Chapter 24
Oliver
“Dad’s fine, he’s not going anywhere. Chill, mate.”
An apparently normal morning greeting from my new friend Cal.
So we were friends now? Apparently. At least, something had settled in me.
Something quite deep down, and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but Calvin Felton.
Twenty-something. The messy, slightly bohemian-looking kid who was currently perched on my kitchen counter.
On a Thursday morning. His curly hair almost down to his shoulders.
His jacket had a rip on the sleeve. And I had no idea why I was feeling protective of him or why I wasn’t telling him to get the fuck out of my flat.
“Are you not supposed to be at uni?” I sighed.
Rude perhaps, but he was uninvited and unexpected, and yes, he had my number, and yes, perhaps he had texted me a few times, and yes.
No. That didn’t mean he could just turn up like this.
I’d seen him on Saturday when he’d driven me home.
Sunday morning. Tuesday morning. Now it was Thursday, and he was back here… again. Annoying me.
“No, it’s summer holidays, so we’ve no classes and we’re subletting the house to summer students, so we had to pack up our stuff and stick it in the loft.
I’m pretty much a free man for the next month, so I’m staying here for a bit.
I mean, I was worried about Dad, but he’s…
Honestly mate. He’s good. Just let things settle in his head. ”
“Settle?”
Settle? I could feel it flaming right back up. Settle…my arse. He could go settle somewhere for all I cared, as long as I could…
Shit.
“I really want to go see him.”
“Nothing’s stopping you, mate.”
“Stop with the mate.”
“Only if you let me call you dad.” He grinned evilly. “Stepdad.”
“Look, Cal.”
Business mode on. Properly. Take control.
I walked over and pressed buttons on my espresso maker. Two cups. Brew. Turned around and crossed my arms.
Which would have looked impressive had I been in my suit. I was in boxers and a hoodie. I was pretty sure there was a stain down my front.
“You’re as much of a mess as he is,” he stated, looking a little shocked for a second.
A short one. “You’re a free man; I can’t stop you.
But I currently have this thing going for me, and I am black-mailing Dad to go back to work before I tell him where you live.
Because he wants to go drag you back home, where you apparently belong. His words, not mine.”
Warmth. Oh fuck. And now I was standing here grinning at….
“Rules.” I took back control. Deep breath.
Honesty. What had they said about honesty?
A family trait apparently, and one that a certain guy was deeply bad at.
I wasn’t going to join him down that trench.
“Cal. Mate. I grew up with a stepdad who would threaten to break every bone in my body on a regular basis. It’s kind of a trigger for me. So can we…not?”
His face? Calm. Oh God. He did look exactly like his dad. I just hadn’t seen that part of him before.
“Sorry,” he said. “And noted. Won’t go there then.”
“No, we won’t.” I felt like I was underlining that sentence. In red.
“Secondly? I’m an out gay man. Always have been. Hence…the threatening to break every bone in my body.”
“I promise not to break any of your bones. As long as you come to football with me on Saturday.”
I was smiling. Oh for… Shit. I had to get this under control.
“Is that a yes? Hand me the coffee, mate. I like this kitchen. This flat is…I mean. Wow. Good purchase.”
“Yes.” Flat. Coffee cup in hand. Hand to stranger sitting on the worktop.
I sat myself down on my one chair.
“You really need to get more chairs. No, no scrap that. You move in with Dad. Me and Ed will move in here.”
“You’re moving in with each other?”
“We’re not that…kind of twins.” He grimaced.
“I’ve seen that…Rupert and Robert. That’s messed up, dude.
We’re like…bros. Normal bros. But…we share a house with like five other people, and it’s hell at times.
It would be nice just to be, like, be able to relax.
That’s why we come home. A bit of a breather, I suppose, like Dad. He needs a breather now and then.”
“Breather.”
“Not like…from you. He needs a breather to see what an idiot he is.”
“I agree,” came out of my mouth as Cal laughed.
“You’re okay, you know,” he said softly. “I can see the appeal. Dad really likes you.”
“He…”
“Oh, stop. Don’t you start as well. He’s like a jelly baby as soon as you walk in the room. All gooey eyes and drooling.”
Something came out of my mouth, and it wasn’t words. More like hiccups.
“So yeah, that’s why I came. Good coffee.”
“You came for the coffee?”
“No, man. Listen. Dad. He needs to go back to work before he goes crazy. When Mum died, he was at home for six months, and he turned into something not very nice. He needs to work. He loves work. Loves sticking his hands in people’s mouths and being all driller-killer. Gets him all worked up, you know?”
Worked up. Okay, Cal.
