BONUS SCENE
MAKING GOOD DECISIONS
Johnny
"You are the jammiest bastard I've ever met," Hughie said after school on Monday, in a tone of voice that sounded an awful lot like awe. "Honestly, I feel so fucking inferior right now." He exhaled heavily. "We're the same age, Cap, and I feel like I am running about ten miles behind you."
"Be happy for him," Feely chuckled. "He's earned this."
"I am happy for him," Hughie urged. "I'm also a little devastated that I don't possess a pussy." Sighing dramatically, he added, "I could have gone with him to the awards ceremony."
"Yeah," Feely snickered. "Because he was going to take you over his actual girlfriend."
Stifling a growl, I tossed my gear back into my bag and turned to look at my friends. We were just finished school training and I really didn’t want to talk about this here. "It's really not a big deal, lads."
"It's a fucking huge deal," Gibsie corrected, wandering out of the showers with a towel wrapped around his waist. "You've been nominated for the Young Player of the Year award, Johnny."
"Exactly," Feely agreed. "It doesn’t get much bigger than that, Cap."
"And you're going to win it," Hughie added. "Our buddy – Young Player of the Year. In the fucking country." He leaned back on the bench and shook his head. "We're in the twilight zone, lads."
"Pack it in," I grumbled, embarrassed. "I haven't won anything yet."
"You won't be saying that come Saturday night," Gibsie chuckled.
"When you're walking out of that fancy-pants hotel with a shiny new trophy to add to the collection."
"Kavanagh," Coach Mulcahy's voice broke through our conversation and I turned to find him standing in the doorway, holding a clipboard in his hands. "Good luck in Dublin at the weekend."
"Thanks, Coach," I replied, giving him a stiff nod.
"Bring it home, son," he added, giving me what I could only describe as a grimacing smile.
"He will," Gibsie replied for me, clapping my shoulder.
"And you." Coach's eyes narrowed on Gibsie. "You have trials coming up. Pack in the drink and the smoking."
Now it was my turn to say, "he will," as I clapped Gibsie on his shoulder. "Isn't that right, Gibs?"
"You're hurting me," Gibsie bit out, grimacing when I dug my fingers into his shoulder blade.
"Oh, I know," I mused, squeezing tighter. "And I'll hurt you a lot harder if you don't get your shit together and stop wasting my time."
"Noted," Gibsie groaned, breaking free from my hold. "For fuck's sake," he muttered, rubbing his shoulder. "I'm going to have a bruise after ya."
"You're a flanker," Feely chuckled. "You're supposed to have bruises."
"So, what time are you and your girlfriend heading up to Dublin?"
Hughie asked, clearly still put out that I was taking Shannon with me and not him. "To bump shoulders with everyone I have idolized since birth."
"We'll probably strike up Saturday morning," I replied, dutifully ignoring the pissiness in his tone. "Beat the afternoon traffic."
"Are you sure about that?" Gibsie snickered to himself.
"Sure about what?"
"Shannon going with you."
"Yeah." I frowned. "Why?"
"Oh, no reason," he mused. "It's just that Claire mentioned that Little Shannon didn’t know if she was going or not."
"What?" I gaped at him. "The fuck are you talking about? Why wouldn't she know?"
"Maybe because you didn’t ask her," he offered, grinning.
I shook my head, feeling at a loss. "Come again?"
"You didn’t ask her," he repeated, sounding thoroughly amused now.
"Your girlfriend," he clarified. "You never asked her to go with you, Cap."
I blinked, feeling confused. "Am I supposed to?"
"Yes," all three of them responded in unison.
"You have to ask them about everything," Hughie explained. "It's fucking ridiculous – I know. But girls are weird like that. They need to be asked to go places and shit. Invitations are a must. It's all relationship politics, lad. Trust me, it's best to ask them about everything. That's what I do with Katie." He grimaced before muttering, "I learned the hard way."
"But she's my girlfriend," I argued, not buying into this shite. "Why would I ask her to go with me? Why wouldn’t she already know?"
"Because it's a trap," Hughie offered.
My brows shot up. "A trap?"
"Don’t ask me," Gibsie snickered. "Most of the time I have no fucking clue of what's going on around me."
"Only most of the time, Gibs?" Feely mused.
"It's definitely a trap," Hughie said grimly, drawing my attention back to the strangest conversation we'd had in a while. "You're in trouble, Johnny."
