Chapter 2 Dexter
DEXTER
Dexter walked out of The Gherkin feeling positive.
That had gone better than he’d expected.
The sooner he was out of JenSure, the better.
The last two years since Jason had joined had been the best of his working career, and he was only a couple of years off forty, so he had been around a long time.
He hadn’t planned on ending up working in talent acquisition.
Dexter had a biology degree, but he’d done some work at a recruitment agency straight after university and been great at it.
Within six years, he was a director, but that had been because of job hopping every two years, which was the norm in the industry.
He’d moved in-house and had been at JenSure for three years now.
He had planned a long stint here, but the team he was a part of for two years had now all left.
His old boss, Jane. Kelly, the former head of reward.
Jason had stormed out in dramatic fashion, which was very him, and then Gabriel, who was his work husband in a purely platonic sense.
Gabriel was into jocks, which Dexter definitely was not.
He’d known Gabriel was going to quit on bonus day, and had suggested he speak to the CEO, Alex.
Dexter had heard on the office grapevine that Alex was angry about Jason leaving.
Simon might try to bury the news of Gabriel quitting, so going over his head would make sure Alex knew about it immediately.
Dexter would have loved to see the look of shock on Simon’s annoyingly handsome face.
His boss gave off major DILF vibes – his jaw looked as if it had been carved from marble, the designer stubble was straight off a movie set, and those green eyes .
. . Fuck, the guy ticked all of his boxes, but the one thing Dexter didn’t do was fuck arseholes.
Well, he did, but in the literal rather than metaphorical sense.
Simon Woods also gave off major top energy, but Dexter would happily have thrown his legs over his head for the guy if he’d met him on a night out.
But now he knew Simon, and he wouldn’t touch him if he were the last man on earth.
Well, he wouldn’t go that far. Sometimes you had to make sacrifices for orgasms.
Okay, Dexter needed to stop thinking about fucking his boss, as he was getting a semi in the street, and the trousers he was wearing had been chosen to show off his assets.
He might not have a gym body, but he had the perfect bubble butt.
He did not know how he’d been so blessed, as he hadn’t stepped foot inside a gym in over a decade, but it was something people complimented him on all the time.
His ex-girlfriend used to love rimming and pegging it, and who was he to complain?
Why he was thinking about his ex was a mystery.
She’d been batshit crazy and had not taken the breakup well.
Thankfully, he hadn’t heard a peep from her in a couple of months.
He didn’t have another meeting for half an hour, so he detoured onto Leadenhall Street to get a coffee.
This had been his second interview, and there was one final stage, which was an informal chat with the managing partner.
This would be his first time working for a law firm, but after a decade in financial services, it was time for a more radical change, rather than just a rinse and repeat of what he’d done before.
He’d considered looking at private equity firms, as they paid stupid money, but you also had no life, and he needed some flexibility with his mum the way she was.
He ordered his gallon of caramel latte and was scrolling on his phone when a message popped up.
Jason: I’m back!!! How is it going with cunt face?
Dexter barked out a laugh, which got him a few looks. His coffee was ready, so he thanked the barista and grabbed a seat before replying.
Dexter: I’ve missed this sass in my life every day!
Jason: I’m irreplaceable. I heard about Gabriel. Are you looking as well?
Dexter: Just came from an interview.
Jason: Hot! What did the interviewer look like to make you do that?
It took Dexter a second to follow Jason’s train of thought, which was not unusual, and he couldn’t help but laugh again. He looked at his watch, and realised he only had fifteen minutes to get back to his desk, grab his laptop, and find a touchdown room for his meeting.
Dexter: You have a one-track mind. Did you sort things out with Patrick?
Jason: Daddy has been looking after me, and I’m still not able to walk properly.
After another burst of laughter, and more glares from other patrons, he scooped up his coffee and headed out.
He’d asked for extra syrup, so it was sickly sweet, and it was just what he needed right now.
Dexter was happy that Jason had sorted things out with Patrick.
He still didn’t know the full story, but there was no doubt Jason would tell him everything when they next caught up.
Dexter and Jason had slept together once, and it had been a great night, but they were just friends who’d got the attraction to each other out of their system. Not an unusual thing in the queer community. It was easier to focus on being friends after orgasms had been exchanged.
The rest of the week dragged, and it wasn’t until Friday when he got the good news: he was through to the final stage of the interview process, and up against only one other person.
The recruitment agent said Dexter was the preferred candidate, but that’s what she probably told the other person as well.
Either way, she would get her commission, so it didn’t matter to her which of them got it.
Dexter was meeting Gabriel for a drink after work.
They were going to hit Soho. He’d seen Simon a few times in Knights Corner, so didn’t want to risk being in a social setting with his boss in close proximity, especially with Gabriel.
Simon was among those who were in the office every day.
To be fair, he’d said he had zero expectations of his team to do any more than the mandated three days.
It was his preference, and he had his own office, which meant he could shut himself away, unlike the rest of them, who were in an open-plan space.
Simon was only one of three people who had their own office, along with the CEO and Chairman.
The rest of the execs roughed it with the commoners.
Dexter was working at home today, because the office was dead on a Friday, which would mean the potential for forced interaction with Simon.
The only conversation they’d had all week was in his weekly one-to-one when he’d been told to take over managing Gabriel’s team temporarily.
Any other interaction was over Teams. In the office, they merely gave a brief head nod or fake smiled if they passed each other.
It was awkward, and the sooner he could get out of the place, the better.
He hoped that when he resigned they would put him on garden leave.
Being paid to sit on your arse at home for three months would be wonderful.
But knowing his luck, Simon would want to rinse as much out of him as he could.
