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"Tadhg, leave him alone. He’s only small, and I’ve been called worse," I growled, narrowing my eyes in warning, as I gingerly pulled myself into a sitting position and took stock of the sleeping bodies littered around my room.
Aside from the piss-soaked toddler on my lap, and the mouthy preteen on my floor beside my bed, another brother lay curled up across my legs like a sleeping puppy, while my sister huddled in the corner, with a floral-patterned duvet draped around her small shoulders.
The dresser wedged in front of my bedroom door was a harsh reminder of last night's events, and I was suddenly cold to the bone.
There's no place like home.
What a crock of shit.
"Are you okay?" That was Shannon, who looked like she hadn't slept a wink last night. Deathly pale, she locked her blue eyes on mine and kept them there. "Joe?"
"I’m grand, Shan." Reeling off the sentence of a lifetime, when the truth was that I hadn't been okay since the day I was born, I lifted Sean off my lap, and climbed out of bed, pulling on a pair of sweats as I moved.
Today was Monday; the first day back to school after the summer holidays. No matter how bad any of us felt, staying in this house instead of going to school was not an option.
Fuck that.
Aching in parts of my body I never knew existed, I shoved the dresser aside before unlocking the door.
Inhaling a steadying breath, I quickly yanked open the door before the child inside of me persuaded me to hide under my blanket with the rest of them.
Grow a pair of balls, you prick,I mentally urged myself, as I stepped into the landing, ready to face both the unknown and the inevitable.
The empty landing didn’t ease my trepidation one damn bit, because I knew he was still there.
Still in the house.
Like a dark cloud hanging over all of us, but worse.
So much fucking worse.
Loud snoring drifted from behind their locked bedroom door, accompanied by muffled sobbing, and my blood ran cold.
Freezing on the mortal spot, I fought the urge to run to her. To burst through that door and throw my arms around her.
I wanted to protect her from him almost as much as I wanted to protectmefromher.
"Well?" Glancing behind me, I found four wide-eyed faces watching me from the doorway of my bedroom. "Is he gone?"
Adrenalin spiking, and with heat that bordered on lava coursing through my veins, I pushed down the swell of emotion that threatened to break me, to make me weak like her. "No, he's still here."
"He is?"
"Yeah, he's in her bed."
Their faces fell, just like my heart, but again, I pushed it down, needing to get us the fuck out of this house more than I needed to wallow.
"Right, everyone, go back to your own rooms and get yourselves sorted. Wash up and get your uniforms on. I packed the lunches last night; they’re in the fridge so don’t forget to pack them in your bags,” I began to order, knowing that if I didn’t, nothing in the house would get done. “Nanny will be here to take Sean and drop you boys to school, and Shan, we’ll walk together."
“Okay, Joe.”
“Oh, and when I say wash up, I mean clean your ears as well as your teeth, boys," I instructed before stalking into the bathroom for a more likely than not, frigid cold shower.
With the bathroom door slammed shut behind me, I stood in front of the mirror and clutched the rim of the sink, allowing my eyes to assess the damage.
Grimacing at the sight of my swollen face, I forced myself to take a good fucking look.
Black eye.
