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THIS PAIN WON’T LAST FOREVER

Hugh

NOVEMBER 1, 2003

I COULDN’T brEATHE .

I couldn’t think straight.

I couldn’t fucking stop crying .

How my heart remained beating, I would never understand, because she’d splattered it all over my bedroom wall.

The image of my teammate between her legs, pounding his dick into her made me want to lose my mind.

“I’m going to be sick,” I warned, lunging for the toilet bowl as the contents of my stomach left my body.

“I’ve got ya, brother,” Gibs coaxed, kneeling on his bathroom floor beside me and rubbing my back. “Get it all out.”

“Pierce,” I strangled out between violent hurls. “My fucking teammate.”

“He’s a bad egg.” Gibs tried to console me, while dabbing my chin with a wad of toilet paper. “He’ll get his, Hugo. I’ll make sure of it.”

“She fucked him, Gibs.”

“I know, lad.”

“My girlfriend fucked my teammate .”

“Yeah, and they’re both disgusting backstabbers for it,” he replied, wrapping an arm around me as I balanced over the bowl. “Fuck them, Hugh. You are worth a million Pierce O’Neills, and you are way too good to for a girl who spreads her legs for your teammate.”

“Don’t say that about her,” I groaned, crying almost as much as I was puking. “Fuck, I can’t cope with this.”

“You’re going to be okay,” he promised, cleaning my chin again. “This pain won’t last forever.”

“It will,” I cried, trembling violently. “I have loved that girl since I was seven years old.”

“I know you have.”

“No, you don’t know, lad. You have no fucking clue what I’ve been through with that girl. I have loved with every fucking beat of heart. I’ve spent my life completely devoted to her.” A hoarse cry ripped from my chest. “How could she do this to me, Gibs?”

“I don’t know, Hugh,” he replied quietly, remaining faithfully by my side. “Maybe she was drunk?”

“Fuck drunk,” I snapped, chest heaving. “I’m drunk, and you don’t see me fucking other girls.”

Gibs was quiet for a long beat before saying, “Maybe she was having some trouble,” he said carefully. “You know, like the trouble she used to have after Caoimhe died?”

“That doesn’t excuse shit,” I cried, feeling truly broken inside. “Because she had a choice, Gibs, and she chose to ruin us.”