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“And that’s how you cut some fucking wood!” Killian taunted, whirling on Declan with a ridiculously level of pride.
“You only won because my ax broke!” Declan shot back in anger.
“Or maybe you’re just getting a little soft in your retirement.” He smacked Declan in the abs.
“Try that again, you little shit, and see where it gets you.”
“Fight, fight, fight!” Roan and Axel chanted in unison. Their volume rose as Finn and Lucas chimed in.
“Why do they always resort to fighting?” Nolan asked.
“Who knows,” Raven replied.
“Ain’t no one fightin’, you fuckin’ morons,” Cole said. He huffed out a quick breath, hands on his hips as he abandoned cutting wood.
“Shit, this is harder than it fucking looks,” Cade stated. “Declan, you make this shit look easy.”
“Okay, I didn’t expect him to lose,” Raven told me as she leaned in closer.
“Me either,” I admitted. Truly, we thought Declan was going to win—heck, I’d even made the winner’s shirt to fit Declan instead of anyone else.
“Hey!” Declan interrupted with frustration, pointing at us. “I only lost because the damn ax broke!”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” Killian retorted. “That’s what they all say. Equipment failure, right?”
“Okay, well!” She clapped her hands together happily. “That was an unexpected turn of events! So, Mr. Killian Byrne, you get to be this year’s lumber-snack!”
“This year?” Maverick repeated. “We’re not doing this every year.”
“When I kick all your asses every year, we are,” she replied. She held out a hand to me, and I gave her the shirt. “This is the first of many. And there will be a shirt every year.”
Said shirt in question was my creation. The design was simple enough—an ax lodged in a piece of wood with the words lumber-snack king. It was bright red with a black checkered pattern on the sleeves. The thing was stupid and fun to make.
“There’s no way in hell I’m wearing that fucking thing,” Killian told her when she unfolded the shirt. “Not a fucking chance.”
“I thought you were the fucking champion,” Declan scoffed.
“Not enough to wear that shirt.”
“It’s fine,” I said to Raven. “I could probably pawn it off with one of Nolan’s book giveaways. They always appreciate my shirt designs.”
“Woah, woah, woah,” Killian cut in. He stepped around the wood block and approached me. “You made the shirt?”
“Yes,” I whispered and hugged it closer to my chest, bracing for whatever backlash was coming my way.
“Give me.” He held out a hand. I just stared at him. I had to have heard him wrong. There was no way he wanted the shirt. “Come on, princess. It’s my shirt fair and square. Hand it over.”
“Okay,” I said and stupidly gave it to him. He pulled the shirt on like I’d handed him a gift worth millions. Instead, it fell loose around his tapered waist and baggy around his shoulders. Still, that look of pride on his face was hard to get past.
“It’s perfect,” he replied and gave me that lopsided grin of his. For a fraction of a second, I felt my heart crack open as I saw the boy I’d fallen in love with looking back at me. I shoved that thought aside and willed the walls around my heart back together.
I wasn’t about to let Killian Byrne take the best parts of me all over again.
Chapter 46
Killian
The woman made it ridiculously difficult to get through to her when she had walls built higher than a fucking skyscraper. Admittedly, there wasn’t a lot I could do with the party going on around us except try to extend an olive branch.
