“Who’s she?” I asked, standing in the kitchen alongside her, mentally taking notes. “Would I know her?”
“Doubtful,” she shot back. “You’re hot, but you don’t have the pedigree to get on her radar.”
I cocked a brow. “Wow. Thanks.”
“Sorry, but you don’t.” She offered me a half-hearted shrug. “You’re a BCS boy from a council estate, and she’s a money starved, fame-hungry whore,” she explained, scrunching her nose up in disgust. “You might be the next big thing for the GAA, but unless you come with all the trimmings – and when I say trimmings, I mean money, a flashy car, and a future playing professional rugby – then she won’t look sideways at you.”
“I’m distraught.”
“Yeah, you really sound it.” Lizzie laughed, slapping my arm. “Put it this way; she would get up on a razor blade if said razor blade came in the form of one of the Academy boys. But she’s in sixth year and really doesn’t bother with anyone from third year, so Shan shouldn’t have any issues with her. Besides, none of the lads in our year are impressive enough to be on her radar. She’s more interested in the older lads, the big-time rugby-heads with godlike status.”
“Like Johnny Kavanagh?”
“Exactly.” Lizzie nodded. “Or Cormac Ryan. They’re both in The Academy.”
“I’ve seen them both play,” I mused, rubbing my jaw. “That Kavanagh lad is seriously impressive, but that Ryan kid isn’t going any further than The Academy.”
“Want to hear a fun inside scoop going around the rugby circle?”
“Not really.”
“Well, I was forced to hear it, so you can, too.”
“Please don’t.”
“Apparently, Bella’s been sleeping with Cormac since before Christmas, even though she’s meant to be with Johnny Kavanagh, but he’s out on injury.”
“Oh, the scandal,” I replied flatly. “What life changing information I have been given about three people I couldn’t give one single fuck about. How will I ever contain my excitement?”
“You’re sarcastic and blunt to the point of being cruel.” She threw her head back and laughed. “I love it.”
“Well, it didn’t take you long to jump back into old habits,” a familiar voice sneered, and I turned my head to see Casey Lordan glaring up at me. “Having fun with your new sidepiece, asshole?”
I narrowed my eyes. “What are you talking about?”
“You,” Casey hissed, pointing a finger between us. “And this little slut.”
“Did you seriously just call me a slut?” Lizzie interjected. “Are you insane?”
“If the dick fits, sweetie,” Casey sneered, giving Shannon’s little pal one of those withering looks, and sloshing wine over the rim of her glass in the process. “And it sure looks like it does.”
“Don’t call me sweetie, bitch,” Lizzie warned, hopping down from the island. “Because you don’t know who the hell you’re dealing with.“
“Pack it in,” I warned, quickly stepping between my sister’s best friend and my girlfriend’s one. “Whatever you think you know, you don’t,” I said, addressing Casey. “She’s my baby sister’s friend.”
“Yeah, sure she is.”
“Yeah, I am,” Lizzie argued from behind me.
“You,” I ordered, turning back to face Lizzie. “Walk away.”
“But…”
“Walk away,” I barked, waiting for Lizzie to storm off, before turning my attention back to Casey. “As for you,” I snapped, tone laced with disgust. “I don’t know what’s after coming over you, Case, but you need to get your head out of the gutter.”
“I saw you all over her!”
“She’s a child,” I bit out. “Have a bit of cop on, will ya? Jesus! And keep your goddamn nose out of my business while you’re at it.”
Doing the complete opposite, she reached a hand up and slapped me across the cheek, and fuck if it didn’t sting.
“Or what, huh?” She pushed at my chest with a surprising amount of force considering she barely reached my chest in height. “What are you going to do if I don’t, asshole?”
“Casey,” I warned, backing up a few steps, only to have her close the space between us. “Back off.”
“Why’d you do it, Joey?” she demanded, pushing and shoving at my chest until she had me cornered with nowhere to go. “You could have left her alone,” she slurred, wobbling in her heels, and I, for some unknown reason, reached a hand out to steady her.
That’s right; I was the eejit who stopped the girl who was attacking me from falling over.
As a thank you, she slapped me again.
Lovely.
“Listen here, you good-looking son of a bitch,” she slurred as she poked me in the chest with her finger. “I don’t care how slick you can move your hips on a pitch – or on a mattress, for that matter – we both know that you are punching way above your weight with my girl.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” I demanded, feeling my temper rise. “You sound like a head-case.”
“I’m talking about you breaking my best friend’s heart,” she hissed, poking me again. “Aoife is worth ten of every other girl at this party, and you’re a stupid asshole if you can’t see that.”
“You think I’m fucking around?” I gaped at her. “Are you insane?”
“Oh, I know you are. I just caught you red-handed.”
“Talking,” I spat back. “You caught me red-handed talking to my sister’s childhood friend.”
“Deny it all you want. I know what I saw.”
“You’re deluded.”
“And you’re a dickhead,” she continued her rant. “Aoife was fine with Paul. She was okay. Her life was stable. It was consistent. He was good for her. But you just couldn’t leave her alone, could you? No, you just had to keep chipping away at her heart, until she threw it all away for you. And look where it got her.”
“Now, you listen to me,” I seethed. “If you so much as think about trying to sink your toxic claws in Aoife, and twisting this into something it’s not, then I swear to Christ, Case, I will lose my mind.“
“You lost your mind the minute you decided to break my best friend’s heart,” she snapped. “Aoife Molloy is the single best thing that’s ever happened to you, Joey Lynch, and everyone knows it. She loves you, asshole, despite your reputation and all of the horrible things you’ve done in your past, and instead of treating her with the love and respect she deserves, you trample all over her with your bullshit.”
“You don’t know a damn thing about it,” I snarled, furious. “You have no clue of what’s happening between us, so don’t start harping on to me about shit that doesn’t concern you.”
“I know that you fed her some asshole line about needing space, and then sauntered off without a backwards glance,” she replied, sounding just as furious.