Page 2 of Power Play with My Brother's Irish Friends

He sounded happy. Carefree. Of course he did. Austin lived on the other side of the country and was living his best life as one of the world’s leading hockey players.

All the tears I’d choked back strangled my voice. “Luther’s dick up some random woman’s pussy. That’s what’s up.” I’d grown up in a hockey household. My first words were prick and puck. I usually kept the cursing to a minimum at work, but when the shit hit the fan, I could outcurse most of my clients and then some. Maybe not something to be proud of, but it kept a lot of them from thinking they could run over me because I happened to be female.

Austin’s string of curses rivaled my own. He blasted my eardrum with every word combination I’d thought of and a few colorful ones that I tucked away for later. “Want me to take care of him?”

I snorted out a laugh that blew snot and tears into the napkin I’d grabbed when I sat down. “You’re a hockey player, Austin, not the mafia.”

“Yeah, but I know some guys.” The dangerously protective edge that had scared off every dating prospect during my high school and college days reappeared in a blink. “In fact, I have three right here with me who’d gladly take care of that dirtbag. Say the word, Miranda, and we’re on a plane.”

God I loved my brother. My only remaining family. And the only man in the world I could trust. “Thanks, but I can handle it.” I’d have to. No way I’d interfere with Austin’s training schedule with something as trite as a broken heart.

“Hey, guess what.” A second voice cut into the background, the two of them overlapping several seconds before Austin came back to the phone. “Sorry. Charlie tried to take the phone from me.”

Charlie. I pictured him the way I’d seen him last, over a decade ago. Even at seventeen, he’d been handsome enough to cause devastation wherever he went. From the stories Austin told me, nothing much had changed. “Tell Charlie I said hi. And the others.” I’d not met his recent teammates, but he’d told me about them over the months. They were close as brothers, and while that hurt a bit considering I was out here all by myself with no one any closer than a coworker, I’d never tell him. Austin deserved happiness too, and he’d found it in Washington.

A roar of hellos echoed back from Austin’s phone. I held it away from my ear to save my hearing and a genuine laugh stopped my tears. “What were you going to tell me?”

“What? Oh, right.” The familiar slap of hockey sticks coming together clanged in the background. I must have caught him at practice. “Cool it, Duncan! I’m trying to talk to my sister. For fuck’s sake, you can shove a stick up your ass and walk around like a damned popsicle for all I care. I’ll be on the ice when I’m done. Jesus.”

“I think I’d better let you go practice.”

“Eh, Duncan’s a prick. He’s mad about something. He’ll be okay once he punches the glass a few times.” Austin huffed a wry laugh. “Anyway, I was saying you don’t need to worry about Luther. You were never really happy with him. He’s not worth the heartbreak.”

“Yeah, well.” I threw the dirty napkin away and trailed a finger along a crack in the edge of the table. “I’ll be fine. You know me, heart of a lion.”

“Damned fucking straight. No one gets the better of my little sister.” Austin tried to keep the conversation going, but I said bye and hung up when Duncan continued razzing him about getting on the ice.

One way or another, I’d find a way to get over the heartbreak.

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