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Chapter no 4

Taming 7 (Boys of Tommen, 5)

โ€œWell?โ€ Hugh asked, when I joined him at the edge of the pool after my interview. โ€œHow did it go?โ€

โ€œOkay, I guess?โ€ I shrugged, feeling slightly disheartened by my earlier meeting with his boss. โ€œShe said she would get back to me.โ€ I looked to my brother for some much-needed emotional support. โ€œIs that a bad thing?โ€

โ€œNah, if Kim didnโ€™t like you, trust me, youโ€™d know it.โ€ Setting his mop down, he patted my shoulder and walked back to his deckchair. โ€œI bet you a tenner youโ€™ll get the job.โ€

โ€œShe was sort of terrifying, Hugh.โ€

โ€œYeah, Kim can be a fair bit of a ball-buster,โ€ he agreed, eyes focusing on the bodies splashing around in the water as he spoke. โ€œShe has this hard, take-no-shit approach, but sheโ€™s fair.โ€

I wasnโ€™t sure about that. My brotherโ€™s boss, from our brief encounter, had given me some serious Mr. Twomey vibes. I was half-hoping that sheย didnโ€™tย call me back. Sure, a paying job would be super, but I enjoyed volunteering at the community pool, and I was a firm believer in life being about more than just a paycheck.

โ€œOh my god,โ€ I choked out when a familiar blonde shimmied into my peripheral vision. โ€œWhat the hell happened to you?โ€

โ€œI fell,โ€ Lizzie explained, joining us at Hughโ€™s deckchair.

The fact that she was here wasnโ€™t surprising. Her family had been members for years, same as ours, but it was the scar she bore that took my breath away.

Iโ€™d seen similar cuts on Lizzieโ€™s body in the past, but not for a very long time. The faint scars that adorned her inner wrists had appeared in the months that had followed her sisterโ€™s passing. After her parentsย put her in counselling, it seemed to stop. I thought she had it under control. Apparently not.

โ€œOn what?โ€ I demanded, gaping at the huge, jagged, freshly scabbed cut going the entire length of her thigh. โ€œA chainsaw?โ€

โ€œNo, on a barbed wire fence I was climbing over, actually.โ€ Clad in a white bikini, Lizzie pulled her hair up into a makeshift ponytail, and offered me a half-hearted smile. Scars or not, Lizzie was ridiculously beautiful. Like for real. She looked like some sort of angel, with a halo of messy blonde hair. โ€œItโ€™s all good, Claire. It happened ages ago. It doesnโ€™t even hurt anymore.โ€

โ€œAre you sure?โ€ I squirmed in discomfort, eyeing the horrendous-looking cut. โ€œBecause it looks recent and itโ€™s hurting me just to look at it.โ€

โ€œYeah,โ€ Hugh agreed, tone hard, as his eyes locked on her thigh.

โ€œDidnโ€™t know you were working today,โ€ she replied, folding her arms across her chest.

โ€œWasnโ€™t supposed to be,โ€ Hugh replied, not taking his eyes off her thigh. โ€œWhat happened?โ€

Ignoring my brother, Lizzie moved for the edge of the pool, not stopping until she had eased herself into the water. โ€œIโ€™ll see you later, Claire.โ€

โ€œYeah, okay,โ€ I called after her, worrying my lip. โ€œAre you coming to the beach campout?โ€

โ€œIs Thor going?โ€

โ€œYou already know the answer.โ€

โ€œThen you already know my answer.โ€

โ€œAre you sure you donโ€™t want to come?โ€ I asked, forcefully cheerful. โ€œItโ€™s going to be super fun.โ€

โ€œIโ€™m sure Iโ€™d rather drown than voluntarily spend time with him,โ€ she called back and then she disappeared beneath the water.

โ€œOh crap.โ€ I turned back to my brother, feeling a surge of anxiety fill my chest. โ€œThatโ€™s weird, right?โ€ I gestured to where Lizzie had disappeared beneath the water. โ€œSheโ€™s not okay, is she?โ€

โ€œHow am I supposed to know?โ€ my brother bit out, tone thick with emotion. โ€œIโ€™m hardly her confidante these days, am I?โ€

โ€œYeah, but you used to be,โ€ I blurted out, uttering the words Iโ€™d vowed many years ago to never repeat. Seriously, speaking about it was as taboo at Tommen as saying the wordย Voldemortย at Hogwarts. A big no-no.

Their fractured relationship was one that was stored in the memory vault labeledย never bring up again for the good of our friendship circle.

My brotherโ€™s eyes flashed with pain, and I felt like the biggest jerk in the world.

โ€œYikes.โ€ Squirming in discomfort, I reached out and patted his shoulder. โ€œSorry.โ€

โ€œI donโ€™t know,โ€ he repeated in a low tone โ€“ I presumed to hide the tremor in his voice. Because Lizzie affected Hugh badly, and she always had.

