Lucky This Isn't Real: MacBride Brothers Series St. Patrick's Day Fake Fiance Romance

by Jamie Knight

  I wasn’t sure if Maggie would accept me for my scarred past. But I needed to come clean. I needed to tell her that she was right and that I would go for therapy and, if I had the guts, I needed to tell her what really happened and what I was really like when I was younger before I cleaned up my act.

  The gate to her apartment complex was already open when I got there, so I didn’t have to buzz, which was nice because it would add to the surprise. I just hoped that she was home. I had a bit of a shock when I got to the door and heard yelling.

  It was Maggie. I pushed open the ajar door to see what was happening.

  “Oh, come on! I’m really tired of surprise visitors today,” she said as I walked into the kitchen.

  I was about to ask what she meant when I saw Kenny standing over by the sink with an open beer.

  “Seriously?” I asked.

  “What?” Kenny asked.

  “Come on,” she said and took me out onto the front porch, slamming the door behind her so that Kenny couldn’t hear us.

  “What the hell happened?” I demanded of Maggie. “Are you still pissed about what I said last night? Because you sure seemed friendly enough this morning. And now I find your fucking ex here. Were you double-timing me the whole time, or is this a new development?”

  I couldn’t hide the venom from my voice.

  “Oh, yeah, you’re one to talk about secrets,” she spat back. “Hiding the truth about your family and saying you’re falling for me.”

  “I came to tell you that you were right, and that I’m going into therapy for all that. I need the sort out my head if I’m going to be emotionally healthy.”

  She crossed her arms and rocked back on her heels.

  “You’re still being fake. An actor to the core. You merely made that up right now. You can’t just use me as an emotional crutch when things aren’t going well.”

  I was about to protest her sudden switch from hot to cold, but then I remembered that the whole thing was fake to start with.

  That was when Kenny decided to intervene by opening the front door and scowling at me.

  Pointing the finger of his non-beer hand with ferocious emphasis, he said, “Hey, listen, you Paddy fuck, I think—”

  I never got to find out what he thought. As soon as he was in range, I grabbed his finger and snapped it in half at the second knuckle and head-butted him so hard his knees buckled.

  He collapsed to the floor, howling, getting beer and blood all over the carpet.

  Nobody called me ‘Paddy.’

  “Pro-tip, bottles can do more damage than fingers can. If you’re gonna come at me, come swinging like a man,” I told him.

  I headed to the door, turning back to Maggie, who looked shocked at the vulgar display of violence.

  “Have fun with that douche. Though you may want to call an ambulance.”

  I made sure to calm down before driving home. I didn’t want to actually kill anyone. In a car accident or otherwise.

  Getting back without incident, I took the stairs, trying to work off more of the old, frightening aggression I felt coursing through me.

  But when I arrived back home, I realized that my place wasn’t empty.

  “Eoin?”

  My eyes widened at the sight of my younger brother sitting on my sofa.

  He jumped up.

  “Hey, Gav.”

  “What are you doing here?”

  “I had to come. You were ignoring my calls.”

  “Yeah, because they were all about Dad and how bad off he was, and I had already told you not to discuss him with me anymore. You know how I feel about this, Eoin. I’m done enabling him or having it affect my life anymore.”

  As I said it, I felt a bit hypocritical all over again. I knew that I had been avoiding my brother because I was trying to stuff my feelings down and not face them. I was also avoiding therapy because of it.

  “Listen,” I tried to explain again for the millionth time. “If we keep cleaning up after Da’s messes, he’ll never hit rock bottom…”

  “I think he has hit it—”

  I tunneled my fingers through my hair.

  “You always say that.”

  “Please. Listen, Gav. It might be too late to clean up his mess now. We have to talk about this. He’s in a bad way. He could even be dying. You’re the next of kin, so…” He stopped talking and gave me a peculiar look. “Why do you have blood on your forehead?”

  “Long story.”

  “Usually is,” Eoin said. “Oh, I met your girlfriend. She opened the door when I first got here. She’s smokin’ hot! And she has a great rack.”

  “I’m so glad you noticed,” I deadpanned. “What did you talk about?”

  “Not much, just Da and the family. She seemed really interested.”

  I could almost hear the penny drop as I realized why Maggie had started acting the way she had.

  “Hold on a minute,” I said.

  I slid my phone from the back pocket of my jeans. I tried to call Maggie but got no answer. I had just been over there, so I figured she was screening my calls.

  I switched over to text. I typed out as heartfelt an apology as I could in the characters allowed.

  It only took her a few seconds to respond. So few that there was no way she had actually read the message.

  Thank you for helping me out as my fake fiancé, but I need real space. Don’t contact me again.

  A gunshot to the heart would have hurt less.

  Well, that was that, then.

  As much as I wanted to keep trying, I also refused to be some kind of creepy stalker cliche. Besides which, I knew I should really be focusing on my family and career, rather than moping over the ending of my fake relationship. No matter how much I would have liked it to be real.

  Part of me knew I would continue to do whatever it took to make her mine for real.

  But not yet.

  Maybe she was right– as she had so often been in the past– and that space was best for both of us.

