Chapter Five
John-Francis
We remained at the flash until it grew too dark to see clearly. Seamus took control of the party, just as he always did and we soon found ourselves back at the pub where Ronan and I had first met.
As the drinks kept flowing, my inhibitions lowered. It was all I could do to keep my eyes off Ronan, and I knew he was feeling the same if the frequency with which I found myself lost in his gaze was anything to go by.
He was such a fine feckin’ thing, it was driving me crazy.
All day we’d been dancing around one another, tempting and teasing.
I wasn’t sure how much longer I’d be able to withstand it.
All I could seem to think about what that night we’d fucked and how fucking desperate I was for a repeat performance.
I liked Ronan. He was feisty, dangerously fun and made me laugh, but even more surprising was how comfortable I felt beside him.
It was a rarity, and I’d done enough legwork to know.
It wasn’t often I felt like I belonged, like I could be who I really was deep down, but beside Ronan? I was braver than I’d ever been.
The four of us were loitering around in the dim light, drinks in hand and chatting shite as we had done all day. Even Seamus seemed to have slotted in with the group with ease, and I could tell he was having a decent night.
“‘Ey,” Ronan called to Darragh, nudging him with an elbow. “Is that not the wee piece ya had ya eye on, now?”
The group’s gaze turned to follow where Ronan had gestured, a group of girls giggling and larking about beside a table stocked with drinks. I recognised them immediately and glanced to Darragh with a smirk. He was rubbing the back of his neck, eyes fixed on the girls.
“So it is,” he muttered.
“Aye, we’d be knowin’ those girls, like,” Seamus replied. “Which one y’had ideas on, fella?”
Darragh groaned and shook his head, suddenly sheepish and my eyes met with Ronan’s.
“Was it not the wee girl who’d be wearin’ the bows in her hair, like?” he said. “Pretty thing, dark haired.”
Both Seamus and I burst out laughing, glancing at one another.
“What?” Darragh spluttered, cheeks flushing. “What ya laughin’ ‘bout?”
“That's Pearl,” Seamus chuckled. “Y’might wanna rethink, lad.”
“How’s that?”
“Pearl is…” I trailed off, searching for the right word.
“A wee geebag?” Seamus interjected with a grin. “She’s a good laugh but can be a right piece o’ work when she wants ta be, like.”
Darragh shrugged, puffing himself up. “What ya sayin’, like? Think I can’t handle her, eh?”
“Aye,” I chuckled. “Ya too soft f’a girl like Pearl, fella. She’ll eat ya up.”
When Darragh grew flustered, we all started laughing again.
“‘Sides, ain’t she all up in Declan?” Seamus asked, tipping back a bottle of beer. “Always see her sniffin’ ‘bout, like.”
“Ah, feckin’ hell, like,” Darragh groaned. “Declan’d not be a good-lookin’ tattooed fella, aye?”
“That's the one.” I nodded.
“Ah, f’sure we’d be seein’ her all over him the first night we got here, eh, Darragh?” Ronan replied. “Tol’ ya she wasn’t f’ya, like.”
“Best be believin’ me and John Francis know what it’s like livin’ in Declan feckin’ Furey’s shadow, eh, fella?”
“Aye,” I mumbled sheepishly, fighting a smirk when Ronan caught my eye knowingly.
“Aye, well, Declan ain’t here now, is he?” Darragh said, flicking up the collar of his polo shirt so it stood upright. “Y’think ya could introduce us, like?”
Seamus grinned, downing the rest of his drink before turfing the empty bottle away. “Aye, suppose we could, now.” He nudged me. “Y’comin’?”
“Nah, ya on ya own,” I replied. “Had enough o’ those wee geebags ta last me a lifetime.”
“Fair.” Seamus shrugged before looping an arm over Darragh’s shoulders, roughing him about. “C’mon then, lover boy.”
“Ah, feck off!” Darragh grumbled.
Ronan and I watched the pair of them heading away across the camp, sidling up beside the girls as they worked up the nerve to chat to them.
“Darragh doesn’t stand a chance, now – does he?” Ronan asked, casting me a smirk.
“Nah, not even a wee one.”
We chuckled to ourselves, both of us painfully aware we were finally alone.
God, I wanted to touch him… I found myself sneaking glances out of the corner of my eye as if I needed to constantly remind myself of how fucking hot he was.
After the third time of catching me looking at him, Ronan frowned playfully.
“What? Whatcha lookin’ at, now?”
“Y’wanna go someplace else, like? Just us.”
I held my breath as Ronan considered my offer. He looked back at his cousin and Seamus, now posturing and flirting with the group of girls.
“Aye don’t think they’d be noticin’ us leavin’,” he eventually replied, keeping his voice down. “Where to?”
