Saving 6: Boys of Tommen

Resting against the velvet padding interior was a tiny silver locket with the date 30.08.99 on the front.
“That date…” I blew out a shaky breath. “It’s—
“The first day of first year,” he explained quietly. “The first time I laid eyes on you, and the first time I understood what it meant to have my heart beating for someone outside of my family.”

took a chance on that boy, and I’m glad that I did, because the man that small boy turned into is a man who I am damn proud of.”

I was twelve-years-old and a frontline soldier in the war that raged within my family home. The enemy I found myself up against was bigger and stronger, and my ally had abandoned me when I needed him most.

Desperate to distract myself from the temptation, I held my breath and concentrated on why I couldn’t leave this house.
On why I had to stay.
Shannon. Tadhg. Ollie…

admitted gruffly, chest heaving. “I want time with you, Molloy. I do. I want to be all kinds of right for you. But I have walls and limits and boundaries,
and the only way I can be with you, get close to you, is if you stay the fuck behind them!”

relationship that is held together because it’s comfortable isn’t a relationship worth having.”

I huffed out a breath. “Yeah, well, take it from someone with firsthand knowledge of this kind of thing, sometimes comfortable is as good as it gets.”

“Bullshit. Comfortable isn’t as good as it gets,” Joey challenged, narrowing his eyes.
“You shouldn’t settle for comfortable, Molloy. You shouldn’t settle for anything less than being in love to the point of madness. The only person that you should be settling for is the person who unsettles you the most. The person who drives you to the brink of suicide because he or she makes you feel so fucking much that you can’t catch your breath or remotely function without them.

“And what’s more is you won’t want to. You won’t want to breathe, or feel, or fucking function without them. That’s how you’ll know that it’s a real relationship, Molloy. Only when you’re feeling the most discomfort you’ve ever felt in your entire life should you even consider settling. Because that’s when you’ll know you’re in love, which sounds to me like a hell of a lot nicer way to live than settling for someone you have nothing in common with because it’s comfortable.”

My breath hitched in my throat as my heart decided to jackknife in my chest. “You really believe that?”

“For you?” He nodded without a hint of uncertainty. “Absolutely.”

Oh, my Jesus, watch out for the footpath!”

“Relax, Molloy, I’ve got this.”

Yeah, he did.

“Oh, my Jesus, watch out for the footpath!”

“Relax, Molloy, I’ve got this.”

Yeah, he did.

To wash away my pain.

I’m okay,” I coaxed, unable or just plain unwilling to stand back and not comfort him. With trembling hands, I held his face to my stomach and whispered, “You’re okay.”

He didn’t respond, but he didn’t pull away either, so I remained right there in my bedroom, with his cheek pressed to my belly and my hands stroking his hair.

Finally, after what felt like an age, I felt the tension slowly leave his shoulders, and then his arms came around my waist. “He hurt you,” he croaked out. “You don’t hit girls.”