1. Charlie

CHAPTER 1

CHARLIE

It had been one of the worst days of Charlie's life!

Okay, that was a tad overdramatic, but everything which could go wrong today had not just happened, but had done so on an epic scale. After he'd inhaled something which claimed to be a sandwich, Charlie prepared for a meeting with his boss. Whoever put big client meetings in the diary for a Friday afternoon was a sadist, which was the perfect description of Nathaniel Klein, owner and CEO of Sumptua. Yes, the guy was that pretentious. Nathaniel aside, Charlie loved his job, as he was actually good at it, even if he kept being overlooked.

His phone pinged with an email, which he would usually ignore when he was in the prep zone, but a quick glance told him he couldn't. It was his mum's care facility; well, it was the finance department. He was overdue with the fees, and their emails had become less tolerant than before. His mum didn't need full-time care, but she needed to be in a place where it was available if necessary. Her disability benefits would only get her somewhere basic, which wouldn't give her the independence she deserved. Charlie couldn't do that to the woman who'd raised him by herself despite her ongoing health issues. He'd found her somewhere better and paid the difference.

The staff had been understanding before and knew not to discuss the financial situation with his mum. Charlie didn't want her worrying. As far as she was concerned, the extra was not a lot, and he could easily cover it. Thankfully, he had something lined up for tonight with his side hustle, which would net him a decent amount, so he could clear some arrears. He put his phone face down, putting off the inevitable until later. He had to be prepared to wow his boss at their meeting, so he could finally take the lead with a new client.

Sumptua was a marketing agency which worked with the biggest names in property development. The company had originally started out with a broad remit of clients, but Nathaniel soon realised there was more money in being niche, and it matched his personality: one-dimensional. Charlie was an account executive, which basically meant he did all the donkey work whilst others took the credit and were lavished with gifts from their satisfied clients. He'd been working at Sumptua for three years and had been asking about a promotion for the last eighteen months. He was long overdue, as some of his friendlier colleagues had pointed out. Charlie was convinced Nathaniel enjoyed constantly dangling the opportunity in front of him. Charlie wasn't sure how much more he could do to prove himself worthy. Every time he thought of resigning, he talked himself out of it. He'd only have to start again somewhere new to prove himself. He'd put the work in here, and if he was a bit more patient, it would pay off. His long-term dream was to have his own agency with a focus on sustainable and inclusive projects, but it was a long way off. His first step was to get promoted.

Nathaniel's door was open when Charlie arrived for their meeting. His office was the definition of opulence. They were in the West End, with Nathaniel's corner office overlooking Grosvenor Square. The building had a Victorian feel to it, but the interior was slick and modern. The windows flooded the room with light, which bounced off all the glass and chrome Nathaniel had everywhere. There was a tackiness to it, the kind you saw when someone in the lowest echelons of social class won the lottery, although Nathaniel came from money, so there was no logical explanation for his poor taste. Charlie knew it was safe to be a bitch, as long as it was all in his head.

Nathaniel could be handsome if he didn't try so hard. He was overly polished and everything about him was immaculate: clothes, hair, nails, watch, and even his wedding ring. His poor wife. The guy cheated on her constantly. It wasn't even a secret in the office. They'd all heard him screwing his latest intern last week. Everyone just ignored it. Even though he'd clearly spent time and money on his appearance, he always had an uncomfortable sneer on his face, which made him unattractive.

"Charlie, you're finally here. Have a seat."

Charlie glanced at his watch. He was two minutes early, but did as he was told.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to stand you down from the meeting today."

Charlie should have expected this, but he still deflated.

"I know you put a lot of work into the pitch, but it was way off what the client was looking for. I've had to spend a lot of time turning it around so we're ready for the meeting. This one needs to be handled solo."

"That's disappointing. Can you tell me what specifically was wrong with the social media strategy? I thought I'd understood the client brief, and I did a ton of research so it aligned to their values. We even spoke about my idea, and you told me to go for it."

"Charlie, I think you've been here long enough to know what was wrong with it. Do we need to have this conversation again?"

Well, that made him feel about two inches tall, but the guy was bullshitting, and Charlie didn't know how to respond politely.

"What's this really about, Charlie?"

Charlie wanted to scream at his boss. It was always the same. He'd been told his work wasn't good enough, but could get no meaningful feedback. How was he supposed to progress if he wasn't told where he needed to improve? His colleagues said Charlie was good, especially on the social media side. They came to him for advice on their own pitches. He was seen as the social media expert of the company. It was an area he wanted to specialise in for when he had his own agency, but Nathaniel had advised him to become a fully rounded generalist marketeer first. It made sense, but not if it was going to hold him back.

