Brothersong (Green Creek #4) - T.J. Klune Page 0,71
don’t leave anyone behind.”
“Hurt you. Broke you.” He started to reach for me, his claws extended. He pulled his hand back at the last second. I let it go. “Heard it.”
“Yeah, but I’m okay now. I healed.”
“Witch,” he muttered. He glared at Gordo. “Magic. I hate it. No magic. No more magic.”
Gordo opened his mouth, but I beat him to it. “Okay. No more magic.” Joe pressed his hand against Gordo’s chest to hold him back. “For now.”
Joe took off his coat. He tossed it to me. I caught it and placed it over Gavin’s back. I pulled his wet hair back over the collar. It was the first time he’d ever let me touch him like this as a human. Such a small thing, but I was in ruins because of it.
He pushed himself up, settling back on his legs. He grumbled as if annoyed when I tried to fix the coat. “Don’t need it.”
“Just… let me do this, okay?”
I thought he was going to argue.
He didn’t. I tried forcing his arms through the sleeves. He fought against it. I sighed and tried to zip it up instead. He pushed my hands away when I got a little too close to his junk.
“This is going well,” Gordo said, turning his face toward the sky.
THE CABIN THAT’D BEEN our home for weeks suddenly felt too small. Kelly and Gordo stood in one corner, watching Gavin as he paced near the door. He glared at all of us in equal measure, mumbling threats that never amounted to much.
Joe sat on the bed, head cocked, hands on his knees. It was surreal, seeing them here after all this time. If it weren’t for the ache in my back, I would have thought I was still dreaming. I had so much to say. I couldn’t find the words to say any of it.
Gordo spoke first. “Does your truck still work?”
I nodded. “Think so. Started it a while back.”
Gordo stared at me. “How long have you been here?”
“Weeks,” Kelly said tightly. “He’s been here for weeks.”
“Kelly,” Joe said without looking away from Gavin. “Go easy. We talked about this.”
Kelly scoffed but didn’t say anything more. It hurt more than I thought it would.
Gordo rubbed his jaw. “If your truck doesn’t start, we can take one of the others. Who did they belong to? Joe and Kelly said they smelled blood at that other house.”
“Hunters.”
“Dead?”
“Very,” Gavin muttered. “Killed them.” He snapped his teeth at Gordo. “Made them bleed.”
Yeah, it was a little more than that, but they didn’t need to know that right this second. “A group of them. Not Kings, I don’t think. They weren’t organized. They were after me. There was a… situation. At a bar.”
Gordo shook his head. “Of course there was.” Then, “We could probably all fit in my truck, but it’d be tight. Probably better if we take two when we go.”
Gavin stopped pacing, looking at Gordo, eyes narrowed. “Go?”
Gordo didn’t look away. “Yes. Go. As in leave. As in getting your sorry ass back to Green Creek. And it would be just grand if you put on some pants. I don’t need to see your dick out like that.”
Gavin dropped the coat to the floor.
Gordo groaned and looked away.
Gavin looked pleased with himself.
“Carter,” Joe said.
I jerked my head away. “What? I wasn’t looking at anything. You can’t prove it.”
His lips twitched. “I didn’t think you were.” He nodded toward my bag on the floor. “That’s all you got?”
“Yeah. Travel light.”
“That’s one way to put it,” Kelly muttered. He crouched down, pulling the bag toward him. He looked disgusted as he rifled through it. I didn’t blame him. What remained in it didn’t smell very good. I hadn’t been able to wash anything for a long time, including myself. He lifted the bag off the floor and set it on the bed next to Joe. Joe didn’t look at it. He only had eyes for Gavin.
“Not leaving,” Gavin said. “Stay here. I have to stay here.”
“Why?” Joe asked.
Gavin was growing agitated again. He was twitchy, moving like a marionette, limbs jerking. “Why,” he said. “Why, why, why. Always why. Bennetts. Always questions. Always talking. I hate talking.”
Gordo looked startled. “Well fuck me. I guess we do have something in common after all.”
Gavin bared his teeth at him. “Not your brother. Don’t want you. Don’t need you. Never have. Witch. Magic. It stinks. Hate it.”
“Yeah, I don’t know if you have any room to talk about smelling bad—”