“Her name’s Aoife.” Draining the contents of my glass, I rinsed it out in the sink before placing the glass on the draining board and returning to my perch of hovering awkwardly near what I presumed the back door. “I, ah, work for her father.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.” I nodded. “He, ah, runs a small mechanics garage in town.”
“Which garage?”
“The Free-Wheeler one at the end of Plunkett’s Road, across the street from Market Place.”
“Is that how you met?”
“No, we’re in the same class at school.”
“High school sweethearts.” She smiled knowingly. “Oh, to be young again.”
“You could say that.”
“Have you been together long?”
“Yeah,” I muttered, feeling completely off balance around this woman. “We have.”
“You don’t give much away, do you, Joey, love?”
“Why would I?” I replied. “I don’t know you.”
She stared at me for a long moment before shaking her head and offering me another warm smile. “You know, love, I’m sure I’ve heard about that garage. I’ll bring the car down the next time it needs a service.”
“Really?” My brows furrowed and the pain in my head slowly dulled. “You don’t have to.”
“I’d like to.” She smiled again. “How long have you worked there?”
“Since I was twelve or thirteen.” Another shrug. “Been on the books since third year.”
“That young?”
“Needed the money.”
“And you like it?” she pressed, still busying herself with prepping food and making tea. “Mechanics? That’s something you might be interested in pursuing after you’re done with school?”
Jesus, what was with this woman and all the questions?
I hadn’t endured this level of interrogation since my last trip in the back of the paddy wagon.
Or maybe since the last time I’d come under fire from Molloy.
Come to think about it, this little woman gave off a similar air of confidence to the once that wafted from my girlfriend in waves.
It was confusing and I didn’t know if I liked it.
“Money’s decent.”
“Well, I think you are a credit to yourself, Joey Lynch.” Somehow, I earned myself another megawatt smile from Mister Rugby’s mother. “Working all those hours after school. And in your leaving cert year. You should be so proud of yourself.”
If she knew me, really knew me, she would quickly change her opinion.
I pinched my temple, fucking aching from head to toe, as I tried to clear my thoughts and focus on this woman. “Why?”
“Why what, love?”
“Nothing.” Fuck, I needed to stop letting her lure me into conversation and get out of there. “Doesn’t even matter.”
“I think it does.” Turning to face me, she gave me her full attention. It was a worrying fucking concept considering I didn’t know her. “Say what you were going to say, love. I’m listening.”
She was.
That was the unsettling part.
She was listening to me.
Fuck.
“I, uh…”
The kitchen door swung inwards then, and my eyes landed on my sister and Kavanagh.
The minute my eyes landed on her face I wanted to die.
I wanted to drown.
I wanted fucking out.
Jesus, the guilt was crippling me.
Feeling useless and unimportant, I willed myself to be a man and stand my ground, to not cower in shame because I’d let this happen to her.
I’d let her down again.
Again.
“Alright, Shan?” My voice was raw and thick with emotion I couldn’t seem to conceal. “How’s it going?” I forced myself to take it all in. Every bruise. Every broken fucking promise on my behalf to protect her. “You okay?”
“Hey, Joe.” Her blue eyes locked on mine, and I could feel the pain emanating from her. With a small smile, she nodded once and tightened her hold on the hand of the boy she was clinging to. And with that small, subtle move, she let me know that this was okay, and that we could trust these people.
She might, but I didn’t.
“Are you?”
“All good,” I managed to croak out, quickly breaking eye contact, feeling too much for the little girl I’d spent my life trying and failing to protect. “Kavanagh,” I acknowledged then, turning my attention to the lad she was welded to. “Thanks again.”
For holding onto her.
For looking after her when I couldn’t.
“Joey.” Steel blue eyes landed on my face. “Anytime.”
I hoped he meant it.
Because as much as I hated myself for thinking it, I knew in my heart that I didn’t have anything left to give her.
I was empty.
I was done.
DON’T GIVE UP ON MY BROTHER
AOIFE
“Julie, I swear to God, if you even think about bailing on me during the lunch rush, I will rain hell down on you,” I growled, eyeing the redheaded barmaid who was reaching for her cigarettes under the bar. “Hell, I tell you.”
“Oh, simmer down, princess,” she grumbled, as she snatched up the packet and moved for the opening at the other end of the bar. “I haven’t had a smoke all morning. I’ll be five minutes.”
“Bitch,” I growled – and not quietly – as once again I picked up the slack for my co-worker.
Once I had taken and fulfilled all the drink orders on my section of the bar, I reluctantly moved to Julie’s section and started pulling pints and quenching thirsts. It wasn’t until I reached the end of the bar that I recognized a pair of familiar brown eyes staring back at me.
“Tadhg.” My heart leapt in my chest. “What are you doing here?”
“I need to talk to you,” he replied, tone hard, as he sat on a towering bar stool and stared back at me, unyielding. “It’s important.”
Yeah, I figured it had to be if he had traipsed across town to track me down.
“Tadhg, you know you’re not allowed in the bar without an adult here with you.”
“I have you, don’t I?”
“Yeah.” Emotion racked through me, and I nodded. “I guess you do.”
“He’s back.”
My heart jackknifed in my chest. “Joe?”
The younger Lynch offered me a stiff nod and I choked out a huge sigh of relief.
Leaving Joey at those gates last night was about the hardest thing I’d ever done in my life, but I did it with the knowledge that if I couldn’t get to him, then neither could Shane Holland. Temporarily appeased with the wad of cash I had borrowed from a boy I barely knew I wasn’t foolish enough to believe that Shane was gone forever. But right now, temporary was all I could hope for. “Is he okay?”
“No.”
My heart cracked in my chest. “No?”
“There was a big fight between Mam and that blonde lady with the posh car who brought Joey and Shannon home,” little alpha came right out and told me, blunt as always. “Shannon was crying over the posh lady’s son, Mam was going mental, and Darren stormed off.”
“What about Joe?”