Page 64 of Power Play with My Brother's Irish Friends

35

PATRICK

We were in deep shit. I glared out the rearview mirror, my phone pinging a rapid series of text messages and notifications from my social media. I’d woken up to the shitstorm an hour ago and jumped into my SUV with one thought on my mind: get to Miranda.

Even the radio played out the scandal. I‘d flipped through a dozen stations, and every single fucking one of them had their own twist on the story. I’d stopped changing the station and drove while it played over and over again, letting the fury build.

“In today’s news, it’s come to light that Miranda Lake, PR manager and sister to the esteemed NHL player Austin Lake, is pregnant with twins. Now here’s the juicy part. Our reports confirm that Miss Lake does not know which of the NHL players on the Washington team is the father of said children. The choices have been narrowed down to three men. Patrick Harrison, Duncan O’Malley, or Charlie McNiel. NHL reps are scouring their sources for confirmation. As soon as we know, you’ll know.”

Every gossip column I’d ever heard of had picked up the story and run with it. Yes, it was true, but that didn’t mean they should be blasting it all over the news, social media, and everywhere else. Our lives were supposed to have some measure of privacy, yet they thought they owned us.

I pulled into Austin’s driveway and slammed on the brakes. News vans covered the yard. Reporters flogged the driveway like angry birds, microphones flapping and cameras at the ready.

Charlie’s and Duncan’s cars sat in front of the fountain, both men surrounded by reporters shoving their faces into the windows. One persistent woman yanked repeatedly on Duncan’s door handle. I could see his murderous scowl from here. The man was about to lose his cool, and when he did, a nuke would be less powerful than the hell on earth he’d unleash on these monsters.

I punched the gas, the engine revving. Reporters ran toward my SUV, and I gunned it. Eyes went wide. The ones running directly toward my vehicle stopped like they wanted to play chicken with me. Fine. I pushed the accelerator harder. Either they’d move, or I’d make them. How had they gotten past the gates? Austin never left them open, but they were wide open now. Men and women alike dove out of the way. I’d never been as violent as Duncan, but the bastards deserved to get run over if they stood in front of a moving vehicle barreling toward them.

Charlie emerged from his car first and ran toward my SUV. I’d created enough of a disturbance to give us a few seconds of peace. Duncan jerked his door open and sprinted toward me, head down and body rigid. If anyone tried to stop him, I had no doubt he’d headbutt them in the gut and keep running.

We scrambled into a huddle and rushed the steps.

Austin stepped out onto the cement porch, the short awning leaving his expression darkened with shadows. He met me at the top step.

“Aus–”

His fist cracked my jaw before I finished saying his name. “How could you?” The darkness in him obliterated the sunlight and punched deep into my chest. He reared back, ready to crack my jaw a second time. Austin’s fury was a thing I’d never seen before.

It was devastating and turbulent, especially as he aimed all his vitriol directly at me.

“You fucking bastard. I told you to stay away from her. You womanizing piece of shit.” He swung.

I ducked out of instinct. I’d faced my fair share of angry brothers, exes, husbands. You name it. But they’d never hurt like this.

“You slept with her. Knocked her up.” He lunged, his arms ready to go around my waist and send me tumbling backward down the steps.

Duncan caught Austin in mid-air and locked his arms around Austin’s upper arms, pulling them back. “It’s not his fault.” Duncan had that look in his eyes, the protective one that sent most people running for cover.

Austin was not most people. “Don’t you fucking tell me whose fault it it. I know.” Austin wrenched his body side to side, but once Duncan had hold of a man, they were not getting loose unless he said so.

As Austin thrashed, Charlie stepped between us. “Austin, listen. We were going to tell you. It’s not like we’ve been hiding this behind your back for years. It just happened.”

“Bullshit. Stuff like this doesn’t just happen.” He leaned forward as far as Duncan’s reach allowed and spat in Charlie’s direction. “You were supposed to be my friend. You all were. You swore to me that you’d leave Miranda alone. I told you she was off limits. You were not allowed to break her heart.”

“We didn’t break anything.” My own anger rose so fast my mind imploded from the heat. My voice rose. If I could just get him to listen. “We didn’t break her heart. We healed it.”

“You’re delusional. Sex-crazed, delusional assholes who preyed on my heartbroken sister and knocked her up. I’m going to end you. Every last fucking one of you.” He slammed his head backward, crashing his skull into Duncan’s nose.

Duncan snapped his head back with a roar of pain but didn’t let go.

“I thought I could trust you.” When his headbutt failed, Austin kicked both feet off the ground, trying to land a blow to Charlie’s chest. “I thought you, of all people, would watch out for her, not fuck her the first chance you got.” His flailing kick missed by a yard, and he landed with a slap of bare feet. He’d rushed out in nothing but his boxers, giving the paparazzi a show and a half as he wrenched his body around.

“You’re making it worse, Austin.” Charlie tried again. “Every fucking reporter in the city is on your front lawn, and you’re turning this whole thing into an even bigger spectacle.”

I hoped Charlie would finally get through to Austin. Blood trickled from my split lip. The blow had knocked me back a step and almost given me whiplash. I’d forgotten how hard Austin could punch. It was a lesson I’d remember the rest of my life. “We didn’t take advantage of Miranda.” I joined Charlie in trying to get Austin to see reason.

He’d gone so deep into his anger that red blotches spread across his entire body. If I didn’t know him, hadn’t spent years on the ice with him, even I would not have recognized his face twisted with such deep hatred.

He might never forgive us. The thought came unbidden, and my heart dropped. If we didn’t get him inside and calm him down enough to see reason, we might lose Austin completely. And who knew what Miranda would do if her brother turned out to be our enemy.

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