AllFreeNovel
Share Us
With my heart bucking wildly in my chest and tension oozing from my boyfriend, we stood in the doorway of the kitchen, hand in hand, and absorbed the five pairs of eyes that landed on us.
“Trish,” Joey acknowledged quietly. “Tony.”
“Joey,” both my parents said in unison.
“Aoife,” Marie offered in a small voice, gaze flicking from me to her son. “Joey.”
I nodded in return. “Marie.”
Joey stiffened beside me, but didn’t acknowledge his mother, because all of his attention was on the man glaring back at him.
His father.
“Well, aren’t you every bit the fuckup that I warned your mother you were,” Teddy Lynch sneered, getting right down to business, attention locked on my boyfriend. “Just when I thought you couldn’t disappoint us any further, you take it to a new level.”
Joey sucked in a sharp breath, but thankfully made no move to respond. Instead, he remained rigid beside me, locked in a heated stare-down with a man who, as far as I was concerned, was the devil incarnate.
“That’s hardly necessary, Teddy,” my mother chimed in, looking uncomfortable. “There’s no need to berate the boy.”
“You bring us over here to tell us that our young fella is after catching your young one, and you don’t think I need to discipline him? I’d say that there’s every need,” the bigger man snapped. Turning back to his son, he hissed, “Are you happy with yourself, ya little bollox? Stupid little cunt, letting your cock do the thinking for ya!” He shook his head in disgust. “You can kiss goodbye to the hurling. You won’t have time for it with all the nappies you’ll be working to pay for!”
“Teddy,” Marie whispered, placing her small hand on her husband’s. “Please.”
“Don’t you fucking start with me, woman,” he warned, roughly shaking her hand off. “It’s your fault the young fella is so—”
“Enough,” my father barked, glowering across the table at Joey’s father. “I don’t know how things work in your house, Lynch, but you’re in my house now, and you will keep your tone in check.”
Whoa.
Go Dad.
Teddy glowered at my father, but he didn’t respond, which proved my point all along, which was that this man was only good for beating on women and children. When faced with someone his own size, he quickly climbed back in his box.
“Dick,” I muttered under my breath at the same time as Joey did.
We flicked our gazes to each other.
I squeezed his hand.
He squeezed mine back.
“Okay, you two,” Dad said then, addressing us both. “Take a seat. We have a lot to discuss.”
“I want him out,” I stated, ignoring everyone except my dad. “Put him out.” I pointed to where my brother was perched at the table next to Joey’s mam, looking like he had every right to be involved in this conversation. “This has nothing to do with him.”
Kev opened his mouth to protest, but Mam quickly cut him off. “Go upstairs, Kevin.”
“That’s not fair.”
“You either go upstairs, or you go out,” Dad snapped, turning to glare at my brother. “Either way, you’re not staying in this kitchen.”
“This is bullshit,” my brother grumbled, and then turned to me for help. “Aoife, come on. You know I didn’t mean for any of this to come out the way it has.”
Yes, he did. The only remorse Kev felt was for the fact that he now found himself on the sour end of our parents’ good graces.
Joey bristled like a caged tiger beside me. I watched as his gaze flicked to my brother, and I could feel his temper rising. Joey never said a word, but the look he gave my brother had Kev quickly rising from the table, with none of his earlier bravery.
Refusing to step aside for my brother to pass easily, Joey remained in the doorway, forcing Kev to turn sideways to pass him. With his face crimson and his shoulders bunched tight, my brother squeezed past my boyfriend, keeping his gaze trained at the floor to avoid the death glower he was receiving.
