I hammer in another post, lost in thought as I move my way around the field, working in companionable silence with my dad.
I don’t know what I’m going to do, but at least I’m kind of working through it in my own head.
“Let’s call it a night.” Da clamps his hand on my shoulder. “Nice job,” he says, admiring my handiwork.
I’m good with manual labor. Good with my hands. I like to keep them occupied. Music, English, history, and woodwork are the only subjects I like at school and the only ones I put any effort into.
The current argument with Ma is over Irish. I want to stop going to Irish class as I don’t plan to sit the Irish exam for my Leaving. It’s technically a requirement by law, and if you want to go to certain colleges in Ireland, you need it. But uni isn’t in the cards for me even if I did briefly consider studying history at Trinity. I’m dedicated to the band and music, and that’s not going to change. I’m in fifth year now, and I’ll be sitting my final exams in a little over a year and a half. I don’t see the point in going to Irish class when I’m not going to do the exam. But Ma and the school board are digging their heels in and making me go, which is fucking stupid and a complete waste of my time.
I help Da load our surplus supplies in the back of the vehicle, and we head off back to the house for dinner.
“Did it help?” Da asks as we enter the house and walk upstairs to get cleaned up.
My brow puckers. “What?”
“I do my best thinking out in the fresh air, keeping my hands busy.” He squeezes my shoulder. “There’s a lot more fencing to be done, son, if you need it.”
8
AGE 17
“Iwarned you, Doyle. I told you what’d happen if you hurt my sister.” I land a vicious kick to Cillian’s side as he lies on the ground in our play barn. Jamie and I dragged him here the instant he left my house after breaking my sister’s heart for the second time today.
Ash’s devastated face resurrects in my mind. As long as I live, I’ll never forget her anguished cries in the school hallway this morning after that little bitch Kelly told her she was pregnant with Ash’s boyfriend’s baby. It’s the worst betrayal, and the fact my mate—now ex-mate—didn’t even have the balls to tell my sister himself is the final nail in the coffin. “How fucking dare you let her find out from that slut!”
“I love Ash, and I didn’t know how to tell her!” Cill looks up at me through pleading eyes, his face already bruising.
I level another savage kick to his ribs, hoping I broke them. “You don’t fucking know the meaning of the word!” I roar.
Cill curls into a fetal position on the ground between me and Jamie, moaning and constantly repeating he’s sorry.
“Sorry means jack shit, dickhead.” Jamie delivers a swift kick to his balls, and Cillian howls in pain before breaking into sobs.
He’s such a pathetic prick.
Crouching down, I get all up in his battered face. “Ash was always way too good for the likes of you.” I punch his nose, and blood gushes out of his swollen nostrils. Let him get married looking like the ugly piece of shit he is. Gripping his chin, I force his gaze to mine. “Kelly doesn’t even compare. That slut snuck into my bedroom and tried to suck my dick. When I told her to fuck off, she went and sucked Ro’s dick. That’s the kind of girl you cheated on my sister with.”
“I know she isn’t in Ash’s league! I messed up.”
Understatement of the century. “I hope you’re miserable as fuck with that cunt because you deserve it.”
“It was a mistake,” he snivels, wrapping his arm around his middle. “I was locked, and she pounced. I felt sick the next day when I realized what I’d done. When Kelly told me she was pregnant, I panicked. I was trying to convince her to get an abortion. I’d no idea she was going to blurt it to Ash, I swear.”
He really is a piece of work. He would’ve said nothing to Ash if Kelly had aborted the baby. He makes me sick. How was I ever friends with this wanker?
“It doesn’t fucking matter now.” Jamie bitch slaps him in the face, and Cillian yelps. “You’ve agreed to marry that skank. That says it all about the kind of pathetic prick you are.” Jay presses his boot in hard between Cill’s legs, and he cries out in pain.
“Ash doesn’t see it now, but you’ve done her a favor. Now she can find a decent bloke, someone worthy of her,” I say, spitting in his face. “You’re scum, Doyle. We should probably thank you for being a cheating dickhead, but I’m not thanking you for shit.”
I jerk my head at Jay in silent communication. As much as I want to continue beating the shit out of that asshole, I’m not doing time for Cillian Fucking Doyle. My sister needs me, and she’s my priority.
We lift the sniveling bastard by the arms. “You stay away from Ash, Cillian,” I warn as we drag him towards the door. “If you love her like you say you do, you will leave her alone. You’ve hurt her enough. End all contact. It’s the only way she’ll heal.”
“Don’t give us any reason to come for you again,” Jay says as we toss him on the dirt outside the barn. “Next time, we won’t go so easy on you.”
After we dump Cillian outside his house, we hop back into Shane’s Beamer and get the fuck out of there before Cill’s prissy mother comes out and goes mad at us. Shane doesn’t let me borrow his pride and joy that often, but he didn’t want Ma seeing the state of Cillian. He wasn’t about to let Cill soil his precious car, and I had no issue shoving that prick into the boot. It’s good enough for the shithead.
I’m saving up for a Kawasaki, and now I have a learner’s permit and can legally drive, I can’t wait until I have my own set of wheels.
