It was her birthday.

Today was Shannon's sixteenth birthday.

And she was spending it with me.

I was glad.

How crazy was that?

This girl who before Christmas was a total stranger, and since Christmas, I couldn’t imagine going through a day not thinking about.

I didn’t want to give her back.

Something inside of me told me that if I did, she would return with another bruise.

At least if I kept her with me, she would be safe.

There was something very fucked up about her life.

Something that made me want to snatch her away and take her with me, wherever that may be.

I wasn’t stupid.

I knew someone had put those marks on her face.

And her thighs.

And her arms.

And I was fairly fucking sure that if I stripped the girl bare, I would find plenty more.

I didn’t know what was happening, or who was bullying her, but I would figure it out.

Straight out asking her was out of the question, though.

She was so goddamned guarded that it was almost impossible to penetrate the walls she built up around herself.

I thought I might be doing a good job, but if I pushed too hard too fast then she would retreat back in her shell.

I wanted to smash that fucking shell and the bastards responsible for making her hide there in the first place.

She was lovely.

Fucking lovely.

She didn’t need to be hiding any of her shine behind those bleeding shutters.

Shannon shivered then and the movement distracted me.

It was gone ten at night and she hadn't opened her eyes once since falling asleep earlier this afternoon.

"Shh," I whispered when she whimpered in her sleep.

I didn’t even try and stop myself from stroking her hair.

I was beyond help when it came to her.

I was beyond fucking stopping.

Everything inside of me was shifting, honing in on this tiny girl.

Nuzzling her cheek against my thigh, Shannon nestled closer, curling up in the smallest ball I'd ever seen a person her age contort their body into.

Like the obsessive freak I was, I allowed my gaze to land on her bruised cheekbone for the millionth time tonight.

I knew I shouldn’t look at it.

It made my body thrum with rage.

And still, I couldn’t stop myself.

I stared at the mark on her face until I was sufficiently filled with enough anger to take down an entire village, and then I turned my attention to the bruises on her thighs.

My phone vibrated in my pocket then, and the sensation pulled me from my murderous thoughts.

Pulling my phone out, I stared at the screen, not recognizing the number flashing in front of my eyes.

Careful not to wake Shannon, I slid out from beneath her and waited for her to settle back down.

Pulling off my hoodie, I draped it over her bare legs and then slipped out of the room to take the call.

"Yeah?" I said when I was standing in the hallway.

"How's she doing?" Joey Lynch's voice came down the line.

"She's asleep," I replied, keeping my tone low because if she woke up and asked to go home, I honestly didn’t know what I would do. I couldn’t refuse her, but I certainly didn’t want to. "She's been out all day."

"Good," he replied with a sigh. "She needed it."

"What's going on, Lynch?" Moving for the front door, I yanked it open and stepped into the cold, night air. "The fuck's happening to your sister?"

"I already told you," he snapped. "Ask her."

"I'm asking you," I snarled.

"I'll be at yours in five minutes," was all Joey replied before cutting the call and leaving me as clueless as ever.

Furious and at a complete loss, I paced the hallway, knowing that I needed to get a handle on myself, but not finding the restraint to do so.

Exactly five minutes later, a small knock came from the other side of my front door.

Like the raging lunatic I was, I was standing there waiting for him.

Yanking the door open, I opened my mouth, ready to lose my shit on Joey Lynch, when Shannon's voice came from behind me.

"Joe?" she said in a sleepy voice as she hovered in the living room doorway.

I moved to go to her, to tell her to go to my room and stay there, but her brother intercepted her before I could.

"It's time to go, Shan," Joey announced.

"It is?" Her eyes widened in panic for the briefest moment before switching to resignation. "Okay."

"Yeah." He exhaled a heavy breath. "Mam needs a hand with the kids."

"She can stay," I hurried to say. I looked to Shannon and added, "You can stay."

"No, we need to go," Joey stated as he wrapped a protective arm around Shannon's shoulder and walked her out of my house. "Thanks for your help, Kavanagh."

Agitated, I followed after them both.

"Thanks, Johnny," Shannon whispered, looking back at me with sad eyes as her brother led her outside. "For everything."

"Shannon, you don’t have to –"

"Come on, Shan," Joey interrupted me by saying. "We need to get home."

"Is Mam okay?" Shannon asked when her brother walked her around to the passenger side and pulled open the door.

"She'll be fine," Joey told her. "But we need to go home."

I had no fucking clue why my legs moved me towards the passenger side of the car, but that's what happened.

Feeling helpless, I watched as her brother bundled her into the passenger seat before rounding the car to the driver's side.

"Bye Johnny," Shannon whispered as Joey started the engine.

She moved to close the car door, but my hand snaked out, stopping her from closing it.

She looked up at me with those big, blue eyes.

Stay.

Stay with me, Shannon.

I can keep you safe...

"Bye, Shannon," I told her instead, and with a reluctance that bordered on regret, I closed the door.

The tires of her brother's car skidded with the force he tore out of my driveway.

Standing in the pouring rain, I watched him take her away from me.