“We don’t want that,” I agreed.
“And that brings me to this. He says you’re not back to work either. Fix that.”
“Is that a threat?” I quipped back before I could stop myself.
“You can take it as that. Why are you not back to work?”
“Sabbatical,” I lied.
“Sure,” he said, rubbing his nose with his hand. “I looked you up. You’re not on the website.”
“What website?” There was a slight flutter in my chest.
“Delaware Financial. You worked there. It’s on your LinkedIn. You currently don’t, and you haven’t updated anything. Please don’t tell me that you went on that show to become some kind of brainless influencer? You’re not that stupid, are you?”
I was. Was I going to admit it? No.
“I’m…”
“No lies. Open and honest. You know this now. We don’t lie.”
“Your dad does.”
“Below the belt. He’s… He’s fucking scared, Ollie. He’s working on that.”
“And I’m not?” I half shouted.
“Yeah, you’re bricking it, sitting there in a dirty hoodie when your life looks like this.” He threw his arms out, like he was trying to show me my entire life. He wasn’t wrong because I was currently sat in it. On my one chair.
“Show me where you work.”
“I… I still… I’m still legally employed by Delaware.”
Honesty. Truth.
“And?”
“I haven’t even told your dad.”
“Then maybe you should?” he shouted.
Oh God. Here we were.
“I messed up,” I admitted as my heart seemed to stop.
“Then fix that,” he hissed. “And don’t come crawling back home until you can stand up and say you did. We don’t fuck things up around here and then walk away. We fix shit.”
“I know,” I said. He was a child. But I was starting to see what he was doing, and I didn’t like it. Not because of him.
Because of me.
I threw him out in the end and got myself dressed. Because he was right. And his constant nagging and the fact that he’d seen my empty fridge and ordered me an Uber Eats and added the basics to the order like he was some kind of teenage mother hen?
It was embarrassing. Humiliating. All those words that had floated around in the air as he’d done it. Like I couldn’t look after myself. I could. And I was starting to see things.
Lots of things.
Sharp. I had to be sharp. Because I could actually fix a lot of things, if I just actually…did it.
My suit felt weird as I dressed my naked body. Clean. A squirt of aftershave on my freshly trimmed face. Lip balm on my chapped lips, I hadn’t realised how badly I’d bitten them.
Peter. I missed him. I didn’t want to be here; I wanted to be with him. I wanted to be in that bed so I could hold him. Demand that he kiss me again.
I wanted that. All of that.
I wanted to text him and send long, rambling demands of how I wanted our life together to pan out from now on.
I suddenly wanted to text Cal and tell him how awesome he was.
That I appreciated him. Oh damn it. Ed. Yeah.
Outer of secrets. Deliverer of unwanted truths apparently, that was what Cal had said.
I wanted to sit down and talk to him. Perhaps explain some…
Not my place. Not my job.
This was, though. Delaware Financial, the doors swinging open like they had done millions of times as I walked in. Past reception. Nodded briefly at our receptionists, who just stared at me. They knew better than to stop me, because. Yeah. I was me.
“She in?” I asked the…whoever it was sat at the desk outside Juliet’s office. Some temp no doubt, because yes, Juliet. My boss. Terrifying. Also, very real. She always had been. Nothing was off limits to her and…that included me.
“Give me a sec. She’ll see you; she said to let you in if you turned up.”
“Okay.” Gee. Thanks. Was that what her account management had been reduced to?
She made me wait, pacing the floor outside her office with my head down. My heart was racing. I didn’t want to look up, didn’t want to speak to people. Please don’t talk to me.
“Jacobs, have you got the Truman account? Or did that go to Easter?” Someone stopped and asked in passing.
“Easter,” I replied before I could think. I didn’t look up. But yeah. I hated this. Hated it. All of it.
“Oliver.”
Here she was. Sky-high heels. Pants. A sleek blouse that cut far too deep to flash those curves. No shame. Also? Held no prisoners.
“Juliet.” I nodded as she stepped to the side to let me into her office. Dimmed the glass so we had privacy.
I was grateful. Very much so as I unbuttoned my jacket and took a seat.
I had no hopes here. No expectations. She could fire me. Or she could take away everything I had worked for. I didn’t know which option would be the worst.
“You done?” she asked. She was in the other visitor’s chair. Something else I had always appreciated about her. The way she put herself in the game as your equal. She wasn’t, and we both knew it, but as for now? The board was level.
“Done?” I asked. I wasn’t sure where her opening would lead. Her first move. Usually silent. Yet deadly.
“Are you done running around behaving like a child?”
“Rude.”