Love Restored (Gallagher Brothers #1)(36)

Murphy and Graham whirled on Jake, who was on site for the day. Their fourth brother didn’t work on-site much, and tended to do his jobs for the business at home in his workshop, but he still showed up to pound things when he needed a break, or they needed him.

“What?” Graham bellowed, his chest heaving. He was acting like an irrational ass again, but he couldn’t seem to help it. Between the anniversary coming up and what had happened with Blake the night before, he couldn’t think straight.

Murphy sighed and bent down to the cooler to pick out three bottles of water. “Drink this. You’re sweaty, hot, and on the trigger right now.”

Graham narrowed his eyes at his baby brother, but took the bottle and drank down half of it anyway. It might not be caffeine, but he was hot and, apparently, really irritable.

“Jesus,” he whispered, running a hand over his dirty face. “Sorry about that. I smashed my finger and guess I needed to take it out on you.”

“Is that all?” Jake asked. “I know the date is coming up, bro.”

Graham closed his eyes, letting out a breath. “Yeah, it is. But I need to stop acting like I’m a f*cking bear who woke up before hibernation was over.”

He opened his eyes as his brothers smiled at him. Murphy laughed and said, “I can see that. You’re as hairy as a bear.”

Graham ran a hand over his long beard. “I’ve been thinking I should just shave it off. It’s annoying as hell during the summer. And Murph? You’ve got a beard, too.”

Murphy smiled and ran a hand over his. His brother was always so damn happy about that thing since it had taken a long time to grow in. Endless chemo and radiation had wreaked havoc on his brother’s system, so growing a beard was a feat. Not that they talked about that at all, though.

“Don’t shave it,” Jake put it. “I hear Blake likes it.”

Graham stiffened. “How did you hear that?”

“Maya told me, and I guess Blake told her, or my woman picked up on it. Either way, don’t shave it.”

He wasn’t going to mention that the point might be moot anyway, considering Blake had turned tail and run the night before. There were some things brothers didn’t share, and this was one of them.

Graham sighed. “Anyway, sorry about blowing up.”

Murphy shrugged. “No big deal. But I do have a few things that need to be changed. Nothing that needs to be taken down or reworked, but things for the future. I figured I’d tell you now.”

“Tell him what now?” Owen asked as he walked in. He wore a suit and tie, telling Graham his brother had been doing the business part of their job for most of the day. It would be a pity for him to get dirty. Hence why Graham would make sure that Owen helped him with the HVAC crap later today. Dealing with heating, air conditioning, and ventilation while inside a wall and up in the attic would make sure Owen remembered not to wear his nice clothes on-site. And since the place on the hill was f*cking huge, HVAC would take a couple of days and a whole lot of sweat.

Excellent.

Graham needed to pound something, but this would have to do.

“I have a few changes,” Murphy said.

“The ones you mentioned last night?” Owen asked as he made his way to the group. Graham loved when all four brothers were on the site at once. His siblings might annoy the hell out of him as all younger brothers were prone to do, but he wouldn’t take their presence for granted.

“Wait,” Graham said once Owen’s words registered. “You already knew about this?”

Owen raised his brow at him. He didn’t have the piercing in, just the spacer, so it didn’t have the same effect. “Yeah, Murphy was over to play Call of Duty. Got a problem with that?”

Graham shook his head. Considering he’d had Blake in his bed during the evening, he couldn’t really complain.

“Tell me about the changes,” he grumbled.

“There he is, our big brother, the softie,” Jake said before ducking Graham’s punch. “Too slow. Shit!” He cursed again as he rubbed his shoulder where Graham had hit him not too hard, but hard enough.

“Too slow my ass.”

He grinned as his brothers punched at each other, joining in when he felt like it, then got back to work. They had a job to do, and when a Gallagher went to work, shit got done.




Though he’d rather have had dinner with Blake that night—something that worried him since he didn’t want to rely on a relationship now or ever—he ended up eating at home with his brothers. Since he’d had pizza the night before, he’d opted to let Owen cook them up a meal.

All the brothers could cook reasonably well since their mother hadn’t raised fools, but Owen was the only one who was any good at it. Tonight, they were having stir-fry with rice and pot stickers. The fact that Owen had made the damn appetizers himself didn’t surprise Graham in the least.

Jake had done the grocery shopping since there was no way Graham would have had the ingredients at home. Murphy had brought the beer and chosen the movie to watch afterward if they were up for it. Therefore, Graham just had to make sure the place was clean. Considering he’d been halfway cleaning the house every day for the past week before things had popped up, it didn’t take long.

By the time they were seated in his living room and gorging themselves on Owen’s creation, Graham was feeling more like himself. He was still a little off because of what he’d revealed to Blake and how they were getting closer to the anniversary, plus how Blake had left the night before, but he would be okay. He always was. He had his brothers, and that’s all that mattered.