Charlie had to say something so he didn't appear ungrateful. He needed this job, and the name on his CV wouldn't do him any harm, but it was hard not to be frustrated.

"I'm just disappointed not to be attending the pitch."

"I get that. I was in your position once. Learning the ropes. I'd have you in there to observe, but I really need your help with something else."

And there it was. Nathaniel wanted to offload some crap on him to deal with before the end of the day, and Charlie would do it as he always did, no matter what time he left the office.

It was almost six o'clock when Charlie sent through his work to Nathaniel, which ironically was a social media strategy for an established client. Charlie wasn't waiting around for it to be dissected, although Nathaniel had left the office two hours ago. The only person left was Alison, Nathaniel's PA. Charlie packed his desk up, putting stuff in his locker. Only Nathaniel and Alison had their own desks. It was a free-for-all for everyone else.

"Celebrating tonight, golden boy?"

He looked up at Alison, who was smiling. Most people described her as a Rottweiler in the way she protected Nathaniel's diary, but Charlie had always got along with her.

"Why am I the golden boy?"

"That social media strategy for Steele Property Holdings. They loved it."

Charlie tried to keep his face impassive, and saw he had clearly failed when Alison looked at him with a sympathetic smile.

"He did it again, didn't he?"

All Charlie could do was nod before he got choked up. He was used to his boss taking credit for his work, but for him to have told Charlie it was rubbish and then gone and successfully pitched it to the client was a new low. He had to get out of there before he broke down. Charlie was officially upgrading today to the worst day.

He left without another word. He needed to get home and change. His phone pinged.

Lucinda: Client cancelled. Call me when you can.

He groaned in frustration. Although the last thing he was in the mood for was to entertain someone else and be all chirpy and flirty, he really needed that money. Rather than put it off, he pressed the call button as he walked onto the street. Lucinda answered immediately.

"Babe. Good news. All's not lost. Jeremy asked for you personally. Well, he asked for the brown-haired twink with the big dick."

"I think I'm past my twink era."

"He thinks you're twenty-three," she laughed.

"Of course he does," Charlie sighed. "I can't see Jeremy tonight."

"Beggars can't be choosers. He's willing to pay a premium for it being last minute. I didn't tell him you had another job cancel on you."

"Why did the guy cancel?"

"No idea. You know we don't pry."

"I can't... I'm not in the right headspace for Jeremy tonight. I'm just going to go home and eat my weight in chocolate."

"What's wrong?"

Lucinda liked to act all concerned, but in reality, she just wanted to make sure her boys were still bringing in the coin.

"Just work stuff."

"I don't know why you still do that job, babe. If you quit and came to me full time, you'd make a fortune. You're not getting any younger. You need to bank that dollar before gravity takes hold."

She laughed, and he joined her. Lucinda was only out for herself, but she knew how to cheer him up.

"I just can't see Jeremy tonight."

"If you're sure, but he doesn't do repeats with anyone. You're the exception. I'll let you know if something else comes up. Bye."

She hung up before he could respond. Fuck! Had he really just turned down a load of money? Jeremy was ridiculously wealthy. Lucinda always described him as easy money, but the one thing Jeremy wasn't was easy. He was demanding and got in your head. Charlie always felt like shit for days afterwards. No, with the way he felt right now, he'd made the right call. He had a twenty-minute walk home – probably longer, once he stopped off to stock up on junk food.

Charlie walked into the flat he shared with his four best friends and smiled when he heard the raised voices coming from the kitchen.

"You need to pull your head out of your arse, sweetie, or that twink is gonna swoop in there and steal your man," said Jason, with his usual dramatic flourish.

"He's off limits," Langdon grunted in frustration.

"Now you're just making up excuses. That man is so hot, he makes lesbians wet. What are you waiting for?"

Langdon burst out laughing, shaking his head and opening the fridge to get more ingredients for whatever he was cooking. He was the chef of their group. Jason turned to the sound of Charlie chuckling, squealed and launched himself into Charlie's arms. Jason was the twinkiest of twinks and loved cuddles with all his friends. He put it down to not being hugged much as a child, which he mentioned as dismissively and casually as though he was talking about the weather. Charlie knew there was more to it. Jason was guarded about his past, but not with Charlie. They shared their darkest secrets with each other, as they weren't like the others who always tried to fix things in their different ways. It was an admirable quality, but not everyone needed saving. Jason had moved back up north after university and they'd lost touch, but two years ago he'd come back to London with no explanation of what he'd been doing for four years. The others had accepted him back into the fold without question. Charlie knew the truth, but it was Jason's story to tell.

