JANUARY 7TH 2004
JOEY
I HAD WHIPLASH from the crazy twists and turns this day had taken.
It had started with a fight with my dad, the middle involved a whole heap of trouble at school, and it was ending in a kiss.
Feeling Molloy’s soft lips against mine, as she moaned into my mouth and pushed her body against mine, was entirely too much for me to handle in this moment.
I was reeling; completely fucking thrown by the girl whose hands were knotted in my hair.
Her scent, so fresh and addictive, invaded my lungs, taking me down harder than a punch from my old man ever could.
It’s this scent you remember, my brain quickly recognized, and this hair.
With my heart racing wilder than any drug had ever provoked, I held her in my arms, fought the feeling of panic that was climbing up my throat, and allowed myself to finally stop fighting against the tide of feelings overcoming me.
The feelings that had been drowning me for five years.
When I saw her standing in my sitting room earlier, with that piece of shit leering at her like she was fresh meat, I all but took leave of my senses.
If I had more years on this earth, it still wouldn’t be enough time to describe the depth of the fear I’d felt when I watched that bastard train his attention on her.
How I kept the head, I would never understand, but the urge to protect her had been so strong that my need to get her safely away from my father had eclipsed everything else in that moment.
She had power over me, and we both knew it. I’d tried for so long to do the right thing, to steer clear of her, to be a good person for once in my life. She’d caught me in a weak moment though, and my resolve had continued to crumble with every stroke of her tongue.
I couldn’t think straight.
My mind came up blank and my body took over.
I couldn’t think about the argument I had with my parents, or the suspension I was facing at school. Not my sister’s bullies, or the shift at work that I knew I was late for.
I couldn’t think about anything other than her.
Aoife Molloy consumed me to the point that I didn’t feel like everything was completely fucked in the world anymore.
Excitement and fear thrummed through my body. As I allowed myself to feel something other than hopelessness, as I enjoyed the sensation of being inside of my own body, my own head, for once without needing to self-medicate first.
Dangerous fucking lips, I warned myself, don’t get your hopes up.
Soaked to the skin from the rain pissing down on top of us, I felt a shiver rack through her body, and reluctantly forced myself to pull back. “Are you—”
“Don’t even think about stopping,” came her flustered reply, as she hooked her fingers into the waistband of my sweats and dragged me back to her. “I’m not shaking because I’m cold,” she growled, wrapping her legs around my waist. “I’m shaking because you’re making me horny, so stop talking and keep kissing me.”
“Jesus,” I muttered, finding her blunt-to-the-point-of-outspoken nature even more of a turn on than usual. “Maybe you’re the dangerous one.”
“Maybe I am,” she agreed, sliding a hand underneath the hem of my t-shirt. “God, you’re so hard,” she moaned against my lips, as her hand trailed over my stomach.
“My dick’s a little further south, Molloy,” I teased against her lips.
“Funny,” she replied, “I was talking about your stomach, not the beast,” and then she raised my t-shirt up a few inches, taking a good long look at what I had to offer. “Yeah, I was definitely talking about those abs.”
“Like what you see?”
“What?” She grinned shamelessly. “I always check the product before I make any purchases.”
“And?”
She blew out a shaky breath and nodded. “Oh, I’ve been sold on you for a long time now, Joey Lynch.”
Her words did something to me, fucked my head up real good, and when she pulled me back into her embrace, and pressed her lips to mine, I couldn’t see beyond her.
Tread carefully, the beating muscle in my chest commanded, because if you let her in, if you let yourself fall for this girl, you’ll never recover.
Forget that shit, she’s already in.
Keep her.
“Oh my god, I think he just got her pregnant,” a female voice announced from somewhere behind us. “What did you expect? I told you he doesn’t do relationships. Oh my god, hold up! Is that Aoife Molloy?”
Jerking away like my lips had burned her, Molloy flicked her gaze over my shoulder to where the annoying fucking girls’ voices had come. “Aw crap,” she strangled out, clamping her thighs around my hips like a vice. “We are so busted.”
For fuck’s sake.
Clearing her throat, she said, “Uh, hey, Rebecca. Hey, Danielle.”
I glanced back at my house and, for the first time in my life, I actually wanted to go inside.
Jesus Christ.
Biting back a pained groan, I dropped my head on her shoulder for a moment while I steeled myself for the shit show that I had no doubt was about to unfold.
