He followed my gaze “you know him?”
I looked over at him, tearing my eyes away from Matthew who I hadn't even realised I'd been watching and who was sparring with some other young lad “sort of. Bumped into him last night.”
“You stunk of weed.”
I cleared my throat awkwardly, wincing.
“I’m just as bad, don’t worry about it.” Stryker grinned reassuringly.
I blinked in surprise- he didn’t seem the type.
“Ishe?” Stryker asked.
I shook my head and laughed “he’d never smoked before I convinced him. Kept going on about how I wasn’t allowed weed here.”
Stryker snorted “we shouldn’t go out drinking either, but trust me, we do plenty of that.”
Without warning he jumped over the fence “lets go and say hi, then.”
I shrugged and followed along.
Almost as if they'd sensed our approach, both Matthew and the other lad turned to face us when we were only a few feet away. Matthew raised an eyebrow at the sight of me, then his gaze fell on Stryker.
“Hey.” He greeted us both slowly.
I raised my hand in greeting whilst Stryker ignored him “Hale, fancy seeing you again.”
The lad standing next to Matthew, who had more of a thicker build and darker features, let out a small snort “Aisen” he greeted “your nose better?”
“It’s fabulous, thanks for the concern.”
“You know each other?” Matthew asked skeptically.
“Little spat in the pub.” Stryker tilted his head.
“It was nothing.” Jack said dismissively at Matthew’s clearly disapproving expression.
“Hey, Matt, you the fun police or something?” I chortled, feeling the need to saysomethingto the boy.
Matthew looked back at me “no” he remarked stiffly, as if he’d just been offended “what are you two doing coming over here anyway? We were in the middle of a match.”
“Theo was staring.” Stryker shrugged dismissively “and I recognised my fellow broken nose companion.”
“I wasn’t staring” I grumbled defensively “I was watching-”
“Whatever” Stryker cut me off dismissively, waving a hand. He eyed the weapon in Matthew’s hand “can we have a match?” He asked the lad “you looked good.”
“Sure.” Hale shrugged “Matt, pass it here.”
Matthew grumbled something under his breath and did as had been requested. Stryker’s eyes lit up.
“What’s crawled up your ass and died today?” I asked once Stryker and the Hale lad started sparring.
“Nothing.”
“You were much friendlier last night.”
“Yeah, well.”
