"Whoa."
Losing my balance, I collapsed on my arse with a loud ooof.
The minute I was grounded, they both dove for me, slobbering all over my face and neck.
Laughing, I tried to duck my face, but it was useless, because these dogs were persistent with their loving.
What I failed to notice in the car was that both dogs had clearly rolled in cow dung lately because not only were their coats matted with mud, but they reeked so bad.
After a fruitless battle to stand up, I ended up on the flat of my back on the rain-soaked gravel, as they sniffed and pawed at me and basically licked every inch of exposed skin.
"You're a friendly pair," I snickered, giving up on any attempt to escape. I could feel the damp seeping into my clothes, but I made no move to get up.
I couldn’t if I wanted to.
"Hi," I laughed, grinning up at the one who had decided my stomach was the perfect home for her butt.
She had her paws pressed firmly on my shoulders as she licked at my face.
"You're a lovely girl, aren’t you?" I cooed, as I ducked and dodged a tongue to the mouth.
It was pretty pointless considering the other one was standing by my head, fighting for attention.
"Careful," I warned the one by my head. "My face is tender."
"Bonnie! Cupcake! Get off her," a familiar voice ordered from nearby, but neither dog listened.
Instead, they seemed to up their efforts of loving me into a canine coma.
A few moments later, a pair of hands hooked under my armpits.
Startled by the sudden contact, my limbs locked tight of their own accord as I was lifted clean off the ground.
Johnny set me down on my feet, and then quickly pushed me behind him as the dogs lunged towards us.
"No!" he ordered. Keeping an arm around me, he held out the other in warning. "Bonnie," he growled. "You're a bad girl." His eyes darted to the other dog who was creeping closer. "Cupcake, don’t even think about pulling that shite."
Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a tennis ball and waved it in front of the dogs, capturing their attention instantly.
"Yeah, you see that, don’t you?" Johnny coaxed and then flung it across the yard.
It landed somewhere out of sight and the two dogs bolted after it.
I took the opportunity of his momentary distraction to pull my hair tie out and drape my hair over my left shoulder, concealing the side of my face from his view.
"Sorry about them," Johnny said once the dogs were out of sight. Turning to face me, he gave me a quick once over and grimaced. "Jaysus, they destroyed you."
I was so stunned from the sight of him, so completely unsure of what to do or say, that it took me a few moments to clear my head and register that he was speaking – to me. "Huh?"
"Your clothes," he explained, gesturing up and down.
I looked down at myself and bit back a groan.
Yep, he was right.
I was destroyed in a combination of mud, rain, clumps of hair, and dog slobber.
"Oh, ah, yep." Mortified, I attempted to wipe my hands on my navy tracksuit pants, but the drool stuck to my fingers. "Yes, I am," I offered, forcing a small laugh, when all I wanted to do was dive into the back of Aoife's car and vanish.
"Sorry about them," Johnny apologized, looking a little embarrassed. "Those two are feral."
Shaking my head, I exhaled a heavy sigh and said, "No, it's okay. I didn’t mind. Bonnie and Cupcake are very cute."
"Bonnie and Cupcake are very untrained," Johnny corrected with a grimace. Shoving his hands into the pockets of the grey sweatpants he was wearing, he added, "They're my Mam's dogs. She treats them like they're human, so they believe they are."
"Are your parents at home?" I asked, feeling incredibly nervous at the thought of my brother being in close confines with either one of his parents.
Joey shot from the hip and was partial to saying whatever was on his mind.
It was quite possible that he would talk about the concussion incident.
"No, they're above in Dublin," Johnny told me. "My Da's working up there at the moment."
My eyes widened. "You're home alone?"
He smirked. "I'm not four."
"I know that," I replied, blushing.
"My folks travel for work," he explained, taking mercy on me. "I'm usually alone."
For whatever reason, those words bothered me.
I'm usually alone.
That was a sorrowful statement.
Frowning, Johnny reached over and cupped – yes, literally cupped – my chin in his hand.
"What the fuck is that?" he demanded, voice deathly quiet, as his blue eyes blazed with fire.
"What?" I squeezed out, panic-stricken.
Tipping my chin up, he brushed my hair off my shoulder and released a low growl.
"That," he growled, trailing his thumb over my cheekbone. "And that," he added, skimming the curve of my eye.
The contact was so gentle that it caused me to jump from nerves rather than pain.
He dropped his hand from my face but remained exactly where he was standing, so close that I could see the vein ticking in his neck as he clenched and unclenched his jaw.
"Shannon, what happened to your face?"
"Oh, that?" Laughing nervously, I tucked my hair behind my ear.
I immediately regretted the action when I felt the snot-like drool squelch between my fingers and hair.
It wasn’t bad enough to look like a homeless person, I had to go and add drool-soaked hair to the equation.
"Yeah, that," Johnny bit out, glaring at my cheek. "Who did that to you?"
"Nobody. I fell over my brother's Lego tower last night and almost poleaxed myself on the kitchen table," the line I had rehearsed to perfection for school tomorrow spilled from my mouth with the expert precision needed to sound believable.
I had been telling lies for so long about where the cuts and bruises on my body came from, that the lie poured effortlessly from my lips.
"You expect me to believe that?" Johnny stunned me by saying.
I frowned up at him.
That was a good line.
It was a believable line.
Why wasn’t he taking it?
"Yes," I strangled out, flustered by his directness. "Because that's what happened."
He arched a brow. "You're honestly trying to tell me that you gave yourself a black eye?"
I shrugged noncommittedly. "It happens."
"Not usually," he bit out. "You must have been running full speed to smash yourself up like that," he added, eyes locked on mine in disbelief. "Were you running?" he asked. "From something?" He stepped closer. "Or someone?"
Self-preservation roared to life inside of me; my three little brothers' faces the driving force behind my next words. "What exactly are you trying to say?"
"I'm not trying to say anything here, Shannon," he countered hotly. "I'm asking you to tell me the truth."
"I am telling you the truth," I snapped, voice breaking. "Stop pushing me." Tears prickled my eyes and I quickly batted them away. "God!"
I felt terrible for lying to him especially, but I couldn’t exactly turn around and say 'oh yeah, when my dad's full of drink, he likes to beat the shit out of me and throw me around like a ragdoll.'
It was at that exact moment that the skies decided to open above us, delivering an onslaught of pelting March rain, and soaking us both.
Thankful for the downpour, I spun around and hurried back to the car.
"Don’t do that," Johnny called after me. "Don’t go back in the bleeding car."
I shook my head and yanked the door open.
"I'm sorry, okay?" Johnny reached around me and closed the car door again. "I won't push you." Spinning me around to face him, he said, "I won't say another word about it."
He reached out to touch my face but quickly diverted his movements, cupping the back of his neck instead.
"Okay?"
Nodding, I released a ragged breath. "Okay."
Johnny exhaled heavily, expression full of relief. "Now, will you come inside with me?"