CHAPTER TWO
JUNE
Hunter
“Do you think he’s here?”I asked, glancing around the tiny garden at the back of Mason, Ryan, and Jonny’s house. It was already full of people, everyone standing around with drinks or trying to find a seat on the mismatched garden furniture, half of which looked new. Or borrowed.
It was the start of our summer break and the three of them had decided to celebrate with a barbecue, which was pretty fucking cool of them considering they’d offered to cater the whole thing. We’d remembered to bring some drinks, though, because I was kind of picky about beer. And it was the least we could do since feeding the team couldn’t be cheap.
Now we’d officially finished for the summer, I was looking forward to eight weeks of doing fuck all. The end of the season had been that strange combination of fun, exhausting, and slightly bittersweet, and I needed some time to unwind and get back into a better headspace.
Being this tired and sore wasn’t good for the voices I’d worked so hard to ignore. The ones that whispered how nice itwould be to feel like this all the time. That a couple of extra trips to the gym wouldn’t hurt. Not really.
It was why Bailey and I had a holiday booked to Ibiza, flying out on Monday morning, and I couldn’t wait to lie in the sun, swim, and blow off some steam. We’d even hired a boat for a few days to take us out around the island, getting us away from the noise so we could just be.
No rugby, no gyms, no mandatory mealtimes, no social media, no press. Nothing but the hot sun and crystal blue sea.
Bailey was going to need some fucking sun cream, though, because he was so damn pale he was practically a ghost, and I wasn’t prepared to listen to him bitch and whine for three weeks about being crispy and lobster red.
“Yeah, I think so,” Bailey said as his head swivelled around, searching through the crowd for the man who’d casually blown our lives up last December. The one who I’d barely been able to stop thinking about ever since. “Jonny said he was coming to visit.”
“There!” I pointed through the crowd to a spot between two large plant pots, both filled with enormous roses covered in large blooms, one creamy yellow, one more of a peachy orange. Sitting on a plastic garden chair and swigging from a bottle of cider was Aiden.
And fuck, did he look good.
He’d filled out a little in the last six months, but the weight suited him. He’d gone from scrawny to soft, like he’d finally found time to look after himself instead of being on his feet twenty-four seven. His dark blond hair was still scruffy and askew, as if someone had run their hands through it, and I was instantly dragged back to the night we’d all spent together… watching Bailey sink his fingers into Aiden’s hair as he sucked him off for a second time.
Aiden’s lips curled into a smirk around the bottle as he spotted us, eyes twinkling in the summer sunshine. He was wearing a loose tank top, shorts that were riding up his thighs, and had a pair of sunglasses resting on his head. I shook my head with a grin because why the hell wasn’t he wearing them? It was so fucking bright today the glare almost hurt.
“Fancy seeing you here,” he said casually as we approached, using his head to gesture to behind the roses. “I saved you some seats.”
There were two dark green chairs stashed there, and Bailey laughed as he slid past Aiden to grab them, handing one to me over the top of his head. “How’d you know we’d come over here?”
Aiden sat back in his seat, his shorts slipping to reveal the large colourful tattoo on his thigh. I hadn’t really gotten a good look at it last time—I’d been far too busy with other things—but now I realised it was a pin-up style merman with top surgery scars and a glittering pink and blue tail. As I stared, I noticed he had another tattoo too. One that definitely hadn’t been there in December.
On the inside of his other leg, peeking out from the bottom of his shorts, was a potion bottle with curled lettering across the front which said Drink Me.
I smirked, wondering if there was another one somewhere that said Eat Me.
I’d be happy to follow those directions.
“Just a hunch,” Aiden said, eyes roaming over us as he took another long swig of his drink.
“You look good,” I said as I put the chair on the floor next to him, shoving a couple of branches of a rose bush out of the way so I could sit down without being thwacked in the face by greenery.
“So do you. Both of you.”
“How long are you staying for?” Bailey asked as he sat down on Aiden’s other side, peachy rose petals cascading down his tank top as one of the blooms exploded across his shoulder.
“Just for the weekend,” Aiden said. “Jonny insisted I come and stay for a few days to chill. But secretly I think he wanted an extra pair of hands to help with the packing. He and Devon have so much shit between them. So do Mason and Ryan.” He chuckled fondly. “I’m gonna be covered in glitter forever, and I’m never getting the smell of old rugby kit—that should have gone in the fucking bin—out of my clothes.”
Bailey wrinkled his nose and I snorted because we both knew exactly what that smelt like—old sweat, blood, mud, and another layer of sweat all baked in together. It was the reason most of our kit was provided and cleaned by the club. At least then they knew it got washed properly. Most of us weren’t renowned for our housekeeping habits.
“What about you two?” Aiden asked. “Any fun summer plans?”
“We’re going to Ibiza for three weeks on Monday,” I said. “We need a little space to disconnect.”
“And have some fun,” Bailey added with a grin.
