Mike scowled at him. Ru knew he shouldn’t have said it, but Mike was pissing him off.
“Do you want to tell him or shall I?” Ru asked.
He shouldn’t have said that either, but forget the not-arguing, Ru wasn’t going to let himself get pushed around. Once he let that happen, it would continue. Mike took the bridle back off him and hung it up. Ru should have felt some satisfaction in that, but the look Mike gave him made his insides shrivel.
Ru went back to the tack room with two bridles and slumped at the table. It took him about forty minutes to do each set so that would be another hour and twenty minutes of work. He dropped the bit in the bucket and unfastened all the straps. He could hear others in the stables now, but he didn’t go out. He was hoping Mike might forget he was there and that he could finish soon. He was hungry and he’d have to cycle to the supermarket to buy something to eat.
When Mike came into the room thirty minutes later and dumped another three bridles on the table, Ru forced himself not to react.
“Finish those, then you can stop.”
Ru didn’t say anything. He just carried on working. When there was no more noise from the stables, not from people anyway, he broke off to go and put Cookie and Joni in their stalls, and groomed them before giving them their feed. He came back to the tack room and finished the last bridle at eight, his fingers stiff and tingling.
Back at the accommodation, Ru paused by the door of the main room. There were lots of Tesco carrier bags and people were sorting groceries. When he walked into the room, one of the women looked up and smiled at him.Poppy.
“Have you been shopping?” Ru asked.
“We take it in turns to do a run in the car once a week. It was Mike’s turn today.”
Which would be why Ru hadn’t known about it.
“The rota’s in the kitchen,” Poppy said. “There’s one for cleaning the communal rooms too. Your name’s already been put on that, but if you want to use the car you need to sign up.”
“I can’t drive.”
“Oh. Well, Kirstie can’t either so you just need to persuade one of us to drive you.” She chuckled. “We have a kitty for stuff we all use like the washing up liquid and laundry detergent. Five pounds a month. I take care of that.”
Ru took five pounds from his wallet.
“If there’s anything you need, just ask, okay?” Poppy said.
Ru nodded. Once he was inside his room, he locked the door and slumped on his bed. He was knackered and his hands ached. He wouldn’t have expected Mike to ask him if he needed anything, but no one had thought to come and tell him Mike was going for groceries.
He stripped off and showered, drying himself using the clothes he’d taken off. When he came back into the bedroom naked, Bela was perched on the top of her cage. Ru held out his hand and she flew to him. He lifted her to his cheek and she rubbed up against him.
“They don’t want me here, Bela,” he whispered.
Bela cawed and tapped him with her beak.
Ru chuckled. “Yeah, first things first. I need food. Come if you want to. I’ll go on my bike.”
She fluttered to the window and flew out. Ru pulled on clean clothes and his trainers, put on his empty backpack, grabbed his bike helmet, phone and wallet and left. As he rode towards the drive, he realised he didn’t know the code to get out or in. The gates might open automatically when he left but he still needed to get back inside. The building where he’d spoken to Georgia was locked up, and he was reluctant to bother Jasim. But he had to go and buy something to eat. He was too hungry to wait until tomorrow. All he’d had the entire day was water.
To his relief, he spotted Paolo coming out of the house and he cycled over to him.
“Excuse me, boss. I don’t know the code to get back in through the gate and I need to go to the supermarket.”
“What do you need at this time of night?”
“Food and a towel and sheets.”
“Didn’t they do a run today?”
Ru hesitated, then said, “No one told me.”
Paolo sighed. “2-7-4-6.”
“Thank you. Will the gates open when I get down there?”
