AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Come on, Shannon,” he groaned, tone agitated now. “You can’t avoid this.”
I had every intention of avoiding him for the rest of my life. I planned on starting that avoiding as soon as I got out of this car.
“Shannon, talk to me.”
I remained silent.
“Shannon, come on,” Johnny pleaded. “Don’t be like this.”
I didn’t think there was any other way I could be, given the circumstances.
I kissed him. He rejected me.
I put myself out there for him. He turned me down.
It was my fault. One hundred percent. I accepted responsibility for my recklessness. But that didn’t mean I was strong enough to listen to the painful verbal repercussions of my actions.
“Just fucking talk to me,” Johnny demanded, unwilling to let this go.
“What’s to say?” I croaked out, turning back to look at him, giving in to his relentless probing. “You don’t want me. I heard you. I got the message.”
“You clearly didn’t if that’s what you took from it,” he shot back, looking furious.
When I didn’t respond, Johnny literally growled.
“Fine, if you don’t want to hash this out, then I won’t say another word,” he announced, throwing his hands up in the air. “Is that what you want, Shannon?”
“That’s what I want, Johnny,” I whispered.
“Suit yourself,” he bit out, starting the engine again. “I give up.”
With his words of rejection belting in my ears, and my emotions in turmoil, I clenched my eyes shut and prayed for time to speed up. I had the worst pain in my stomach to match the throbbing ache in my chest that seemed to blossom and burn with every mile he knocked up on the clock.
When Johnny pulled onto my street, I lied just like I had every other time he dropped me home, and told him that my house was the one at the other end of the street, knowing full well that if my father saw me climbing out of his car, I’d be as good as dead. However, I did not anticipate that he might turn off the engine again, which is exactly what he did.
“Are you okay?” he asked, turning in his seat to face me.
“Yeah,” I croaked out.
He nodded slowly. “Shannon, listen—”
“You don’t have to say anything else,” I quickly stopped him by saying. “It won’t happen again.”
He frowned. “No, that’s not what I was—”
“I’m sorry,” I blurted out and then grabbed the handle and pushed the door open. “I really am very sorry.” Unbuckling my belt, I slipped out of the SUV and slammed the door closed before he could say another word.
I couldn’t handle more. Not tonight.
Mortified, I hovered outside my neighbor’s garden wall until it was clear that Johnny was waiting for me to go inside before he left, and then I did the only thing I could: I ducked my head and ran down the footpath to my actual house, not daring to look back at him. Slipping inside, I closed the door behind me and exhaled a ragged breath before quickly searching the downstairs.
The house was empty.
Ollie, Tadhg, and Sean went to Nanny Murphy’s on weekdays, with the exception of Fridays, when Nanny dropped them straight home after school because she went to Beara on the weekends to visit her granddaughter and wouldn’t be home until at least eight o’clock.
Joey and Mam both worked on Mondays, and my father kept a stool warm at the bookies most evenings.
Nothing changed.