Oh shite. "I am?"
"Absolutely," he said with a grimace. "Bad luck, lad."
"He's right," Feely agreed. "You should have asked her to go with you, lad – you need to cover all of your bases."
"Otherwise, it'll be thrown back at you," Hughie added. "At any given
time."
Feely nodded. "Day or night."
"Regardless of how much time passes."
"Isn't that the truth?"
"You're telling me, lad."
"That's bleeding ridiculous," I snapped, feeling flustered.
"It's the way they work, lad," Hughie replied solemnly. "Girls are hard
work."
"The hardest," Feely offered.
"Not my one," I defended.
Hughie smirked. "We'll see."
"So, what do I do now?" I asked, feeling a little panicky.
"Go ask her," all three of them replied.
"Now?"
"Now," they confirmed.
Ah, shite…
Breathless from my sprint across the school, I rested a shoulder against the locker next to Shannon's and waited for her to notice me – and for my heart-
rate to settle down.
It didn’t settle.
No, it only seemed to accelerate faster at the sight of her.
Fuck.
My.
Life.
Shannon closed the door of her locker then, only to jump when she noticed me standing there like a creeper. "Oh," she squeaked out and then quickly moved to tuck her hair behind her ears. "Hi, Johnny."
"Hi, Shannon," I hurried to get that cute little pleasantry of hers out of the way before getting right down to business. "I fucked up, baby."
"You did?" Shannon mirrored my actions and frowned up at me.
"How?"
My hand shot out of its own accord to smooth the line on her brow, but I
quickly checked myself.
Don’t touch her.
Not here.
You're on a warning.
Your last bleeding warning, eejit.
Just keep your hands in your pockets.
You don’t have pockets.
But she does.
Ah, shite… "I didn’t ask you," I admitted with a one shouldered shrug, balling my wandering hands into fists at my sides. "I didn’t even fucking think to ask you," I added, repressing a groan at just how hopeless I was at this. "I just presumed that we would go together, you know?"
Now she looked truly puzzled.
Puzzled and anxious.
Her smile slipped.
Shite.
"There's nothing wrong," I quickly threw out there. "Everything's fine."
Relief flashed across her features, and those big blue eyes seemed to melt and soften. "Oh, okay." Re-tucking that exact same strand of hair behind her ear, she shrugged her small shoulders and smiled up at me. "Is this about the awards dinner this weekend?"
I nodded eagerly, thankful that she knew what I was talking about.
"Gibsie said you told Claire that I didn’t invite you."
"Well, you, uh, kind of didn’t," Shannon replied in that small voice of hers. "I'm not upset about it," she quickly added, gaze cast downwards as her cheeks turned pink. "I don’t…I don’t…I'm not expecting you to take me or anything –"
"Well, I'm expecting you to go with me," I told her, interrupting her
rambling.
Her face shot up. "You are?"
Jesus Christ… "Yes, Shannon," I replied, stifling my impatience. "We're together. You're mine. I'm yours. It's kind of a big deal to me. You're a big deal to me. I thought us going together was a given." Blowing out a breath, I kept my eyes trained on hers and resisted the urge to let my gaze trail over her body. "Shan, you're my teammate in this. I don’t want to go to any
black-tie event without you."
Her brows shot up. "You don’t?"
"No. I don’t."
"But your parents are going with you," she said breathily. "Darren's coming down to stay with the boys for the weekend."
"I know." Smirking, I stepped closer to temptation, breathing in the scent of her. Jesus, she was something else. "But I don’t want my parents
with me."
"You don’t?"
I shook my head. "Nope."
"So, who do you want?"
"I want you."
She exhaled a shaky breath. "Really?"
I nodded. "Hundred percent."
Her face flamed a deeper shade of pink.
"Don’t blush," I groaned, unable to stop myself from reaching out and stroking her cheek. "It makes me lose my head."
"I did buy a dress," she admitted, big blue eyes locked on mine. "Just in case you, uh, wanted me to come."
"That was a wise choice," I confirmed gruffly, heart pounding hard now.
"What color did you settle on?"
"It's red," she whispered, smiling up at me. "Same as your tie."
"Fuck," I croaked out. "I love red, Shan."
"Yeah." She bit down on her lip. "I know."
"So, are you going to come with me?" I asked, losing the will to keep my hands to myself as I pulled her flush against me, hands resting on her waist. "Are you going to be my date, Shannon like the river?"
