That had to mean something. Didn’t it? Even if none of us knew what it was.
“I don’t know.” Bailey looked as unconvinced as I felt.
There was the scraping of chairs around us as people started to get up and put their trays away, clearing up from breakfast to get ready for our team briefing. Our time to think about this or talk about it had run out. Unless we wanted everyone else getting involved and giving their opinions. And I’d rather wax my balls than do that.
“Come on,” Bailey said, looking pointedly at my half-eaten bowl of fruit and yoghurt. “I’ll message Aiden while you finish eating. We don’t want him to worry about us, and if we don’t want everyone else to know we’re stressed, we have to train as normal.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
He took my phone and began to tap out a message while I finished my breakfast, my eyes watching his fingers as I chewed. When he’d written something, he turned it around for me to read before he hit send.
Hunter
Shit that sucks! Let us know if there’s anything we can do to help. We can come and move boxes or put shit in a skip or whatever you need. And we’re not just saying that. We really want to help. And if you need an escape for a day or two you’re always welcome here
“Sounds good,” I said.
“You don’t think it’s too pushy?” Bailey asked, chewing his lip absent-mindedly.
“I don’t think so. We might need to be pushy to get him to accept help. Or so he knows we actually want to help, not just suck his dick and call it a day.”
“I mean, we could do that too. He’ll need some stress relief.”
“That’s true.”
“Okay.” He nodded, then tapped the screen. “Sent. Now we have to hope he listens.”
“If not, we have a car,” I said with a casual shrug. “And Leicester isn’t far.”
“Do you know where he lives? Where the kitchen is?”
“No, but that doesn’t matter. We can figure it out when we get there.” I meant it too. If we needed to get in the car and drive to Leicester to prove to Aiden we were serious, then I’d do it in a heartbeat. Bailey might tell me it was ridiculous, but he’d be in the car before I’d even finished the question.
None of us knew what we were to each other, and none of us seemed to want to start that conversation, but if Aiden needed us, then we’d be there.
And maybe that was the answer we were looking for.