  I really had to deal with the issues that were confronting me.

  I couldn’t run anymore.

  “Everything okay?” Eoin asked me, a look of concern on his young face.

  “Yeah. Well, kind of. Let’s go, little brother. We have a flight to catch.”

  Chapter Fifteen – Gavin

  The hospital was as depressing as it was when I’d been in there with my last knife wound. It wasn’t that it was dirty or anything. The NHS had really improved since the time of The Troubles. If anything, the place was a bit too sterile, not in the sense of cleanliness but overall.

  Everything from the uniforms down to the wallpaper was devoid of any color or life. It was all done with a machine efficiency that was functional and effective, but not the sort of place you would want to spend a lot of time in. Although that could have partly been the point.

  The doctor was pleasant enough. Her skirt suit matched her stark white lab coat, giving her the vague air of a super-villain. Her dark brown skin kept her from looking washed out.

  “It’s a staph infection,” she explained as I looked through the glass partition and into my dad’s hospital room. “His immune system was already compromised, which left him even more vulnerable.”

  “What are his chances?” I asked, more worried than I’d been in a while.

  Eoin had been right, and I was glad he had come to find me. I regretted screening his calls, but I really had thought I was doing the right thing. At least I was here now, I reasoned, so as not to hate myself.

  “Not sure, honestly. Though we can’t do anything without informed consent for extreme measures. He’s in no condition to sign, so it will need to be you. Without it, he will definitely die.”

  “Right then,” I said, taking the clipboard she was holding and signing on the spot indicated.

  “Oh, okay,” the doctor said, clearly surprised by my enthusiasm.

  Eoin had apparently filled her in on my prior reluctance to come help.

&n
bsp; “Do whatever’s needed,” I said, handing her back the clipboard.

  That done, I went out to where Eoin was waiting. He looked worried and scared, which seemed to be his default state nowadays, the poor kid.

  He might be eighteen, but to me, he would always be my baby brother.

  “Buck up, little brother, it’s all in hand.”

  “You signed?” he asked.

  I sat down next to him.

  “Of course I did. Was there ever any doubt?”

  “Well—”

  “Don’t answer that.”

  “So, he’s gonna live?”

  “Can’t tell,” I said with a shrug. “The doctor didn’t even know, but they couldn’t do anything without my consent, which they now have. I’ve cleared them to do anything they need to do.”

  “Oh, thank St. Brigid!” he said, relief filling his face.

  I nudged his shoulder with mine.

  “No, thank me. Brigid might be a saint, but she wasn’t holding the pen.”

  “You know what I meant! What changed your mind? I thought you were at the end of your rope with him.”

  I rested my elbows on my knees.

  “Maybe you showed me a better way. You were so ridiculously dedicated to saving him, it was hard for it not to rub off, at least a bit. Maybe there are some people worth not giving up on.”

  I had been referring to my dad at that moment, but I also couldn’t help thinking of Maggie.

  I was holding on pretty hard. I’d never done that before, even with real relationships, what few there had been, anyway, since I had always been more of a player than the commitment type.

  It only went to further prove that Maggie was someone special. I loved her in a way I hadn’t loved anyone before.

  “Well, if it isn’t the prodigal son!” someone shouted.

  Eoin and I both looked up to see three of our brothers coming in through the meticulously cleaned sliding doors.

  “Hey, fellas,” I said, getting up and hugging all of them in order of height, from Big Noel to Little Jim.

  Medium Sean stood between them.

  “You ready to get outta here?” Noel asked rhetorically, knowing full well how we all felt about hospitals.

  “Hell yes!” I said.

  There was a flurry of gasps from a cluster of nurses coming out of a nearby break room. When we were together, we tended to have that effect on women.

  “Patrick couldn’t make it, hey?” I asked as we headed outside.

  “Couldn’t get a flight,” Liam said.

  “The rest of us are going to take you out on the town,” Noel said. “We’ll celebrate the big star you’re about to become. That’s if you’re willing to pour a few beers down your throat.”

  “I think I recall how to do that,” I said, trying to remember the last time I’d been out with my brothers.

  “Oh, come on, you really trying to tell us you haven’t been to any wild Hollywood wrap parties?” Liam chided.

  “I’m only on one show which hasn’t wrapped yet,” I admitted.

  “What the heck have you been doing then?” Liam asked.

  “Networking mostly,” I confessed. “Hustling where I can, when I can.”

  “Serious?” Noel asked, cocking an eyebrow.

  “Unfortunately.”

  Jim nudged my arm.

  “Please at least tell me you’ve been with some hot American girls.”

  “He’s got a girlfriend,” Eoin blurted out.

  “Had,” I corrected, swallowing down the bitter taste in my mouth.

  Noel slapped my back.

  “Ah, still, doesn’t mean you can’t have some fun, right?”

  I wasn’t about to be ridiculed by telling him, but the only fun I could have was with Maggie. She had stolen my heart.

  It was still a while until evening, so we went home first.

  “Gavin!” my Aunt Tricia said, as soon as she saw me.

  She took me in her arms and hugged me tightly.

  “Hey, Aunt Tricia,” I wheezed.

