Page 472 of Lodestar

“That’s true,” Eoghan said. “But hey, Con, we get to watch the humiliation live.”

“That’s why I woke you up. Knew you’d get a kick out of it.”

“I’m glad my misery will put a smile on your face,” Dec groused, but he sounded less sincere than before. More hopeful. Not about the misery, but about the smile on Eoghan’s face.

He’d been more of a miserable ass than usual.

Before either of us could reply, the TV staff, who’d been setting up around us, approached Declan.

As they shuffled him in front of the cameras, I elbowed Eoghan in the side. “Hey, did you know this place has the same groundskeeper as the Yankees?”

“You say that like it’s a good thing!”

His aghast tone had me snickering. “It’s the only good thing about this team. Oh, and they have the highest-grossing concession stand in the MLS.”

“We overpaid, didn’t we?”

“Probably.” I hitched a shoulder. “This presidential election campaign is going to be expensive.”

He snorted as we moved so we were positioned beside the cameras.

The assistants side-eyed us nervously but didn’t say anything when we remained quiet.

Only until they went live and Declan was broadcasting around the nation.

Without planning it, that was when Eoghan and I attacked.

Sure, it was juvenile, but if you couldn’t be a dick around your brothers, then when could you?

As we pulled faces at him like ten-year-olds, his smile grew tighter and tighter as he talked about shit none of us were interested in to people who, as he’d said, knew their stuff.

Twenty minutes later, once the interview was over, he moved from behind the cameras and immediately dove at Eoghan.

As the two of them started to fight, I grabbed Dec, yelling, “Run for your life, Eoghan!”

He snorted but loped down the field while I retreated the other way, leaving Dec to decide who he was aiming for.

When he tried to mow me down, Eoghan was there, like a ninja, and to the bemusement of the camera crew, we got into a fistfight.

By the end, Declan favored his right side, I was limping, and only Eoghan came away untouched.

He was, however, beaming.

Declan and I grimaced at each other, silently agreeing that it was worthwhile.

“Next time you have to do one of these interviews,” he said happily. “I’ll be a part of your cheer team, Dec.”

“So generous of you,” he said with a sniff, rubbing his hip where he’d gone down heavily after I shoved him off me.

As we bundled into Dec’s SUV, he muttered, “Aela’ll kill me if I bruise up.”

“Ma never gave us shit unless it was on the face,” Eoghan pointed out.

“Our women are not Ma. She was a lot more forgiving about shit that should have been impossible to forgive.”

Dec frowned. “She also had six boys to raise.”

“So? You telling me if Shay got into a fight that you wouldn’t care so long as his face wasn’t fucked up.”

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