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“I’m tempted every second of the day,” I admitted. “But I’m not going back there.”
She smiled. “Good boy.”
“I guess what I wanted to talk to you about was the matter of settling up with you and John. Obviously, I need to keep some of the money for Aoife and AJ, but Tony’s after giving me back my job at the garage, so I’ll be able to set up a payment plan—”
“Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” she cut in, spinning around to face me. “I mean it, Joey Lynch.” Wiping her hands on her apron, she stalked toward me, not stopping until she had the envelope in her hands and was stuffing it back into my bag. “I will never take so much as a cent from you. Do you hear me, love? Not a brown brass penny, so put any notions of that out of your head.”
“Edel.” Sighing heavily, I rubbed my jaw. “I have to pay you back.”
“You already are,” she replied, reaching up to pat my cheek. “By staying clean and going to school.”
“I got suspended on my first day at Tommen,” I reminded her.
“Psssh. So did I.” She waved a hand around aimlessly. “And I did it in epic fashion.”
“You went to Tommen?”
“I was transplanted there,” she replied with a smirk. “Same as you.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know, Joey love.” Smirking, she patted my cheek once more before turning her attention back to her stew. “A lot.”
Well, shit.
“Do you, ah, think you could give me a spin into town?” I gestured to my bag. “I need to see Aoife.”
“I can drop you into town in an hour or two, love, but if you need to go now, then just run upstairs and ask Johnny before he leaves for training. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind dropping you off on his way.”
Navigating my way through Tommen was one thing, but navigating my way through the maze that was the Kavanagh Manor was something entirely different. Wandering through the maze of corridors, I finally found my feet on the right wing of the house. Knowing my surroundings, I walked to the end of the hallway, stopping just outside the door that housed my sister’s soft laughter.
When our mother was alive, I had been too high to hear her warnings about Shannon’s relationship with Kav. Now, as I stood on my own two feet, with a clear head and my wits about me, I got it. I finally saw what my mother had been so afraid of.
This wasn’t puppy love. It wasn’t a fleeting romance, either. No, whatever was happening between these two was raw, real, and mixed with an undeniable air of permanence.
Smiling to myself, I knocked once and pushed the door inward.
That was my first mistake.
My second mistake was… Nope, it was gone.
I could focus on nothing but the image of my naked sister, bouncing on top of her equally naked boyfriend.
“Trigger,” I roared, slapping a hand over my eyes two seconds too late. “Trigger, trigger, get-your-fucking-dick-out-of-my-baby-sister trigger!”
“Oh my god!” Shannon screamed, hands and legs flailing, as she scrambled off Mister fucking Rugby’s lap and tried to hide behind his back. “Joey! Get the hell out!”
“Yeah,” I roared, feeling faint as I leaned against the doorframe and resisted the overpowering urge to heave my guts up. “Get out of her, you big, overgrown bastard. You’ll break her!”
“Not him—Johnny, don’t move!” my sister screamed back, as she peeked over his shoulder and pointed a finger at me. “You, Joe! Get out.”
“I can’t!”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m frozen to the fucking spot here, Shannon! I’m having an out-of-body experience here, and it’s fairly traumatizing,” I choked out. “Jesus Christ, have I taught you nothing?” I demanded, feeling faint. “Have you learned nothing from my mistakes?”
“I’m on the pill,” my baby sister offered up.
