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“Oh—” Slipping my hand under my jumper, I removed his dead phone from the breast pocket of my shirt and held it out to him. “Yeah, sorry… Uh, thank you again for letting me use it.”

Johnny took his phone and slid it into his pocket, then placed the pink phone in my hand.

I stared blankly at the device. “What’s this?”

“It’s yours,” he replied. Slipping his schoolbag off his shoulder, he pulled a charger out of the front pocket and then proceeded to stuff it into my bag.

“Wh-what are you doing?”

“It’s yours,” he repeated, blue eyes locked on mine. “It’s got a built-in MP3 player and I loaded it up with a ton of songs for you. It’s topped up with credit and I put Claire’s, Joey’s, Gibsie’s, and my numbers in, but you’re going to have to add the rest of your contacts yourself.”

My mouth fell open as I gaped at him. “You bought me a phone?”

“You needed a phone, and I missed your birthday.” He shrugged, like it wasn’t the gigantic deal it was, and said, “Made sense.”

“You gave me dinner for my birthday,” I whispered, embarrassed.

“I gave you fucking Cheerios,” he grumbled, looking annoyed with himself.

“And a toasted sandwich,” I hurried to add.

“Don’t remind me,” he groaned.

“When did you buy it?”

“The other day, after physio,” he replied, watching me warily. “Are you mad at me for it?”

“No, I’m not mad,” I choked out, feeling light-headed. “But I can’t accept it.” I dropped my gaze to the phone that I knew full well had to have cost at least a couple hundred euro. “It’s too much.” I blew out a shaky breath. “Too expensive.”

“It’syours,” he said. “So just put it in your pocket and don’t try and send me home with a pink phone.” Smirking, he added, “Gibs would never let me hear the end of it.”

“But you didn’t have to do this for me—”

“I’m going to do a lot of things for you, Shannon.” Taking the phone from my hand, Johnny reached into my jumper and slid the phone into my shirt pocket. His fingers grazed my chest and I shivered. “And I’m going to buy you a lot of stuff.” He took a step back, never taking his eyes off me, and shrugged unapologetically. “Fair warning.”

“But I don’tneedpresents.” I pressed a hand to my forehead, feeling flustered and stressed as the weight of the phone in my pocket hung heavily on my conscience. “I’m not one of those girls who’s out for what they can get from you, Johnny. I’m not Bella,” I added, imploring him with my eyes to believe me.I just need you.

“I know that, Shannon,” he replied, frowning. “Christ, don’t even think like that.”

“I can’t give you anything back,” I choked out, telling him the same thing I told him last week, praying he would hear me. “I havenothingto give you in return.”

“You can give me a call.”

“A call?”

He smirked. “And you can text me.”

“Be serious,” I begged.

“I am.” He stepped closer. “I am so fucking serious about you.”

Oh god…

“I need to be able to talk to you.” Dropping a hand to my hip, he tugged me closer. “To know you’re okay.” Exhaling shakily, he flexed his fingers, making me burn with unfamiliar need. “I can’t be at home not knowing what’s happening in your life.” His eyes darkened when he said, “In your house.”

“Johnny…”

“I can’t handle it, Shannon,” he whispered. “You have no idea how fucked up in the head it makes me, not knowing if he’s back or whether or not you’re safe. Every time I think about you in that house, I go into a blind panic. Iliterallydrive myself insane thinking all the worst-case scenarios until I see you again.”

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