The dreaded noise of an unsolicited Teams call snapped him out of his thoughts.
Why was Simon calling him on a Friday afternoon?
Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good. Maybe he could ignore it.
Or would it play on his mind all weekend?
It definitely would. Dexter put on his smiley face before answering.
“Hi, Simon.”
“Dexter, do you have two minutes?”
“Of course.” A Simon call never lasted two minutes.
“Alex has asked for an update on the NED hiring. I know you’re all over it, but he’s meeting the chairman for dinner tonight. I didn’t want to risk missing you.”
Dexter was leading the hiring of three new non-executive directors, which were high-profile hires.
Simon was very hands-off, giving Dexter complete autonomy.
Now the CEO had asked for an update. It was a perfectly reasonable request, so why did Dexter feel nothing but pathological rage at his boss?
He had two buttons on his shirt undone, which was not his usual attire.
Jesus. Did the guy just look hot no matter what he wore?
It was really annoying. Dexter really needed to stick his dick in someone this weekend.
It had been too long if he was having lustful thoughts about this prick.
“We’ve given two of the roles to an agency that specialises in diverse hires,” said Dexter, getting back into professional mode.
“The other is on the open market, and potentially the successor as chair of the audit committee. The long list was reviewed, and we’ll have the shortlist on Tuesday. Louise is doing first stage with me.”
She was their company secretary and sat on the executive committee, so was a key stakeholder. This had all been agreed, and Simon knew the timeline, so he wasn’t sure what else he needed to know.
“And what sort of talent are we getting from the agency?”
“Chairman been saying things he shouldn’t again?” asked Dexter.
“Something like that.”
“We’re likely to end up with six on the shortlist. Four are women, and three will be from an ethnic minority background.
We’ve got a couple of tech people, as that’s a gap on the board, but this will be their first NED role.
We agreed to take that approach for one position.
The other four have all been NEDs before. ”
“That’s excellent work, Dexter.”
“Er . . . thanks.”
He could feel his face heating from the unexpected praise. He needed to get off this call ASAP.
“That’s all I need. Thanks, Dexter. Have a great weekend.”
“You too,” he said with a smile, before hanging up.
What the fuck was all that about? And why did his face still feel like it was on fire?
There was no way Simon wouldn’t have noticed him blush, even over Teams. He was a ginger, and his skin was practically translucent.
Any time he went red, everyone noticed. He looked at the clock on his laptop.
It had just passed three. He had no other meetings today.
Could he just log off early? What if Simon needed to ask any more questions?
It would be just his luck that he’d log off and then he’d get another call.
Before he could overthink it, he sent a Teams message.
Dexter: Going to log off early. WhatsApp me if anything urgent comes up.
He reread the message about three hundred times before pressing send.
It was read almost immediately. The bubble started dancing, so Simon was writing a reply.
Then they stopped for a few seconds and started again.
This went on for almost two minutes. What the fuck was he writing?
A dissertation on why he couldn’t leave early on a Friday?
He’d done well over fifty hours this week.
After what felt like a decade, the reply came through, which was just a thumbs up.
What. The. Fuck!
That was worse than if he’d sent the essay.
Now Dexter would wonder all weekend what the hell he’d been going to say.
Rather than catastrophise any more, he logged off and shoved his laptop in his bag for next week.
Monday was the anchor day for the HR team.
The one day of the week when every team member based in London would be in the office.
Dexter didn’t hate the idea. It got one of the office days out of the way straight away, and it was easier to get a desk.
That it was Simon’s idea meant he was programmed to bitch about it with anyone else who moaned.
You know, because he was a thirty-eight-year-old child.
Mickey’s was packed out, as it often was on a Friday night, so they made their way to the VIP lounge. He hadn’t seen Gabriel in person since he’d quit, and Dexter didn’t want to spend the night screaming to be heard.
“Seen anyone you like?” asked Dexter.
“Nah, I’m not interested.”
“You mean you’re hung up on a guy you can’t have, like always.”
Gabriel glared at him, but there was no heat in it.
He was a handsome guy, so got a lot of looks from people, but he had a penchant for crushing on straight guys who did not have miraculous bisexual awakenings like they do in romance books.
To be fair to Gabriel, he never acted on his crushes or overstepped in a way that would make someone feel uncomfortable, he just didn’t consider anyone else until his crush fizzled out.
The current one had been going for a while, and there was no sign of it going away.
“Why don’t we just get you laid tonight?” suggested Dexter.
“What about you?”
“I’m sure I can find someone to entertain me.” He smiled, trying not to imagine himself finding a Simon doppelg?nger to fuck him into the mattress. After having inappropriate fantasies about his boss after their Teams call, Dexter was in a bottom mood.
They grabbed a table as all the booths were taken.
Even here it was busier than normal. It wasn’t a bank holiday, or the end of the month, and Dexter wondered what had brought so many people out tonight.
It was only because they caught a couple leaving with their mouths glued to each other that they got seats.
“Have you started looking for another job yet, or are you still waiting until after Easter?” asked Dexter.
“Going to take it easy this month, and then look properly when we’re into May. I can’t start a new job until July anyway with the garden leave, so there’s no rush. I might just go contracting for a bit, rather than going straight into another perm role. Is there much on the market?”
“In your area, it’s great. It’s mine that’s shit. Perm roles are few and far between as well.”
“You have the final interview, so you’ll be out of there soon.”
“I just wish it weren’t so far away.”
The managing partner was travelling for the next week, and had requested the final interviews be in person when he was back.
“Let’s have Jaegerbombs,” said Gabriel.
Dexter nodded. He was just in the right mood to get wasted.