MASTERMIND | Jamie Tartt

FIFTY: SUSPICIOUS MINDS

"Jamie, turn your fucking alarm off," Billie muttered as she lay beside him, her eyes still glued shut as she rested her head against his chest.

"Huh?" Jamie mumbled as he simply pulled her closer, the sound of a bell ringing having woken them both from their sleep.

"It's still dark outside," She groaned, pulling the covers over her head, "Turn it off."

"It's not me alarm, babe, it's me doorbell," Jamie insisted, "Probably just a weird fucking fan."

At what?" Billie retrieved her phone from the nightstand while Nelson remained curled up at the foot of the bed, "4AM?"

"Maybe," Jamie shrugged, still half conscious as Billie climbed out of bed, "Babe, just come back, I wanna cuddle you."

"That sound is not going to stop unless we do something about it," Billie insisted, retrieving Jamie's hoodie and pulling it on over her pyjama top and shorts.

"Babe, just leave it," Jamie called out as Billie left the bedroom, wiping the sleep from her eyes as she wandered across the landing and down the stairs as the doorbell continued to ring and whoever was ringing it, thumped against the door continuously.

Billie finally reached the door, opening it to be met with the sight of her brother, "The fuck are you doing here?" He frowned.

"What am I doing at my boyfriend's house?" Billie remarked, "Hmm, I wonder..."

"Where is he?" Roy cut her off, not wishing to hear the end of the sentence.

"Bed," Billie replied, "Why are you even here?"

"Training."

"You were being serious about that?" Billie half smiled at the thought that her brother had gone to such an effort for her boyfriend.

"When do I ever joke about training?" Roy frowned at his sister.

"You're actually willing to help him with this?" Billie raised her eyebrows in intrigue, "Last season you were practically refusing to coach him."

"Well, he matters to you so..." Roy sighed, choosing not to finish his statement.

"Thank you," Billie smiled, the gesture meaning more to her than Roy realised.

"The fuck's going on?" Jamie muttered as he joined Billie at the open front door, rubbing his aching eyes.

"Let's go," Roy simply replied as Jamie leant against the door frame.

"It's 4AM," Jamie frowned.

"Yeah, we start at 4am," Roy nodded, as though it were obvious.

"I thought you were joking," Jamie blinked at him in disbelief.

"How is that a joke?" Roy quipped, because there weren't many people in the world he would get up at such a godforsaken hour for.

"'Cause it's 4AM," Jamie frowned.

"We start at 4AM, so you can do three workouts a day instead of two," Roy explained as though it were obvious.

"Okay, but it's 4AM," Jamie disputed again, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

"Do you wanna be better than Zava or not?" Roy retorted.

"Well, how are we gonna see?" Jamie asked, "It's dark out."

Without a word, Roy put on a head torch and promptly turned it on, the brightness practically blinding both Billie and Jamie.

"Fucking hell, Roy," Billie groaned, squinting the light out of her eyes.