Releasing 10 (Boys of Tommen, #6)

by Chloe Walsh

“I have younger brothers and sisters, too, and they throw tantrums all the time.” “Not like her, they don’t,” Caoimhe wailed into her pillow. “You clearly haven’t met Joey,”

We might not have had the same parents, but Gerard Gibson was my brother.

“You’re different, Lizzie Young.” “I am?” She nodded and smiled. “You’re special.” “Is that bad?” “No.” She shook her head, still smiling. “You remind me of Joe.” “Your brother?” “Yep.” She nodded again. “And that’s a very good thing.”

“So you never know, son,” Dad teased. “One of these names could be the name you say on your wedding day.” Shuddering, I gaped at him in horror. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?”

“Your face is red.” He shifted in discomfort. “So is yours.” “I know why.” I beamed back at him. “It’s because I give you the hots.”

“I’ll do it,” I vowed, casting a glance out the patio window to the blond girl twirling around in circles in her denim dungarees. “I’ll look after her, Mam, I promise.”

The three of them started chatting, and I smiled, feeling happy for my mother. It was nice to see her smiling again. Sadhbh and Sinead didn’t stare at her headscarf or give her sad looks. They treated my mother like she was a part of their gang. Just like how their kids treated me.

I sprang to my feet and clutched my chest, unable to stop the grin on my face from spreading. Because he had a crush on me, too. Hugh Biggs liked me back.

“What would you have done if I didn’t swim back for you?” “I knew you would,”

“Because I trust you,” I told him. “You make me feel safe.” That seemed to confuse him because his brows furrowed together. “You’ll always be safe with me.” “I know.” I splashed him with my hand. “No matter what, right?” “Yeah, Liz,” Hugh chuckled, splashing me back. “No matter what.”

“Jesus, Mam, you look beautiful,” I told her, eyeing the tight, sparkly red dress she had on. “You’re way skinnier than I thought you were.” “Why thank you, son,” Mam chuckled, squeezing my cheek. “What a little charmer you are.”

“Wait, wait, wait, I think I’ve forgotten something,” Mam laughed as he carted her to the door. “I need to kiss my babies before we go.” “Your big baby is right here,” Dad drawled, opening the front door and lifting Mam down the porch steps. “And you can kiss him in the taxi.” “Ugh,” I groaned, slamming the door behind them. “Good riddance.”

“They’re scared of the brave knight.” “I’m the brave knight?” Tearful, she nodded. “Am I still your lady?” “You’ll always be my lady,” I promised. “Milady.”

“I will return the favor, kid.” “Oh yeah?” I replied, tracking his every move as he stood up and dusted himself off. “How?” “That’s up to you,” was all Joey replied before he turned around and walked away. “I’ll be seeing ya, kid.”

“I love you like a boyfriend loves his girlfriend.” “You do?” “Yeah.” He nodded slowly. “So I was wondering if you might consider loving me like a girlfriend loves her boyfriend?” “I already do,” I strangled out, unable to stop the smile from spreading across my face. “I always have.” His eyes searched mine hopefully. “Yeah?” I nodded eagerly. “Always.” “Oh, thank God,” Hugh replied, heaving out a huge, audible breath. “Because I’ve been wanting to ask you to be my girlfriend since 1994, and I don’t think I can hold it in another day.”

“Yeah, Liz,” Hugh chuckled with a nod. “I’m asking now.” Shaking his head, he looked me in the eyes and asked, “Will you be my girlfriend?” Finally. “Yes!” I beamed at him. “I will.” Hugh grinned. “Thank you.” “You’re welcome.” “Okay then.” “Yep.” “So you’re my girlfriend.” “Yep, and you’re my boyfriend.” “I sure am.”

Mark Allen had been prohibited from stepping foot on this property since last summer. Ever since Mike realized that Mark had impregnated his teenage daughter and then taken her to England to get an abortion—but Mike also considered Mark to be the driving force behind Caoimhe’s failed Leaving Cert to boot.

Both girls were caked in makeup, sprouting pigtails and wearing matching pink vests. Worse, they had groomed Gibsie to within an inch of his life. His blond curls? Yeah, they were bunched together in two stumpy pigtails on either side of his head, while the pink vest he was sewn into stretched at the seams in protest. “Guys, look!” Squealing with excitement, Claire gestured to their dance routine. “We finally nailed it.” “You are in Ireland,” I reminded them, lips twitching. “Not Hollywood.”

“Where are you off to in such a hurry, mister?” “I, uh, I, uh…I, uh…” “You, uh, uh, uh, what?” Mam mocked, hands on her hips. “You were sneaking off to the treehouse with your girlfriend, that’s what you were uh, uh, uh doing.” Sadhbh, who was sitting at the kitchen table, burst out laughing, and my face flooded with heat. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Mam rolled her eyes. “Lie better, son.”

Eyes widening in horror, I gripped my duvet and pulled it over my head. Monster. He was a monster. The monster was real. Mark was the monster.

“He did it, Daddy.” With tears streaming down my face, I screamed at the top of my lungs and pointed to him. “He killed Caoimhe!”

