JOEY
MOLLOY LAID her cards on the table, gave me her ultimatum, and I’d never been more grateful.
I’d never been the kind of person that took being cornered, or told what to do, lying down, but I didn’t feel the usual need to fight her on it.
It had taken years to happen, but my body and mind didn’t automatically slip into attack mode when she called me out on my bullshit anymore.
I didn’t shift into defense mode either, because something deep inside of me recognized her as an ally.
My teammate.
It had never happened before.
Not with a single other human on this planet.
Not even my sister.
But something about this girl settled something deep inside of me.
I couldn’t understand it, much less explain it, but when I was with her, I felt like I was drowning and breathing all at once.
I felt like I was riding this thrilling wave and it didn’t matter if I fell or not because I could only land on softness.
I wasn’t going to get hurt this time.
Because Aoife Molloy, and it had taken me six long years to accept it, was not going to harm me.
When she told me that she loved me, she meant it, and it was as unsettling as it was addictive, because if she only felt a fifth for me of what I felt for her, then I was one lucky son of a bitch.
“Do you know what yesterday was?” Molloy asked, several hours, and countless drinks later. We were still at the party, still in the same position we’d been in for the past hour; with my back pressed to the living room wall, and her body pressed flush against mine.
“What was yesterday, Molloy?” I indulged her by asking, keeping one hand clamped on her hip while I took a swig from my bottle with the other.
She was loaded, while I had somehow managed to remain in control of my impulsive nature. After nine bottles, I was mildly buzzed, but I had built up a tolerance level that could rival a horse. Unlike my lightweight drinking buddy, it would take a lot more than a few beers to take me down.
“Yesterday was the seventh.”
“The seventh?”
“Uh-huh. Our anniversary,” she announced, cheeks stained in that adorable pink shade that always came out when she was drunk. “One year ago yesterday we had our first kiss.”
Well, shit. “I didn’t know that.”
“Yep,” she breathed, leaning heavily against me. “Exactly one year ago yesterday, you stuck your tongue down my throat.”
“That’s a little fumble with the truth,” I teased, grinning down at her. “If my memory serves me correctly, it was your tongue that entered my mouth first.”
“Only because you were too pussy to make the first move.”
I laughed. “I was building up to it.”
She arched a brow. “For five years?”
“What can I say?” I pulled her closer. “I had to be sure.”
“Of what?”
“That you wouldn’t run.”
“And now you’re sure?” She watched me closely. “Now you trust me?”
“Yeah, Molloy.” Nodding slowly, I leaned in close and brushed my lips against hers. “I trust you.”
“Wow.” She expelled a shaky breath. “I think that means more to me than when you finally admitted that you love me.”
“How’d you figure?”
“Oh, please. You’ve been in love with me since forever. It’s so obvious,” she replied, without a hint of self-doubt or shyness, and I fucking loved it. “But I was never sure if you could ever truly open yourself up in that way to anyone.”
“Not anyone, Molloy,” I told her. “Just you.”
“You know I’ve got your back, right?” she breathed, hands moving under the hem of my shirt to press against my bare stomach. Her nails gently scraped my skin, causing an immediate response from my dick, as she leaned up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to the curve of my jaw. “I am so down for you, Joey Lynch.”
Snaking one hand up to cover the tattoo on my chest, she used the other to move the hand I’d been resting on her hip to her tattooed ass cheek. Leaning back, she looked me right in the eyes and whispered the words, “Ride or die, Joe.”
Fuck me…
A shiver rolled through me and I couldn’t stop myself from grabbing her ass and dragging her body roughly against mine. “Ride or die, Molloy.”
Her lips crashed against mine, and it was in this very moment that I knew I would never be able to untangle myself from this girl.
Not in this lifetime.
