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“Fine!” Grabbing two fistfuls of foil packets, I shoved them into my pockets and glared at him. “Happy now?”

He grinned widely. “You will be—when you’re not caught out in amoment.”

“Fine, thank you, Gibs, for keeping my dick protected. Now, will you put those away?” I practically begged.

Nodding, he started to sweep everything back into his bag and I sagged in relief. Because the very last thing I needed was Shannon walking in while we were trading Trojans like Pokémon cards.

“So,” he mused, tone slightly more serious now. “How are you feeling?”

I flexed my jaw. “Fine.”

“You’re in pain, aren’t ya?” His eyes landed on mine, full of concern. “Lad, if you need to go home, that’s okay.”

“I’m just stiff, Gibs,” I muttered. “Everything’s locking up on me.”

Fisting a handful of condoms, he said, “We should go for a swim after school.”

“Yeah.” I nodded. “I know.”

“But you won’t?” Smirking, he dropped the wrappers back down and leaned forward. “Because you have other plans?” He waggled his brows. “Shannonplans?”

“I don’t know, lad.” Exhaling heavily, I leaned forward and propped my elbows on the table. “It’s all fucked up.”

“Already?” His brows shot up. “Christ, Johnny, you made short work of that, lad.”

“Not Shannon,” I muttered, feeling my body grow hot with temper. “But her familyhatesme.” Dropping my head in my hands, I bit back a growl. “It’s so messy, Gibs.”

“Messy?”

“Messy,” I confirmed grimly, glancing back up at him. “You saw the way her brother reacted to me last week? Well, I’m telling you that wasnothingcompared to how her ma was with me.”

“Joey the hurler doesn’t have a problem with you,” he offered. “Well, no more than the rest of the world.”

“One out of seven, lad,” I mumbled. “I’m on a winner, aren’t I?”

“I don’t get it,” he mused, catching his jaw. “I honestly don’t.”

“Yeah, well, you and me both, lad.”

“Maybe they find you threatening?”

“If I was a threat, they’d be scared,” I countered. “They’re not scared, lad. They’re just out for blood—myblood.” My shoulders sagged in defeat. “I can’t catch a bleeding break.”

“It’ll balance out eventually,” he told me. “Life has its own built-in weighing scales.” He shrugged. “It can’t be all bad all of the time, the same as it can’t be all good. Something’s got to give.”

“Yeah?” I grimaced. “I hope you’re right, lad.”

“You’re ridiculous,” Hughie said then, as he and Feely joined us at the table, bringing an abrupt end to our conversation. Slapping a tinfoil-covered sandwich down on the table, Hughie sank down on his usual chair to my right and roughly scraped the legs of his chair forward, never taking his eyes off Gibsie. “Put that shit away before Katie comes over.”

Gibsie stared at Hughie and then me before sighing dramatically. “I don’t know where I went wrong with the two of you.” Packing away the last of his supplies, Gibsie tossed his schoolbag on the floor and huffed loudly. “I really don’t.”

“Let it go, Hugh,” Feely, who had positioned himself next to Gibsie, said with a sigh. “It was a joke.”

“About mysister,” Hughie bit out, glowering.

Morbidly curious, I turned to look at Hughie’s face and, oh shit, he was still peppering over this morning.

“You’re still pissed off with me?” Gibsie accused, sounding amused. “That was hours ago, lad.”

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