“Fuck off,” I said with a laugh. “She’d prefer her to be stuck at home, huh? At the Bratva compound? Without any protection? Do me a favor.” I sniffed. “Look, I liked her, she liked me. She wants protection, I wanted to give her protection. She’s got a great set of tits, I’m a tit man.”
Conor frowned. “You know she was a clubwhore for the Sinners, don’t you?”
“You repeat that to anyone outside of this fucking room and I’ll string you up in the back, Conor. The fuck has that got to do with anything? I never needed a virgin sacrifice—”
“Good thing,” he retorted, triggering my anger as I stormed forward and grabbed him by the collar, jerking him onto his feet.
The second I did, Declan and Eoghan were there, dragging me back but Conor just grinned at me. “Boys, he loves her.”
“Fuck you,” I growled at him. “That was a shitty move, raking up her past.”
“It was, actually,” Finn said wryly. “Still, Kid’s capable of worse.”
Conor took a bow before he smoothed down his collar, tie, and lapels. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Don’t bring it up again,” I warned.
He raised his hands in surrender but his grin made me want to wipe it off his face.
Eoghan slapped me on the back. “If you love her, that’s different.”
I glowered at him, feeling trapped with my words and actions. “Fuck off.”
He grinned. “Bro, take a chill pill. Love’s supposed to make you feel like you’re walking on air.”
“Or like you’ve sniffed too much helium,” Conor inserted.
I glared at him, prodding a finger his way. “One day, fuckface, I’m gonna fuck you up.”
His smirk deepened. “I can take it.”
“You’re the one who was all, ‘Brennan, you have to teach Shay because you’re the best fighter ever,’” I mocked.
“Well, you are.”
“Now who’s the dipshit?” Eoghan asked with a laugh. “You really picking a fight with him?”
Conor shrugged. “I could take him.”
As one, all my brothers, apart from Conor and me, howled with laughter—nice to know they knew which side to pick in a bet.
He glared at each of them, then shrugged. “You ain’t seen me fight since I was twenty.”
I leaned into him. “Baby bro, I can guarantee, you still don’t defend your left side. You never did.”
His mouth turned down at the corners, but before he could whine, Declan murmured, “Speaking of, thanks for dealing with Shay the other day. I know he was feeling all kinds of messed up.”
Shrugging, I cast him a look. “It was our pleasure. Wasn’t it, fuckface?”
Conor flipped me the bird. “It was. I like Shay. He’s cool.”
Declan grinned. “He is, isn’t he?”
I laughed a little because that grin was dopey as hell and loaded down with pride. “You should have heard Da when he called him ‘Grandda’ on the phone. You’d think his Lotto numbers had come in.”
Dec sheepishly scrubbed his jaw. “Yeah, Aela’s not best pleased about that.”
“Probably because she doesn’t like the prick,” I said wryly. “Who the fuck could blame her?”