21. Charlie

CHAPTER 21

CHARLIE

The plane took to the sky and Charlie breathed a sigh of relief. He knew he'd made the right decision, even if it hurt. It was an uneventful flight. The excitement of the last time was gone. He had things to do, and they played on his mind the whole journey, meaning he didn't sleep. Just as he was drifting off, they announced the descent into Heathrow. It was going to be a long day. He'd pre-booked a cab to take him home. There was no way he was lugging two suitcases on the train and Tube during the morning rush hour, or any hour. He regarded it as a necessity, rather than an indulgence.

His friends didn't know he was coming home early. It was a conversation which needed to be had in person, especially with Gregory and Langdon, who would swoop into fixer mode. This was something Charlie had to do on his own.

The cab ride home was quick, with minimal traffic, and thankfully a cabbie who wasn't in a chatty mood and played a chilled radio station the whole way. Charlie considered whether he should get a couple of hours' sleep, but he needed to get started.

Arriving home, he manoeuvred his cases into the flat and his room. It was mid-morning and everyone was at work – even Langdon, thankfully. Hopefully, he'd be free this afternoon, but his first stop was Gregory. Charlie had a shower to wake himself up, and changed his clothes. He went for a pair of light brown chinos and a casual shirt. Spring showers were in full force, so a burgundy jumper completed the look. There were rare occasions when he thought he looked good, and today was one of them. It was only a five-minute walk to Gregory's office, so he grabbed an umbrella and his shoulder bag, ready to tackle the first thing on his list.

Charlie stepped out of the lift into the reception of Legs Up . The huge brand name on display behind the desk always made Charlie smile. It was one of the rare times Gregory had shown he had a sense of humour, when he'd let Jason name his company. He'd only just rejoined their group and Gregory had wanted an umbrella brand, as he was developing other fitness apps.

"Charlie," squealed Hannah, the receptionist.

She bounded over and almost squeezed the air out of him. Hannah had been here from the beginning and Gregory had offered to promote her half a dozen times, but she was happy being a receptionist. So Gregory did what he always did to solve a problem. Hannah was probably the best-paid receptionist in the world.

"He's DND, and it applies to family."

Gregory did that when he was in his geek zone, especially if he was in the office. The family comment was probably aimed at Jason, but Charlie wouldn't put Hannah in a difficult position.

"I'll wait."

She offered him a drink, but he declined. He wouldn't be waiting long.

Charlie: SOS. I'm in reception!

Within thirty seconds, Hannah burst out laughing. He looked up with a smile.

"He said to go through."

Charlie got up, blew her a kiss, and made his way to Gregory's office. He didn't bother knocking. None of the brothers did. Once you got past Hannah, Gregory's defences were down.

Not one to spoil himself with money, the exception for Gregory was his work environment. His office was like something out of a sci-fi movie. For starters, it was gigantic, probably the size of his entire master suite in the flat. Screens dominated one wall with the latest tech. He had a lounge area, which included an enormous sofa. Gregory slept on it when he pulled an all-nighter. The floor-to-ceiling windows gave a magnificent view of Piccadilly Circus.

Gregory was at his desk, which was monstrous and had three screens, plus his laptop. They were full of complex code Charlie had no interest in deciphering. He was so engrossed in what he was doing, he hadn't heard Charlie come in, so jumped when he plonked down in a seat in front of his desk.

"What are you doing here?" asked Gregory.

"It's lovely to see you too, brother."

"Where's Sebastian?"

"In New York."

"What –"

"Not here to talk about Sebastian. This is business."

Gregory perked up, sitting straighter in his seat. His friend was much happier talking business than relationships and emotions. Gregory gestured for him to proceed, looking all professional, wearing one of his cute bow ties. Charlie had to suppress a smile, but he was nervous. He knew how Gregory was going to react, but he had to do this.

"We need to set up a payment plan."

"For what?"

"The money you lent me."

"I didn't lend you any money."

"The twenty grand."

"That was for Pam, not you."

"Gregory. I need to do this."

"Counter-offer."

Charlie sighed. It was Gregory's stock response to any proposition. He'd even used it when they were discussing which takeaway to have.

"Go on."

I need your help with a new project I'm considering."

"You have a marketing team."

"This is more of a research project."

Charlie smiled. He loved doing research.

"This project needs your discretion, Charlie."

"How long is it?"

