Chapter 7

“It has its own gym in the basement and a pool out the back. It’s heated so you can swim whenever. There are five bedrooms, each with their own ensuite, a large open plan living space and a fully stocked kitchen. Sara sent some people to ensure that everything was clean before you arrived. If you need anything at all please don’t hesitate to ask. Here’s my card with my phone and email on it if you need to get a hold of me.” George takes the card. Fi smiles,

“Thank you. I’m sure we’ll be fine. This place looks incredible.” She looks out the window with a look of awe on her face. Nate laughs gently and parks the car on the driveway. They all get out of the car and Ewan hands George the key. Ewan starts to walk back to the pack house, Nate offers to drop him back, but he just shakes his head.

“I could do with the fresh air. But thanks. The party is tonight at the pack house, guests should be arriving from seven o’clock, but I’d like to invite you to come and have a drink beforehand, somewhere around six thirty?” George nods, smiling broadly,

“Sounds great. See you then.” Ewan turns to walk away, waving over his shoulder as he heads off down the road. Nate grabs his and George’s bags from the back of the car, and Fi and Sammy come and get theirs before Nate closes and locks the car. George opens the door to their new lodgings and has a wander through the open space. Nate comes in and drops the bags he was carrying near the staircase leading up to the bedrooms. He stretches his back,

“Right, everyone. Let’s get rooms sorted, I’m assuming the girls will want to share?” Nate throws them a grin, and waggles his eyebrows.

“Yeah, obvs.” Sammy smirks back, “We will also want some alone time. If you boys can spare us for a couple hours…” Fi flushes,

“Sammy!” she punches her gently on the shoulder. “But yes. A couple of hours would be nice.” She smiles broadly at Sammy and gives her a quick peck on the lips, before running up the stairs with her luggage. Sammy laughs and follows more slowly. Leaving Nate and George to explore the downstairs.

The house had been built into a hill, where the front of the house seemed to have two floors and the back had three. The basement looks out over a swimming pool and a small garden in front of the woodland that otherwise surrounds the house. Nate finds the stairs down to the basement level past the kitchen near the back wall. The basement was a large open space with a few structural steel pillars to support the structure.

One wall was entirely glass and looked as if, when it was open, the entire window would fold away. It looked out to the pool and the garden beyond. There were a lot of different gym machines and various racks of training equipment around the edges of the space. The majority of the area near the window was a padded mat, suitable for sparring or other exercises that used the weights etc that were stored on the back wall.

Nate was impressed; this was a lot more than he had been expecting for a simple guest house. When Nate returned to the main floor, George was making himself a sandwich. Nate takes a moment to examine his friend before George notices. George was more than tired; he was exhausted and frustrated. Nate understands, and nods before approaching carefully,

“Hey, you good? I mean, we all know you’re not, none of us are, but you know…” George looks up at him,

“I…” George sighs and puts down the knife he’d been attempting to use to butter the bread. “No.” he looks at Nate, “No I’m not and I am trying to keep it together, but it’s so fucking hard.” He leans against the island and takes a couple of steadying breaths. Then he picks up the knife again and returns to making his sandwich.

Nate knows better than to press him for more right now. He walks over to the island, taking a seat on the barstools facing George and pulls out his phone to start checking emails. After a while George comes around to sit next to him and places the plate of sandwiches he’d made between them. They sit and eat in silence, and once the sandwiches are gone Nate gets up and grabs his bags.