AllFreeNovel
Share Us
We didn’t have a whole pile of money behind us, and we depended on social housing like most of the families on our estate, but we weren’t lacking anything, and definitely not love. It was given unconditionally and came from an unlimited supply source.
Most importantly, they didn’t beat us or starve us, and we weren’t woken in the dead of the night to the sound of glass shattering or flesh pummeling flesh.
We weren’t afraid to speak our minds or launch an opinion for fear of physical retaliation like his mother and siblings so obviously were.
"It’s okay, Joe,” I urged, imploring him to hear me, as I pushed my damp hair off my face. “I get it now.”
And I did.
Suddenly all of the aggression and mood swings began to make sense.
The drugs.
The fighting.
The vicious way he attacked both Paul and Kevin when he thought I was under threat.
It was like a raincloud had lifted in front of my eyes.
He wasn’t violent by nature.
He was violent because he wasn’t nurtured at home.
“I understand what’s happening here, and I'm onyourside."
"You don’t know shit about what’s happening here," Joey warned, backing up another step when I reached up and touched the darkening bruise on his cheek. "Don't touch me."
"Why not?" I closed the space between us once more, pinning him to the garden wall. I reached up and let my fingers graze over the cut on his brow. "Are you afraid I'm going to hurt you?"
"No," he strangled out, shaking from head to toe, as he physically strained his body away from me. "I’m afraidI’llhurtyou.”
His words threw us both.
“Hurtme?” I repeated and quickly shook my head. “All you’ve ever done is look out for me, Joey Lynch. You would never hurt me.”
“I could,” he argued back, running a hand through his soaked hair. “I might.”
Wide-eyed and chest heaving, he watched me warily, waiting for my reaction.
Waiting for my rejection,I quickly realized.
“That’s not going to happen.” With my eyes locked on his, and my heart hammering wildly in my chest, I forced myself not to flinch. Not to turn away at the sight of his bruised face, or the dark circles under his eyes, as I whispered, "Because you're not him."
Joey stiffened. "You don’t know that, Molloy. You don’t knowme. I break everything I care about. That’s what I do. I fuck it all up.”
My heart skipped about three dozen beats.
“It’s okay to let yourself care about me, Joe,” I whispered, knowing that I was treading on some very dangerous territory right now, but not having the self-control to fall back and retreat to safer surroundings.
Not when the only place I ever wanted to be seemed to be in the middle of one of his breakdowns.
"Don’t do that.” His voice was gruff, green eyes full of dangerous heat. “Don’t look at me like I’mthatguy, Molloy. Don’t look for hidden meanings in the things I say. I’m not the guy for you.” He shook his head and blew out a pained breath “I will break this…” he paused to gesture between us, before adding, “Whatever this is; this warped little friendship we’ve formed over the years? I will fuck it up.”
“But will you mean it?” I pushed, refusing to back off. “That’s the important part.”
“No.” His green eyes narrowed on me, studying me with a sharpness that was entirely unnerving and exhilarating all in one breath. “I won’t mean it, of course I won’t fucking mean it, but that won’t stop it from happening—“
His words broke off when I kissed him.