"It'll take a couple of weeks. I'll pay you two grand a day, which is the going rate for consultants of your calibre. After the two weeks, we'll be clear. What do you think?"

"Have you got more information on what's involved?"

Gregory hesitated, and then tapped a few keys on his laptop, before converting it into a tablet and passing it to Charlie. His jaw dropped.

"You can't be serious?"

"I thought it was time to try something different and then I heard about this. And I know just the man who can run it for me."

"Langdon?"

Gregory nodded.

"He'll lose his shit, but you know that. Where do I come in? You don't want me to talk him into it, do you?"

"No, I just need to know if it's a viable venture. Take the personal out of it. Does it make sense for me to put money in this?"

"Fine. I accept your ludicrous two grand a day, but I will work for you for a full ten days. If this takes me three days, you find me other stuff to do, and by stuff, I mean proper work, not you being you."

Gregory considered him for a second with a frown.

"We have a deal, Mr Davidson."

Charlie burst out laughing, with Gregory joining him. Next stop was Langdon.

Charlie felt strange going into Madame Hoes cabaret bar and club at lunchtime. It was deathly quiet, and Charlie wondered why they opened so early. There were two guys behind the bar stocking up. Charlie recognised a cute twink, who had been here for years but never seemed to age. The other was a new guy who was giving red-headed lumberjack fantasy. He had a beard and a bit of a belly. Charlie thought he was hot, though the guy wasn't twinky or jacked, the usual criteria for working here. But he was all for diversity.

"Charlie, what are you doing here?"

He swung round to see Langdon carrying two crates of beer. He was wearing one of the bar T-shirts, which was deliberately a size too small, and his muscular tattooed arms on display. If it wouldn't have felt like incest, Charlie would have gone there years ago.

"I need your help with something."

"Eric, can you grab this?"

Sexy Lumberjack rushed round and took the crates.

"Thanks," said Langdon.

"Any time, boss," Eric replied with a wink.

That was interesting. Was he the bi guy from work who Langdon had a crush on? It had to be with the way Langdon was blushing.

"Are you able to take a break to help me with something?"

"What's wrong? Why are you back from New York early?"

"I can't get into that now. Look –"

"Where's Sebastian?"

"Not important right now. I just need someone with me when I go on a visit."

"Where's Sebastian?"

"Langdon, will you just listen? We can talk about Sebastian later."

Langdon nodded, so Charlie explained his plan. Thankfully, there was no hesitation. He went upstairs to speak to his boss about taking an early break. Charlie knew there wouldn't be a problem. It was Langdon who ran this place, and he rarely asked for a favour. After a few minutes, he was back, pulling his jacket on.

"Where are you going?" asked Eric, looking concerned.

"Just need to do something. I'll only be gone an hour."

"You going with him?" he asked, gesturing at Charlie.

It was hard not to laugh. Did Eric see Charlie as some sort of threat?

"Langdon's one of my best friends. I need his muscle for something."

From the look on Eric's face, Charlie had said the wrong thing.

"He's more than just muscle, you know."

"I'm well aware of that," Charlie snapped back. "Shall we go, Langdon?"

Langdon was dazed, but smiled and nodded. Charlie couldn't wait to share this little interaction with Jason.

They left the bar and headed for Charing Cross Road. There would hopefully be a bus they could jump on to Camden. They could get the Tube, but it was a faff and traffic didn't look so bad. Luck seemed to be on their side as a number 24 approached the bus stop. A quick jog and they were on it. There were seats available, but they leaned against the side of the bus in the standing area.

"That was Eric then, was it?"

"Don't go there. I've no idea what all that was about."

"Seems pretty obvious to me. He was jealous."

"He's off limits."

"Why?"

"He's my bosses younger brother. And he just got jilted at the altar. It's too messy."

Charlie pondered what Langdon had said.

"I can see your brain trying to find a loophole. Stop it. And do not tell Jason about this. I don't need him trying to help in the way he does."

"I don't keep secrets from Jason."

"He knows you're back in the UK, then, does he?"

Charlie scowled at Langdon. He would speak to Jason later, but for now he had things he needed to do, and he wasn't ready for his well-intentioned friend's flapping.

They spent the rest of the bus journey going over their plan. Before long, they'd arrived and made their way to their destination. Charlie was shocked to see Paolo standing outside.

"What are you doing here?"

"Ask him," replied Paolo.

