“Does anyone ever die?”
“In the UK, once every five years on average.”
“Have you ever been injured?” Ru stared at him, wide-eyed.
“Often. Broken wrist. Dislocated shoulder. Broken nose. Black eyes. I’ve been knocked unconscious a few times. Not many emerge unscathed from playing this game.”
Ru rubbed at the leather. “So who does what in your team?”
“Marcelo is number One. All offence. He scores the most goals. He’s riding around waiting for the ball to come his way. Our number Two, Nicolás, plays both offence and defence. He has to ride hard all over the field setting up shots and defending the goal. Joaquin is our number Four. The Back. He’s a blocker. His role is purely defence. I’m number Three, the playmaker, the captain, I have to read the game, control the team and also score goals.”
“I read about patrons.”
“Nicolásis our patron.” Jasim wished he could say they were lucky. He supposed in one way they were. At least the guy kept putting his hand in his pocket, but he lost his temper too easily.
“Do you ever switch positions?”
“We know what we’re good at, but we all play all over the field.”
“What makes a good polo pony?”
“One that has good manners and is submissive. A horse who’s always there for you and does what you ask. It has to go fast in an instant. I want horses that feel like champions when they’re out on the field. I want horses I can make into champions.”
He watched Ru’s Adam’s apple rise and fall in his throat.
“But a player is only as good as his horse,” Jasim said.
Ru put another bridle back together, his quick fingers making Jasim’s heart lurch.
“Ten done, 176 to go.”
Jasim raised his eyebrows. “Really? Not all today.”
“I’m fast but not that fast. There aren’t quite that many bridles, but Mike said I had to do them all.”
“Did he?”
Jasim heard the sound of horses coming back into the stables and he pushed to his feet.
“Thanks for explaining about polo,” Ru said quickly. “I’m looking forward to seeing you play tomorrow.”
“Thanks for explaining how to clean tack.”
Ru laughed and Jasim left before anyone caught them chatting.
Ru took the bridles he’d cleaned back to the stalls of the horses they belonged to and hung them up. There was no sign of Jasim, but Mike, Julio and Mason were in there looking after three beautiful horses.
“Is that all you’ve done?” Mike asked.
“I’ve done ten.”
“Christ. You’re useless. You need to do a lot more than that before you can finish for the day.”
Ru said nothing. He wasn’t slow, nor was he useless, but he already knew it was better not to argue with anyone here, especially Mike. He tidied the last one he’d hung and picked up the bridle from the next stall.
“And don’t cut corners because I’ll know.” Mike grabbed the last one Ru had hung back up and tossed it at him. “Do that one again.”
Bastard.“I didn’t do that one. Jasim did.”
