Free Love Restored by Carrie Ann Ryan

“Fuck you. I’m not fucking around.”
    Owen raised his brows and stared hard at Graham before looking pointedly around the empty patio area. “I don’t see you with a sledgehammer in your hand, working on the exterior walls and shit. And don’t forget, we don’t have this area on the schedule for a few weeks. You can’t just go off-schedule, Graham.”
    Graham pinched the bridge of his nose, annoyance creeping over his skin. “Fuck the schedule, Owen. I mean, seriously, if we do something slightly out of order on demo day, we’re not going to fuck it all up.”
    “Fuck the schedule? Do you even know me? And you above all others know that there is an order to demo day. You’ll cave the place in if you just start knocking things down. What crawled up your ass?”
    “Nothing,” he bit out. “And take a look around, Owen. I’m not breaking shit. So stop freaking out. I’m just taking a breather while I think. I’ll get back to it.” He pinched at his shirt, pulling the dust-covered, sweat-slick cotton away from his skin. “I’ve been working my ass off since I got here and ran out of coffee. Just let me be.”
    Owen frowned, studying Graham’s face. “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing’s wrong.” His brother saw too much. They all did.
    “Are we just taking breaks when we want to now?” Murphy asked as he walked toward them, blueprints in his hands. Graham held back a groan. Whenever his youngest brother showed up with plans, things were about to go to hell. Nothing good ever came from Murphy and his designs in the middle of demo day.
    “I can’t with you two,” Graham bit out. “Just give me a fucking moment to breathe and then I’ll get back to it. Why the hell are you on my ass?”
    Murphy raised his hands, and the top of the blueprints hit him on the top of the head. “Slow your roll, bro. I’m not on your ass. Owen might be since he rides everyone like that, but I just walked out here.”
    Owen flipped them each off. “I only ride asses because, without me, no one would get shit done. And fuck you both.” He turned fully to Graham. “Now, what the fuck is going on with you? Why are you out here in the middle of the day, thinking ”—he did little air quotes—“and not working?” He paused and smiled. “We only ask because we care.”
    Graham rolled his eyes. “Care, my ass.”
    “Hey, it’s Owen who cares about your ass,” Murphy drawled. “I’m just here because you two were, and I didn’t want to feel left out.”
     Graham sighed. He didn’t want to tell them about Blake, not yet. They would only razz him about it since he’d been such an asshole to her, and for some reason, he wanted this all to be private. His heart ached suddenly for a moment, and he closed his eyes, letting out one more sigh.
    There was a reason he hadn’t wanted to get involved with Blake or any other woman. A big reason he didn’t talk about it, didn’t think about it—unless the day ended in y and he couldn’t help it. His brothers had been worried about this month with him for a reason, and the anniversary of the day his life had changed, the day his world had broken into a million pieces he only now thought he might one day piece back together into some semblance of the man he had once been, was looming.
    “I just needed a moment to breathe,” Graham said softly. “I’m fine.”
    He met his brothers’ gazes, and they studied him. They knew him inside and out, Jake did too, but sometimes, he needed a break from that. He didn’t want them seeing things he’d rather keep buried.
    And that was one more reason to keep away from Blake. Because he knew she’d be one of the people that saw too much. He was who he was because of his history, but that didn’t mean he wanted to drag it out and look at it every time he felt like shit. The past was buried, and that’s where it was meant to be.
    “If you’re sure you’re okay,” Owen began, “then I’m getting back to work.” He pulled out