However, as the months rolled into years, and Joey opened up further, giving me exclusive access to his life behind closed doors, not only had I found my disdain for Teddy reach extraordinary heights, but the animosity I felt towards Marie had shot off the charts.
Joey’s mother made me feel stabby, which frustrated me on a number of levels, because I had been raised to show compassion to the less fortunate.
And in truth, Marie Lynch deserved to be pitied.
Problem was, the way she treated her second born, the disgusting way she favored Shannon and the younger boys above him, had slowly caused any ounce of compassion I had for the woman to disintegrate.
I was in love with her son.
Joey was, in my biased opinion, the best thing to come out of Teddy and Marie Lynch’s fucked-up marriage, and the fact that his own mother couldn’t see beyond his jagged edges, made me furious.
Because if she only took the time to peel back the layers, she would see what an incredible human being she had brought into the world.
Sure, he was reckless and brash, stubborn and short-tempered, but he was also selfless and thoughtful, determined and dedicated.
He was loyal to a fault, and even though he tried his very best to hide it from the world, my god did he have a heart the size of the moon.
My boyfriend’s biggest mistake, and I included his drug abuse in this statement because I was a firm believer that both were significantly connected, was that he offered unconditional love and fealty to a woman who would never deserve it.
I had no doubt that, given half a chance, Joey would have zero qualms about throwing his father under the bus – both physically and proverbially – and then take the greatest of pleasure in pissing on his grave.
Teddy Lynch was a scumbag, rat-bastard, without a single redeemable bone in his body, but he wasn’t the parent that Joey couldn’t walk away from.
Marie was the only one with access to that particular pedestal, and instead of doing the right thing for Joey – for all of her children – she kept him chained to this house.
Teddy was the house in which they were stuck inside, and Marie was the key that refused to the turn in the lock and free them.
Because, despite his shortcomings, Joey Lynch held the morals of a good man.
His morals would never allow him to leave his siblings, and his loyalty would never allow him to leave her.
Therefore, when it came to feeling sympathy for Marie Lynch, I was the Sahara Desert.
Bone dry.
Shaking my head to clear my thoughts, I slapped on my brightest smile, and followed Joey into the kitchen, in awe of the mammoth effort I knew it had taken him to let me through the door. The atmosphere inside his house was always malignant and void of happiness. Unease settled heavily on my shoulders every time I stepped over the threshold, but it was important to me that Joey knew that I accepted every part of him. He had nothing to be ashamed of, and he never needed to hide a thing from me.
His family were sitting around the kitchen table when I walked into the room, and the coldness I usually received from his parents felt particularly arctic tonight.
“Hey, Aoife,” Tadhg and Ollie both chimed, while Shannon offered me a timid wave before quickly bowing her head, eyes trained on the table. Poor little Sean didn’t say a word, but his wide-eyed expression assured me that he felt incredibly confused. And frightened.
“Hey boys,” I replied, forcing myself to smile and keep my feelings in check, as I kept my back to the fridge, and my eyes trained on the table. “Hey, Shan.”
“H-hi,” she whisper-croaked, hiding her face behind a mountain of brown hair.
“Aoife,” Marie acknowledged with a small nod, her anxious gaze flicking from me, to Joey, before settling on her husband, who was heading up the table and making no secret of his obvious ogling of my body. I had a full-length coat on, but I may as well have been naked for all the good it did me around this man. “I didn’t know you were coming over this evening.”
“I invited her,” Joey was quick to intercept the conversation and say, thumb smoothing over my knuckles before he released my hand and moved towards the oven. “She’s staying over tonight.”
“It would have been nice to be told that we were having a visitor,” his mother said quietly.
“I pay my way in this house,” was my boyfriend’s cool response.
“Your father and I were hoping to make this a family night.”
If she was trying to make me uncomfortable enough to offer to leave, then it wouldn’t work. I had no intentions of going anywhere without her son.
“That sounds nice,” I replied, giving her a false smile. “We’re having a date night.”
“Date night,” his father scoffed. “And you’re cooking dinner for her.” He shook his head in disgust. “Are ya completely pussy-whipped by this one, boy?”
“As opposed to just plain whipping her?” Removing a tray of lasagna from the oven with a tea towel, he quickly set to work on plating it up. “And as for Aoife staying over, I wasn’t aware I needed to ask your permission for shit.”
“Don’t get lippy, boy,” his father warned, never taking his beady eyes off my legs. “This isn’t a whore-house.”
“It’s not?” Joey drawled, tone dripping with cynicism, as he handed me a plate of food and a fork. Reaching around me, he grabbed a couple of cans of coke from the fridge and slid one into each pocket of his sweats. “Well, shit, you could’ve fooled me, considering it produces just as many unwanted pregnancies.”
“Joey!” his mother snapped, looking mortified, while I bit down on my lip to stop the smile from spreading across my face. While my heart cheered go on, baby, you tell those bastards.
Tadhg made the mistake of laughing, which earned him a, “don’t fucking start, boy,” warning snarl from their father, as he slammed his fist down on the kitchen table, and extended his power.
Like dominos, I watched as five heads dropped in submission.
Or fear.
Not my one, though.
Not my Lynch.
Like a lone wolf standing on the outskirts of his family pack, Joey refused to bend or cower to the alpha.
“Don’t start getting too big for your boots, boy,” Teddy warned, glaring daggers at my boyfriend. “I have no problem knocking you back down to size.”
“You want to throw down, old man?” Setting his plate down, Joey gestured for him to go for it. “Then fucking try it. I’m right here.”
“Joey,” Marie tried again, tone admonishing. “Stop trying to provoke trouble.”
“Save your breath, Marie,” Teddy said, eyes still locked on his son, but making no move to leave the table. “That little cunt isn’t worth the energy.”
“Thought not,” Joey replied hotly. Shaking his head, he turned his attention to me. “Come on, Aoif.” He gestured to the door. “Let’s leave them to their family night.”
I knew that Joey would erupt the minute we were alone, so it came as no surprise that, as soon as his bedroom door was closed behind us, he kicked it twice, released a pained roar, and then gave it a further four kicks before tossing his plate and our cokes on his dresser and running his hands through his hair.
After abusing his bedroom door, the same door he regularly fucked me against, he yanked it open and stalked out, returning a few minutes later with my overnight bag, a jar of mayonnaise, and a regenerated thirst for pummeling his door.