"He's going to go with you to the police. Today. No pissing about, Charlie. You need to do this now."

"No, I'll do that next week. I have other things to do first. I can't deal with that now."

"Didn't you say he saw a different boy every night?" asked Paolo.

"Fine, but let's get this over with first."

Charlie pressed the buzzer and announced himself. The door opened, and he headed up the stairs, followed by his friends. The apartment door was on the latch when they got to her floor. He'd have taken the lift, but it was a tight squeeze and always stunk of piss. There had been a moment of regret when he reached the seventh floor. Not a flicker of any exertion from Langdon or Paolo. He got his breath back before walking into Lucinda's flat.

"Charlie," she beamed. "Ooh, and we have Langdon, and who is this Latin god? Are you bringing me new recruits?"

"I just wanted to give you a heads-up about something."

She gestured for them to sit down. Although the flat was in a council tower block, it was clear the woman had money. There were gadgets everywhere, and she was dripping in jewels. Lucinda was the stereotype of a brothel madame.

"Out with it, then."

"Did you give my private number to Jeremy?"

"Of course not. I don't give any of my boys' numbers out. The last thing I want is the client cutting me out of my commission."

Of course that was her priority. Nothing to do with their safety. But, given her response, he believed her.

"Well, he got it somehow, and keeps contacting me from different phones. I block one and he uses another."

"What's he asking you for?"

"What do you think?"

"I always said you could make a lot of money if you switched things up. The amount of jobs I've had to turn down for you because you won't bottom with clients is ridiculous. It's not like you don't enjoy doing it."

"We're not here to discuss Charlie's former work," said Langdon. "This is more or a courtesy call."

"If you're not coming back to work for me, what the fuck are you doing here? I'm a busy woman."

He froze, panicked. He shouldn't have come here. It reminded him of a side of himself which was necessary but didn't like.

"Charlie will report Jeremy to the police and take out a restraining order," said Paolo calmly. "Given he regularly uses your services, he wanted to pre-warn you of this, in case the police decide to investigate the matter."

"You're doing fucking what?" she screamed, jumping up. "He brings in ten per cent of my revenue. And you want to fuck people over like that? People who are like you that need the money?"

Charlie stuttered, not sure what to say. Langdon was already standing up, daring her to try something.

"You do realise you'll be admitting to committing a crime, don't you? Don't be sending the police my way."

"He has no intention of doing that, you selfish bitch. I've done some digging into this Jeremy, and he's drugged people before. Did you warn Charlie about him?"

Charlie snapped out of his panic. The look on Lucinda's face said Langdon was onto something. This wasn't what they came here for, but he had to know.

"Of course. I'm the one who told him to only ask for a sealed bottle of water."

"How many men has he assaulted?" asked Langdon,

"Please tell me you didn't send boys there after he assaulted someone?" said Charlie, although he already knew the answer.

"You all know the risks with this work. Shit happens. A few stupid little twinks didn't follow my instructions. It's their own fault. Do you know how much money I've made from Jeremy? How much you made? Don't get all high and mighty now."

Charlie didn't respond to her rant. He stood up and gestured for Paolo to do the same. Paolo had the best poker face of anyone, but even he looked horrified.

"Forget what happens to me. I'm telling the police everything. Let's go."

Lucinda screamed and grabbed at Charlie's hair. Langdon pulled her off with no effort and tossed her onto the sofa, pointing at her to stay where she was until they left. He ushered Charlie and Paolo out first before following. Lucinda was screaming abuse as they walked out.

Once they were outside the building, Charlie went to say something, and Paolo stopped him. He took his phone out of his pocket and hit a button before showing them he'd recorded their interaction with Lucinda.

"We're going home," said Paolo. "Charlie needs to think seriously about what he's going to do with this."

"No, let's go now, so I don't lose my nerve."

"Charlie. You have to think about this. There will be consequences. When did you last sleep?"

"I don't remember."

"Right, that does it. Langdon, you go back to work. I've cleared my appointments for the day. Make sure the others are home on time."

Langdon nodded, patted Charlie on the shoulder and left them.

"We could have got the bus with him, or shared a taxi."

"We're not going home straight away."

"Where are we going?"

"You need some food. And I need to know what happened with Sebastian. No more distractions."

Charlie groaned, but knew there was no point in arguing. All of his friends would need to know what happened, eventually. He may as well start with Paolo.