He immediately thought of Patrick again. What was that about? He never lingered on any man for longer than a couple of hours. Especially one he hadn’t even fucked.
“Reya came round.”
“I thought you dumped her.”
“Just the mandatory post-breakup fuck. Not sure it was a good idea.”
Jason could have told him that if he’d called. Reya wasintense, which was a polite way of saying she was batshit crazy.
“Stick to men. It’s easier.”
“You may have a point. Have you seen that new security guy? The one with the tattoos. Fuck. I bet he’s the kind who spits in your face when he’s fucking you.”
Jason cracked up laughing, which got them a few looks in the quiet coffee shop. Most other patrons were still waking up. Jason loved how out and proud Dexter was in his pansexuality. He was one of those who was a true vers. He could throw someone around the bedroom – which Jason was fully aware of – and then happily get railed into next week. They’d hooked up once at a work event. It had been hot, but they were much better as friends. Jason didn’t date, and Dexter was happy to “spread the love” as he called it, but he ultimately wanted to settle down with someone.
They collected their coffees and took a seat at a table by the window, watching people rush past on their way to work. That was all anyone did in London –rush. Jason rushed because he was always late, but it was the default in London. There’d be a manic run to get on a Tube, everyone seemingly oblivious to the fact another would be along in a couple of minutes.
“Look what the cat dragged in,” said Dexter.
Jason looked over and saw their colleague Gabriel shuffle over looking bleary-eyed. They had a “dress for your day” policy, but Gabriel always wore a suit and he looked hot in it. That suit porn was still very much a favourite of Jason’s. He and Gabriel had never bumped uglies, though. The head of talent development was a serial monogamist and was rarely single. He seemed to attract guys who just had the black guyfantasy, and he was soon cast aside. Jason wasn’t sure why, because Gabriel was such a lovely guy. He got intense and serious quickly, and if he were in a romance book, he would need to meet someone else who was also a believer in that insta-love thing. Jason believed in insta lust, but that was as far as it went. After Grant, he would not risk his heart in a relationship again. Grant had rejected him, and he couldn’t experience that sort of pain ever again.
“What’s this meeting all about?” asked Gabriel, sitting down at the table with them.
“What meeting?” asked Jason.
“Jane said I needed to be in the office today for our stand-up. Said it wasn’t something that could be discussed over Teams.”
“When did she say that?”
“Friday.”
“Why didn’t she say anything to us?” asked Jason, feeling hurt.
Why would Jane not tell him something like that? They were supposed to be friends. When he’d moved to London, Jane had had hired him as soon as she had a vacancy. He’d already secured another job by then, but left it for the opportunity to work for Jane again. She was the best boss he’d ever had, as she understood there were barriers to how his brain worked and she didn’t hold it against him. He’d had bosses in the past who loved the positives that came with having ADHD. Jason could churn through the same amount of work as three people with no fuss, but if he went through a stressful period, it was used against him.
“You two are always in on a Monday, so probably just needed to make sure I was here. How do you do this every week? It’s criminal starting your week this way. I’m going to get a coffee. Kelly will be here in five as well.”
He walked away, leaving Jason with his spiralling thoughts.
“Stop it,” said Dexter.
“What?”
“You’re imagining something crazy about this meeting. It’s just a regular Monday morning stand-up; that’s all you need to focus on. And she didn’t tell me either, so it’s not personal, it’s just Jane getting forgetful in her old age.”
Jason chuckled. “I dare you to say that to her face.”
“I value my balls too much.”
That made Jason laugh and relaxed him a bit, though he still couldn’t get rid of the annoying doubt in his head that something bad was going to happen. If he wasn’t aware of this meeting, was it because it affected him? As an HR professional, he’d often had to pull people into surprise meetings to tell them they were being let go. The US in particular was brutal with how they fired people. Even in this company, which was nicer than the average, it was still done quickly.
Jason was late for his lunchtime meeting; the morning had gotten away from him. Their stand-up meeting had been to share that an executive had resigned, but it was all confidential for now. They would all have a part to play in managing the exit and finding a replacement. The view from above was that nobody internally was suitable for the role, which wouldn’t go down well. Executive roles didn’t come up very often, and they had a business full of high-potential talent who would start looking elsewhere if this opportunity was blocked for them.
He arrived at the solicitor’s office and confirmed his name before taking a seat in reception. Why had he squeezed this appointment into his lunch hour? He had a habit of doing things like this, maximising every moment of every day, but then he was constantly running late. He was fifteen minutes late for this appointment, and had a Teams call in forty-five minutes. He still had to get back to the office and grab somelunch on the way. At least meetings stopped after six o’clock, so he could catch up then. Jason worked long hours during the week, but they had an early finish on Fridays and he took advantage of that. It was what motivated him to get through the week.
“Mr Morris,” said a woman, who appeared to be in her fifties.
He stood up and shook her hand. She introduced herself as Samantha Jessop. That’s who he was here to see. He’d assumed one of the partners would send some minion to fetch him, so it was a refreshing chage from the last solictors he’d used. Jason followed her into a small conference room where there were already papers on the table. Once the niceties of offering a drink were out of the way, she got down to business.
