MAY 7TH 2004
JOEY
FURY.
I’d never tasted it quite this bitterly.
Unable to look at Molloy for fear of what I might say, I kept driving away from the school and further out from Ballylaggin, hoping that some distance would help cool me down.
“We need to talk about this.”
She was right, we did, but I wasn’t ready for a conversation.
I couldn’t listen to her words right now.
I couldn’t hear her reasoning for doing what she did earlier.
Talking, while I was wrestling with my temper like this, wouldn’t do either one of us an ounce of good.
I would lose my head and spit my poison all over her feelings. It wouldn’t matter if I meant the words coming out of my mouth or not; they would explode from my lips like bullets intended to decimate my intended target. A self-preservation tactic that had been programed into me since birth.
Right now, my head was telling me that the target for my fury was the girl sitting beside me, which was a stark contrast to my heart. That was warning me to lower the proverbial gun and don’t shoot.
“Are you sure that the insurance my father put you on at work covers you driving this?”
She was trying to get me to come around with small talk.
It wouldn’t work.
“I still can’t believe you got your full license before me.”
If she couldn’t, then she was the only one. Judging by the way she drove – like a ninety-year-old, with poor eyesight, and a serious lack of awareness – I had a feeling Sean would pass his driving test before she did.
“I’m mad at you too, you know.”
Yeah, I got that loud and clear when she went batshit and attacked Shane’s car.
Parking up at the beach, I killed the engine, and took a deep steadying breath before I turned in my seat to face her.
She was already facing me, with her arms folded across her chest, and her face set in a hard line.
Her blonde hair fell loosely down her shoulders to her elbows.
She looked like an angel, poised and ready to go to war with me, and that was unnerving as fuck.
“You don’t get to do that, Molloy,” I finally said, when I was sure that I could control the words coming out of my mouth. “You don’t get to stamp your feet and throw a tantrum at school when I’m talking to someone you don’t approve of.”
With her back leaning against the car door, she glared at me sulkily, but didn’t respond.
She looked ridiculously sexy, with her full lips set in a pout, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to fight with her or fuck her in that moment.
“I’m serious,” I told her. “If any other girl pulled a stunt like that on me, then I wouldn’t be sitting in a car with her, trying to talk it out. No, because I would have told her where to go back at school.“
“But I’m not any other girl,” she said huffily. “That’s exactly the point.”
So fucking confident.
“You were wrong to do what you did.”
“No, you were wrong.”
“He’s not someone you mess with, Molloy. Did you think about that before you decided to kick the shit out of his car?”
“Neither am I. Did you think about that before you got into his car?”
“I can talk to anyone I want.”
“Not when they sell you drugs, you can’t.”
“I told you that I didn’t take anything.”
“That doesn’t mean that you weren’t tempted.”
“You can’t tell me what to do, Molloy.”
“Even when it’s for your own good?”
“Even then. You don’t own me.”
“Yeah, I do.”
“No, Molloy.” I blew out a frustrated breath. “You don’t.”
She glared back at me. “You’re here, aren’t you?”
“Because you spat the dummy.”
“And you came running.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Molloy.”
She narrowed her eyes right back at me. “Joey.”
Jesus, I couldn’t deal with this girl.
I shook my head, feeling at a loss. “Well, if people at school didn’t know about us before, they certainly do now.”
“Good.” More bitchy glaring. “I have nothing to be ashamed of, have you?”
I glowered back at her. “No.”
“Good,” she bit out. “Glad we got that cleared up.”
“I don’t know what I’m doing here.” I threw my hands up. “I really fucking don’t.”
“You’re here for the same reason that I am, asshole,” she came right out with and then sucker punched me in the chest with the next statement. “Because you’re in love with the person staring back at you, the same way I am.”
“I’m not in love with you,” I warned her, tone shaky now. “I’m not, Molloy. I don’t love you.”
“Don’t bullshit a bullshitter, Joey.” She had the nerve to roll her eyes and say, “You love me so much that it makes you sick.”
“You’re so fucking full of yourself,” I snapped, completely unnerved by the blonde, who was crawling over the console to sit on my lap. “You don’t know what’s in my head, Molloy.”
“I’m in your head.” Straddling my hips, she reached for the hem of her school jumper and quickly yanked it off. “Then, now, always.”
“Don’t pull this shit with me,” I heard myself say, even though I had my hand behind the back of my head to tug my jumper off right along with hers.
Her hands moved to the buttons of her school shirt, and I didn’t even pretend not to watch as she deftly flicked each one open, revealing a sexy, lace pink bra constraining her massive tits.
“Jesus,” I growled, hardening to the point of pain beneath her.
“Tell me.” Shrugging off her shirt, she reached behind her for the clasp of her bra and gave me a teasing smile as she withdrew her hand and settled her palm on my chest instead. “Tell me what I want to hear.”
“Not happening,” I replied, hooking an arm around her waist and pulling her roughly to my chest. Reaching a hand up the middle of her back, I quickly unsnapped the clasp of her bra. “Because I don’t.”
“Because you’re scared,” she corrected, pressing a featherlight kiss to the corner of my mouth, as she slowly drew the straps of her bra down each arm before tossing it on the floor. “Because you’re,” pausing, she leaned in and traced my bottom lip with the tip of her tongue, and then whispered, “a pussy.”
