There was something very wrong with my girlfriend, and I wasn’t sure if it was because of the whole Dee thing, but Claire wasn’t acting like her regular self.
First off, she had disappeared from the dance for well over an hour, and when she reappeared, she’d clearly been crying. After point-blank refusing to tell me what was wrong, she had clung to me on the dance floor.
When she started kissing me to the point where we were making a scene, I knew something was off, but I was too fucking drunk and horny to slam the brakes on her sudden neediness. Hence our current predicament.
With her dress pooled around her hips, and her tits on full display, she pushed me down on the couch in the empty sixth-year common room. We weren’t supposed to be here clearly, but when she put her mouth on me, any and all rules went out the window.
Climbing on top of me, Claire straddled my hips and kissed me hungrily. I didn’t understand any of this, but the harder she rocked against me, the harder I grew. “Fuck.”
She was moving her body in ways I’d never felt her move before, like she was frightened of losing me or something. The only reason I noticed this behavior was because I felt it every time I was with her. When she unzipped me and slid her hand inside my boxers, I tensed.
“It’s okay,” she coaxed, palming me. Leaning in close, she kissed me gently before pulling back once more. With her brown eyes locked on mine, she released her hold on me and stood up. “Do you trust me, Gerard?”
“Yes.” Instinctively, I moved to follow her, but she shook her head and pushed me back down on the couch.
“And you know I’d never hurt you, right?”
“Obviously.” Confused, I leaned back and studied her face, unsure of what she wanted, but when she dropped to her knees in front of me, and reached for my waistband, I figured it out pretty quickly.
“Then let me do this for you.”
“Claire, wait! I don’t … ” I began to say, but quickly stopped when I felt her mouth on me. “I’ve never … ” Trembling violently, I balled my hands into fists at my sides, and kept my eyes locked on the top of her head as she worked me over with her mouth. “Fuck … ”
“Thank you,” she said a little while later when she readjusted her dress.
“Thank me?” My head clouded with lustful confusion when I’d tucked myself away. Mentally reeling from the sensations she drew from my body, I sat with my thoughts. With my trepidation. With my gratitude. Because Claire had just done something for me that I didn’t think I would ever be able to cope with. But she did it, and I coped. More than coped, I enjoyed it. “I think it’s safe to say that I’m the one who should be thanking you, sweetheart.”
“Gerard, you know I love you so much.” Her eyes were watery again and her tone of voice sent a spiral of panic through me.
“I love you, too, babe.”
“No, I mean I really, really love you,” she pushed, eyes locked on mine, tone as serious as her expression. “You’re my first love.” Her breath caught in her throat but she steadied herself before squeezing out, “You’re my only love.”
“And you’re mine.” Hooking an arm around her waist, I pulled her back down on my lap. “I know you keep saying there’s nothing wrong, Claire, but I’m not stupid, okay? At least, not when it comes to you.”
Her gaze dropped to her feet. “There’s something I need to talk to you about.”
“Okay,” I drawled, keeping a firm hold of her waist. “Hm?” Leaning in close, I stroked her nose with mine. “Tell me, baby.”
She opened her mouth to respond then the door opened inwards, and two bodies joined us in the darkness.
“Show me.”
“No.”
“Fucking show me.”
“Why do you care!”
“You know why!”
“Fuck, I can’t do this anymore.”
“And I can? Jesus Christ, this is wrecking me. You are wrecking me.”
Both voices sounded familiar, but it was the male voice that caused my girlfriend to call out her brother’s name. “Hugh?”
“Claire?”
Busted.
Snickering, I reached over the back of the couch for the light switch and flicked it on. “Looks like you and your sister both inherited the same filthy mind,” I teased, but the shit-eating grin plastered on my face quickly morphed into a “what the fuck” expression when my eyes landed on my old friend in the dark with …
“Lizzie?” Claire demanded, twisting around on my lap to glower at her friend. “What are you doing sneaking around in the dark with my brother?”
Never one to miss an opportunity to throw shade at me, Lizzie tossed back, “What are you doing sneaking around in the dark with my enemy?”
“Don’t you dare call him names,” Claire warned, sounding more furious than I’d ever heard her. After springing off my lap like a jacked-up backstreet fighter, my girlfriend paced the floor in front of the couch, hands balled into fists at her side.
“Whoa, Claire-Bear,” I tried to coax, reaching for her hand. “It’s all good.”
“No, it’s not,” she replied tightly, not meeting my eyes. “Nothing is good in the world, and this school is full of fake people!”
“Fake?” I frowned. “Who’s fake, baby?”
