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“I’ll be there,” he cut me off by saying. “Don’t even worry about it.”

“But I just—”

“Stopworrying.” Taking my hand in his, he entwined our fingers and tugged me toward the archway. “I’ve got your back.”

Oh god.

My heart.

Inhaling a steadying breath, I steeled my spine and walked into the lunch room with Johnny, holding on to his hand for dear life and praying for a little invisibility, even though I knew it was no use. If I wanted to go unnoticed, I was holding the hand of the wrong boy. I wasn’t letting go of him, though, not for all the tea in China.

Whatever this was, I knew I would hold on with both hands for as long as I could because the prospect of dealing with everything in my life andnothaving him to look forward to was incomprehensible now. It was all so fresh and new and unknown. Usually, I was terrified of the unknown, but with him, I had a burning curiosity. I was excited—terrified to my core but excited.

Silence greeted us the moment we stepped inside, and what felt like a thousand pairs of curious eyes landed on us, causing my body to seize up with dread.

Meanwhile, Johnny looked completely unfazed. Seriously, he either didn’t see them staring or he didn’t care because his posture remained relaxed, his smile still firmly etched on his face, as he led us over to his table.

“Johnny,” I choked out, tightening my hold on his hand. “Everyone is looking at us.”

“Let them look,” he replied, giving my fingers a reassuring squeeze. “They’ll get bored eventually.”

Will you?

The words were at the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed them down, deciding on battling the social demon for now. I could worry myself to sleep with the insecure demon tonight.

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Bella watching from her perch at the top end of the rugby table, where she was sitting on Cormac Ryan’s lap. The moment our eyes locked, she narrowed hers in a menacing glare, and I instantly felt the weight of her fury. It was sharp, potent, and directed entirely toward me.

Dropping my gaze to my shoes, I debated letting go of Johnny’s hand, but stopped myself.No,I mentally chastised myself, you’re not afraid of her.

Who are you fooling?another voice taunted.You’reterrifiedof her.

“Push up,” Johnny ordered when we reached the table, distracting me from my frantic thoughts. Feeling flighty, I locked my muscles into place, forcing my feet to stay firmly on the ground and watched as a line of lads, starting with Hughie Biggs, all obligingly scooted up a seat in the row.

“Listen up,” Johnny said then, drawing the attention of his friends. “This is Shannon—my girlfriend. She’s going to be sitting here from now on, so get used to seeing her around the place.” He moved to sit down, but quickly stopped himself and straightened back up. “Oh, and fuck with her and I’ll bury you all—” He cast a meaningful look around the table before adding, “Are we clear?”

Oh my god!

“Yeah, lad, no bother.”

“We already know, Cap.”

“Heard it all before, Kav.”

“Good.” Surprising me, Johnny took the seat that Hughie and his girlfriend had vacated, and pulled out his usual chair at the end of the row for me. “Just wanted to clear that up.” He patted the seat beside him then and I practically flopped into it, wanting nothing more than to hide under the table.

If Tommen was a jungle and the students here were animals, then this table was the lion’s den. I was a stray gazelle, surrounded by the most dangerous of apex predators, all watching me with curiosity. Luckily for me, I was a gazelle that the king of this particular jungle, and leader of the pack, had taken a shining to. I wouldn’t be eaten up. Not today, at least.

I hoped.

Johnny’s arm came around me, cocooning me in a blanket of comfort that common sense told me was unsafe and temporary. “Just relax, okay?” he whispered, leaning so close to me that his lips brushed my ear. “You’re safe with me.”

Shivering from the contact, I nodded and suppressed the urge to bury myself inside this boy and never come back up for air. Because I was falling too hard, depending too much, and growing entirely too attached to him. Red flags were shooting up all around me, and still I remained exactly where I was—exactly where Iwantedto be. With him.

Setting my hands on my lap beneath the table, I tucked my chin downward and cracked my knuckles. To my immense relief, when I looked up again, the only person still staring at me was Gibsie, who was sitting exactly opposite me at the ginormous table and grinning like the cat that got the cream. “Hey, little Shannon.”

“Hi, Gibsie,” I squeezed out, forcing myself to keep eye contact. “H-how are you?”

“All good in the hood.” Pulling a lollipop out of his mouth, he twirled it around aimlessly as his mischievous eyes danced between me and Johnny. “I can see you’re doing good, too.”

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