Page 119 of Keeping 13

“If you ditch your brother and come home with me instead, we can do that without an audience,” Johnny told me, tone laced with amusement as he set me back down on my feet.

“Huh?”

He inclined his head toward Claire and Lizzie, who were both watching us, open-mouthed.

“Well,” Lizzie said, composing herself first. “You just went right on in there, didn’t you?”

“Aww,” Claire gushed, clutching her chest with both hands. “I love them together.” She feigned swooning before adding, “It’s like a Great Dane and a Chihuahua trying to mate, but they somehow make it work.”

“Jesus,” Lizzie grumbled, swatting her arm. “You are so bloody tactless, Claire.”

“He picked her up, Liz,” Claire squealed as Lizzie dragged her away. “Did you see that?”

“Yeah, I saw it, now let’s go.” Keeping her hands on Claire’s shoulders, Lizzie pushed her in the direction of the office. “We need to tell Mr. Twomey that we found her.”

“But, Liz, he actually picked her up tokissher!”

“Yeah, Claire, I know. I have eyes, too. Stop being such a weirdo.”

Mortified, I stared after the girls until they had vanished into the lunch hall, and then I groaned loudly before burying my face in Johnny’s chest. “I’m so embarrassed.”

“Found you?” Johnny tipped my chin up and stared down at me in confusion. “Did youneedto be found?”

“I, uh, kind of skipped class.”

His brow furrowed. “All day?”

“Yeah, I, uh, couldn’t face it,” I admitted quietly, taking a step back to regain my composure.

“Do you think you can face it now?”

I shrugged. “I sort of have to, don’t I?”

“Havingto be ready andbeingready are two very different things,” he offered softly. “Have you been to the office? To talk to Twomey?”

“No.” I exhaled heavily and rubbed my temples. “But I know that I’m going to have to do it eventually.”

“Listen, I know you don’t want to, but if you just get it over with, it’ll be one less thing to worry about.”

“I just don’t know what to say if they ask me about it,” I confessed, feeling unarmed and exposed. “I’m notusedto talking about it.”

“Do you want me to come with you?” Johnny blew my mind by asking. “We could go now. Get it over and done with.”

My eyes widened. “You would do that?”

“Of course,” he replied gruffly.

“Would you be allowed in there with me?”

“I’d like to see him stop me,” he shot back, and then with a grin added, “And if he asks you about anything you don’t want to talk about, I’ll take a leaf out of my da’s book and jump in with a ‘My client reserves the right to not answer that question.’”

Smiling, I wrapped my arms around my waist and nodded. “Okay, I’ll do it after lunch.”

“Yeah?” His eyes burned with tenderness. “Well, shite, I’m kind of persuasive when I want to be.”

You have no idea just how much.

“Is that okay?” I heard myself ask, unsure. “Can you come with me then? I mean, it won’t mess with your classes—”

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