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An uncomfortable silence enveloped us, one Claire thankfully broke by clearing her throat and saying, “Anyway, moving on from Gerard’s less-than-stellar regurgitation antics, I think we should do something for your eighteenth, Johnny, and if you don’t want to have a party, we could go camping.”

Johnny’s brow furrowed. “Camping?”

“Camping,” Claire confirmed, tone laced with excitement. “School will be over by then, the weather should be good, you all have cars so we could go anywhere we wanted. And best of all, Shan, Lizzie, and I don’t start our junior cert until the week after your birthday.” Grinning, she added, “It’s a win-win.”

“Babe, you’re a genius,” Gibsie declared. “I fucking love camping.”

“What do you think, Shan?” Johnny asked, casting a sideways glance at me. “Would you go?”

“Does a bear shit in the woods? Of course she’ll go!” Gibsie answered for me. “Right, little Shannon?”

“Don’t put words in her mouth,” Johnny growled. “She doesn’t have to—”

“I’ll go,” I blurted out, excited.

Johnny’s brows shot up. “You will?”

I nodded. “Absolutely.”

“But your mam…”

“Will say no,” I agreed, squeezing his hand. “But it’s your eighteenth, and I’m still going.”

“Then it’s settled,” Claire chimed in, clapping her hands together. “We’re going camping!”

59

Enough!

Shannon

“We better go back to class,” Johnny groaned, breaking our kiss. It was the end of big lunch and we were hidden behind the school greenhouse where we spent the second half of lunch break together most days. Like usual, I was sitting on the wall surrounding the vegetable garden and, like usual, Johnny was standing between my legs, with his hands clamped on my hips and his tongue in my mouth.

“We can go straight to my place after school,” he offered, pressing another searing kiss to my lips. “Do something before dinner?”

I didn’t want dinner unlesshewas on the menu.“What kind of something?” I asked, voice a little breathless as I traced my fingers down the hard ridges and grooves of his stomach. “What have you got in mind?”

“I don’t know,” he replied gruffly, hands moving to my ass. “We could play a little GTA? Or talk?” He squeezed tightly and I moaned. “Whatever you want, Shan.” Dropping his face to my neck, he suckled hard on my flesh. “Shite, I think I marked you,” he muttered, jerking his head back, eyes locked on my neck. Grinning sheepishly, he added, “Sorry.”

“Sure you are.” He looked about as far from sorry as a person could get. “I believe you.”

“How are you feeling?” he asked then. Smiling softly, he grazed my hip with his fingers. “You okay?”

“I’m fine,” I whispered, tugging him closer. “Stop worrying.”

“I can’t help it,” he groaned. “I’m always worried about you.”

“I wanted what happened, Johnny,” I reassured him. “I still do.”

His eyes darkened. “Yeah?”

Shivering, I nodded. “Yeah.”

“I don’t know what I’m going to do with you, Shannon Lynch,” he admitted in a husky voice. “You make me lose my head.”

“Good,” I teased. “I like it when you turn your brain off.”

The second bell sounded, letting us know that we had two minutes to get to class, but I remained exactly where I was, gripping his waist with my thighs and mentally begging him tostay, stay, stay…

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