SEEKING 7 | boys of tommen

r a i n

"Jesus, Mary, Joseph, and the donkey!" Edel Kavanagh shouted the second Johnny and I stumbled into her kitchen the following Friday. Well, Johnny walked in. Calling my half-hunched, rain-soaked hobble a walk was generous at best.

"You're like a pair of drowned rats!" she exclaimed, setting down a pot of her famous stew with a clang. "There's been torrential rain all day, and you two lunatics decide to go out in it!" She banged cupboard doors and rattled drawers, preparing the table for us while continuing her rant. "Don't even get me started on those gale-force winds! You could've been killed by a falling tree out there!"

"Relax, Ma," Johnny said, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek before making a beeline for the pot of spuds steaming on the stove. "It's just a bit of rain, and no trees managed to maim us."

"I made no such decision," I grumbled, collapsing into a chair like a bag of wet clothes. "I wanted tea and biscuits by the fire, but your son here dragged me out for a 10k run!" I shook my head, sending a fine mist of rainwater in all directions. "So if I catch pneumonia, you know who to blame."

"Johnny!" Edel scolded, disappearing briefly into the hallway before returning with two fluffy towels. "Look at the poor state of Gerard! Soaked to the bone!" She promptly started drying my hair like I was a little kid again. "And you know he has asthma. Johnny, you should know better!"

"Thanks, Mammy K," I said with an exaggerated wheezy cough, flashing Johnny a smug grin while his mother continued to fuss over me. "It's always worse in this kind of weather."

"Bullshit!" Johnny shot back, his tone incredulous. "You've no more asthma than I do, ya chancer."

"I could have," I replied, wiping the back of my hand dramatically across my forehead. "Maybe it's pneumonia instead."

"Pneumonia, my ass," Johnny muttered. "The only thing you're gonna catch is my boot up your backside if you keep at it."

"Jonathan!" Edel gasped, hands flying to her hips. "Apologize to Gerard this instant. We do not threaten anyone's backside with toes in this house."

"He's faking a chronic lung disease, Ma!" Johnny protested, eyes wide with disbelief.

"That doesn't matter. Manners, Jonathan."

Johnny turned a comical shade of purple, biting his fist to stop himself from saying something that would probably get him in more trouble. Instead, he dropped into the chair across from me with a huff. "I apologize, Gerard," he said, his words dripping with sarcasm.

I win.

"Thank you, Jonathan," I said primly, a grin pulling at my lips. "All is forgiven."

"What a relief," he deadpanned, but the swift kick I received under the table told me all I needed to know about his true feelings.

Edel, oblivious to the subtle war happening beneath the table, looked around. "Where's everyone else?"

"Shannon's next door trying on Halloween costumes with Aoife," she explained, gesturing toward the annex with a thumb. "Your father's still at work, Aurora's at therapy then she's out somewhere after, and the boys went to the cinema with Darren."

Johnny's eyebrows shot up. "Darren's back? Again?"

"He's their brother, love," Edel said, her voice steady but firm. "It's Seany's birthday tomorrow, so Darren came down for the weekend. He's welcome to visit them as much as he likes."

Johnny muttered something under his breath, his face tight. He didn't need to say much more—everyone knew Darren was a sore subject. Sure, things had calmed down between him and Johnny over the last year, but that didn't mean they were mates. Too much bad blood still lingered.

I shot Johnny a sidelong glance, but he was staring hard at the stew. I understood his silence. Darren had been a complete dick to Johnny, to Aurora—and to everyone, for that matter. No amount of family ties was going to erase the way he treated us, no matter how civil things were now.

Edel, sensing the tension, quickly switched topics. "Speaking of Halloween costumes," she said brightly, disappearing into the hallway once more. When she came back, she was holding up a neatly stitched brown tunic. "I finished mending this for you, Gerard."

I blinked, a wide grin spreading across my face. "You fixed my tunic? Aw, shucks, Mammy K, you really are Wonder Woman!"

Edel beamed. "It was no trouble, love."

Before I could even properly thank her, Johnny jumped in. "He won't be needing it, Ma," he said, leaning back in his chair. "Himself and Aurora are on the outs."

I turned to glare daggers at him. "Wow, thanks for that, friend.And no, we are not!"

Edel's face softened with concern as she sat down beside Johnny. "Oh no! Are you two in a fight, love? You haven't broken up with my Ora, have you? She's a keeper, Gerard Gibson, don't you dare let her go!"

The thought of Aurora caused a familiar tightness in my chest. We hadn't spoken much in the past few days, and I honestly wasn't sure where we stood. Were we still wearing matching costumes for the Halloween party tomorrow night, or had she decided to go with someone else? Aiden? Declan? The thought of either made my blood boil. "No, I haven't broken up with her," I muttered, my voice a little too sharp. "I would never break up with her."

"True," Johnny mused, still playing the part of the aggravating best friend.

"We're fine," I added quickly, though the knot in my chest tightened further.

Edel eyed me carefully, then nodded. "Good," she said softly. "Because Aurora is family now, and we love her just as much as we love you."

I nodded, forcing a smile, but my mind was still on Aurora. What was she thinking? Were we okay? Tomorrow night would either be the Halloween party from hell or the night where we finally talked this through. Either way, I wasn't backing down—not now, not ever.