Lovely.
Just lovely.
Alone with three Tommen rugby players, their patriarch, and a BCS hurler suffering a horrendous case of delirium tremors, I watched on helplessly as their principal gave Johnny a resigned look before turning his attention to us. “Are you two aware that you are not permitted on school property if you are not enrolled here.”
“Fuck you!” Of course that was Joey.
“Joe,” I groaned, trying to rein in his reckless temper “He’s their principal.”
“So? He’s not mine,” he shot back, well and truly on the edge now. “I’m here to pick up my sister since your piece of shit school can’t control its students and keep her safe.”
“And your sister is?”
“Shannon Lynch.”
The man visibly paled.
“Yeah, that’s right,” Joey sneered, focusing every ounce of his fury on the older man. “You know who I’m talking about. You made all sorts of promises to her, didn’t ya? About keeping your students safe? What a fucking joke you are!”
“I beg your pardon.” The older man looked genuinely affronted. “I have no idea what you’re talking—”
“Hi, Joe.”
Every head turned in the direction Shannon was coming from, soaked to the skin, and looking like she went ten rounds with Rocky.
“Oh, sweet mother of mercy,” I mumbled to myself, forcing back the urge to hurl when the smell of sour milk wafted towards me, wreaking havoc on my poor pregnancy-enhanced sense of smell.
Clearly, whoever had dunked her in sour milk had rubbed salt in the wound by scribbling something derogatory about blow jobs on her face. Even though she’d clearly tried to wash it off, it was still there for the world to see.
Sniffling, she looked to her giant of a boyfriend and only then did the tears she’d clearly been holding back spill over. “Hi, Johnny.”
“What the actual fuck!” Johnny roared, first to react, as he closed the space between them and caught ahold of his girlfriend before she hit the ground. “What happened to your face, Shannon?”
“I want to go home.” I watched with my heart in my mouth as she fell against his big frame and clutched him tightly. “I just want to go.”
“It’s okay.” Inspecting every inch of her like she was the greatest of importance to him, I watched as the big lad was overcome with emotion. “Shh, baby, shh.” Seeing her hurt affected him. No, it was more than that. It crushed him. “Just calm down.”
“Who did this to you?” Joey demanded, jumping into action, as he moved straight for his sister. “Shan, what the fuck happened?”
“Was it her?” Johnny asked, joining my boyfriend in the interrogation. “What am I saying – of course it was her!”
“Who?” their principal asked. “Who did this to you, Shannon?”
“Bella fucking Wilkinson,” Gibsie chimed in, tone laced with disgust. “Who else?”
My brows furrowed as a wave of recognition washed over me. “Bella Wilkinson?”
“Oh yeah.” Nodding eagerly, Gibsie’s eyes widened to saucers as he said, “Cap’s crazy obsessed, super stalker ex bitch.”
“I want her out of this school,” Johnny ordered, tucking Shannon under his arm. “She can’t get away with this. You know what she’s been going through. She’s supposed to be safe at school!”
“Shannon, are you saying that Miss Wilkinson did this to you?”
“Back the fuck up,” Joey warned when the older man moved towards his sister. “Don’t come near my sister. I’m warning you.”
“Fucking Bella Wilkinson,” Hughie grumbled, coming to stand beside Gibsie. “It’s always something with her.”
“Because she is Lucifer with tits,” Gibsie confirmed grimly. “The living, breathing devil in carnage.”
“It’s incarnate, Gibs, not in carnage.”
“Whatever, lad. I tried to warn you all, but oh no, nobody listens to the beautiful one.” His tone was laced with a heavy dollop of sarcastic outrage. “I’m just a pretty face to you assholes. Some eye candy for the ladies. Well, I know things, too, you know. It’s not all about books. I’m an excellent judge of character.”
Bella Wilkinson.
Why the hell was that name so familiar?
“I slept with someone.”
“You lost your virginity? To who?”
“A girl from Tommen.”
“What’s her name?”
“Bella Wilkinson.”
“No,” I gasped, wide-eyed when awareness finally dawned on me. The girl Paul slept with behind my back. It was the same person. “What the—”
“You!” Johnny roared, startling me from my thoughts, as he took off like a thundering bull in the direction two students were coming from. “I want a fucking word with you!”
“Johnny, don’t,” Shannon sobbed, covering her face with her small hands.
“Cap, you’re in contract.”
“Think about Saturday.”
“Take the high road.”
“Fuck your high road,” Johnny roared back, ignoring his friends, as he moved straight for who I presumed was Bella and her beau. “What did I tell you, huh?” the big lad demanded, closing the space between them. “What the fuck did I tell you about that bitch?”
“Joe, he’s in contract,” I said, attention flicking between Johnny’s worried-looking circle of buddies to his sobbing girlfriend. I had no clue what that meant, but clearly it was a pretty big deal. “Stop him, baby. Don’t let him fight.”
“Aw shit,” Joey muttered under his breath and then he was darting off in the same direction.
“Whoa, Johnny,” the older lad tried to appease, holding his hands up. “I have no idea what you’re—”
Bam!
A well-trained fist clocked him straight in the face before he could finish his sentence, and the boy hit the deck with a thud.
However, the right hook that pancaked the lad on the ground hadn’t been the result of Johnny Kavanagh’s fist, but Joey’s.
Always the protector.
“What the…fuck?”
“I owed you one,” my boyfriend explained, shaking out his hand, before gesturing to the busted lip of his nemesis-turned-ally. “Besides, I’m already getting arrested.”
Johnny gaped at him. “For what?”
“For this,” Joey explained, seconds before lunging for the lad on the ground.
Oh Jesus.
“Get off him, you dirty, little scumbag ” Bella screamed, and then she did the unspeakable; she put her hands on my man.
Oh hell to the no.
As I witnessed the bitch slap Joey, I couldn’t see beyond the haze of red blinding me.
“Hey! Don’t call my boyfriend a scumbag.” I roared, taking leave of my senses, as I hauled ass towards the whore putting hands on him. “Is this her, Shan? Did she do this to you?”
“No, Aoife, please just leave it.”
Nope.
Nu-uh.
Wasn’t going to happen.
Because she had the nerve to put hands on my man.
“Who the hell are you?” Bella demanded, casting a menacing glare in my direction.