Page 2 of Safe and Sound

“Me either,” I grumbled.

“So who’s the bitch who has you by the balls?” Callum asked.

“Don’t call her that!” I snapped.

Callum merely chuckled. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, you’ve got it bad, boyo!”

“I do not.” At his pointed look, I replied, “Just don’t disrespect her like that.”

He held his hands up. “My bad. I was just going by your history.”

“Yeah, well, she’s not she’s not like the usual girls. She’s smart and funny and–”

“And older,” Quinn interjected under his breath.

With a grunt, I rose off the couch. “You flap your jaws worse than an old cunt.”

Quinn and Callum’s laughter followed me to the liquor cart. After pouring myself a shot of whiskey, I turned around. “She’s just different.”

“Where did you meet thisoldergirl?”

I grimaced around the rim of my glass. “She’s my tutor.”

Callum threw his head back with a howl of laughter. “You’re fucking your tutor?”

“I’mdatingmy tutor, arsehole.”

“Like how much older is she?”

“She’s in her second year of uni.”

Waggling his brows, Callum replied, “Good thing you’re seventeen, or she could be locked up for taking advantage of your wee self.”

“Like you haven’t fucked an older girl before,” I argued.

When Callum opened his mouth, Quinn quipped, “He likes the younger ones who aren’t wise enough to be turned off his bullshit.”

At my laugh, Callum extended his middle finger at me and Quinn. “Aren’t you going to tell me your girl’s name?”

“Shannon O’Dell.”

Callum’s dark brows furrowed. “O’Dell? Isn’t her father one of dad’s soldiers?”

“Aye, he is.”

With a low whistle, he replied, “You’re playing with fire there, mate.”

“It’s not like we haven’t wet our dicks with soldiers’ daughters before,” Quinn argued.

Callum shot him a look. “You know how Da feels about that.” Puffing out his chest, he mimicked our father’s bravado. “Soldiers' daughters are off limits. All they and their da’s see is dollar signs and a chance to move up the ladder. And should you ever forget and start to fuck one, you sure as hell better suit up your willy with your own rubber because those girls have been poking holes in theirs, so you can knock them up!”

Rolling my eyes, I lit up a cigarette. “Like he has any room to talk. He’s fucked Belfast and half the country side.”

After glancing over his shoulder at the doorway, Quinn growled, “Shut yer hole.”

“It’s the truth.”

With a grimace, Quinn reasoned, “Aye, but Mam doesn’t need to hear it.”

---