STROLLING DOWN TO THE STUDENT CAR PARK, I unlocked my car and dropped my shit into the back seat before collapsing inside, Aoibhe following my lead and sliding into the passenger seat.

Exhausted and sore, I pushed back the seat and adjusted the recliner so I could stretch my legs out. The thought of driving with the pain currently burning its way up my thighs was an unwelcome thought, but it wasn't my main concern right now.

We had a lot of boarders at Tommen, students coming from all over the country and some parts of Europe to study.

I lived half an hour from the school so I was one of the day-walkers.

Most of my friends were.

Aoibhe was too.

I knew Shannon was from Ballylaggin too, but I'd never laid eyes on her before that day. It wasn't a massive area, but it was big enough that our paths had never crossed—or maybe they had and I just didn't remember her.

I wasn't great with faces. I didn't look at one long enough to commit it to memory. I didn't care to. I had enough names and faces I needed to remember as it stood.

Adding unnecessary names of strangers to that list seemed a pointless feat.

Until now.

Troubled. That's what Dee called her.

But weren't all teenagers a little fucked up and troubled sometimes?

I was so consumed in my own thoughts that I didn't notice the final bell ringing forty-five minutes later, or the flood of students climbing into cars around me. It was only when the two back seat doors of my car flew open that I jerked back to the present.

Aoibhe launched up, half awake. I hadn't even noticed her fall asleep.

"Hey," Gibsie acknowledged, dropping into the back seat behind Aoibhe, while Aisling slid into the middle seat and Nolan into the one behind me. "I see your heart's still set on sporting the semi-homeless look in here," Gibs added, kicking a pile of shit away from his feet. He tossed his bag onto the floor in front of him, Nolan doing the same. "It fucking stinks in here, man."

"You could always get plenty of fresh air walking," I grumbled, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. Yeah, I was that fucking tired.

"Relax," Gibsie shot back and then snickered when he added, "No need to get so testy."

The two girls rolled their eyes, unamused, but Nolan snorted, clearly finding it funny.

"Very funny, asshole," I deadpanned, my hand immediately moving to my dick. "Now you really can get out and walk."

"Here." He paused to dump a vanilla-colored folder on my lap. "You can't make me walk after getting you this."

I stared down at the folder. "What's this?"

"A present," Gibsie replied, adjusting the visor.

"Homework?" I deadpanned. "Wow. Thanks so much."

"It's yer one Shannon's file," he corrected, rolling down the sleeves of his jumper. "No doubt your obsessive ass was looking for it."

Well, shite.

"The girl you knocked out?" Aoibhe asked, leaning forwards slightly.

I didn't like the way she was looking at the folder, like it was a knife I was about to stab into her heart.

"When you didn't come back to class after training, I figured you were out here sulking over her—or pining." He shrugged before adding, "Or whatever the fuck you'd call what you did in the locker room earlier."

"I don't sulk."

He snorted.

"I don't fucking sulk, asshole," I bit back. "Or pine. I wasn't doing any of that shite. I was just—"

"Losing your head?" Gibsie filled in with a wolfish grin. "Don't worry about it. Happens to the best of us."

"Why would I be losing my head?" I demanded and then swiftly answered, "I wasn't losing my goddamn anything!"

"My mistake." Gibsie held his hands up, but his tone assured me that he was far from sorry. "I must've read it wrong. Give me her file and I'll put it back."

He reached for the folder and I snatched it away. "What—no!"

Gibsie laughed but didn't say anything else. The knowing grin he gave me was enough of a response.

"You've got a thing for Shannon?" Nolan asked, resting his chin against my seat.

I felt my eyes fall onto Aoibhe for some reason as I shook my head. "No. I don't have a thing for her." I felt like I was pleading my case to a court.

"So what," the red head in the back seat finally spoke "is it like some sort of mother thing. Like you see the baby on the side of the road and you don't want to leave it there so of course you stop to pick it up and help it get to a safe place and maybe adopt it."

Aisling always had strange analogies. She either made no sense or absolutely no sense.

Maybe it had something to do with her being British.

Weirdly enough that one kind of felt spot on.

"How'd you manage to convince Dee to hand it over?" I asked, changing the subject.

"How'd you think?"

I repressed a shudder. "Jesus."

"It's not all bad." Gibsie smirked. "The woman sucks like a hoover, and the thrill of getting caught always makes for fun times."

"Ew." I heard Aoibhe mumble from beside me, her best friend echoing.

I held a hand up. "Didn't need to know that."

He snorted. "You already knew that."

"Yeah." I sighed heavily. "Well, I didn't need to be reminded."

"Jesus"" he muttered, pulling at the collar of his school shirt so he could get a good look at his neck in the small rectangular mirror. "Always the neck."

