Binding 13

"Hold up – who's driving you home, Sha

"I know what age I am, Joey," I shot back, nerves frazzled. "Look, relax." Pressing my palm to my forehead, I said, "I'll wait here until my bus comes."

"Put him on the phone," Joey ordered.

"What?" I gaped. "Who?"

"The lad who's just a guy you know with a car," he spat, throwing my words back at me.

I balked. "Why?"

"Because I want to talk to him," Joey replied impatiently.

I peeked up at Joh

Dropping my gaze, I whispered, "Why do you want to talk to him?"

"Because I want to talk to the fucker offering to take my baby sister home in his car, that's why."

Letting out an impatient sigh, Joh

I stared at his hand and blinked in confusion.

"Give me your phone," he instructed calmly.

"My phone?"

"Yes." Joh

When I made no move to hand it over, Joh

"Hey, this is Joh

Mortified, I reached up and tried to grab my phone, but he was too tall.

Holding a hand out between us to keep me at bay, Joh

"Probably," he said into the phone. "Yeah, it's a risky move. No, tickets don’t go on sale for the summer tour until May…Yeah, I'll see what I can do. Home games only, though…Cool."

What?

Seriously, what?

Confused didn’t begin to explain how I was feeling in this moment.

"I'm well aware," Joh

"What just happened?" I balked, staring down at the black screen of my phone. "What did he say to you?"

Joh

Instead, he swooped down and grabbed my school bag.

"Come on." Throwing my bag over his shoulder, he pressed a hand to my back and nudged me forward. "Big brother gave me permission to take you home."

"What about your school bag?" I blurted out, noting he was only carrying mine.

"It's in the car," he replied, continuing to shepherd me towards the door. "Let's go."

Like a lamb to the slaughter, I went with him, knowing this was a terrible idea, but unable to stop my feet from moving.

There was only a handful of students in the corridors, but I swear I felt every one of their stares as I walked towards the front door with Joh

Joh

I had no idea what to do – or say for that matter.

I was so far out of my comfort zone I could barely function.

I felt a little light headed if I was being honest.

We walked side by side in silence through the court yard and down the avenue towards the student carpark.

Even though today was March first, and the second month of Spring in Ireland, it was dark outside, not to mention freezing cold.

I wasn’t a fan of being outside in the dark, and I found myself sticking close to him.

Concussion-giver or not, some part of my brain told me that I was safe with this boy.

That was probably the concussed part talking.

"He didn’t hurt you, did he?" Joh

"What?" I turned my face to look at him. "No, no, I'm okay."

"You're sure?" He was staring straight ahead, so I did the same, feeling too exposed around him. "He didn’t put his hands on you?"

"I'm sure." Sliding my hands into my coat pockets, I kept my gaze on the line of cars up ahead. "I'm okay."

Joh

"He didn’t."

"Okay, good," he muttered, pressing a button on a sleek black car key. Lights flashed from a nearby vehicle and he steered us towards it. "This one's mine."

"Whoa," I muttered when I was close enough to make out the impressive looking car. "You have an Audi?"

"I do," he agreed, yanking one of the back doors open.

"Is it yours?"

"Why else would I be driving it?"

I cringed. "I thought it might belong to your parents or something."

"No, it's mine," he replied. "My folks have their own transport."

"Oh," I breathed, gawking in admiration.

Because of the darkness, I couldn’t depict if the car was black or navy, but god almighty, darkness or not, I could easily tell that it was fancy.

And new.

And fast.

And expensive.

No wonder he didn’t want the €65 back.

"Is it an A3?" I asked, awestruck.

"Yeah," Joh

I could spot a sports bag a mile away, having spent most of my life falling over them.

I was also painfully aware of the stench of teenage boy that came from one of those bags. It was similar to the stench that wafted from Joey's bedroom; a distinctive odor comprised of a combination of sweat, sex, and man.

Peeking over his shoulder, I ignored the stench of boy and marveled at the leather interior.

"Are you into cars or something?" he asked, turning his head just in time to catch me snooping over his shoulder.

"Not really." I took a step back and shrugged, feeling a surge of heat flood my face and a whole truckload of relief to have been caught checking out his car and not his ass in those pants.

Because I had totally checked that out, too.

It was hard not to.

It was round and firm and…

"But my brother Joey is, so I know a lot of the types from listening to him, " I hurried to explain and distract myself from my dangerous thoughts. "That's a fast car."

"Yeah, it's pretty decent for now."

"For now?"

Nodding, Joh

"Ah, shite," he grumbled, staring in dismay. "Sorry about this. I wasn’t pla

My eyes took in the absolute carnage that was his front seat.

Holy hell.

It was a total mess.

"I can sit in the back if it's easier for you?" I offered, not wanting to put him out any more than I already was.

"What – no," Joh

Diving into the car, he scooped up an arm full of empty bottles, socks, plastic containers, chewing gum packets, deodorant cans, and towels, and tossed them over the back of the seat.

He had to repeat this cycle three more times, dumping the rubbish from the front seat to the back, before the space was clear – pausing midway to pocket a black wallet to which he informed me that he had been looking for this.