4. Brendan
CHAPTER 4
Brendan
T he bank of glass walls behind my desk and the expanse of space and light beyond it are both luxuries of having our headquarters based in the London Docklands, where square footage comes at less of a premium than in the city centre.
When my grandfather dragged his eldest son—my father—over from their home in the Dublin docks to forge a name for the Sullivan family within the London construction industry, neither of them could have conceived of the success they would go on to achieve, the wealth they would build.
Wealth that was crystallised when we took Sullivan Construction public on the stock market a few years ago, netting our family billions of pounds, which my brother Gabe now manages under the umbrella of our in-house investment firm, Rath Mor.
Billions that we’ve recently pledged to give away.
While our sister Mairead spends most of her time managing stallions with boners—she runs our family’s stud farm—Gabe and I stand at the helms of our asset management and construction businesses respectively.
Gabe’s still a little green behind the ears, having left his calling as a priest after a decade to take up the reins at Rath Mor, but I’ve grown up in Sullivan Construction and I’ve earned the top job.
I may be less academically inclined than my little brother, who’s always reading ancient philosophers and studying the fucking Bible, but I’m a doer.
A grafter. I’m no nepo baby, no matter what the press likes to say about me.
Construction suits me.
It suits my attention span (short) and my energy levels (high).
Every single day there’s a different fight to have, a different fire to put out, and when the toiling has ceased, you have a building at the end of it.
A building that shelters humans, allows them to live and work and dream.
If that’s not job satisfaction, I don’t know what is.
My favourite workdays are those where I’m out of the office, walking our sites.
Even with this dazzling bank of glass behind me, I get antsy pretty quickly staring at my monitor.
Today has been a desk day, which is why I’m particularly intrigued by the next appointment in my diary.
My brother’s girlfriend and the new CEO of our foundation, Athena, has requested a meeting.
Even if she’s most likely only here to charm me into handing over some land earmarked for Sullivan Construction so she can turn it into a fucking equestrian centre or public library, I’ll find it entertaining.
First, she’s stupid levels of hot, and second, I’ve quickly learnt that any conversation with her is like a particularly strenuous game of squash—athletic and exhausting.
I’m sure today’s not the day she’ll disappoint on either front.
‘ I have a proposition for you,’ Athena announces, running her hand over Mark’s head.
He’s sitting to attention at her side as if she’s dangling a roast chicken leg in front of him.
Clearly, even dogs aren’t immune to her charms. Once again, I’m half tickled, half pissed off that my holier-than-thou brother hired himself a full-service executive assistant.
Tickled because I can’t believe he had the initiative, let alone the balls, and pissed off because the Angel Gabriel has landed his perfect girlfriend.
I bet he hasn’t had a boring day in the office since he met this bombshell.
And I’d put money on their workdays being just as ‘fruitful’ since she switched from being his fuck toy to the head of his philanthropic mission.
‘Of course you do.’
I bet she gets everything she asks for.
It would be a stupid man who goes up against her fierce intellect and her total lack of fucks given.
Still, I won’t roll over without a fight.
She licks her lips and leans forward, offering her palm to Mark, who proceeds to slobber all over it.
I’m absolutely not expecting the next word out of her mouth.
‘Seraph.’
I grin, intrigued.
‘What about it?’
‘Don’t tell me you haven’t been entertaining the idea of hiring a Seraph EA since you found out the capacity in which Gabe hired me.
’
I have many charms, but clearly an air of mystery is not one of them.
‘And if I have?’
‘Not only can I get you on their books.’ She pauses for effect.
‘But I have the perfect candidate for you. She’s just in the process of joining them, and I thought I’d do you the courtesy of giving you first refusal.
’
‘Playing pimp now, are you? Did my brother slash your salary by that much?’
She shakes her head as if to say you foolish, foolish man.
‘No one’s twisting your arm.
Are you interested or not?
’
‘Why are you being nice?’ I demand.
‘Is this about sequestering some of my land?’
‘I’m never nice.
I’m disappointed you haven’t worked that out already.
And no, this isn’t about your land.
I’ll let Mairead wear you down about the equestrian centre all on her own.
This is because there are a handful of people in this world whom I care about—literally one hand’s worth—and your brother is one, but my friend Marlowe is another.
’ She arches an eyebrow, cool as you like.
‘You remember her, don’t you?
’
‘You know I do,’ I say mulishly, because not only did I make a gigantic tit of myself the night I met the celestial Marlowe, but I’ve submitted some inelegant requests to Athena since then to put in a good word for me with her mate, and she’s refused point blank.
‘Thought so. Well, Marlowe is joining Seraph, and I thought you might be a good fit for her. From a hiring perspective, I mean.’
She smiles innocently, as if she hasn’t just intentionally dropped a double entendre that goes straight to my groin, because her friend is nothing short of delectable, and I know very fucking well that she’d be a stellar “ fit” for me.
But joining Seraph? That’s a concept I can’t begin to wrap my head around.
The Marlowe I met was all wispy blonde hair and long, floaty dress and bohemian elegance.
The vibe she projected before I scared her off with my creepy nerves was very much that of the wholesome, unwittingly hot primary school teacher you’d try to fuck if you had a kid in her class.
Like Miss Honey from Matilda but with that virginal sexuality thing ramped up to porno levels, if that makes sense.
It doesn’t make sense.
But neither does her being a professional whore.
‘She has a job, doesn’t she?
’ I ask, performing a mental scramble.
‘At the RA? Why the fuck would she want to join Seraph?’
‘Like most people who prostitute themselves, she needs the money,’ Athena says crisply.
