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“What’s new in that house.”
“Sure god love them, the poor craters.”
“Marie’s young fella’s gone off the rails again,” the first one added. “Pity about it, too, because he’s a fine lad if he could only keep ahold of that temper of his.”
“Who?” My eyes widened in horror. “Joey?”
It was at that exact moment that the Gards walked out of the house with my boyfriend in handcuffs.
“Ah, that’s very sad,” one of the women said with a heavy sigh. “Poor old crater.”
“Joe!” Feeling like my windpipe had been severed, I bolted towards him. “Are you okay?”
He clearlywasn’tokay.
His entire face was swollen like a balloon, and there was blood flowing freely from his clearly broken nose. The knuckles of his handcuffed hands were torn open and dripping with even more blood.
“Molloy,” he said, when he noticed me running towards him. “What are you doing here?”
“Joe!” Dodging one Garda, and sidestepping another, I didn’t stop until I was flung against his chest, with my arms wrapped tightly around his neck. “Oh my god, Joe.”
“It’s grand,” he was quick to soothe. “It’s all good, baby.”
“Step away,” a Garda instructed, as she forcefully removed me from him.
“Don’t be worrying, Molloy,” Joey called over his shoulder, as he was ushered into the back seat of the squad car. “I’ll call you later.”
Reeling, I watched on helplessly for the second time as the Gards drove away with him in handcuffs.
“What the hell happened?” I shouted, furious when the remaining Gards completely ignored me, while they made their way out of the garden. “Well?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a familiar face, and my heart sank into my ass.
“Well, if it isn’t young Aoife,” Jerry Rice said, as he strolled towards me. “I haven’t seen you in a while.” He gestured around him before adding, “So, this is how you’re keeping yourself occupied these days.”
I knew it was a dig.
I also knew that if I opened my mouth and talked back, it would only harm Joey in the long run.
“That young fella you’re knocking around with is a bad type,” he continued to say. “Attacked his father, so he did. Made an awful job of the poor man.” He sighed heavily. “You’d do well to cut your losses with that toe-rag.”
Using an ornate amount of self-control, I smiled politely at my ex-boyfriend’s highly ranked Garda father, and turned on my heels, making a beeline for Joey’s front door.
I didn’t knock.
It was incredibly reckless of me, but I walked right inside without invitation.
I wasn’t sure what I had expected to see, but the sheer amount of blood on the sitting room floor was sobering.
“Aoife?” Sniffling, Shannon stumbled off the couch and barreled towards me.
“Hey,” I soothed, when her small arms came around me. “Are you okay? Whathappened?”
“He left,” she cried. “He was g-gone, for almost t-two weeks. Until tonight. He came b-back and they g-got into a huge f-fight…”
“Your father and Joey?”
Clenching her eyes shut, she nodded against me. “It was t-terrible. The worst I’ve ever s-seen them f-fight.”