Unsatisfied with that view, he pushed me and Aisling out of the way, and he twisted the rearview mirror to face him and groaned.

Turning to look at me, Gibsie said, "See the sacrifices I make for you?"

My eyes landed on the purplish bruise forming on his neck.

"Better be something worth reading in there," he grumbled.

Turning my attention back to the folder, I flicked it open to the first page and then tensed, eyes moving to his. "Did you read it?"

"Nope."

"Why not?"

"Because," he replied, digging around his pocket, "it's not my business." He pulled out a packet of cigarettes and a lighter. "I'm hanging for a smoke." He shoved the door open and stepped out, stopping to lean in and announce, "Orgasms make me crave nicotine,"

"Oh! Wait up!" Aisling practically leaped out of the car behind him. Once she was out the door was snapped shut and their voices went silent.

Shaking my head, I turned my attention to the file in my hands, riveted to every detail of information Shannon Lynch's confidential file revealed, I felt Nolan lean further forwards, probably reading it too, but I didn't really mind, I knew he wouldn't tell anyone.

Pages upon pages of incidents and reports all neatly typed out on white paper, detailing every horrendous ordeal the girl had suffered in her old school—and there had been a lot.

Fourteen pages of incidents.

Front and back.

A few pages in, I learned that Shannon had slipped from a solid C student at the beginning of first year to scraping D's and E's by the end of second year. Attached to her less-than-stellar exam results were notes from her former teachers, praising her gentle nature and diligent and conscientious work ethic. I didn't need a note to explain the steady decline in her grades. I'd figured that out on page one.

She was the victim of bullying.

They cut her ponytail off when she was in first year. When she was thirteen. Their punishment for such a crime was a week's suspension. Seriously. A week off school for cutting a girl's fucking hair off.

Girls.

They were so goddamn sick and twisted.

How anyone could expect the girl to concentrate in a classroom setting as volatile as that was beyond me.

Seriously, what the hell was wrong with people? What was the matter with that school and those teachers? The fuck were her parents thinking, leaving her there for two years?

The more I read, the sicker I felt in my stomach. . .

Incident in P.E. resulting in a bloody nose.

Vomiting incident in the bathroom.

Incident in woodwork with a glue gun.

Issue after school with third-year girls.

Another vomiting incident in the bathroom.

Issue before school with fourth-year girls.

Refusal to take part in overnight school bonding retreat. Were they fucking kidding?

Many, many more vomiting incidents.

Referral to educational psychologist.

Older brother lodges fourth complaint about the bullying. Older brother should have found some older female friends and had them kick the shite out of these mean girls.

Graffiti on bathroom walls.

Assault in the schoolyard, older brother suspended. Older brother must have sorted it himself.

Isolation reported by several teachers.

Serious physical assault by three older students, Gardai called. No shit, Sherlock.

Older brother suspended again for intervening.

Removal from school at the request of mother. About fucking time.

School records requested by the principal at Tommen College.

Horrified didn't being to describe my feelings when I was finished reading.

Pissed off didn't quite fit the bill, either.

Disgusted, disturbed, and wholly enraged seemed a more accurate assessment of my feelings. Jesus, it was like reading a goddamn police report of a domestic violence victim.

No wonder Shannon's mother flipped the fuck out on me today. If I were in her position, I would have done a lot worse. Christ, now I was even more pissed with myself for hurting her than I was earlier.

Who the hell did this?

Seriously, what kind of creatures were they breeding in that school?

"Well?" Gibsie's voice broke through my thoughts when he climbed back into car behind Aisling, both smelling like an ashtray. "Find out what you need?"

"Yeah," I muttered, handing the folder back to him before cranking the engine. "I did."

He looked at me expectantly. "And?"

I turned my attention to the road. "And what?"

"You look pissed."

"I'm fine." I needed to do something, put my foot down, hit the weight room, anything to expel the tension building inside my body.

"You sure, man?"

"Yep." Tearing out of my parking spot, I shifted into second gear, and then third, ignoring the Caution Children Crossing signs in my bid to get onto the main road.

Sometimes we worked out in my converted garage at home, but right now, I thought the thirty-minute drive to the gym in the city might do me some good.

I knew I had stepped over a serious line by breaching her privacy like this, but I didn't regret it.

Dammit, I knew she was vulnerable.

That feeling I had earlier today?

The pain I was so sure I'd seen in her eyes.

It was real, it was there, I recognized it, and now I could do something about it. I could prevent anything like this from happening again.

It wouldn't happen again.

Not on my goddamn watch.

AUTHOR TALKS!!
I'm trying to make it more like Johnny is like a protective big brother in this fic because he's supposed to be in love with Aoibhe.

Nolan will be the one in love with her.