We get to Robbie’s house a couple of hours later. I kick off my shoes and make a quick escape up the stairs to the spare room, hoping to be left alone. But then, of course, there’s a knock on the door.
“You want to talk about Bailey?” Robbie asks, as he leans against the doorframe.
“No.” I run my hand through my curls, ignoring the slight tremor in my fingers. “It’s just a lot to process.”
“Fair enough. … Fish supper?” I look up, and he’s all smiles.
“Sure,” I say. He nods and jogs back downstairs, the front door banging as he leaves the house. I blow out a breath, grateful that Robbie isn’t half as nosey as Isla.
By the time he’s back, I’m set up on the sofa, leaning against the armrest, legs stretched out, with the football on. Robbie hands me one of the paper packages before lifting my feet and slipping himself onto the seat beneath them. As we watch the game, he devours his food while I pick at mine. Thankfully he doesn’t stop talking, and the deep timbre of his voice is enough to distract me from my thoughts.
The evening slips away too fast, and eventually I make my way upstairs where the darkness calls for my dreams. I picture Bailey’s face as soon as my head hits the pillow. I see him at sixteen with blood over his nose and tears running down his cheeks. Then at eighteen, crying, telling me he has no other choice. And now … older, with a smile that—for a moment—was blinding.
I don’t understand why the hell was he smiling at me. Not after the way things had ended between us. A pounding headache builds as I toss and turn, both wanting to sleep and dreading the moment I do.
THEO
I managedto go a whole week avoiding the farm, but now it’s Sunday and I’m out of excuses for why I can’t go to dinner. I look through my suitcase for something to wear, groaning as I pull out my last pair of boxers. I must have forgotten to pack everything in my rush to leave the farm last week.
“Ready to go?”
“What the hell, Rob, get out!” I shout, grabbing the towel I’d just dropped to cover my dick, keeping my back to him.
“Interesting,” he chuckles behind me. “I can get you an appointment with my aesthetician if you want?”
“What’s that?” I ask, scowling at him over my shoulder.
He looks pointedly at my bare arse. “You’re like a hairy wee bear.”
I grab my comb and throw it at his head, but Robbie quickly ducks out of the room before it hits him.No way in hell am I waxing my arse.
An hour later we’re at the farmhouse, following the sound of voices through to the dining room.
Isla blocks my way. “Can I have a word with you, please, in private?”
My stomach drops, knowing this isn’t going to be good. I step back, letting her lead the way to the living room, where she closes the door behind us. “There’s something you need to know.”
“What?”
“Okay, so since you’ve been MIA, Richard’s family have been eating pretty much every meal here—on Gran’s insistence—and, well, Bailey is a part of his family. Just so you know … he’s here.” She nods towards the door.
I frown at her. Bailey never mentioned having family outside of Surrey. Now I come to think of it, the amount of times Isla used to go down to Cumbria to visit Richard, she never once mentioned him.
“How?” I ask through clenched teeth.
“How what?”
“How is he family? You never mentioned him before, nor has Richard.”
“Well, I didn’t mention Noah much either, to be fair, and Richard isn’t as close to Bailey as Noah is,” she says a little defensively. “Anyway, as far as I’m aware, Richard’s uncle Jake kinda took Bailey under his wing when he was fresh out of school. He moved in with them just as Richard was leaving for uni.”
What was Bailey doing in Cumbria? He’d told me he wanted to get away from his family, but the plan had always been to come to Skye together. Not that that matters now, he made it perfectly clear that’snotwhat he wanted.
“I can go,” I say, stepping around her.
Isla grabs my arm. “I don’t want you to go. Just tell me what happened between you two?”
“It was nothing … we just fell out, Isla. People fall out all the time.”
