Newt had no idea what was over the garage so he folded his sheets and put them in his bag, along with his clothes, towel and toiletries. The lube and condoms went in too, pushed down to the bottom. He cleaned the bathroom, remade the bed and put out new towels. As he stepped out of the bedroom with his things, Jesse and the woman from the kitchen were waiting.
“Have you met Sai?” Jesse asked.
“We saw each other in the kitchen,” Newt said.
“Are there no twin-bedded rooms?” Sai asked.
“There’s one across the landing.” Newt gestured.
“Great, we’ll have that then.” Jesse turned as the guy in black came up. “This can be yours, Xander.”
He glanced at the room, huffed, then stared at Newt as if he’d never seen anyone so unworthy of being looked at in his entire life. “It’ll do.”
Newt picked up his bag and walked away. What horrible people. Well, Jesse and Andy seemed all right but… He headed for the garage. There was no way to an upper floor on the outside of the building, so he guessed there must be stairs inside the garage that he’d not spotted. He found them hidden behind what looked like a cupboard. That was clever.
At the top of the stairs was another door, which opened into a large A-framed room that appeared to be mostly used for storage. The floor was chipboard with a few strips of carpet laid over the top. There were stacks of cardboard boxes and some plastic ones, all neatly labelled.Christmas decorations, ski wear, outdoor crockery… But there was no bed. Newt sighed. There was a couch long enough to sleep on, so he turned that into a bed with the sheets and covered it with Christmas blankets he found in one of the boxes: a red one with white snowflakes and a blue one with reindeer. He’d need both of them. It wasn’t very warm up there.
Newt looked round to see if there were thermostats that he could turn up but didn’t find any, so there was no underfloor heating. A door at the far end opened onto a nice bathroom with a walk-in shower and there was an electric radiator in there so Newt switched it on. There was no shampoo or soap, but he still had what he’d bought to use in the hostel. He tried a tap, because if there was no— Water shot out.Good.
Newt returned to his makeshift bed and as he sat down, his phone beeped. River had texted a whole load of 11111111111s, indicating he wanted help but it wasn’t an emergency. Newt bristled. There were five people in the house who could help him. Yet he still went to see what he wanted.
He followed the sound of Xander’s voice and found Dila and River sitting cosied up together in the more formal lounge with Xander taking pictures as Max watched.
“That’s it, darlings,” Xander said. “Stare into each other’s eyes. Put your hand on River’s thigh. Lovely.”
Why did River have to have him here to see this? But Newt caught the brief glance River shot his way that told him to do something.
“Time for the pool,” Newt said.
Xander spun round and glared. Max’s mouth quirked in a grin.
“Sorry.” Newt smiled as broadly as he could. “River has a strict schedule he has to stick to. The doctors made it clear that routine is crucial for his recovery.”
“We didn’t bring your costume, darling,” Xander whined.
“I’m not going in the pool.” Dila disentangled herself from River and picked up her phone. “Have fun.”
“I’m going to make tracks.” Max pushed to his feet. “Are you set up over the garage?”
“Yes,” Newt said.
River followed Newt through the house. Only when they were the other side of the door to the pool did River speak.
“Thank…you. Not Deee…la. Not Dila. You. You. You.”
River yanked him into his arms and landed a flurry of kisses all over his face. Newt didn’t want to just give in, but hedid. They couldn’t be seen if they stayed where they were, and River was so desperate, something inside Newt broke.
“Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.” River peppered his face with kisses. “No bed.”
“It’s fine. I can sleep on the couch.”
He caught hold of Newt’s face with his hands.
“I have blankets. I’ll be fine.”
“Sleep…wi…with me.”
Newt shook his head. “It’s too risky.”
