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“Later.” She laughed against my lips. “But first, fuel me up because I’m starving.”
“I’ve something cooking inside.”
“What?”
“Lasagna.”
“I love lasagna.”
“I know.”
“Where’s it from?”
“SuperValu.”
“Their own brand?”
“Only one I can afford.”
“That’s my favorite one!”
“Yeah, Molloy, I know.”
“So, you cook, you clean, you change nappies, you fix my car, you give me unlimited orgasms,” she teased. Stepping back, she snatched up her little Santa hat and slipped it into the pocket of her coat. “Keep this up, and I might just have to hang on to you, Joey Lynch.”
“Whatever you say, Molloy.” I chuckled, shaking my head. “Come on.” Grabbing her overnight bag from the ground, I threw it over my shoulder and led her inside. “Fair warning: He’s in rare form.”
24
You’ll Always Have Me
AOIFE
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 secondborn, 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.
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 they were stuck inside, and Marie was the key that refused to 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.
