AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I planned on owning up to Paul anyway, and it would have sounded a hell of a lot better coming from my mouth than hers.
Yeah, because the instant Joey Lynch reciprocated my kiss, my feelings, I knew there was no going back to pretending.
“Oh my god, Joe,” I groaned, screaming on the inside, as the realization of what I had done suddenly dawned on me. “I’m my father.”
“What are you talking about, Molloy?”
“Dad,” I choked out. “I’m him.” I looked at Joey. “He’s a cheater, I’m a cheater!” I threw my hands up in dismay. “We’re both cheating apples from the same cheating tree. Ugh,” I muttered, thoroughly distressed. “And now I’m no better than he is.”
“Relax,” Joey attempted to comfort me by saying, tone gruff. “It was a kiss, not an affair, Molloy. You’re nothing like your father.”
“Affair?” I stared at him, unblinking. “What do you meanaffair?”
He shrugged, clearly uncomfortable.
“Oh my god, you know, don’t you?” I sucked in a sharp breath as my brain quickly twigged. “About the other women? What he gets up to? You know about my dad’s affairs?”
Joey didn’t respond, but he didn’t deny it either.
“You knew?” I shook my head. “You’ve always known? And you didn’t think to tell me?”
“It’s not my business,” he finally said, jaw clenched tight from the obvious tension that was emanating from him. Catching ahold of my arm, he led me slightly away from the girls before he continued speaking. “I work with the man. I’m not his keeper and I’m not your spy, either. I don’t get involved in shit that doesn’t concern me.”
The rain was beating down on us, plastering his halo of dirty blond hair to his forehead as rain drops trickled from his brow to his nose and then his lips. Yet still, he remained absolutely rigid, eyes locked on mine.
“Don’t make it more than it is, Molloy,” he said in a heated tone. “It’s an omission, not a betrayal.”
“Well, it feels like one,” I strangled out, looking up at him. “I feel betrayed.”
Emotion flashed in his eyes before he quickly schooled his features. “Tony gave me a job, took a chance on me when nobody else would. My loyalties have always been with your father, not your mother.”
“What about your loyalties to me?” I pushed the boat out by asking.
His jaw ticked. “That’s not fair.”
“What about me, Joe?”
“Molloy—“
“Oh my god, are you two having your first fight?” Rebecca interjected with a laugh. “Priceless. That didn’t take long.”
It was at that exact moment in time that a familiar blue Toyota Starlet came speeding up the street towards us.
Brakes screeching loudly, I watched as the passenger door flew open and Paul climbed out of his brother Billy’s car.
Lovely.
Just fecking lovely.
“Is it true?” he roared, red-faced and raging, as he marched towards me. “Did you fuck her?”
“What” Gaping, I shook my head. “No, I didn’t sleep with anyone, calm down.” Hurrying over to intercept him before anything happened, I placed a hand on his chest. “Paul, please, if you just give me a second to explain—“
My words broke off when he literally shoved me out of his way, in his bid to reach my partner in this particular crime, intent on one thing only, evoking violence.
“You just couldn’t leave her alone, could ya?” Paul roared, going chest to chest with his nemesis. “You had to have her. Youhadto mark her off your list.”
“List?” Laughing darkly, Joey met his challenge head on, shoving him back with his chest. “The fuck are you talking about?”