“Mine?”
Ronan nodded and with one last glance to make sure Seamus and Darragh were distracted, I followed him into the darkness as we made tracks back to my place.
My heart was pounding with excitement. I couldn’t wait to get Ronan alone in private. It felt like I’d been holding myself back all fucking day. I was ready to explode and this time I wasn’t letting him slip away from me.
As we arrived and I pushed my keys into the lock, I felt Ronan’s gaze on me.
“Not feelin’ hangin’ outside tonight, eh?” he muttered.
“Nah. Best be believein’ what I’d be plannin’ t’ do ta ya is not somethin’ ya’d want ya neighbours seein’, like.”
Ronan laughed. “Ya a wee bit sure o’ yourself there, fella. Who’s sayin’ I’m up f’it, eh?”
I pushed the door open before turning back to look at him. Our eyes locked and I cast him a cocky grin. “Are ya not, then? ‘Cause I’d be feckin’ gaggin’ f’ya, like.”
Ronan’s expression grew heated, and he hopped up the steps towards me, shoving me roughly inside the caravan. “Get y’arse inside.”
I didn’t bother with the lights. My hands were on Ronan before the door had even swung shut behind him. I grabbed him by the arse, dragging his body close to mine and buried my face into his neck. There was something maddening about the smell of his skin and I hummed my appreciation.
“‘Ey now,” Ronan murmured, voice already coarse with desire. “Ease up. Y’know what I want from ya.”
I laughed breathlessly, backing away to look down at him. Holding his eye contact, I ran my palm down his stomach. He didn’t try to stop me, body shuddering as I slid my hand beneath the waistband of his boxers to rub his steadily hardening cock.
“Aye, I know what ya’d be wantin’ alright,” I replied.
“That’s not what I’d be talkin’ ‘bout an’ y’know it.” I stilled, eyes still locked with Ronan’s as he leant forward into me, bringing his face close to mine until we were sharing breaths.
I’d meant what I’d told him. I didn’t kiss fellas, never had.
Not once. Kissing scared me. It was safe to do with a girl, I knew it would never mean much, but kissing Ronan?
Fuck, that would mean more than I was willing to admit.
I opened my mouth to argue, but the words died on my tongue.
My whole body was tense, chest heaving and heart pounding as Ronan stroked the tip of his nose against mine.
“I’ve never—” I just about managed to croak.
“Y’ready ta change that?” he asked, all but whispering.
Not trusting myself to speak, I nodded and Ronan moved in eagerly, closing the gap between us, his mouth melding with mine.
It wasn’t my first kiss, and yet it was.
It was like I had been living in the dark and now Ronan had switched on a light.
Kissing girls was always mundane, an expectation of me more than something I’d ever desired.
The difference in the intensity of my response was staggering and when Ronan delved his tongue between my lips, I moaned before grabbing a fistful of his vest. He wasn’t getting away from me now.
Like a dam breaking, all of my desperation and pent-up desire poured from me.
I kissed Ronan like my life depended on it and when I drew a moan, more akin to a whimper, from him, a hot spark of arousal shot up my spine.
Ronan attempted to back off, easing away from me.
I followed him, not parting from him for a second before slamming him into a kitchen cupboard so hard it made the entire caravan shake.
I penned him in with my body, ravaging him. I didn’t just want this, I needed it.
Eventually Ronan forcefully ripped his mouth away from mine, gasping for air.
“J-Jaysus—”
I didn’t let up, crushing my mouth against his for a second time. I felt him fighting against me, but it was weak, half-hearted, and all it did was serve to heighten my hunger for him further. Ronan’s cock was rock-hard now, pulsing against my palm as I stroked him.
“Gerroff me,” he murmured into my mouth.
Seeming to summon the last reserves of his strength, Ronan shoved me off.
He was delightfully flushed and sweaty, lips swollen from the brutality of my kiss.
Before I could move in for a third time, he caught my jaw in his hand.
When I wasn’t able to shake him off, I was reminded just how strong Ronan really was.
He’d give me as good as he got and that excited me in the most primal, brutal of ways.
“Get on the feckin’ bed,” he rasped, pushing me away.
I stepped back, whipping my t-shirt over my head, pleased when Ronan did the same. In a matter of seconds we were falling onto my bed, attached at the mouth again.
When Ronan straddled my hips, leaning over me with a groan that had my dick jerking in my jeans, I found myself thinking about Sarah.
This encounter couldn’t have been further from the night before.
She’d been bland, mild, uninspiring… Ronan came at me with the fire of a thousand suns and when he kissed his way over my jaw to suck and lick my throat I shuddered violently beneath him.
“Get y’cock out,” he grunted against me, voice muffled as he kissed my neck. “Lemme see it.”