“Molloy.”
“This baby is yours,” I urged, shivering when I felt his fingers splay across my belly. “But this baby is not you, the same way that you are not him. So, we’re going to in there, and we’re going to take all of the shit our parents throw at us on the chin, because we both know that nothing they say or do could ever change a damn thing for us. Because I’ve got your back and you’ve got mine.” Leaning up on my tiptoes, I caught hold of his chin and kissed him hard. “We’re a team, Joey Lynch, and that bastard doesn’t stand a chance against us.”
His breath hitched in his throat. “Fuck.”
“Are you with me?”
He nodded slowly. “I’m with you, Molloy.”
Knowing exactly who I would find at the kitchen table made the walk from my front door to the kitchen so much harder. The concept of facing my own father was already sending me into a silent panic attack, without throwing Joey’s parents into the mix. Finding immense strength from the boy who had my hand wrapped safety in his, I found myself plucking up enough nerve to walk my ass into the kitchen and face them all.
My parents.
His parents.
My brother.
Even Spud was sprawled out, belly up, in a food-coma, on the mat at the back door.
“Oh, thank god,” my father broke the silence by saying, as he set his mug down on the table and blew out a relieved breath. “You’re back.”
With my heart bucking wildly in my chest, and tension oozing from my boyfriend, we stood in the doorway of the kitchen, hand in hand, and absorbed the five pairs of eyes that landed on us.
“Trish,” Joey acknowledged quietly. “Tony.”
“Joey,” both my parents said in unison.
“Aoife,” Marie offered in a small voice, gaze flicking from me to her son. “Joey.”
I nodded in return. “Marie.”
Joey stiffened beside me, but didn’t acknowledge his mother, because all of his attention was on the man glaring back at him.
His father.
“Well, aren’t you every bit the fuck up that I warned your mother you were,” Teddy Lynch sneered, getting right down to business, attention locked on my boyfriend. “Just when I thought you couldn’t disappoint us any further, you take it to a new level.”
Joey sucked in a sharp breath, but thankfully made no move to respond. Instead, he remained rigid beside me, locked in a heated stare down with a man, who, as far as I was concerned, was the devil incarnate.
“That’s hardly necessary, Teddy,” my mother chimed in, looking uncomfortable. “There’s no need to berate the boy.”
“You bring us over here to tell us that our young fella is after catching your young one and you don’t think I need to discipline him? I’d say that there’s every need,” the bigger man snapped. Turning back to his son, he hissed, “Are you happy with yourself, ya little bollox? Stupid little cunt, letting your cock do the thinking for ya!” He shook his head in disgust. “You can kiss goodbye to the hurling. You won’t have time for it with all the nappies you’ll be working to pay for!”
“Teddy,” Marie whispered, placing her small hand on her husband’s. “Please.”
“Don’t you fucking start with me, woman,” he warned, roughly shaking her hand off. “It’s your fault the young fella is so—”
“Enough,” my father barked, glowering across the table at Joey’s father. “I don’t know how things work in your house, Lynch, but you’re in my house now, and you will keep your tone in check.”
Whoa.
Go Dad.
Teddy glowered at my father, but he didn’t respond, which proved my point all along, which was that this man was only good for beating on women and children. When faced with someone his own size, he quickly climbed back in his box.
“Dick,” I muttered under my breath at the same time as Joey did.
We flicked our gazes to each other.
I squeezed his hand.
He squeezed mine back.
“Okay, you two,” Dad said then, addressing us both. “Take a seat. We have a lot to discuss.”
“I want him out,” I stated, ignoring everyone except my dad. “Put him out.” I pointed to where my brother was perched at the table, next to Joey’s mam, looking like he had every right to be involved in this conversation. “This has nothing to do with him.”
Kev opened his mouth to protest, but Mam quickly cut him off. “Go upstairs, Kevin.”
“That’s not fair.”
“You either go upstairs, or you go out,” Dad snapped, turning to glare at my brother. “Either way, you’re not staying in this kitchen.”
“This is bullshit,” my brother grumbled, and then turned to me for help. “Aoife, come on, you know I didn’t mean for any of this to come out the way it has.”
Yes, he did.
The only remorse Kev felt was for the fact that he now found himself on the sour end of our parents’ good graces.
Bristling like a caged tiger beside me, I watched as Joey’s gaze flicked to my brother, and I could feel his temper rising. Joey never said a word, but the look he gave my brother had Kev quickly rising from the table, with none of his earlier bravery.
Refusing to step aside for my brother to pass easily, Joey remained in the doorway, forcing Kev to turn sideways to pass him. With his face crimson, and his shoulders bunched tight, my brother squeezed past my boyfriend, keeping his gaze trained down at the floor to avoid the death glower he was receiving.
Ha-fucking-ha, I mentally cheered, go upstairs and change your boxers, you little shit.
Only when my brother was gone, and the kitchen door was closed, did I move for the table, stopping mid-stride when the boy who had a firm hold of my hand refused to move.
I knew why of course.
He didn’t want me anywhere near his father.
Neither did I, but I wasn’t going to cower from a creep like him.
I would never back down to this man.
Because he didn’t beat me that night and he never would.
This was a battle of wills and he would never win.
Never.
Call it pluckiness, or just plain pig-headedness, but I refused to give that man a second more of air-time in my thoughts. Teddy Lynch was irrelevant to me, and by standing there facing him, I was letting him know that.
Fighting with him would give him exactly what he wanted.
He was a bully, and bullies fattened on fear, tears, and pain.
Rising above him was a form of defiance that was alien to him, and, whether Joey realized it or not, we could hurt his father a lot more by showing a united front.
Giving his hand a hard tug, I tried again, and this time, Joey relented. He followed me over to the table, where we sat opposite his parents, with my mother and father heading and footing both ends of the table.
“I’m not happy about this,” my father came right out and said, breaking the horrible strained silence. “I’m devastated, if truth be told, but the horse has left the barn, so shouting and roaring about it won’t change anything.”
His words hit hard and I flinched. “Dad.“
“I’m sorry, Tony,” Joey interrupted me and said, addressing my father. “I fucked up.”