Brothersong (Green Creek #4) - T.J. Klune Page 0,113

table. “See what?”

“Shop. Garage.”

“You’ve already seen it,” Gordo said slowly. “Remember? Many times.”

“Yeah,” Gavin said. “Right. Sorry.” He frowned down at the table.

Gordo stared at the top of his head for a moment. “But I guess you haven’t seen it since you’ve been on two legs, right?”

Gavin shook his head.

“Come on,” Gordo said. “Show you a thing or two. It helps to have opposable thumbs. Can’t be any worse than Robbie. He lit a car on fire once.”

“It was an accident.”

Gavin hesitated, looking over at me. And the weird thing about it was I hesitated too. The idea of letting him out of my sight didn’t sit well with me. I swallowed thickly and said, “Go ahead. I’ll see you later.”

“Okay?” Gavin asked.

“You don’t need my permission. You can do what you want.”

“I know,” he said. “But are you okay? You might die. Do something stupid.”

I shoved him out of the booth. “Get the fuck outta here.” But the last word was choked because he smiled at me with the barest hint of teeth.

“Ready?” Gordo asked, looking a little out of his depth.

“Ready,” Gavin said.

But before they could leave, I grabbed Gavin by the wrist. He looked back down at me as I pulled myself out of the booth, grabbing my coat. I put it over his shoulders. “It’s cold out.”

“I can’t get sick,” he reminded me.

“I know you can’t get—Will you just do this for me?”

He watched me for a moment. Then, “Okay.” He slid his arms in the sleeves. “Good?” he asked, looking down at himself. The rhinestones on his shirt glittered in the light from the diner.

“Good,” I managed to say, desperately trying to ignore the sense of satisfaction I felt. It was too big. Too wild. “I’ll come by in a little bit.”

He followed Gordo out the door, but not before looking back at me. I nodded, and then they were crossing the street, shoulders close together.

“Oh boy,” Robbie said. “You’re in it deep.”

I blinked. “What are you talking about?”

He snorted. “Yeah. Sounds about right.” Then, “You know what? No. That’s not right at all. You know what I’m talking about. We don’t have to dance around it like we used to when you were too dumb to figure it out.”

I sat back down in the booth, rubbing a hand over my face. “It was just a coat.”

“Uh-huh,” he said. “Which is why you smell like you do. A little too happy about it.”

I groaned. “Stop smelling me.”

“I’m trying,” he said, nose wrinkling. “But it’s pungent.”

“I’ll tell Kelly about that shirt of his you stole and slept with for, like, six months before you told him you wanted to put your face on his face.”

He looked scandalized. “You wouldn’t dare.”

I grinned at him. “Watch me.”

“Fine.” He looked back out the window. Gavin and Gordo entered the garage across the street, Gordo holding the door open for his brother. “He’s learning.”

“Who? Gavin?”

He shook his head. “Gordo. Do you think they’ll be all right?”

I was confused. “Why wouldn’t they be?”

“I don’t know. It’s…. Gordo wasn’t very happy with the idea of having a brother when he found out about it.”

“Yeah, but can you blame him? It changed everything for him.”

“I get that,” Robbie said. He began tearing at a napkin, leaving a little pile on the table. “I just… I want them to be okay with each other.” He laughed. It sounded hollow. “But I kind of don’t, too.”

That surprised me. “Why?”

“It’s… you’re gonna think it’s stupid.”

“Maybe. Tell me anyway.”

He opened his mouth, then closed it. His lips thinned. Then, “I guess I’m a little jealous.”

I blinked. “About what?”

His cheeks reddened. “Gordo didn’t really like me when you all came back. None of you did.”

“We didn’t know you,” I told him. “You were…. We’d been gone for so long, and then we came back and things had changed. It wasn’t just you. It was everything.”

“No, I get that,” he said. “But Gordo was… well. He was kind of a jerk. He really didn’t like that I was working at the garage. And I understood, you know? It was his place. He’d made it what it was. And then duty called, and I think he expected it to stay as it was when he came back. But it wasn’t. I was there. He wasn’t mean, but he didn’t like it. And I hated it.” The pile of shredded napkin grew. Dominique was going to kick his ass. “I’m not—I don’t try to make people like me. They either do