“No, I don’t have a crush on the girl,” I countered evenly. “I’m in love with the girl, and contrary to your dismissal of my feelings, I assure you that not only are they very real but very permanent.” I scowled back at her amused expression. “But it’s good to know where you stand on my relationship, Mam. Let’s rehash this conversation in twenty years when I swing by the house with my wife—previously known as the girl—and our children.” Narrowing my eyes, I added, “I look forward to your apology—although I can’t promise I won’t gloat.”

“Anything for you, bestie,” Gibsie replied, quickly falling into step with him. “If you call me that again, I’ll throttle ya,” Kav grumbled, while planting a hand on Gibsie’s shoulder and steering him away from a puddle of rainwater. “Aye-aye, Captain.”

“Have you always been this mistrustful?” No. There were moments in time, back when I was a little girl, that I thought I could be happy. Back then, contentment felt attainable. But darkness had a way of sweeping innocence up in the riptide. That’s what happened to my innocence. To me. Everything went dark once the monster crawled into my bed. There were only glimmers of hope, fleeting flecks of sunshine that teased my soul.

“And a relief to know my grandson had the good sense to hold on to you.” He winked again at Hugh. “Good lad, yourself.” “Like I’d be thick enough to let her go,” Hugh chuckled, tucking me into his side. He dropped a kiss to my head before adding, “Liz is the one, Granda.” Oh God.

“I do love you, Hugh!” “You don’t know the meaning of the word.” He seethed, chest heaving. “I loved you, Liz. Me.” He slapped a hand against his chest. “I fucking loved you enough to put you first. Even when it was hard to do the right thing. I fucking did it. Because that’s what someone does when they love someone. They put that person first.”

“It’s too late, Liz,” he said, backing away from me. “There’s no coming back from this.” “I love you!” I screamed after him. “You’re my best friend! How am I supposed to be without you?” “Maybe you should have thought about that” was all Hugh replied before he turned around and walked away.

“You have to go home now, Liz,” he strangled out, physically picking me up and walking outside. “I can’t do this,” he told my mother, who was waiting at the car. “I’m sorry.” “Oh, Hugh, sweetheart.” Mam’s eyes were laced with concern. “What happened?” “Take her, Catherine,” Hugh begged, voice cracking. “Please just take her.”

“Kav?” Feely laughed, joining in on the drunken debauchery now he had loosened up with a belly full of vodka. “No offense, Hugh, and I mean this in the sincerest way, because I love Kav like a brother, but he hasn’t bothered to learn any of our sisters’ names, let alone girlfriends’.” “Don’t you be talking shit about my Johnny,” Gibsie growled, puffing out his chest. “I’ll take the head off ya for that.”

“All I’m saying is Kav is interested in a grand total of three things: rugby, the labrador, and Gibs. Anything other than that and he’s not taking notes.”

My Liz!

Holding a finger up to her lips, Mam inclined her head, gesturing for me to come in but didn’t move a muscle from her perch on the couch. I supposed she couldn’t, not when she had two girls draped over her lap. Well, Liz was draped over my mother’s lap, and Claire was draped over Liz’s legs. It was a whole heap of blond hair and tearstained cheeks. My fucking heart buckled at the sight.

“She doesn’t love me anymore, Mam.” “I don’t believe that for a second,” Mam argued gently. “Teenage girls don’t cry over boys like this when they’re not in love.” That hit me hard. Fucking gutted me. Tore my heart to ribbons.

I’d long since accepted the knowledge that I would always love Lizzie Young. My heart didn’t have an eject button; therefore, she would never lose her place inside of it. She just had to change spots if I ever found someone else. If I ever dared to open myself up to that kind of love again. If it was even possible. Something I very much doubted.

This was where we parted. This was the part where I left the sinking ship.

Blinking awake, I sprung up in confusion just in time to see Hugh slam his huge stereo system, speakers and all, down on his sister’s nightstand. The one on the side of his sister’s bed that I was sleeping on. Once he had the stereo plugged into the electrical outlet behind his sister’s nightstand and powered up, Hugh stood back up and quickly set to work on flicking through tracks before settling on number fifteen. I knew what he was doing the second the historic drum pattern and guitar riff sounded in my ears. He’s responding.

“I’ll happily take full custody of you in the divorce, though.” Christ, I was a shitty friend. “I love ya, Gibs,”

“She’s not his problem anymore” Gibs was quick to add, taking a hit from a joint one of the sixth year’s handed him. “Kum-bay-fucking-ya, Hugo.”

me catch you up on all the drama you’ve missed out on at school—fair warning, there’s a lot.” “Can’t wait,” I replied dryly, relieved to fall back into our usual pattern. “So, I heard the fifth-year girls plotting a scheme called ‘operation binding thirteen,’” she announced, before reeling off a detailed account of the conversation she’d overheard in the bathroom at school. Apparently, the senior girls were participating in a perverted race to get naked with Johnny Kavanagh.

“I’ll always love you, Hugh Biggs,” Liz said when she rounded the table and stopped in front of me. Inhaling a quivering breath, she leaned down and pressed a kiss to my cheek before whispering, “No matter what.” And then she was gone.

Taylor Swift—Down Bad: after the breakup and Lizzie shredded to pieces.

“Look What You Made Me Do”—Taylor Swift

“All Too Well”—Taylor Swift