“Everyone,” Claire repeated, voice rising.
“Jesus.” Scrubbing his face with his hands, Hugh leaned against the wall at his back and exhaled a shaky breath. “If you’re talking about me here, Claire, then yeah, I know how this looks,” he told his sister. “But you need to trust me.”
“Trust you?” Claire sneered. “Oh please. There’s nothing trustworthy about skulking around in dark rooms with your ex, Hugh.” Turning her attention back to Lizzie, she narrowed her eyes in warning. “I don’t care what you do with Pierce, or my brother, or Patrick, or any other boy in this town, but you keep my boy’s name out of your mouth.” She raised a trembling finger in warning. “I mean it, Liz. If you have ever valued me as a friend, you will stop with this tirade of abuse, because I’m not fucking around anymore. I’ve had enough of it!”
“Cut the bullshit, Claire,” Lizzie snapped, unwilling to back down or even bend slightly. “You were never my friend.”
“Yes, I was,” Claire replied in a deathly cold tone. “Once upon a time.”
“Once upon a time.” Lizzie shrugged. “Past tense?”
“That’s right,” Claire surprised the hell out of me by saying. “Past tense, Liz.”
“So, you’re finally admitting that you’re picking him over me?”
“Absolutely,” Claire replied with a hint of hesitation.
Whoa.
“Did someone decide to change the venue without telling the rest of us?” Feely asked when he strolled into the room moments later with the rest of the gang in tow. “Thanks a bunch for deserting us, lads,” he added, oblivious to the drama unfolding around him. “Really appreciate it.”
“Jesus, I’m starving,” Joey stated, making a beeline for the kitchen area.
“Me, too, stud,” Aoife agreed, arms linked with Katie. “I’d do terrible things for a toasted sandwich right about now.”
“Is everyone okay?” Shannon asked, casting a nervous glance in Claire’s direction. “Claire?” She took a step towards her. “Are you okay?”
“No, Shannon,” my girlfriend bit out, attention still riveted on Lizzie. “I’m not okay. I’m not okay at all, and if she doesn’t stop talking shit about my boyfriend, I am going to lose my fucking mind!”
Double whoa.
Claire rarely used the serious bad words.
It just wasn’t in her nature.
“Why are you trying to pick a fight with me, Claire?” Lizzie argued, voice cracking. “What have I ever done to you?”
“To me or for me, Liz?” Claire shot back. “Because, from where I’ve been standing this past year, it’s been a whole lot of the former and not much of the latter.”
“You know I can’t be around you when you’re with him,” she choked out, holding a hand up. “I told you that months ago, but you still decided to be with him.”
“Because I’m in love with him!” Claire declared hotly. “Because he’s been my best friend since forever!”
“And what have I been?” Lizzie strangled out. “Dog shit?”
“You were a good friend for a long time,” Claire admitted without a hint of hesitation. “But you haven’t been a good friend since Caoimhe died.”
“Since Caoimhe died?” Lizzie repeated, turning a deep shade of red. “You mean since his piece of shit brother drove her to suicide? Gee, Claire, I’m so sorry if you’ve been feeling neglected, but some of us have actual problems to deal with. Real ones that are a lot more serious than the chasing butterflies or playing house with a litter of kittens!”
“None of what happened to your sister is Gerard’s fault,” Claire erupted. “And I am done sitting back and letting you throw shit at him. Do you hear me? I am done. So, if that means picking sides and losing friends, then I will gladly pick his side and I will gladly lose your friendship.”
“It’s all his fault,” she screamed. “His brother killed my sister.”
“Whoa!”
“Girls, just pull back a second and breathe, yeah?”
Lizzie reared back like I had struck her. “You did not just say that.”
“Jesus Christ, Claire, don’t talk to her like that.”
“Stay out of this, Hugh! You don’t know the full story.”
“And you do?”
“Your sister killed herself,” Claire doubled down and repeated. “Caoimhe did that to herself, and you can’t spend the rest of your life laying blame on an innocent boy. Not when you don’t know the facts. The real truth about what went down.”
“I know exactly what happened,” she strangled out. “Caoimhe was raped! That monster raped my sister and drove her to suicide!”
“You have it so wrong!”
“No, I don’t. You’re the one who’s wrong. You’re wrong, Claire. You’re so fucking wrong!”
“Caoimhe wasn’t the one who was raped!” Claire screamed at the top of her lungs, and I swear to God my heart stopped dead in my chest. “It wasn’t her, Lizzie! Mark didn’t rape your sister!” And then, she blew my world when she pointed a finger at me and screamed, “He raped my boyfriend!”
