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“That’s what I said,” I whispered, taking comfort in having her with me.

“He’ll be okay, Shan,” she added quietly. “You both will.”

“Yeah.”I hope so.

“Now, come on,” she said, tightening her hold on me. “I want to know everything.”

17

Dangerous Pussy

Johnny

I had no explanation for how my life had unraveled to the point where I was showering a semicomatose, drugged-up hurler other than this: I fell in love with a girl who had more layers and complications attached to her life than a Rubik’s Cube. A Rubik’s Cube I could solve. Shannon Lynch’s life, not so much.

“Did you get under his arms?” Gibsie asked as he stood fully clothed in my shower, holding up a very naked Joey the hurler. “Make sure you get the creases.”

“How is this happening to us, Gibs?” I asked my best friend. “One minute we’re playing rugby for Tommen, hanging out at Biddies with the lads, and running drills, and the next we’re hosing puke off a hurler from BCS.” Shaking my head at the absolute lunacy of the situation, I squirted another dollop of body wash on Joey’s chest and aimed the shower hose, careful to avoid the bruising. “How did we fall into this, lad?”

“You love his sister, and I love his sister’s best friend,” Gibsie replied, scrubbing Joey down with a sponge. “It’s safe to say that pussy got us into this, Kav.”

Wasn’t that the fucking truth…

“Here,” Gibs said as he turned Joey in his arms. “Make sure you get the back of him again.”

Bile rose in my throat as my eyes took in the sight of bruise after discolored bruise and scar after faded scar on his body. His entire back waslitteredwith a mixture of blemishes, faint lines, and scars.

Jesus Christ.

I studied his bare skin with cool, calculating eyes. It didn’t take a genius to figure out who had put those marks on his body. Their piece-of-shit father. Maybe he used a belt, or maybe he used something worse. Fuck, I didn’t know. But Joey had scarseverywhere.

How the fuck had this gone unnoticed?

What about his girlfriend? Or their mother? His trainers? Did nobodyseehim?

“This is so wrong,” Gibsie grumbled, voicing my thoughts aloud. He turned Joey back to face me and wrapped an arm around his chest to hold him up. “So fucking wrong, Johnny.”

“Yeah, lad,” I bit out, careful not to spray the areas on Joey’s stomach that had fresh bruises. “I know.”

“Stop,” Joey groaned, shivering violently, as he pushed against the arm Gibsie had wrapped around him. “I’m gonna be—”

Gibsie swung them both around just in time for Joey to shower the wall with a fresh coating of chunks. “Lad,” Gibs said as he scrubbed the sponge over Joey’s face, “you don’t ever mix your drugs.”

“Like you’d know,” I scoffed.

“Well, I presume it’s similar to mixing your drink,” Gibsie shot back. “A big fat no-no!”

“It’s better he gets it all out of his system.” Leaning around them both, I hosed down the vomit on the wall before retackling the never-ending stream of vomit coming from Joey. “They’d only pump him out in the hospital anyway.”

“Exactly,” Gibsie agreed, patting Joey’s cheek. “Consider this your own personal free-range stomach-pumping session—Gibsie style.”

“Fuck off, ya creepy bastard,” Joey groaned, shaking from head to toe.

“Normally, I would take offense at that,” Gibsie huffed. “But considering we’re in a shower together and your naked ass is pressed to my dick, I’m going to let that comment slide because I, too, find this situation slightly creepy.”

“He’s saving your neck,” I growled. “We both are, so why don’t you show your appreciation by shutting the fuck up and puking out the poison.”

“Fuck you, Kav—”

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