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“Don’t touch me!” I screamed when her hand landed on my shoulder. Scrambling to my feet, I backed up as far away from these people as I could physically get. “Stay the fuck away from me, all of you!”
Unfortunately for me, the way out of this hellhole was on the other side of the kitchen, and while I was desperate to get out, I couldn’t make my legs move, because moving forward meant passing him.
“Molloy.” That was Joey. He was standing in front of me with his hands on my cheeks, green eyes wild and frantic, and I was having none of it. “Aoife, baby—”
“Don’t touch me,” I choked out, yanking my face free from his touch. “Just get me out of here.”
“Aoife.” He moved for me again, and over his shoulder I could see the crumpled heap that was his father, twisting and groaning on the floor. “Please, just…don’t… I’m so fucking sorry.”
“I said get me out of here, Joey!” I screamed, dragging my hands through my hair as I tore my eyes off him and forced myself to look at his son. “I want to leave now!”
My gaze once again flicked to the monster, who was now sitting up, while his wife held a damp tea towel to his cheek.
Was she serious?
Did she not see what he just tried to do to me?
“Get me the fuck away from these people, Joey,” I spat out, glaring at my boyfriend. “Now.”
Heaving out a shuddering breath, Joey nodded and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, blocking my view of his father as he led me out of the house.
The minute I was outside, I shrugged out of his hold and rushed for my car, gasping in mouthfuls of the cool night air while I tried to make sense of what the hell had just happened.
“Aoife.”
“Don’t!” I strangled out, pushing away from him. “Don’t talk. Just…just take me home.”
I was reeling.
My mind was blank.
My body was coiled tight with tension.
Joey opened the passenger door and I collapsed into the seat, breathing hard and fast as my entire framed rattled and shook.
Coming around to the driver’s side, he climbed in and looked at me with anguished eyes. “Molloy, I’m so—”
“No.” Trying and failing to fasten my seatbelt, I gave up and bit back the urge to scream, pressing my fingers to my temples. “Just drive.”
Wordlessly, Joey reached over and fastened my seatbelt for me before starting the engine. With his hands rigid on the steering wheel, he bowed his head and sucked in several deep breaths before returning his focus to the road ahead and pulling off.
Biting down on my fist to stop myself from screaming, I tucked my hair behind my ear and then shuddered when I remembered the feel of his father’s hand knotted roughly in it.
Striving for calm and coming up empty, I felt my entire body buzz with this strange, anxious energy, and I wasn’t sure if it was my fear, my anger, or sheer adrenaline causing the upset. Either way, I couldn’t seem to control my limbs. They had a mind of their own.
When Joey took a left at the end of the road, instead of the usual right turn that led to my estate, I started to get panicky. When he pulled up outside the Ballylaggin Garda Station a few minutes later, the panic I’d been feeling quickly shifted into a full-blown anxiety attack.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
He killed the engine and stared out the windscreen, hands still wrapped tightly around the wheel.
“What are you doing?” I repeated when he didn’t respond. My heart raced wildly in my chest. “Joey?” My eyes were wild with panic. “Take me home.”
“I can’t take you home, Molloy,” he finally said, his voice barely audible. Keeping his eyes trained on the building that we were parked in front of, he slowly shook his head. “I need to make this right.”
“What do you mean?” I demanded, my voice cracking. “I’m not going in there, Joey. I won’t, okay? I just want to go home and take a shower.”
“We have to go in there,” he replied, unfastening his seatbelt and reaching for his car door handle. “He’s not getting away with putting his hands on you.”
