“Yeah, B. Real fuckin’ happy.” Donovan snickered at his own words, not believing he’d said it out loud.
“Good,” Brennan said. At least someone was fuckin’ happy.
“Want to talk about it? We always come to you for advice, but you know you can talk to me, eh?” Donovan said before he grabbed Brennan’s glass and downed half.
Brennan rolled his eyes and stood to pick another glass from the cupboard above the sink. Once he’d filled the glass, he sat opposite of his brother at the table. A few moments of silence passed, and Donovan was the first to break this weird tension that never used to surround them.
“Okay, ye know when ye came over to my apartment and spoke to me about Kate? How I fucked things up and how I needed to man the fuck up?” he started with his agitated Irish brogue.
“Don…”
“Don’t ye ‘Don’ me, bro. Ye always had our backs. Ever since Ma died—”
Brennan stood from his chair and the shrill sound of his chair scooting back over the kitchen tiles pained his ears but worked wonders to silence his brother mid sentence.
Donovan stood as well and placed his open palms on top of the kitchen table while leaning in. “Sit back down and hear me out.”
“The fuck I will.” Brennan narrowed his eyes at his younger brother. Who was he to come in his home and tell him to sit down?Fuck this shit.He walked over to the couch and plopped down. He snatched his sneakers from under the coffee table and yanked on his shoelaces.
“Ye always had to take care of us. Makin’ sure Ronan didn’t get into another fight at school. Keepin’ me in line when I was too busy chasin’ tail and slacking on my homework. You were always keepin’ the rest of us out of Dad’s line of sight whenever he spent a night at home to play the part of a devoted father.”
Brennan shook his head but held his hands still, listening to Donovan. What he said was true. Ever since their mother died of breast cancer, Sean Jr. couldn’t handle the pressure of raising five sons in the ages between six and fourteen on his own. Not while working at Lucky all the time.
But even though his father had labeled Brennan in charge as oldest son, the outcome by his request, Sean Jr. never quite coped with the boys turning to Brennan.
The final straw for Brennan had been walking in on his dad when he was screwing some woman in this same apartment. Brennan had been eighteen at the time and took on a weekend job at Lucky.
He was drowning in the responsibilities at home, keeping barely afloat with the challenging Ronan who was at a path of war all the time. Ronan was always talking back and busting his balls whenever Brennan tried to guide him in the right direction.
And here his dad was, screwing his brains out and having the time of his life at their family’s pub. Brennan hated him ever since. Brennan sighed and glanced over his shoulder as the couch next to him dipped under Donovan’s weight.
“Talk,” his brother said.
“Dunno man. Where to start?” He sat back against the couch. He stared up at the ceiling. “I can’t stop thinkin’ I made a mistake with Errin.”
“By hiring her or by taking her to bed?”
Brennan turned to eye his brother.
“Or by cutting things off with her?” Donovan added as he cocked his head.
“Yeah. Well, she irritates me like no other. If she tells me one more stupid joke, I will lay her over my knee and spank that sass right out of her arse.”
Donovan bellowed a laugh. “I like how you think, but good luck with that, B.”
“You’d think she’d been born and raised in a bar, with all the filthy jokes she sprouts and the swearing and stuff. Nothing gets to her, Don. You know how the regulars try to test the fresh meat behind the bar. Ha! Errin told them to fuck off and smiled in their faces. And when Ed is done ogling her fine arse, another sucker comes up to the bar and tries toget in her pants.
“I swear if I see Keenan eyeing her one more time, I will knock him on his arse. For the last two days, he’s been constantly here. Supposedly to do his research for the renovation, but he’s always hanging around the bar, laughing like some kind of idiot.”
Donovan snickered and held up his hands when Brennan glared at him.
“Do ye know who is even worse than Errin? Pops. He can’t shut up about how I messed things up. Sayin’ I need to step aside so Keenan can have a shot with Errin because she would make the perfect stepmom for Keenan’s little boy Tommy.”
He pursed his lips while his brother laughed again.
“Shut the fuck up, Don.”
“Sorry man,” Don said with no remorse. “It’s just that you told me not so long ago you’d never gonna talk to me ‘bout someone who—”