Page 29 of Perfect Night

“No . . . no, I don’t.”

“Why did you hesitate?”

“I didn’t.”

“Come on. Don’t bullshit me.”

“It’s new. We haven’t had that conversation.”

“Does he know you do this?”

“Not yet.”

“I see, and has he fucked you good and hard?”

“What?” Charlie spluttered.

“I’ll take that as a yes. So, why don’t you let me top you?”

“Like I said, I don’t do that with clients.”

“How about if I trebled your fee? We could just round it up to an even ten grand.”

Charlie was shocked. His immediate reaction was to say no. When he’d started doing this, Lucinda had suggested he make some hard boundaries, which he had.

It was a lot of money. It would get him out of the hole he was currently in. But, if he crossed that line, how long before he did it again? The last guy to fuck him was Sebastian. Did he really want to share that part of himself with someone like Jeremy?

“Look, you don’t have to decide now. It’s an offer that stays on the table. Give it some thought. For tonight, we’ll stick to our agreement. Make it good and there’ll be a little bonus for you in the morning.”

Charlie smiled and stood up, offering a hand to Jeremy.

“Such a polite boy,” Jeremy smiled, but it was in a way which made Charlie’s skin crawl.

Jeremy led the way into his bedroom. Charlie took a deep breath and followed him.

The next morning was a disaster. Jeremy had kept Charlie up until three o’clock in the morning, and then not woken him until seven. Jeremy hadn’t told him he had the next day off, so wasn’t getting up at his usual five o’clock.

He’d had to grab a quick shower and put on his clothes from the night before, luckily it wasn’t what he’d worn to workyesterday. Charlie had lied to his flatmates and said he was staying with Sebastian. Normally he would just say he’d hooked up when he stayed out all night, but they knew he was sweet on Sebastian, so wouldn’t do anything like that.

Jeremy had woken Charlie up serenading him with a song, which was something he’d done before. It was cringe-inducing.

Charlie was late for his meeting with Candice, who he had texted in advance to apologise. He’d been out of breath when he arrived, and full of apologies. He couldn’t say he’d been staying with some guy the night before because it would get back to Sebastian, so he’d said his alarm didn’t go off. It was close to the truth.

Candice went to get him a coffee whilst he got his breath back. He’d already decided he wouldn’t take the job if one was offered. Sebastian needed to learn there were boundaries.

“There you go,” said Candice, putting his large, extra-strong latte in front of him.

He added about three hundred sugars, telling Candice it was going to be one of those days. She chuckled and pulled out a portfolio document folder. Charlie felt relaxed, as he wasn’t under any pressure. He was only here to be polite.

“Are you okay if I get straight to the point, Charlie?”

He nodded, taking a sip of his coffee. It was sweet, strong, and perfect. Just like Sebastian. God, that was corny. Thankfully, he hadn’t said it out loud.

“As I mentioned, I’m building out my team with centres of excellence – one of those being social media, which from yesterday I know is an immense strength of yours. Have you thought about specialising?”

“Yes, eventually, and it would probably be in social media. It was suggested I spend the first part of my career being more of a generalist to see where my strengths lie.”

“Solid advice for most people, but not for someone with your skills. Do you mind if I show you a few things, for you to give your opinion on what you would do from a social media standpoint?”

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