JOEY
“DELLIE, HE CALLED OUR SISTER A SLUT,” Tadhg defended with a huff, climbing into the backseat of her Range Rover, after she’d been called to come collect us from the office. “Yeah, Joe threw the first slap, but he goaded it out of him by bringing up Aoife and my nephew. And listen, before you say it, I’m not apologizing for kicking him in the nuts when he was on the ground either. The prick had it coming.”
“Well,” she sighed heavily. “At least you made it to big lunch.”
“I’m sorry,” I muttered from the passenger seat. “I fucked it.”
“No, you didn’t,” Tadhg argued, reaching a hand through the seats to pat my shoulder. “You turned his nose sideways, Joe. It was a solid right hook.”
“Not helping, kid.” I dropped my head in my hands, knowing that I was in deep shit for my outburst. “How long am I being suspended for?”
“For the next two weeks,” Edel replied, pulling into traffic.
“Sweet,” Tadhg hooted. “Talk about a result!”
“Not you, Rocky,” she corrected. “You’re back on Monday.”
“Fuck my life,” number four grumbled. “I knew I should have thrown the first punch.”
“Hey,” I snapped, twisting around to face him. “Stop acting like a little shit. I did the wrong thing back there.”
“But you —“
“I did the wrong thing, Tadhg,” I reinforced, giving him a stern look of warning. “I was wrong, okay? Don’t copy me. It’s not a good thing. Do better, Tadhg. Be better.” Than me.
“Can we talk?” I asked, lingering in the kitchen doorway a little while later, watching as Edel Kavanagh mothered my youngest brother.
“Always, love,” she replied.
“Nanny gave me money.”
“Oh?” she mused, ruffling Sean’s curls before turning her attention back to the pot of stew she was stirring.
“Yeah.” I shrugged, still lingering. “A lot of money.”
She turned to look at me then. “How much are we talking?”
“Fifteen grand.” I reached into the gear bag I had packed for Molloy’s house and showed her the envelope full of cash. “It’s from my grandfather. He left it to me when he died.”
Her brows shot up. “And you haven’t touched it?”
I shook my head. “Not a penny.”
“Have you been tempted?”
“I’m tempted every second of the day,” I admitted. “But I’m not going back there.”
She smiled. “Good boy.”
“I guess, what I wanted to talk to you about was the matter of settling up with you and John. Obviously, I need to keep some of the money for Aoife and AJ, but Tony’s after giving me back my job at the garage, so I’ll be able to set up a payment plan —”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” she cut in, spinning around to face me. “I mean it, Joey Lynch.” Wiping her hands on her apron, she stalked towards me, not stopping until she had the envelope in her hands and was stuffing it back into my bag. “I will never take so much as a cent from you. Do you hear me, love? Not a brown brass penny, so put any notions of that out of your head.”
“Edel.” Sighing heavily, I rubbed my jaw. “I have to pay you back.”
“You already are,” she replied, reaching up to pat my cheek. “By staying clean and going to school.“
“I got suspended on my first day at Tommen,” I reminded her.
“Psssh. So did I.” She waved a hand around aimlessly. “And I did it in epic fashion.”
“You went to Tommen?”
“I was transplanted there,” she replied with a smirk. “Same as you.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know, Joey love.” Smirking, she patted my cheek once more before turning her attention back to her stew. “A lot.”
Well, shit.
“Do you, ah, think you could give me a spin into town?” I gestured to my bag. “I need to see Aoife.”
“I can drop you into town in an hour or two, love, but if you need to go now, then just run upstairs and ask Johnny before he leaves for training. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind dropping you off on his way.”
Navigating my way through Tommen was one thing, but navigating my way through the maze that was the Kavanagh Manor was something entirely different. Wandering through the maze of corridors, I finally found my feet on the right wing of the house. Knowing my surroundings, I walked to the end of the hallway, stopping just outside the door that housed my sister’s soft laughter.
When our mother was alive, I had been too high to hear her warnings about Shannon’s relationship with Kav. Now, as I stood on my own two feet, with a clear head and my wits about me, I got it. I finally saw what my mother had been so afraid of.
This wasn’t puppy love.
It wasn’t a fleeting romance, either.
No, whatever was happening between these two was raw, real, and mixed with an undeniable air of permanence.
Smiling to myself, I knocked once and pushed the door inwards.
That was my first mistake.
My second mistake was… nope, it was gone.
I could focus on nothing but the image of my naked sister, bouncing on top of her equally naked boyfriend.
‘Trigger,’ I roared, slapping a hand over my eyes two seconds too late. ‘Trigger, trigger, get-your-fucking-dick-out-of-my-baby-sister trigger!’
‘Oh my god!’ Shannon screamed, hands and legs flailing, as she scrambled off mister fucking rugby’s lap and tried to hide behind his back. ‘Joey! Get the hell out!’
‘Yeah,’ I roared, feeling faint, as I leaned against the door frame and resisted the overpowering urge to heave my guts up. ‘Get out of her, you big, overgrown bastard. You’ll break her!’
‘Not him – Johnny, don’t move!’ my sister screamed back, as she peeked over his shoulder, and pointed a finger at me. ‘You, Joe! Get out.’
“I can’t!”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m frozen to the fucking spot here, Shannon! I’m having an out of body experience here, and it’s fairly traumatizing,” I choked out. “Jesus Christ, have I taught you nothing?” I demanded, feeling faint. “Have you learned nothing from my mistakes?”
“I’m on the pill,” my baby sister offered up.
“And I’m wearing a condom,” the big bastard chimed in.
“Oh Jesus,” I whimpered, gagging at the mental image.
‘You need to learn how to knock,’ Shannon strangled out breathlessly. ‘Now go.’
‘Are you seriously going to keep going?’ When she didn’t deny it, I shuddered in repulsion. “I can’t believe you’re actually doing that.”
‘Joe, we’ve been doing ‘that’ for months now.’
“For fuck’s sake, Shannon, why’d you have to tell me that?” I hissed, stomach churning in disgust, as I staggered blindly for the door. “I only wanted a spin to Aoife’s place, not another reason to be in therapy.”
“About what you saw back there,” Kav finally addressed the elephant in the room, much to my dismay. “About me and Shan.”
“Listen, lad, all I need from you is a spin to my girlfriend’s house,” I replied, still feeling queasy, as he drove me into town. “Not an explanation.”
“I love her.”
“I’m sure you do.”
“No,” he said, tone serious. “I love her, lad. I’m in love with her.”
“Good for you,” I muttered, unable to look at him anymore without seeing the image of…Jesus, I couldn’t even think it. “I know you love her,” I decided to add. “It’s the only reason I’m not losing it right now.”
He was quiet for a moment, clearly absorbing my words, before he spoke again.
‘I’m going to take her with me, Joey,’ he said quietly. “When I leave Ballylaggin? Wherever I end up, I’m taking her with me.”
‘Good,’ I replied. ‘At least she’ll have a fighting chance.’
‘She already has a fighting chance,’ he replied gruffly. ‘Because of you, lad. Not me.’
My phone rang then, distracting me from our conversation, and I quickly snatched it out of my pocket and clicked accept. “Hello?”
“Hello? Joey love, it’s me, Trish. I was just wondering what time you would be here?”
“Hey. I’m on the way over now.”
“Oh, thank god.” She sighed heavily down the line. “She’s having a bad day, pet.”
My heart sank. “I won’t be long.”