Nodding, she wrapped her arms around my neck and grinned. "I'll be your date, Johnny."
Lowering my face to hers, I pressed a kiss to her lips. "Thank you."
Shivering, she leaned up on her tip-toes and stroked her nose against mine. "You're welcome."
"Are you going to clap for me if I win?" I teased, drowning in the smell of her, in the feel of her. "Have you been practicing your 'oh, Johnny, my hero' chants?"
"You're so full of yourself," Shannon laughed.
"I wish you were full of me," I purred. "Right now, for example."
"Stop it," she giggled, blushing. "And you can be sure that I'll be cheering you on when you win Saturday night," she added. "It's in the bag, Mister Rugby."
My heart jackknifed. "You really think so, Shan?"
Shannon beamed up at me. "I really know so, Johnny."
Fuck me… I did something incredibly reckless then; I tipped her chin up and kissed her.
A quick peck, I assured myself.
Just a peck.
A reassuring kiss.
That's not how it played out, though.
Because I couldn’t pull away.
I was thoroughly fucked when it came to this girl, and we both knew it.
"Do you want to go somewhere?" I asked, breaking the kiss, knowing that I was killing the mood with my loaded question, but I had an even bigger loaded problem in my pants that I knew she was aware of. "Before we go home and get cordoned off by my Ma?"
"Oh, for sure," Shannon agreed in a breathy tone of voice.
Fucking winning. "The beach?"
"Let's go."
Thank you, Jesus…
I made the right decision when I chose to defer my signing for a year. I knew it the day I sat in the coach's office with my father by my side and I knew it now. Sitting here, with my girlfriend's hand wrapped in mine, and a full year of endless possibilities ahead of me, a deep sense of contentment settled inside of me. I loved the game and I loved her. I could have both – and I would. On my terms. When I was ready.
"I love you," Shannon said, voicing my thoughts aloud when I parked up at what had become our spot at the beach. It wasn't easy getting time alone these days, what with my meddling mother and her annoying fucking brothers constantly cockblocking me, but like every other obstacle that had been thrown our way this past year, we were making it work.
Killing the engine, I unfastened my seatbelt and turned to look at her.
Almost a year had passed since the first day I laid eyes on her and the sight
of her still sucker-punched me in the gut. I didn’t see that changing any time soon. "I love you, too, Shan." It was the truth. I loved her more than I knew what to do with. I could see it all ahead of me; my life, my future, my career, and her. The girl I knew I would play the leading role in all of it. I'd thrown it all in with her and I had no doubts. Not a single one. She was teammate now. My best friend. Of course, I didn’t dream of saying that aloud – Gibsie would have heart failure if he heard such blasphemy.
"So," Shannon mused, unfastening her seatbelt and turning in her seat to face me. "We have about forty minutes before your mother starts phoning us." She had a devilish smile etched on her face as she slowly unwrapped her scarf from her neck and tossed it into the backseat to join her discarded
coat. "What do you want to do?"
You, Shannon Lynch.
Always you.
"I don’t know, Shan." Smirking, I played along. "What do you want me to do?"
"I want you to put your lips on me," she came right out and said. "I want you to help me get the windows of this fancy-pants Audi all good and steamed up."
"Well shite," I growled, instantly hard. "That's telling me."
Blushing, Shannon hitched her skirt up over her thighs and climbed over the seats, settling down on my lap with a contented sigh of approval.
"You asked me," she whispered, knotting her fingers in the front of my school jumper. "I'm just better at getting my words out now."
"Yes, you are," I agreed, tone gruff, as I gripped her hips and rocked her on my lap, reveling in the feel of her body on mine. "You're doing so fucking well, baby." And she was. At school. In life. She was thriving, and I couldn't be prouder of her.
Shivering into my touch, Shannon trailed her fingers through my hair, driving me insane with that kitten-like touch of hers, before lowering her
face to mine. "Johnny?"
My heart hammered violently against my ribcage as I watched her watch me, brows touching. "Yeah, Shan?"
"I'm keeping you," she told me, and there was a confidence in her voice that was slowly growing with each passing day. "You're mine," she added, as a ghost of a smile teased her full lips. "For keeps."
"Thank fuck for that," was all I could come up with before I lost the battle with my self-control and crashed my lips to hers.
