Chapter 9 #2
“Oh, yeah.” She nodded, before going upstairs, probably to her room. Justine had mentioned she spent a lot of time in there.
“I’ve been thinking about what you said when you called,” said Justine. “You should get a restraining order out against him.”
“Don’t you think that’s extreme?”
“He broke into your house whilst you were in the shower. What if he’d gone all Norman Bates on you?”
“Then we wouldn’t be having this conversation now,” he quipped.
“I’m serious, Simon. This is serious. It’s twice now he’s let himself in. First he cooks dinner, then he listens to you take a shower.”
“That’s not all he listened to,” mumbled Simon.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.”
“Is there something else you’re not telling me?”
“Nothing you’d want your big brother sharing, so let’s move on.”
“Oh my God,” she whispered. “Were you in the shower with someone else?”
“Of course not.”
“Then why are you turning bright red?”
“I’m not having this conversation with you.”
There were five years between them, and since they’d both hit their twenties they’d been more like friends, but there were still some things he wasn’t sharing with her.
“Who is he?”
“I wasn’t in there with anyone, thank God. It was bad enough Jared heard . . .” Simon trailed off, not wanting to finish that sentence.
“Oh, you’re not stopping there. Do you want me to tickle you?”
He scowled at her, but he knew she’d do it. Why had he thought it was a good idea to visit his sister?
“I was just . . . with myself . . . and thinking about someone else . . . I said their name out loud, and Jared . . .” He ran his hands down his face to cool the heat in his cheeks.
“Let me get this straight. Your ex-husband broke into your house and listened to you while you were having a wank in the shower?”
“It was lovely to see you, Justine, but I’m gonna head back now.”
He went to walk away but she grabbed him, laughing. He didn’t get what was so funny about this whole situation.
“Then what happened?” she prompted.
“He said he could get the divorce annulled.”
“So, we’re skipping the bloke you were wanking over in the shower? Don’t think we won’t be coming back to that, but it can wait until Andy’s back. He’ll want all the deets as well.”
“Deets? You’re forty years old. And for a straight guy, your husband has an unhealthy interest in my sex life.”
“It’s called being an ally. Trust me, that man is one hundred per cent heterosexual.”
“Yes, let’s not go down the oversharing route, shall we? Just because you want all the deets about my sex life, doesn’t mean I want them about yours.”
“Of course, Dad. Now, back to you. What did Jared say after he talked about the divorce being annulled? Is that even possible?”
“No, and I told him that the only way we could reverse the divorce would be to get married again, and he thought that meant I was proposing, so he dropped to his knees and accepted.”
Justine burst out laughing.
“It’s not funny. He seemed deadly serious. He tried to get my towel off so he could . . . well, you know.”
That just made her laugh even more.
“I locked myself in the bathroom to get dressed.”
More laughter.
“Then when I came out, he was gone.”
She’d calmed down a bit, but was still tittering.
He wanted to laugh with her, but he found the whole situation uneasy.
If he knew how Jared was getting into his house, he would feel more comfortable.
It was the not knowing that was putting him on edge.
It was also the reason he was here. He didn’t feel comfortable in his own house, so the sooner those additional cameras arrived, the happier he’d be.
He arrived back at his house early Sunday evening. Justine had fed him a gigantic breakfast, followed by a full Sunday lunch, and he’d probably gained a stone in the last twenty-four hours. Not that he was complaining. Justine was an excellent cook.
His brother-in-law had dragged some details about Dexter out of him.
All they knew was that he was someone Simon worked with, and was just a bit of fun.
His sister had gone all gooey-eyed, and started looking up hats online to wind him up.
No chance he was ever getting married again, even if he met someone. His first marriage had cost him enough.
Andy had suggested he just have some no-strings fun with Dexter, but they didn’t know he was Simon’s direct report and that any personal relationships needed to be declared to HR. The irony wasn’t lost on Simon.
His new cameras had been delivered, so he would need to get someone round to put them up. He could do a few things around the house, but he’d be using an expert for his security.
Sitting alone on his sofa, his brain spun with what he could do.
Simon had always been someone who took what he wanted – as long as nobody go hurt, you could always be decisive.
Nobody achieved their goals by sitting on their arse waiting for things to happen.
Not that Dexter was a goal, but he was something Simon wanted.
He could find out where Dexter lived in just a few seconds.
An advantage of working in HR was that information like that was available to you, but as Dexter’s manager he would have it anyway.
And that was the point, wasn’t it? He was Dexter’s manager, and the chief people officer. So, what was he going to do?