Binding 13

"Joey," I whisper-hissed.

He shot a cheeky smirk back at me.

"Shit, man, I don’t know," Gibsie mumbled. "A rasher sandwich and a pot of tea? I don’t have much in the lines of barter."

Horrified, I shook my head and mouthed no, but Joey said, "Yeah, grand. We'll be over in thirty."

"Joey!" I cried.

"Thanks a million," Gibsie replied, sounding relieved. "You're as sound as a pound."

"No bother," Joey replied, taking the phone out of my hand. "And I like my rashers crispy," he added before cutting the call and dropping the phone down on the seat beside him. "Detour."

"What are you doing?" I spluttered, wide-eyed. "We are not going over there!"

"What's the problem?" he quizzed. "I thought you were friends?"

"I know him from school, Joey," I choked out. "That doesn’t mean I'm his friend!"

"Relax, we're only dropping over the guy's phone."

"And you're having breakfast!"

"Well, I'm hardly driving that far out of my way for nothing." Joey laughed. "Besides, I'm hungry."

"Yeah, for a chicken-fillet roll," I reminded him.

"I've changed my mind."

"What about Aoife?" I demanded. "And the boys?"

"Aoife and the kids won't be back until one," he replied. "She said so herself."

"Joey, we can't go over there," I pleaded. "Please."

"Sha

"No," I grumbled.

"You know it's okay by me if you like him, don’t you?" Joey chuckled. "I'm not that kind of brother. All I want you to do is be careful. I've told you what he's about. He'll be gone in the summer so it's up to you if you want to get hung up on something temporary."

"I don’t," I lied, mortified. "So drop it."

"Fair enough," Joey mused. "Then you should have no problem stopping over for some grub."

"You can do what you like." Sulking, I folded my arms across my chest and huffed. "I am not getting out of this car."

Half an hour of tense silence later, we pulled up outside a gigantic pair of black-painted, iron gates, and Joey rolled down his window, stretched his arm out, and keyed something into the pad.

A few moments later the gates swung inwards.

My mouth fell open. "You have the password to his gate?"

My brother laughed in response.

A few moments later, the huge gates swung inwards and we continued up a long, winding laneway that was lined on either side with huge trees.

A house came into view a few minutes later and I sucked in a sharp breath.

Oh god.

This was where he lived?

Of course it was.

"Wow," I whispered to myself, taking in the sight of the huge, Victorian-style mansion with a bazillion windows and the biggest front door I'd ever seen.

"I know," Joey agreed with an impressed sigh.

Pressing my cheek to the window, I stared out at the sprawling lawns and gardens as the sound of gravel crunching beneath the tires filled my ears.

It was stone grey in color, but it was draped in so much ivy that it looked almost majestic.

"It looks like six of our house side by side," I whispered, gazing up at the property. "There's like, twelve windows on the top level alone."

Joey pulled up outside the front door and killed the engine before climbing out.

"You should see it from the inside," he said as he reached over and grabbed the phone. "Fucking incredible."

My gaze followed Joey as he strolled over to the front door, knocked once, and then sauntered inside.

Holy crap.

My brother just walked into Joh