Total pages in book: 176
Estimated words: 164533 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 823(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164533 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 823(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
“She’s somewhere safe, but that’s none of your business anymore.”
He’d given a cruel laugh. “Oh, you think you’re the big man now, do ya, Rhys? Any differences between your mam and me are between us. You’re a child playing grown-up. It’s not your place to get involved.”
“I won’t stand by and let you hurt her anymore. That ends now,” I’d said, planting my feet firmly on the floor and folding my arms.
A second later, he’d been in front of me, gripping my shirt as he’d slammed me back against the wall.
I pulled myself from the memory, hating how I’d become a kid again, letting him hit me. Why hadn’t I fought back? I felt weak. All I wanted to do was keep Mam safe from him, and I was barely succeeding at that.
I forced my mind back to earlier in the day when I’d been sitting on the beach with Charli, my palm on the warm, smooth skin of her back. The way her breath had hitched when I’d touched her. I’d never caused that sort of reaction in someone before. I could still smell the coconut sunscreen. It was my new favourite scent.
I was a few hours into my shift when I bumped into Derek and Tristan’s dad, Padraig. He was someone I looked up to. I wanted to be like Padraig Balfe when I was older. I wanted enough money and success so pricks like my dad couldn’t touch me anymore. I wanted safety and a nice life for Mam.
“Rhys,” Padraig said with a note of concern. “Come with me a minute. I’d like a word.”
Knowing there was no point arguing, I nodded and followed him, finally reaching a small office close to the reception lobby. He stepped inside and motioned for me to come in before he closed the door. I stood, waiting, as he went to lean against the edge of the desk, turning to me and folding his arms.
I had a fair idea what he wanted to talk about, which was confirmed when he motioned to my face. “Care to tell me where that came from?”
Instinctively, my hand went to the bruise, an unwelcome reminder of my dad’s fist colliding with my jaw only a few hours ago.
“Just an accident,” I replied quietly.
Again, he stared at me. “A little accident prone, are you?”
I blinked at him. “Pardon?”
Padraig sighed. “I went to school with your dad, you know. He was a bollocks back then, too.”
“I don’t know what you’re—”
“He came around here this morning looking for you,” he went on, cutting me off, and my blood ran cold. “Pissed drunk and shouting the odds, asking where you were hiding your mother. I take it she’s left him, then? For good this time, I hope.”
All my energy to pretend things were fine and normal deflated, and I slumped down onto a seat. Glancing up at Padraig, I replied, “It’s been a long time coming.”
“Yes, it has,” he agreed, and a weighted silence fell between us.
I wondered just how long he’d suspected something wasn’t right in my home life. I’d spent so much time at his house with Derek and Tristan, and he’d never complained, never once told his sons their friend was overstaying his welcome. I hadn’t even realised it, but the Balfe house was my sanctuary. It was a place I knew I could always go when I had nowhere else.
“I won’t pry for details because I suspect you won’t part with them even if I do. I presume your mother is somewhere safe?”
I nodded. “She’s with her sister in Phibsborough. I’m staying there, too, until we can figure something out.”
“That’s a bit of a commute going there and back for your shifts. Why don’t you stay at ours for a couple weeks? You can bunk up with Derek, and it’ll give your mam a break, some time to think about her next steps.”
My eyes widened because living at his house for a few weeks was a very generous offer. It would be better than being at my aunt and uncle’s, with the two of them looking at me like I was a poor little kid who’d been beaten on. I didn’t need to be reminded. I needed not to think about it for a while, and the idea of staying at the Balfes’ made me feel like I could breathe again. I was weary and exhausted down to my bones, and a break away from things might be exactly what I needed.
Another thought dominated my brain, though, because staying with the Balfes would also mean living under the same roof as Charli.
I’d only just met her, but she was the one person who could simply look at me, and for however long that look lasted, I forgot about my problems. All the reasons for my weariness disappeared, even if only for a moment.