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"You, me, Kier, and Danny will train and everyone else stays with Em We make ourselves as close and accessible as possible until we fight and she stays with me for every minute she’s not in court," I said Earnshaw ran his hand back and forth through his hair as he conteuessed he did that a lot

"Here’s the thing Te facilities in the world, and its public knowledge They don’t want the underdog clai you a state-of-the-art training caht and acclih we’reher by ht," I explained

"We’re not set up here to train for this kind of fight, Con," Kier reasoned with o, there was none of these state-of-the-art fancy gyet where we’re going If we’re doing this, then we’re doing it old school," barked Danny, which was pretty much the first contribution he’d made to this discussion, and the last word on the subject

Chapter 11

We stood in what once passed as a kitchen The sink had been taken out, and the plu capped The floor was torn up, and the concrete exposed, and there wasn’t a single door on the filth-laden cabinets at our backs

"Right, lads," I said, raising my bottle of beer in the air "Here’s to one last weekend, forbefore I hand Dannyyou want this weekend, and I thank you for spending it helpingainst theirs

"Any idea where to start?" asked Tommy¸ as he kicked at a loose floor tile

I tipped my bottle toward Liaot two Duive us our blank canvas Then next hen you’re training, To Joe can take a look at the electric I’ when they finish By the tiht’s done, you should be ready for carpentry and decorating so you can take over" Liam laid it all out, but a part ofwould stand still while I was training but Liaalready¸ and we ain’t even started Me and the lads, we got your back You gotta job to do, and that job is to put Rico Terunted stupidly Fro slip "Soon as news of the fight went live, bookies started posting odds, and we all went down" Looking around, they all pulled out their betting slips

"No pressure then," I said, touched that they believed in h to risk what little rin "We all bet on the other guy so we couldn’t give a shit whether you train or sit around for threeEuys can sit back and becoot work to do"

"Of course we bet on you, brother," said Kieran "But you’re not doing this for us, or for Danny or Eht but that didn’t change the fact that I wouldn’t be standing here on the brink of a life-changing opportunity without theonna as with a hot girl on each arood plan tothose STDs cleared up before you go on the hunt forSTDs," grumbled Tommy

"Take your frustration out on the house, my little friend," Kier teased Toly "You can roll around withbetter," he told him

"I’d like to beat the shit out of you," Tommy told him

"Beat the shit out of, roll around, it’s the saet hot and sweaty and jus It’s just the effect I have on people You’re not made of wood," Kieran told hieha upstairs so you’d best stay out of my way," he warned Kier

"Trustupstairs to see your big haru ourselves laughing

I glanced quickly at Liaay references had made him feel uncomfortable but he looked as bemused as ever with the he’d be any different The lads wouldn’t change who they were or how they acted because he was gay, and he wouldn’t want or expect them to In fact, he’d probably kick their arses if they did My only concern for hi it a secret I knoorried the neould spread when it got out, but he needed his friends around him His parents were stanch Catholics, and ashell to pay

The steam rose up from the hot bath in waves and rolled decadently up to the ceiling The slight ache in the ood For the first tiuy who hadn’t achieved a whole lot up until this point, a couple of days hard graft on our first real ho that was pretty heady

"How’s it co on?" Em asked from the doorway

"Looks beautiful, darlin’," I told her, watching the steahter

"In one weekend, youabout the house," I said Beckoning her over, I waited until she was al her over the edge of the tub into my lap