Charlie shared this incredible flat with his four best friends in the heart of Soho thanks to their friend Gregory. He'd become a tech millionaire at twenty-five, bought this place and had it renovated, so it was perfect for all of them. Gregory wouldn't take a penny in rent, and they'd had to wear him down so he would accept the rest of them paying five hundred quid a month each to cover the bills. Charlie was convinced everything cost a lot more than that, but there was no reasoning with Gregory.

The flat took up the whole top two floors of a five-storey building. The top floor hosted the master suite, an office, and a game room. Gregory was a huge gaming nerd, although he had made all his money with a fitness app. The floor they were on had an open-plan living, kitchen, and dining space. There were four bedrooms, each with their own en suite. Charlie could never have afforded to live somewhere like this, but Gregory wanted to share his success with the guys he called his true family. Charlie was fiercely independent, so had been the last one to accept Gregory's offer, but he wasn't sure now why he'd hesitated. This place felt like a home, full of love from friends who always had his back.

They'd all met at university as part of the LGBTQ+ network. They were all shy first-years, except for Jason, who had never been shy and wore his sexuality as a badge of honour. He wasn't femme; he was just very gay and would say the wildest things in public, not giving two fucks about what anyone thought. Charlie would love to have that kind of confidence.

Langdon was like their big brother. He was thirty-two, so five years older than most of them. He'd been late in going to university because of his own family crap. Langdon was an intimidating guy to look at, with big muscles and tattoos, but he had the kindest heart and would do anything to protect his brothers, which was how they referred to each other.

Charlie was the lucky one. His mum had struggled with raising him on her own, but he'd been surrounded by love. She had been his biggest cheerleader when he'd come out. His friends didn't have that. Paolo was their other flatmate and brother. He was between them all in age, at twenty-nine. His family still spoke to him, but it was so fucked up, Charlie wasn't sure how he could be in the same room as them after what they did to him.

"Are you still working tonight?" Jason whispered.

He was the only one who knew of Charlie's side hustle. The others would go ballistic.

"Cancelled, but hopefully I can get something else tomorrow," said Charlie.

"Okay, well, you look like you've had a shit day. Shall we go out, get wasted, and find some burly bears to pound away our trauma?"

Charlie cracked up laughing. Jason could always cheer him up.

"I've got a date with the sofa and all this," he replied, holding up two bags of junk food.

"At least eat something proper first," grumbled Langdon.

"Of course, oh wise one."

Langdon smiled and went back to cooking his delicious tuna pasta salad.

"What you got?" asked Jason, snatching the bags and pulling out mountains of chocolate, biscuits, sweets, and crisps. "God, how bad a day was it?"

"I think I need to get a new job," said Charlie, his voice cracking.

Jason immediately dropped the bags on the counter and marched Charlie over to the gigantic corner sofa they had, which could fit all five of them comfortably if they were having one of their movie nights.

"Tell Mother all about it."

"Mother? You're the youngest one here."

"Age is nothing with my wisdom."

Charlie cocked a brow, causing Jason to laugh. He was still holding on to Charlie. He'd always been the tactile type. It had only amplified since he'd moved back to London. Langdon appeared with a large glass of sauvignon blanc for each of them.

"My hero," said Jason, accepting the glass and taking a large gulp.

Langdon shook his head, smiling, and went back to finishing dinner.

"Where are the others?" asked Charlie.

"Gregory is still in the office. Said he was ‘in the zone,' and we know what that means."

"We'll have to drag him out for Sunday brunch. Where's Paolo?"

"He's with his sister. The God-botherers are at some Bible camp praying for his soul, so he's spending the weekend with her."

"And they allowed that?"

"His auntie is looking after her and you know how she dotes on him."

"Just the three of us tonight, then?"

"I'm at work at eight," said Langdon.

"Just us two, then."

"Which is why you should come out with me," whined Jason. "You don't want some brute of a man taking advantage of me, do you?"

"I think it'll be the other way around. I just want to veg on the sofa and watch The Biggest Loser reruns, feeling hypocritical as I stuff my face with crap, knowing I'm still the skinniest one in the room."

"Please." Jason pouted, fluttering his eyelashes.

"Ugh, fine, but as soon as you score, I'm coming home."