“Tell me,” Brennan said.
“I know I should forget her. Ronan said—”
“Stop listening to your damn twin, Dec.” Brennan shifted to sit up in his bed and furrowed his brows at the mention of Ronan, telling his brother to forget Bree.
“He’s an idiot. You realize why he’s so adamant to keep you and Bree apart? He’s still not over her sister, and my guess is he never will. If he didn’t mess things up with Fianna, he would root for you and Bree the loudest.”
Brennan remained silent for a few beats. Declan mulled over his words, often needing to use his oldest brother as a sounding board. Sure, the twins shared a unique bond no one could ever come between, but they were polar opposites.
Declan, the first-born twin by mere minutes, was a dutiful cop who always thought things through before acting. The exact opposite of Ronan. He was loud, often obnoxious, rough around the edges, but had a big heart. As an MMA fighter, Ronan doesn’t want people to see him as some overgrown teddy bear. But his close family got his number a long time ago.
“She’s still seeing that nerd from work. Went out with him last night.”
Brennan rolled his eyes.
“Ye broke her heart when ye told her ye didn’t love her like she loved ye. What did’ya think was gonna happen, Dec?”
Grumbles traveled the line, but Declan didn’t answer his rhetoric question. So Brennan pushed further in his agitated Irish brogue.
“A beautiful girl like Bree—who’s followed ye around like a lovesick puppy… since the moment ye first laid eyes on her, who’s been waiting on ye stupid arse for years... And now, now she’sfinallymoving on, ye come whining she’s dating some nerd? Why do ye care?”
“I… shit…” he said, followed by another sigh.
“Dec. You need to tell her how you feel, man.”
“Yeah. Cait’s been saying the same thing.”
Partnered up with Bree’s sister Cait on the police force, Declan was close with not one, but two Ryan sisters. And more often than not, Cait gave Dec her two cents about him messing things up with her younger sister.
“Unless ye don’t love her? If she’s not the one, leave her the fuck alone. Understood? Squirt deserves a man who fights for her. So if ye really love her—and we all know ye do—go after her, bro.” Brennan grabbed a glass of water from his nightstand and took a few gulps.
“Thanks Bren. I guess I needed to hear that. Some things have happened between us, but I was thinking it wasn’t fair to come at her with this shit now she’s seeing that chump. But you’re right. I’m gonna go after what I want—what I need.”
“Thank fuck for that,” Brennan said before he downed the last of the water.
“I’ll talk to you later,” Declan said.
“Yeah. Let me know what she says, man.”
“Will do,” Dec said as his voice trailed off.
“And Dec?”
“Yeah?”
“I’m proud of ye,” Brennan said before hanging up, not waiting for Dec’s response. The Mills men didn’t do mushy girl talk. But he was proud of Dec and wasn’t ashamed to tell him.
He turned to his other side and opened his social media sites one by one and scrolled throughlast night’s reactions.
Their family’s pub needed to be more visible online, and he was the lucky loser with that shitty job. He hated the whole nine yards about these sites with their fake, cheery people who pretended to live the perfect life.
<3_Errin_Bunny_<3also commented on Lucky Irishman’s post:“Best birthday party ever! Thxxx”
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There she was again.
He’d posted a picture of a very packed pub during the annual Halloween party, but that had been two nights ago, right after his father had entered with Errin’s birthday cake and she’d reunited with her brothers.