Brothersong (Green Creek #4) - T.J. Klune Page 0,144
time was short, that they’d soon be apart.
Gifts were exchanged. No one seemed to care that I hadn’t gotten anyone anything. I hadn’t had time. I’d been distracted. They told me being here was more than any gift I could have ever gotten them.
That didn’t stop them from showering Gavin with presents.
He looked shocked as he received gift after gift. Clothes from the guys at the shop. There was a lot of pink. Jessie and Dominique gave him books. Bambi gave him a voucher she’d made by hand that promised him he could drink whatever he wanted for free at the Lighthouse. Rico and Tanner and Chris were outraged until they remembered that none of them—Gavin included—could get drunk.
Gavin was weirdly shy when he shoved a package in my lap. He glowered at me when I thanked him. “Open it first,” he muttered. “Stupid Carter.”
I did. Everyone pretended to be distracted by something else, giving us the illusion of privacy. I opened the box carefully, wondering what the hell he could have found to give me. I should have known.
Inside the box was a book.
The title read 1001 Ways to Cook Rabbit: The Complete Domestic Rabbit Cook Book.
I looked up at him, almost annoyed with how touched I was.
He puffed out his chest. “So you can be better at it.”
My voice was hoarse when I said, “You ate it just fine. You dick. Thank you.”
He grinned at me.
One gift remained. Gordo handed Gavin a terribly wrapped present. There was too much tape. The wrapping paper had clowns on it. He thrust it at Gavin, muttering that it wasn’t much, and he didn’t have to accept it if he didn’t want to.
We all stopped to watch him open it. I didn’t know what it was.
I should have.
Gavin tore through the paper, and the moment he saw what was inside, he froze.
Gordo said, “You’ll have a lot to learn. But Chris and Rico and Tanner can show you how. And then forget everything they tell you and listen to Ox and me. Whatever you do, never, ever ask Robbie about anything. My insurance rates are already high enough as it is because of him.”
Gavin jerked his head up and down before pulling the gift out of the wrapping paper.
It was a work shirt. Like the ones the guys wore at the garage. Except it was pink because of course it was. Across the back, in stylized letters, it said GORDO’S.
And on the front, on a patch on the top right, was a name stitched in with black lettering.
Gavin.
“We talked about it,” Gordo said, filling the silence. “Me and the guys. Everyone agreed we should bring you on. If you want, of course. You don’t have to. It’s hard work, and you’ll get dirty. Your back will hurt even though you’re a wolf. And just because you’re my brother doesn’t mean I won’t still be your boss. I run things a certain way.”
“Actually, I run things a certain way,” Robbie said. “I just let Gordo think he does.”
Gordo sighed. “Yeah. That sounds about right.” He shook his head. “It’s just an idea. But I think you’d do okay. I’d pay you, and—”
“Yes,” Gavin said, already putting on the shirt. It fit him well.
LATER IN THE AFTERNOON, as the sky was beginning to darken, my mother said, “Carter. Gavin. Would you come with me, please?”
Gavin was wearing his work shirt over his shorts. He’d refused to take it off since he’d first put it on. He looked ridiculous and happy because of it.
The others barely noticed when we left, all wrapped up in their conversations and each other. We followed my mother down the hall toward the office. She motioned for us to close the door behind her. I did. She sat behind the desk. She nodded toward the chairs on the other side. We sat down. For a moment it was weirdly like I was a kid again and in trouble. I’d been in that position a time or two before. Gavin seemed to feel the same way, sinking down in his chair.
My mother said, “I made a mistake once. Oh, I’ve made many mistakes in my life. But this one… this one stays with me, especially on sleepless nights. Among other things, of course. I have much to think about. This mistake, however, I go over in my