Page 39 of Power Play with My Brother's Irish Friends

Austin scrubbed a hand over his face and picked up the controller. The match started, each of our characters walking out amid the fake cheers and light shows we’d all created for our entrances. I leaned forward and grabbed one of the bowls of chips, setting it on the table beside me. Austin always went all out for these game nights, plying us with beer and snacks while he beat us at every game we played. We kept coming back because the friendship we’d forged over the years had no trouble sticking around as Austin pummeled us in good fun. His character jumped over the top rope and into the ring, beefy arms raised overhead. “I don’t know why she stays. I tried to talk her into moving after that douche Luther did what he did.”

“What did he do?” Patrick asked the exact question I’d wanted answered for months.

Austin rarely talked about Miranda in any depth. Maybe the beer had loosened his tongue enough for him to talk.

Duncan shifted in his seat beside Patrick and rapid-fired a series of buttons that had his guy picking up Duncan’s by the neck and throwing him to the mat. He laughed at the shock on Duncan’s face. “I like this game.”

I kicked Duncan when Austin returned his attention to the screen. Duncan rolled his eyes, leaving me uncertain of his intentions.

Taking a long pull from his beer, Austin tagged Patrick into the match. “Luther cheated on her.” He cussed loud and long, his face reddening with the force of his words. “Not just that. The fucking bastard had the nerve to take a woman into Miranda’s condo. She caught them in the shower together.”

“How together?” Patrick asked.

Of course he’d want specifics.

Austin slammed the bottle on the table. “About as together as it gets.”

Duncan’s hands tightened on the controller. He stared at the TV, his fingers pressing the buttons so hard the plastic creaked. His character executed a series of moves that left Patrick’s lying outside the ring. He leaned into the couch, the visible attempt to relax dropping his shoulders even as he pummeled the character on the screen with the kind of anger I’d love to unleash on Luther.

I’d known Miranda experienced a nasty breakup. Austin expressed that much when he first warned us away from her. But I hadn’t known how much it might’ve messed her up. Hearing the whole story stirred up anger and resentment toward Luther. How could he do something like that to a woman as wonderful as Miranda? The racing pulse I’d experienced earlier slowed to a steady ache. She deserved better. No one deserved to be treated that way. I’d never break her heart. The words almost escaped me before I clamped my lips and swallowed them back down where they belonged.

Duncan tagged me into the match and I tried to concentrate on the screen. Austin’s attention remained on the game, giving me a chance to check Patrick and Duncan’s reactions to the bomb he’d dropped. They looked as shell-shocked and furious as I felt. Dark scowls lined both their faces, and Duncan rubbed his thumb across his knuckles like I’d seen him do after beating the shit out of another man.

“Yes.” Austin crowed and punched his fist into the air when he pinned my character. He turned before any of us managed to school our expressions and laughed. “Come on. You don’t have to be mad.”

“You’ve been practicing.” Patrick held out the controller, jabbing it toward the screen.

“Nah.” Austin shrugged. “Just grew up playing a lot more than you.”

The truth of that hit me square in the chest. He’d not been as privileged as me, and it showed up in odd ways sometimes, this being one of them. Miranda’s broken heart was one more hurt in a long line of pain that had started when they lost their parents. I wanted to be the guy who helped her heal and gave her back a whole heart instead of the broken one she’d been carrying around. I’d protect her and prove that good men still existed. I’d show her that she deserved a man who put her first all the time and not when it was convenient to him. After years of putting my feelings on hold and keeping distance between us for the sake of keeping my friendship with Austin intact, I was beginning to think it was time to put my heart on the line. What better reason to risk it than for the woman I’d silently loved for years?

Miranda would never have to worry about anything with me. I’d loved her too long to risk losing her. And it was becoming more evident by the day that I’d never be happy with anyone else.

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