For some reason, my brother had been infatuated with my prickly bestie since the beginning of time. And for some even stranger reason, the feeling was mutual for Lizzie.

Throughout the course of our entire childhood, theyโ€™d stuck together like peas in a pod. By the time weโ€™d made it to fifth class of primary school, their friendship title had been upgraded to that of boyfriend and girlfriend. Not that any of us had a clue of what that meant. In our young minds, it simply meant that they were each otherโ€™s favorite.

Either way, they were together for aย reallyย long time, even after everything had seemed to fall apart for Liz when her sister died. Hugh was the one sheโ€™d leaned on back then. Come to think about it, he was the only one sheโ€™d been willing to speak to forย months. It had been a pretty dark time in our lives that had followed us long into secondary school.

Over time, Lizzieโ€™s grief had taken ahold of her in ways none of us were equipped or mature enough to handle, and by the start of second year, Lizzie and Hughโ€™s relationship, along with a lot of her relationships with other friends, had completely unraveled.

I stuck in there with her, taking on her mood swings and erratic behavior, because I loved her like a sister, but it wasnโ€™t easy. Especiallyย when she focused all of her pain on Gerard because of a rumor that involved his stepbrother.

It sucked because Liz and Gerard used to be really good friends before that. We all were. We had this tight little circle that had been shattered after Caoimhe died.

After the breakup, the rest of our close-knit circle mentally vowed to never discuss it or bring it up again. To this day, we were completely oblivious as to the inner details of their breakup because Hugh and Liz could hardly bear to spend more than a few minutes in each otherโ€™s company, let alone talk about it.

Even though theyโ€™d been together since primary school, the breakup didnโ€™t seem to affect Lizzie too deeply because sheโ€™d started seeing someone else within days of them calling it off.

Hugh, on the other hand, spent several months moping around the house like a dark cloud until he collided with Katie in the hallways of Tommen and the sun started shining for him again.

Deep down inside, I knew the reason Hugh tried to keep me away from Gerard was because he was projecting his own experience on me. When my brother said that he was afraid of me getting hurt, what he really meant was that he didnโ€™t want me to get hurt likeย heย had.

โ€œHugh, itโ€™s happening again, isnโ€™t it?โ€

He flicked his gaze to me, and I could tell from one glimpse of his brown eyes that I wasnโ€™t alone in my worrying. โ€œI donโ€™t know.โ€

โ€œSheโ€™s still so angry.โ€

โ€œYeah, Claire, Iย know.โ€

โ€œShould we โ€ฆ โ€ Shrugging, I chewed anxiously on my lip and flicked my attention back to our friend who was now swimming laps. โ€œI donโ€™t know, do something?โ€

โ€œLike what?โ€

โ€œI donโ€™t know.ย Anything?โ€

โ€œIโ€™m not the one, Claire,โ€ Hugh strangled out and I watched as a huge full body shudder rippled through him. โ€œNot this time. Not anymore. I canโ€™t keep saving โ€ฆ โ€ Dropping his head in his hands, he sucked inย a sharp breath, shoulders slumped. โ€œI have Katie now โ€ฆ Iย canโ€™tย do this with her again.โ€

I got that, but I was scared, and he was my big brother who always seemed to know what to do. After all, Hugh was the one who knew more about Lizzie than any of the rest of us. Heโ€™d been there, right there in the middle of her personal breakdown the last time. Before the shutters came down around her heart, blocking all of us out, he was the last person to be pushed away. He knew her better than anyone. The old her, at least.

โ€œI could talk to her parents?โ€ I offered, feeling lost and way out of my depth. โ€œOr Pierce?โ€

โ€œPierce?โ€ Hugh gaped at me like I had lost my mind. โ€œLike heโ€™s worth a fucking conversation.โ€ His eyes narrowed in fury as he spoke. โ€œHeโ€™s not blind, Claire, he just doesnโ€™t care.โ€

โ€œHe has to care,โ€ I urged. โ€œHeย hasย to see. Heโ€™s her boyfriend, Hugh.โ€

โ€œHe only sees the parts of her he wants to see,โ€ Hugh spat. โ€œHe wonโ€™t do a damn thing, which suits Liz perfectly considering thatโ€™s the only reason sheโ€™s with him.โ€

โ€œThen we need to talk to Mam,โ€ I blurted. โ€œSheโ€™ll talk to Lizzieโ€™s mam and sort it out again.โ€

โ€œSort it out again,โ€ he repeated under his breath. โ€œSheโ€™s not a computer that needs resetting, Claire. Itโ€™s not that simple.โ€ Muttering something unintelligible under his breath, he abruptly stood and rolled his shoulders. โ€œFine.โ€

โ€œFine?โ€ Hope filled my heart. โ€œYouโ€™ll do something.โ€

โ€œYeah, Claire.โ€ Another shudder racked through my brother, and he nodded solemnly. โ€œIโ€™ll do something.โ€

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