  She put me out at arm’s length and carefully examined my nose.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Looking for signs of cocaine.”

  “I’m not—”

  “Oh, come now! Hollywood is drowning in the stuff, as well as STDs. I hope you’re being careful.”

  “Both of those things are things I could just as easily get in Victoria Square,” I pointed out.

  “Away with you, you cheeky git,” she said, gently pushing me toward the door.

  “Yes, Auntie,” I said, going back to my gang of brothers.

  After a home-cooked dinner, thanks to Aunt Tricia, we bundled clown car style into Noel’s ancient Ford and headed for the city center to see what trouble we could get into.

  The first spot we hit was a pub on Ann Street. It was one of the last in the area not to be franchised, maintaining some of its characters. As such, it tended to be pretty packed, even on a weekday night.

  We were on our way to the bar counter when I was removed from the group of brothers and tackled with a hug.

  “Ciara?” I asked, managing to pull away and get a look at my assailant, who had gone at me so relentlessly with her bear hug.

  “Well, that’s a fine hello!” she said, thumping me playfully on the chest.

  I had known Ciara O’Sullivan since we were kids. We had dated for a while when we were younger, if you can call going around to the local ice cream parlors and school dances “dating.”

  It hadn’t ended well, but we had stayed friends. Whatever insignificant thing had existed between us had ended abruptly when her dad chased me from their house with a knife after he’d found out who my dad was.

  I had never been in love with her, but I would always hold a particular affection for her, like a little sister.

  “Sorry, I’m just a bit surprised to see you,” I said.

  “I actually wasn’t supposed to come out tonight, but I did anyway. I’m glad I did. I just figured that if I don’t drink too much, I’ll be fine for my exams tomorrow.”

  “Aren’t you in grad school? I heard you went back.”

  “Aye, Queens.”

  “Congratulations!”

  “Thanks. It’s kicking my ass, but it’ll be worth it. The professors are surprisingly cool.”

  We hung out with Ciara most of the night, her following us from pub to pub, not that we minded too much. Despite our history, she was pretty much one of the boys. Though hers was not the first bit of female attention I would get.

  Everywhere we went, I’d get a welcome from those I knew, and there was always some woman who expressed her interest, some more subtly than others. None of them were as hot as Maggie, though.

  I just wanted to be with her but knew I had to focus on my career and on healing my emotional wounds. I didn’t want to do anything with any other girls, though, no matter how keen they seemed.

  “You seem a bit distracted,” Ciara said at one point in the night after both of us had slogged down one too many beers.

  “I think I’m in love,” I confessed.

  She gasped and then told me to tell her everything, which I did. Even the part about how Maggie and I had met. She thought it was a wild and crazy story and encouraged me to pursue this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that not many people were lucky enough to have.

  I told her I would. All in due time. If Maggie would let me.

  Then I realized I would just have to convince her.

  I was determined to win Maggie back and get what was mine. As soon as I dealt with my family issues.

  Chapter Sixteen – Maggie

  One Month Later

  I could hear the drums from blocks away, the beaters really giving it their all. I tried to pay attention as the floats and marchers in the St. Patrick’s Day parade went by, but it was difficult to see, being that I was shorter than anyone else here.

  “I’d put you on my shoulders, but I’m not sure that would work,” Dar
cy said.

  “No, probably not,” I agreed. “You would probably collapse under my weight anyway.”

  The whole thing really only reminded me of how much I hated St. Patrick’s Day because of how crowded it got. Not to mention how drunk people got, toasting a saint most of them didn’t pray to on a holiday that had largely become an excuse for public drunkenness.

  I wasn’t particularly religious, but it still rubbed me the wrong way. Particularly considering what St. Patrick was famous for, the “snakes” in question actually being indigenous pagans, who were given the choice of converting, leaving, or dying by the forces of militant Catholicism.

  I knew I should just quit my internal bitching and enjoy a fun holiday, but I was really feeling like a spoilsport lately.

  ‘What ya thinking about?” Darcy asked.

  “Nothing,” I lied.

  “Have you called him yet?”

  “Called who?” I asked.

  She rolled her eyes.

  “So that’s how you want to play this game. Gavin? The man you were fake engaged to.”

  “Oh, no.”

  “Good, if you haven’t caved and called him, it means you’ll get over him quicker.”

  I wondered how slow “quick” was because, as she’d pointed out, it had been a month, and I still wasn’t over him.

  It also didn’t help that I was writing a lot more when I was with him, even over the week between our first meeting and the engagement party.

  After we broke up, the creative spark, which seemed to be linked directly to my happiness, was gone again, despite the fact that I was still going to see Dr. Benoit.

  “It’ll pass. You’ll see,” Darcy said, sounding sure of herself.

  I wanted to confess that I had actually tried calling him, but his phone was disconnected. It was probably too late to try and call him a month later. Particularly with how cold I had been.

  He probably figured I was over him, which was a fair enough conclusion under the circumstances.

  I still couldn’t believe what he had done to Kenny. While it wasn’t nice, it felt pretty good to see my ex get what he deserved.

  “Hey, you two!”