Clear subtext: Don’t for a single second dare to think that women actually want to be in these roles, you entitled dickhead.
‘What does she need it for?’
She frowns, hesitating before she answers me.
‘Let's just say she's been hit with some... unforeseen expenses recently.’
That sentence is brimming with subtext, but the unspoken has never been my strong point.
I’m a guy who takes things at face value.
So Marlowe’s got greedy, has she?
Either that or she’s in some kind of debt.
Well, I can get on board with funding her shopping addiction.
‘And you want me to hire her? Why the hell would you be okay with me hiring her but not okay with helping me date her?’
‘Oh, please.’ She gives me a look that’s beyond disdainful while massaging Mark’s jowls.
‘Firstly, you don’t want to date her, you want to fuck her.
I’m under no illusions about guys like you, Brendan, so don’t waste my time or insult my intelligence by trying to pretend otherwise.
And secondly, she needs this job.
Do you really want to date someone who’s fucking another guy during office hours, Monday to Friday?
’
My face, I assume, provides its own answer.
On second thought, my brother is welcome to this woman.
Smoking she may be, but she’s a piece of work.
‘I thought not. And thirdly, I may not think you’re anywhere near worthy of being dating material for Marlowe, but I suspect you’re a semi-decent guy behind this fuckboy-slash-alphahole exterior you have going on.
’ Her expression grows more serious.
‘And, after four years of working for Seraph, I’m all too aware of what kind of clients it attracts.
I’m just looking out for my friend, and I trust you, as far as I can trust any man, not to behave like a gigantic twat.
I’m trusting that you’d abide by the spirit of the contract and treat her with decency.
’
I’m half listening.
I think she just said something that, by her standards, could be construed as almost touching.
But, honestly, my chimp brain is racing away with me, because fuuuuuuuuuuck.
Marlowe in my office every day, where Plain Elaine currently sits?
Marlowe sucking my dick under my desk and bending over my desk whenever the fuck I like?
Jesus Christ.
‘If you get so much as a semi right now, then I’m out of here,’ Athena warns, pointing her free hand at me.
‘Give me a fucking break,’ I grumble, but I scoot my chair closer towards my desk just in case.
‘Here’s the score, Brendan, just in case you were too busy fantasising about banging my friend to absorb what I’ve been telling you.
’ Damn it, how does she do that?
‘This is the only way you’re going to get your hands on Marlowe.
She has a lot going on right now.
I won’t let you dick her around, but I will let you dick her down if you play by my rules and the Seraph rules.
‘You don’t even need to be exclusive—she’s your employee.
You can have your fun with her at work and then get your end away in whatever wanky nightclubs you like to frequent out of work.
’
She literally had me at Marlowe: beautiful, classy, and cultured.
Having a woman like her decorate my office would be the ultimate win, but there’s no way I’m caving so easily.
For some reason, Athena really wants this.
I can tell by the steeliness in her voice and the intensity in her demeanour.
I cock my head and chew on my lower lip as I pretend to appraise her offer.
‘I want you to throw in an Alchemy membership.’
‘Done,’ she says immediately.
‘There’s no way you’ll get my brother to budge on that front.
’ Gabe’s been dragging his feet on proposing me for the exclusive sex club he joined before he met Athena.
Selfish little dog in the manger.
I thought former priests were supposed to be more charitable.
‘I don’t need to. I have plenty of ways in.
My former boss’s wife, Genevieve, owns the place, and my new friend’s boyfriend has a stake.
Adam Wright. I’ve got you covered.
If that’s your price, consider it done.
’
I sit back and allow myself a smirk.
Marlowe, Marlowe, Marlowe.
Five minutes in her presence and I knew she served up that ladylike, classy thing I love with aplomb.
I bet she’d be all doe-eyed and tremulous and shy if I fed her my dick.
I’ve thought about it since; I’m not going to lie.
Thought about how her eyelashes would flutter, and how she’d protest that it wouldn’t fit.
How incredibly fucking gratifying it would be to watch as ecstasy took over that beautiful face and her outward breeding gave way to her inner prurience.
How tiny she’d feel as I caged her beneath my body.
No wonder I’ve been hounding Athena about putting in a good word for me.
And here she is, telling me in so many words that I’m not fit to wipe the dog shit off Marlowe’s shoe but that, for the right price, I can have her anyway, in the most salacious ways possible.
It should sicken me, fill me with guilt, but it doesn’t.
Quite the opposite. It flips a switch that has an ill-earned sense of power and entitlement coursing through my veins.
If I’m completely honest with myself, a sense of ownership.
‘You’re on.’
Athena nods once, as if she expected nothing less, and caresses Mark’s head one more time before elegantly getting to her feet.
‘I’ll speak to the Alchemy team and I’ll get Camille from Seraph to email over a questionnaire and application form today.
With me as a character reference, you can skip some of the due diligence.
The paperwork is more about assessing your needs rather than your eligibility.
’
My needs.
I began this meeting preparing to do battle with Athena.
I’m ending it wondering if this little firecracker is, in fact, my sexual fairy godmother.
She takes a step forward and slams her palms down on my desk, and I find myself cowering instinctively.
‘One more thing. You harm my friend, physically or emotionally, and I will take great pleasure in skinning your balls with a rusty butter knife. Do I make myself clear?’
I have no doubt she means every word.
Just as I have no plans to harm a hair on her beautiful friend’s head.
But if the lovely Marlowe wants to sell herself to me, body and soul, to fund her penchant for self-indulgence, she should understand that I expect my pound of flesh.
I’ll take exquisite pleasure in breaking her in and working her as hard as I can.
I hope she knows what she’s signing up for.