Releasing 10 (Boys of Tommen, #6)

by Chloe Walsh

“Does she even know it’s her birthday?” Caoimhe asked then, and it made me cross. Of course I did. I had a birthday cake, didn’t I? She laughed before adding, “She probably doesn’t even know what age she’s turning.”

Fuck you!

Planting my hands on my hips, I turned to my sister and glared. “Four.”

You tell her Lizzie!

Breaking down in front of him, my sister covered her face with her hands and screamed, “I wish I was dead!”

Welp thanks for the foreshadowing …

“I don’t want to be me anymore.” “Why would you say that?” “Because I’m bad.”

“What were we supposed to do?” “Well, I know what you should have done!” he roared. “You should have fucking—”

😲 … he did not just insinuate that ….

I had to make my family love me. If I didn’t, they were going to send me away. “Stop fighting it,” a voice in my head commanded, and I flinched when the watery image of a woman’s face flashed before my eyes. “Just give in. It’ll all be better then.” Oh no. The voice was back. The scary voice. The one that made me wet the bed. The one that made me fight.

Oh no

I liked it when people were happy with me. It made me feel warm in my belly, not like the burning-hot feeling when I made them sad. Like Daddy. He was always sad when he looked at me, and that didn’t feel good. Not good at all.

“Who’s Nell?”

“The one Mam got upset with for taking you to the river?”

“That’s Dad’s sister.” She continued to brush my hair out with her fingers. “Nell.”

“Yep,” she replied. “Because when you go to heaven, all of your pain goes away.” I smiled to myself. That was a nice thought.

No no no no no no…

“Because I learned about it the hard way.” She sounded sad again. “I wish I didn’t have to know any of this crap.”

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

We could argue, fight, and say the worst things to each other and still be okay because we were brothers, and brothers always came back together in the end.

“But Claire’s one of us, so she doesn’t count,” he offered. “And besides, we like playing with her.” “No, Gibs, you like playing with her.” “Maybe it won’t be so bad,” he offered then, clearly trying to cheer me up.

Ugh gibsie 😩❤️‍🩹. Smitten from the very beginning.

My thoughts were nice and slow. It always happened when I sat next to Shannon Lynch. It made me want to sit with her forever.

❤️

Claire was loud and funny, and she made me feel happy. Shannon was quiet and calm and made me feel safe.

🫂

This girl looked like sunshine. Everyone wanted to sit with Claire Biggs and be her best friend, but she only wanted to sit with us and be our best friend.

“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.”

I smiled back at my mother. I loved looking at her face. Mam had kind eyes, dark blue like Caoimhe’s, and she had my favorite voice. It was soft and gentle and wrapped around me like a hug.

❤️🫂

Was I saying it wrong? Why couldn’t he hear me?

This hurts. Like cmon she’s just 6 years old.

He’s not Small Gibs. He’s just Gibs.”

“Sorry, son,” Dad laughed. “But Joe Gibson will always be the original Gibsie.”

“Whatever. I don’t care about babysitters—but Joe is Joe, and Gibs is Gibs,”

“Marybeth and Cadence are Pierce’s twin sisters,

“So you never know, son,” Dad teased. “One of these names could be the name you say on your wedding day.”

🙂‍↕️ i can’t wait

Deep fucking sigh 😒😒

It didn’t matter to me where she lived. She was kind and sweet and made me feel safe. I wanted to scratch these girls’ eyes out. I wanted to make them bleed, make them pay for hurting my friend.

“Maybe you shouldn’t stand so close to my baby sister,” Joey replied, purposefully stepping in front of us and blocking her from view.

🙂‍↔️

“But I’m a scumbag that’ll tear your fucking world apart if you touch my sister again.”

I love Joey!

Claire told us he was stinky and looked like the troll on the cover of storybook The Three Billy Goats Gruff. Claire told a lie. Her brother did not look like the troll.

“I’m Hugh.”

“I know.”

“Claire told us you looked li...

“Claire said you were...

“But you’r...

“I like how you...

“Uh, ...

“Thanks, I ...

Hugh Biggs had whiskey eyes that didn’t look away. Instead, they stayed right on mine, warm and kind and chasing away the scary feeling in my head. Caoimhe always told me to stop staring so hard at people. She said it was creepy and weird. But this boy didn’t seem to mind. “Your eyes are nice,” I told him, feeling my heart flip-flop when I looked at him. “I like them.” “Uh, thanks?” His cheeks reddened. “I like yours, too.” “Your face is red.” He shifted in discomfort. “So is yours.”

🥰🥰🥰

“I think you’re right,” he whispered, breath fanning my cheek.

I used to think my sister had the lightest blond hair I’d ever seen, but this girl’s hair was white. Like snow white. Her skin was so pale it was almost see-through, like one of Claire’s porcelain dolls. She didn’t have a single freckle on her face, either. Not even one. And her blue eyes, the ones locked on my face? Well, I had never seen eyes like that before.

She sort of resembled a ghost. Or an angel. Something different. Something special.

It honestly couldn’t be helped because sitting in front of me was the prettiest girl in the world. When she leaned in and sniffed my neck, I thought she might be the strangest, too. I didn’t pull away, though, and I didn’t feel awkward or embarrassed when she paid me a compliment. Instead, I felt pleased. Because I quickly realized that I wanted her to admire me.

☺️☺️☺️☺️ Ugg!

Like I was definitely admiring her.

They didn’t have the strangest girl in Ballylaggin coming to their birthday party. My eyes locked on hers from across the bus and I smiled. Or the prettiest.

Hugh 😌

Gibs was always looking at her, and on the rare occasion he wasn’t, Claire was looking at him.

Our mothers called it harmless puppy love, but I wasn’t so sure about that.

I had a niggling feeling they would always look at eac...