something then, a lurching sensation in my chest, as I took in the sight of her torn jumper. Anger. That’s what I was feeling, and it was bubbling inside of my stomach, growing hotter with every tear that spilled from her eyes.

When Joey whipped his own jumper off and placed it over her head, I felt another wave of emotion hit me. Sadness. Because his jumper wasn’t in much better condition than hers. But at least it hadn’t been torn to ribbons by bullies. The move left my friend swamped in an oversized jumper that fell to her knees, while her brother perished in his creased, white school shirt that had seen better days.

Oblivious to the fact that his shirt was about three sizes too small for him, Joey Lynch rolled what was left of the sleeves up to his elbows before ruffling his sister’s hair and offering her a warm smile. It wasn’t raining today, but the cold October breeze was skinning, and I knew he had to be freezing. So why did he do it? Why did he give her something he didn’t have to spare? I didn’t have the answer, but his selfless gesture sparked something inside of me, and I made a mental note to sneak my spare jumper into school for Shannon tomorrow. At least that way, her brother wouldn’t be cold.

My opportunity arrived near the end of the day, when Ciara Maloney hit Shannon on the back with a blackboard duster, and I, in turn, hit Ciara in the face with my fist. Of course, I was told to pack up my belongings and sit on the bench in the hall until school was over. This was nothing out of the ordinary for me. I spent a lot of time on the bench, but today, I had a companion, and just by happenstance, that companion was Joey Lynch.

“Fuck you, kid.” “Fuck me?” I grumbled, feeling just as outraged. “Fuck you, fucker.” “Wow.” Joey arched a brow. “Is that the best you’ve got?” “Not even close, fucker.” I narrowed my eyes. “Do you want to hear some more, fucker?” He continued to glare at me for several seconds before his lips twitched. “Jesus.” Releasing a growl, he shook his head and looked away, while muttering, “Where did my sister find you?” I kept my frown in place when he unzipped his schoolbag and shoved the carrier bag inside, but on the inside, I was smiling. And I think he was, too.

I love them so much

“You have the best legs, Gerard.” “No, she has the best legs,” Feely whispered in my ear. Following his line of sight, I locked eyes on the lanky blond on the other side of the room, attempting to hide her long hair beneath a dark wig. Feeling irrationally irritated by Feely’s observation, I strived for calm when all I wanted to do was take off this shitty platformed boot and clatter him with it.

Liz had on the tiniest black dress I’d ever seen. The fabric was so tight, it was practically sewn to her milky cream skin. Her legs looked long on a normal day, but when she wore those sky-high stilettos, they looked like ladders. Knowing that my friend was looking at her the way I looked at her made me want to break up the band before we even started.

“The lads are going to give us hell for this when they get here,” Feely announced, looking thoroughly disgusted with himself. “I can hear Danny’s smart-ass remarks already.” “Danny’s a dick,” Liz chimed in, moving to stand beside me. “And if he gives you guys shit for this, I’ll take off my shoe and stab him with it.” She looked at me and winked. “Especially you, birthday boy.” Oh fuck. My poor, poor heart.