Running Back (New York Leopards 2)

Paul grumbled. “You didn’t. I let you land that punch, because—”

I kicked him.

Unlike the O’Connors, he didn’t pretend he hadn’t felt it. “Jesus Christ! Does everyone in this family communicate by kicks?”

Mike too

k a swig of his drink. “We like to be subtle.”

“You’re all mad.”

Lauren dropped down beside him. “As hatters. Why is your cheek swelling?”

Paul leaned back and delivered a long look at Mike. “Ask your brother.”

Mike shrugged. “Ask Natalie.”

I widened my eyes at Lauren. “It’s totally not my fault. How did he not know you two were a thing?”

She let out a beleaguered groan. “Because he’s an idiot. They’re both idiots.”

We spent the next hour and a half needling each other and devouring an unseemly amount of fish and chips. At some point my gaze, now slightly fuzzier, fell back on Kate and Maggie, who still sat close. I shook my head. “They must have figured everything out.”

Mike ate a poor, innocent fry doused in vinegar and salt. “Figured what?”

“Any lingering resentment about your dad and uncle. Paul,” I said, remembering Patrick’s month mind, “you sounded like you knew what was between the brothers. What was it?”

He cut a derisive look my way. “None of our business.”

Lauren laughed. “So basically, you’re clueless.”

He scowled at her. “My mum said they all had a fight, that Brian was always a rebel but it worsened, and then he took off for America and never came back. And the next thing Maggie heard, he was married. Broke her heart.”

Mike snorted. “You make it sound like he married my mom as soon as he arrived.”

Paul shook his head. “Why don’t you think he did? Do you know how many undocumented Irish are in America? They can’t come home if they ever want to return to the States.”

Well, I didn’t know. “How many are there?”

“Forty, fifty thousand.” He scoffed at our astonishment. “Don’t any of you read the papers? There was a whole article this morning.”

Mike leaned forward. “What are you implying? He married my mom for citizenship?”

Paul leaned back. “I’m not implying anything. Just stating the facts.”

Mike shook his head. “They got married because they were in love.”

Paul laughed. “Ah, I’m sure of it.”

I squeezed Mike’s had so he didn’t leap up and attack Paul across the table. “He probably wouldn’t have left Maggie and Ireland if he was madly in love with her.”

“Unless,” Paul said darkly, “he had an excellent reason for wanting to get away.”

Mike’s grip tightened on mine, and I didn’t need to look at him to know his face had gone stony. He was thinking about his father’s involvement with the Nationalists again. “That’s possible,” I said quickly, “but instead of just conjecturing, why don’t we ask them?”

They all stared at me like the crazy bug had bitten me. Paul shook his head. “I don’t want to uncover that old shite.”

“We can’t ask them about their old romances,” Lauren added.