My groin was on fire and my body was simmering with barely restrained anger.
Taking a boot to my crotch while at the bottom of a ruck during training was not my idea of a productive practice session.
It took me a solid five minutes of breathing through my nose as I lay in a heap on the pitch before I could trust the contents of my stomach to stay the fuck in there and stand up.
Resisting the natural reaction to maim and kill the culprit, who just so happened to be a sheepish looking Hughie, I blew off the last five minutes of training in favor of going in search of an icepack.
We had the league final coming up and my asshole teammates were going to take me out before we even got there.
Letting loose last weekend was all well and good, and the shield was a nice little victory for the team, but my sight was set on the cup and theirs needed to be, too – apparently not, though, if the sluggish training session yesterday and sloppy performance this evening was anything to go by.
I was walking out of the lunch hall with one icepack strapped to my junk, and another pressed to my thigh when Gibsie's voice boomed through the air followed by the annoying voice of Ronan McGarry.
"What did the little bollox do now?" I barked when they came into focus, standing on either side of the glass entry door.
"Don’t lose your shit," Gibsie said in a low tone. "I've got it under control."
"What?" I demanded.
Gibsie released a sigh. "He was fucking with Shannon outside the jacks." He scrubbed his face with his hand. "Trying to get her to go in the bathroom with him."
My entire body tensed as a red, hazing fog clouded my vision.
I'd been mad as hell with Gibsie over the stunt he pulled at lunch yesterday, but right now, I was grateful for his meddling.
Tossing the icepack on the ground, I glared out the window and snarled, "You're fucking kidding me!"
"Nope. He got a little shitty with her, too," Gibsie added, glaring out through the glass at McGarry. "Apparently McGarry has an issue with his hearing because the girl clearly told him no."
My legs were moving before my brain had a chance to catch up.
I warned him.
I bleeding warned that little shite to leave her alone.
I was going to kill that little fucker.
"Don’t," Gibsie warned as he grabbed my shoulder and pulled me back. "She's right over there, lad."
I swung around to find a wide-eyed Shannon staring back at me.
She looked terrified.
"For fuck's sake," I groaned, quickly turning away so I didn’t see the fear in her big blue eyes.
All day, I'd been trying my best to keep my distance, but fucking McGarry had just screwed with that.
I hated him.
It was a strong word, but an accurate one when assessing my feelings towards the prick.
I warned him to stay away from her, and he went and did it anyway.
Maybe once I used my fists instead of my words, he'd take me seriously.
If he didn’t, we were going to have an even bigger problem.
Turning back to Ronan, I hissed, "I'm going to give you a five second head start, Prickface, and then I'm going to cut your cock off and feed it to you."
"Fuck you, Kavanagh," McGarry spat. "You can't touch me."
"One," I snarled, grabbing ahold of the door handle. "Two, three, four…"
"What are you waiting for?" Gibs chuckled, making shooing gestures with his hands. "Get going, Forrest."
"Five," I snarled then yanked the door open.
McGarry shot off like a scalded dog, running at top speed.
He could move as fast as his legs could carry him and he still couldn’t outrun me.
Injured or not, I was a goddamn bullet.
"I'm sorry," he roared over his shoulder as he pounded through the courtyard. "Stop – I'm sorry! I won't go near her again."
"Too little too late, asshole," I shot back, closing in on him.
Reaching out, I caught ahold of the back of his jersey and pulled him to an abrupt stop.
"Get off me," he hissed, bucking against my hold.
"Come here, ya little shit," I barked as I dragged him up the steps to the P.E hall.
"Stop him," Ronan screeched at Gibsie who had trailed after us. "Gibs, come on, lad."
"Fat chance of that happening, kid," Gibsie called back. "Unlike your stupid ass, I'm not suicidal and have no intention of putting myself in the firing line."
Stalking into the hall, I marched down the corridor and slammed my palm against the changing room door, pushing it open.
The team were all inside the room and turned to look at us.
"Oh, for Christ's sake," Hughie groaned, watching us enter with a resigned look on his face. "What did he do now?"
"He broke the rules," Gibsie snickered. "Boy's going to church."
"And we were doing so well," Feely sighed.
"Uh, Johnny?" Cormac Ryan muttered, scratching his stubbly jaw. "Should you be doing that to Coach's nephew–"
"Be glad it's not you, fuckface," I snarled, keeping a death grip on McGarry as I dragged him towards the showers.
"Stop him!" Ronan demanded. "Lads – help me!"
No one moved.
Good.
These lads had loyalty.
"Think you can put your hands on her?" I hissed when we were in the showers and away from the team. Releasing his neck, I shoved him against the wall. "Well?"
"I was only messing around with her," he growled, pushing off the wall. "It was a joke. Christ, relax."
"Do I look relaxed to you?" I took a step towards him. "Am I laughing, asshole?"
"Back up," McGarry warned, raising his fists in front of him. "I mean it, Kavanagh. Back the hell up."
"Nice words," I growled, stalking towards him. "Pity you don’t know the meaning of them."
He took a swing at me and managed to catch the side of my jaw.
Dangerous move.
"You cheeky, little fucker." I closed the space between us, grabbed his head and buried my head in the bridge of his nose.
An extremely satisfying crunching noise filled my ears.
The steady stream of blood trickling down his face did little to sate the fury burning inside of me.
"Ahhhh, Christ!" Ronan roared, collapsing on the floor, clutching his nose. "I think you broke my nose, Johnny."
"Your nose will heal after a break." Grabbing his jersey, I dragged him into a shower stall, slapped my hand against the circular chrome nozzle sticking out from the wall, and watched as freezing cold water poured down on him. "But your spine won't." Crouching down in front of him, I held his face under the water. "And that's exactly what I'll crush if you so much as look at her again."
"I was only talking to her," he strangled out, red-faced. "Christ."
"Well don’t talk to her!" I spat, glaring down at his stupid fucking face. "Don’t look at her, and don’t fucking touch her. She's not for you." With great effort, I forced myself to release him and stand back. "Are we clear this time?"
"Crystal," McGarry muttered under his breath.
"You better mean it this time, kid," I said in a warning tone. "Because if you push me on this, I'll kill you."
"I'm done," he grumbled. "Fucking hell."
I cast Ronan one final death glare before stalking back to the changing room.
Unsurprisingly, Gibsie was perched on the bench with a shit-eating grin etched on his face. "Is he alive?"
"For now," I bit out.
Kicking off my football boots, I grabbed a pair of sweats from my bag and pulled them on over my shorts.
I could shower when I got home.
Right now, I needed to get the fuck out of this place before I blew a head gasket.
There were too many assholes in my close proximity, McGarry and Ryan to be precise, and I didn’t trust myself.
Ironically, the lyrics of the song Stuck in the Middle drifted into my mind.
Shaking the thought away, I concentrated on packing up my bag.
When I had everything loaded into my gear bag, I left the changing room without a word to my teammates.
Thankfully, Gibsie didn’t follow me.
I had my bag loaded into the backseat of my car and was rounding the driver's side when a sudden pang of uncertainty hit me in the gut.
Was she okay?
Should I go back and check on her?
No, she was probably gone home.
I should go home.